RESTORING JOBS AND REBUILDING OUR ECONOMY

Now in the face of persisting a national, state, and regional economic crisis, the Bronx is challenged to build stronger alliances to sustain its growth and to expand access to jobs and economic opportunity. In 2001, the unemployment rate in the Bronx was 7.2 percent. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack and the current recession, thousands of Bronx residents have been affected and our unemployment rate has soared to its present level of 9.5 percent. With half of all unemployed Bronx residents- more than any other borough- laid off, it has been clear that many growing private corporations have actually cut jobs in favor of profit over the last several years.

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, Jr. is determined to push for the restoration of job opportunities to the Bronx . Carrión’s top priority is to get jobs for residents and to support business development. Carrión believes that the Bronx resident labor force offers employers a ready supply of workers at virtually every skill level. Conversely, the borough’s central location and extensive transportation infrastructure also make it possible for Bronx residents to “reverse commute” to a wide range of markets. For those who possess the education and skills that will be in demand, Carrión is determined to make available a wide array of employment opportunities in this changing regional economy, at steadily rising real wages. For less-educated, less-skilled workers, however, Carrión will seek to attract means jobs at real wages. He contends that we must sustain the economic integration of the Bronx as the retail, commercial, industrial bases expand.

Carrión has a number of initiatives in the works to help secure the Bronx’s economic future and ensure that workers can achieve the American dream in our changing economy.

• Carrión has launched the Bronx At Work campaign, a multi-tiered job information and training initiative. This campaign will involve preparing Bronx residents for the workforce, creating a jobs database that is available online, on TV, and over the phone through the use of available technology, linking the unemployed with specialized training programs and with Bronx businesses prepared to hire them.

• Carrión has formed a strategic partnership for the financial empowerment of Bronx families with Standards & Poors. This partnership will entail development of the Bronx Wall Street Financial Education Program for Bronx Families.

• Together with Congressman Jose Serrano and the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (BOEDC), Carrión has developed two groups for promoting culture and tourism in the Bronx: the Bronx Empowerment Zone Culture and Tourism Venture Fund. These funds will empower local attractions to continue growing their tourism development projects.

• Carrión has worked with the BOEDC to recruit businesses outside the borough and New York City, encouraging them to relocate to this area by providing the financial incentives to make such relocation attractive. BOEDC has provided financing and Empowerment Zone benefits to new businesses moving into the borough.

• Carrión and BOEDC have been instrumental in the relocation of the Fulton Fish Market from lower Manhattan to the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center in the South Bronx . The Fish Market is scheduled to open spring 2005.

• Carrión has supported BOEDC efforts to approve seven loans for Empowerment Zone residents, totaling $1.2 million and creating 35 jobs in 2003. Overall in 2003, The BOEDC and the subsidiary BIC approved loans totaling $7.1 million, with 985 jobs retained and 870 new jobs created.

• Carrión has succeeded in bringing major retail stores to the Bronx . The construction of the new Target Store in the Marble Hill, 225 Street area, is a great example of business development and its benefits. This 9.5-acre discount-shopping complex will create 600 full time jobs, 250 of these created by Target alone.

• Carrión and BOEDC has positioned the Bronx as the new host for the City’s Department of Finance in the HUB Commercial District, generating new jobs and increasing economic activity in this area.

• Carrión and the BOEDC have worked with the other Borough Presidents, to press the IDA and EDC to expend a much greater share of city economic development resources in the outer boroughs. Carrión is also working to demand comparable investments in the outer boroughs, like the Mayor’s proposed plan in the West Side.

• Carrión and the BOEDC have worked to promote a Regional Shopping Center as a key feature of a development plan for the area around Yankee Stadium. This newly revitalized area will be known as Yankee Village . It will include a retail center, a theme park, a hotel, an improved ferry access, and an Olympic stadium. This destination shopping center will serve a year round market with sports related anchors such as Sports Authority or Modell’s. The inclusion of sports-themed restaurants, batting cages and other sports related entertainment will create year-round appeal, independent of the 81 day baseball season. This level of development could generate 1,350 additional jobs, an aspect which becomes paramount in a borough with the highest level of unemployment in New York City.