Thompson: NYC Economy In 'Terrific Shape'
BY THOMAS COGAN

Photo Office of the Comptroller Thompson, testifies before the City Council Finance Committee on the Mayor's Preliminary Budget and Management Report on March 6, 2007

"Our economy is really in terrific shape," New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson said last week, when he addressed the March breakfast meeting of the Long Island City Business Development Corporation.

He was referring to the city when he spoke of economic prosperity. Its bond rating has never been higher, he asserted, and where for years and years it trailed the nationwide level of prosperity, today it leads it. His paean to local growth was supported by his surroundings, for this was the first LICBDC breakfast meeting, and one of the first meetings of any sort, held in the ground floor facilities of Court Square Place, a building opened in December. The inaugural speaker said growth was spreading across the city, including construction "such as we have never seen before", beyond Manhattan to all other boroughs. It is "redefining our skyline and streetscape", Thompson added; but he tempered his enthusiasm with a warning that not all this expansion could be called "smart growth", which is necessary if growth is to remain supportable.

Thompson said that as comptroller, he has oversight on how the city's money is spent: running performance audits, determining the prevailing wage structure and serving as "insurance agent for New York City"- which is being sued constantly, he disclosed. The establishment of banking development districts, areas deemed "under-banked" and thus in need of financial institutions, is an achievement he is proud of. It involved the deposit of about $120 million by the city for use in loans at below market rates. Those venturing into small businesses need loans that can be feasibly managed, and, as Thompson declared to his breakfast audience, "small business is where our growth is going to be." He said that the cause of small business should be well served by Congressmember Nydia Velazquez as new head of the small business subcommittee in the House of Representatives. Her sprawling 12th New York District takes in parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, including much of Woodside, Maspeth and Ridgewood.

"As we grow, we don't want to push people out of the city," the comptroller said, turning to the topic of affordability. He pictured two-income families making more than $100,000 annually yet struggling to get along financially in the city. With all the money his office has invested in affordability, he knows he must do his part to sustain it. He said the old method of building expensive in Manhattan and letting affordable find its place in the other boroughs is no longer readily accepted, at least as regards housing. The demand now is to build affordable on site. (This may be a bigger issue in Brooklyn and Long Island City than in Manhattan, however, where the affordability issue could be hopeless. Thompson said he was astonished by commercial rates in Manhattan, which, he was told, can be as high as $120 per square foot; he said that affordability in Manhattan might be "drifting away from us".) He brought up the matter of Queens West, in Hunters Point along the East River, only to reserve comment about city-owned land there. His only remark was to say that the city has an opportunity to be "creative", a word he used more than once in speaking not only of affordability but of infrastructure too. Infrastructure, he said, is unable to keep pace with the building boom. At present, he observed, "We don't have enough electricity to run the city." What of the future? With "green" buildings and industries attempting to deal with the future, New York should become a center for green manufacturers and suppliers. He asked rhetorically: "Why buy parts from the West Coast when you can make them here?"

Thompson's enthusiasm might have been guarded, but he sustained an upbeat attitude throughout his address, reminding his audience that during the bankruptcy crisis of the 1970s people fled New York but now, "they're fighting to get in". He cited a much more recent crisis, too. When he came into office in 2002, the city had just been attacked, and the fiscal shortfall he might have expected anyway was made worse in the wake of the 9/11 disaster. He said that he was glad to be comptroller during that bad time, confident that he would be around when conditions had improved and he could celebrate the good times. Last week, he was celebrating.