Bloomberg Talks Manufacturing in NYC

New York city Mayor Mike Bloomberg has taken a great step forward in encouraging urban manufacturing. It is very encouraging to see the mayor of America's largest city taking an active stand on promoting urban manufacturing. Mayor Bloomberg announced on his website a program of 22 initiatives to help small industrial businesses stay and grow in New York City. NYC has experienced loss of manufacturing in the past few decades in line with the national average and officials hope that its location will give it an advantage as manufacturing grows nationwide. Industrial sectors provide 16 percent of New York city's private employment, and over 25 percent of employment in the four boroughs other than Manhattan.

The programs are designed to revitalize, modernize, and preserve underutilized industrial space, create and retain jobs, and generate revenue for businesses and the City. The program is the result of an inter-agency review of the City's industrial policy.

The 22 initiatives are designed to meet one of three goals: increase access to modern industrial space, increase access to and create new financing resources, and better align City resources with industrial business needs.

Increase access to modern industrial space:

This includes several Request For Proposals (RFP), in which the City is beginning a competitive process to find developers for several industrial sites throughout the city. The City is favoring industrial uses including manufacturing for potential developments on these sites.

The City is also developing a food manufacturing step-up space. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) will offer several food manufacturing spaces to companies wishing to expand their production capacity and hire more workers.

Create new financing resources and increase access to existing programs:

In partnership with Goldman Sachs, the City is creating a $10 million fund to provide loans to food entrepreneurs. The City also formed the Industrial Development Program to fund City-sponsored industrial projects alongside traditional lenders. At least 20 new businesses will be given financial assistance from the Industrial Development Authority. The City is also funding the creation of new Business Improvement Districts that will provide funding for services such as sanitation, public safety, and graffiti removal.

Better align City resources with industrial businesses' needs:

NYCEDC will create a new full-time "desk" to focus on industrial sector policy. NYCEDC will also manage a public competition to identify innovative ideas from start-ups in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. NYCEDC will also conduct on a study on how to enhance the prototyping and fabrication sub-sector and meet entrepreneur's needs in this area.

This program of action can serve as a blueprint for other cities. Not all of these initiatives are appropriate for all cities, however. For example, New York City's use of RFPs to develop land may be less realistic for cities who have a large amount of available land but no demand from developers. However, the three basic points of Mayor Bloomberg's program could be helpful in the promotion of urban manufacturing in cities like Allentown.

Krugman on Manufacturing

Economist Paul Krugman recently wrote for the New York Times about the recent growth and success of the manufacturing sector in the United States.  He calls manufacturing "one of the bright spots of a generally disappointing recovery."  


It's fantastic news that American manufacturing is being reinvigorated.  In a response to Krugman's piece, New Deal 2.0 gave six reasons why manufacturing is still important.  I won't list them all here, but having a lively manufacturing sector creates good jobs and is the foundation of a strong economy.  Krugman mentions Caterpillar and General Motors as examples of strong American manufacturers.  These companies contribute a lot to the economy and their communities, but it's not just the household names that make up the manufacturing sector.  We should also remember the smaller and urban manufacturers "hidden in plain sight."  According to a report by the Pratt Center and Brookings Institution on small urban manufacturers, the large and vertically-integrated companies of the past are being replaced by smaller "webs of production and distribution."  Some provide components and parts to other manufacturers, some produce custom or niche products, others produce artisanal foods or beverages.  Urban environments are perfect for these types of firms - the businesses win by locating in the middle of both a large potential workforce and large market for their products, and the community receives the benefits of a stronger local economy.  This is a true win-win situation.


Paul Krugman and others have written about the manufacturing sector making a comeback.  But what has come back is not the manufacturing sector of the 20th century.  Manufacturing can not only be reinvigorated, but reinvented.  This means bringing manufacturers back from the suburban industrial parks and into our cities.