One Brooklyn
June 19, 2014
BROOKLYN, NY, June 19, 2014: Today, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams publicized his call for protection of New York City’s industrial business zones (IBZs), a call that been echoed by his fellow borough presidents and the Brooklyn Borough Board, which he chairs. Specifically, he reiterated his ask to Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council to include an allocation of $4.6 million to go toward funding for Industrial Business Service Provider (IBSP) Contracts in the FY 2015 Executive Budget at the original budget level established in 2006, as well as to reinstate the Mayor’s Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses.
“Our city needs a diversified economy to ensure its long-term growth and prosperity for all, and our industrial business zones need to be strengthened, not weakened, in the pursuit of that shared goal,” said Borough President Adams. “To maintain Brooklyn’s boom, we need the quality middle-class jobs that our industrial and manufacturing sectors provide, from our tech innovators and food purveyors to our materials fabricators and textile makers. We can build a new industrial future for New York City, one that can create tens of thousands quality jobs. I ask for the partnership of the Mayor and the City Council to help us achieve that vision through improved funding, increased resources and a comprehensive industrial and manufacturing plan.”
Along with Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Diana Reyna, the former chair of the City Council’s Committee on Small Business, Borough President Adams spoke at a press conference today on the steps of City Hall, hosted by the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. They were joined by community-based organizations, industrial and manufacturing business, planning and economic development groups and elected officials from across New York City. Following the press conference, Deputy Borough President Reyna gave testimony, on Borough President Adams’ behalf, to a joint hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Economic Development and Committee on Small Business regarding Resolution 228, which calls on the Mayor to revitalize the Mayor’s Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses, as well as to expand the technical assistance the Office would offer manufacturing and industrial businesses in the City.
“I sit before you today as an example of the importance of the preservation of industrial and manufacturing businesses,” said Deputy Borough President Reyna in her testimony. “My mother – a Dominican immigrant – was able to raise my siblings and me in New York City, because she was able to find manufacturing work. The jobs weren’t glamorous, and neither was the pay; but it was enough to get by. I share this story to highlight the importance of ensuring that future generations are provided similar opportunities – so that another first-generation family can realize economic stability, raise their children here in New York City, and one day have their child serve the City as I have.”
On Tuesday, May 13th, Borough President Adams joined his fellow Borough Presidents in writing a joint letter to Mayor de Blasio regarding their request for increased ISBP funding and the restoration of the Mayor’s Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses, with funding coming from revenues generated through the Industrial Development Agency. Three weeks later, on Tuesday, June 3rd, the Brooklyn Borough Board passed a resolution with the same message.
According to the United States Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey, more than 152,000 New Yorkers work in manufacturing jobs; additionally, according to the New York State Comptroller’s Office, there are nearly 20,000 manufacturing and industrial jobs in the borough of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is the site of six Industrial Business Zones, including the Brooklyn Navy Yard (Clinton Hill, South Williamsburg, Vinegar Hill), East New York Industrial Business Zone (East New York, Brownsville), Flatlands Fairfield Industrial Business Zone (Flatlands, East Flatbush, East New York, Canarsie), Greenpoint/Williamsburg Industrial Business Zone (Greenpoint, Williamsburg), North Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone (Greenpoint, East Williamsburg, Bushwick), and Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone (Sunset Park, Red Hook, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens).
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