NEW YORK—Tough as things seem right now, they were way worse in the Depression days. Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, reminded the audience of this at a forum at UBS on Wed., March 18.
“New York has been here before, but each time the city has come out in better shape,” he said.
During the Depression, 90 percent of the value was lost in the stock market, 40 percent of banks closed up, and the unemployment rate was at 25 percent. But it’s worth keeping in mind that city icons such as the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge were also built during this time.
“Wall Street will always be a boom-and-bust business,” Pinsky said. In a time of rising unemployment, declining wages, and evaporating funding, plans for large-scale projects are moving forward. Highlights include Willets Point, Hunter’s Point South, and Hudson Yards.
Willets Point
Design work onsite will begin in the next couple of days on this “toxic waste dump,” Pinksy said. Willets Point was used as an ash dump during much of the early 20th century, receiving up to the equivalent of 100 railroad cars of ash per day.
Hunter’s Point South
The new affordable housing units are a part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan to build and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing over ten years.
Hudson Yards
The Hudson Yards project aims to increase commercial, residential, cultural, entertainment, and open space on Manhattan’s Far West Side.
12,600 housing units will go up along with approximately 28 million square feet of commercial office growth.
The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is proposed to be expanded north to almost double its contiguous exhibition area. Additionally, the expansion will provide a convention center hotel, a ballroom of 86,000 square feet, and an increase in meeting rooms to 365,000 square feet.
As the city moves forward on these and other projects, Pinsky outlined three areas he hopes the city government will focus on in the years to come: government works, creating work opportunities, and infrastructure.
“In a downturn, government expenditure is a great way to keep people employed ... and when an upturn happens, the city is ready,” he said. “I am 100 percent confident we will emerge on the other side a better and stronger city.”
Sustainable design will be at the forefront of the projects, Pinsky said. “We can’t afford to not do sustainable development … The city will collapse on itself if we don’t do things more efficiently.”
