Public Advocate Bill de Blasio delivered a speech on fostering economic growth across the city’s neighborhoods this morning at the NYU Wagner School for Public Service. De Blasio addressed ways to reduce New York City’s high unemployment through fostering development, unburdening small businesses and better leveraging the City’s economic tools.
In his remarks, the Public Advocate called on the City to undertake new initiatives to bolster elements of the local economy, including:
- Responding to developers and businesses on each aspect of small land use projects within 30 to 60 days, bringing predictability to a process that can drag on for years;
- Developing new strategic plans with businesses, economic development agencies and CUNY to ensure Career and Technical Education curriculum is tied to skill development for high-growth industries;
- Allowing small business loans in the New York City Capital Access Revolving Loan Guarantee Program to be used for a greater number of purposes, including allowing companies to scale up their operations;
Video and full text of the speech is available at: http://advocate.nyc.gov/econ-speech
