Tag Archives: industrial jobs coalition

Advocates Celebrate Council’s Fulfillment of Key Industrial Action Plan Promises

Council set to vote on key zoning protection at last stated meeting

New York, NY – Today, the Industrial Jobs Coalition joined with City Council members to celebrate the upcoming passage of zoning protections for the City’s 21 Industrial Business Zones (IBZs). These protections, meant to clamp down on competing non-industrial uses and ensure space for good-paying jobs, create the foundation for broader zoning reforms. The Coalition, having advocated for this crucial protection as a part of the Mayor’s 2015 Industrial Action Plan, thanked members of the Council who led the charge through the land use review process.

“The City Council is delivering a big victory for the manufacturing industry and the middle class jobs it brings to New York’s underserved communities,” said Council Member Donovan Richards, chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises. “As promised in the Industrial Action Plan, we will continue to work towards preserving the essence of Industrial Business Zones. I’d like to thank my fellow IBZ colleagues, the Industrial Jobs Coalition and the City Council’s Land Use staff for this truly collaborative process.”

“For the first time, New York City is actually putting teeth behind the IBZ designation,” said Council Member David Greenfield, chair of the Land Use Committee. “We are saying today that we will fight for industrial jobs in New York City. We are saying that good jobs are more important than self-storage facilities. I am proud to have been a leader in this fight and congratulate the coalition led by ANHD that fought for years to get us to this historic place.”

The proposal, which would limit self-storage via a City Planning Commission special permit in the vast majority of the IBZs, had broad support from the City Council and industrial advocates. While efforts to dilute the original proposal occurred during the land use review process, the collective effort of industrial advocates and the Council were pivotal in changing the proposal into its current version. Having passed both the Zoning and Land Use committees by wide margins, the full Council is expected to pass the text amendment in their final stated meeting on Tuesday.

“We are thankful to this City Council for their continued leadership on industrial and manufacturing issues,” said Benjamin Dulchin, Executive Director at the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development. “Their partnership with the Industrial Jobs Coalition to advance common sense zoning reforms and protect the Industrial Business Zones from speculative uses means more good-paying jobs can stay in the city.”

“Enactment of a special permit requirement for self-storage facilities is a great victory for good jobs,” said Adam Friedman, Director of the Pratt Center for Community Development. “We’ve been pushing for this for years as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce real estate pressures on manufacturers. The Mayor promised it in his first campaign, and today he delivered on his promise.”

The current City Council has a strong record of focusing on industrial and manufacturing issues. Their 2014 report, Engines of Opportunity, laid the blueprint of current manufacturing discussions in the city. The 2015 Industrial Action Plan, launched alongside the Mayor and advocates at Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, was largely based on the Council’s recommendations. While multiple aspects of that plan have moved forward, members of the Council and advocates alike recognized the significant importance of use group reform.

“Protecting and promoting industrial jobs is important for the City of New York and especially for my district. Passing this text amendment will help to ensure that businesses in the Industrial Business Zones serve real manufacturing needs, and that means more jobs,” said Council Member Antonio Reynoso. “I am committed to continue working with the industrial communities of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood so that they thrive.”

“Strengthening New York City’s manufacturing sector is an essential way to create good jobs for a wide range of New Yorkers, and to advance more inclusive growth in the innovation economy. I am thrilled to join my colleagues today in limiting self-storage in Industrialize Business Zones throughout the City, which undermine more job-intensive manufacturing uses,” said Council Member Brad Lander. “In my district, this will help enable Gowanus to remain a vibrant, creative, inclusive, sustainable, mixed-use neighborhood. Thanks to Speaker Mark-Viverito and the tenacious industrial advocates and manufacturers for their grit and determination to keep ‘making it’ in New York City.”

“Thanks so much to the New York City Council for following through on their commitment to growing working class jobs in New York City’s Industrial Business Zones. This is a great first step in achieving this goal,” said Leah Archibald, Executive Director at Evergreen Exchange. “We look forward to working with the Council to address the proliferation of other non-compatible uses in manufacturing zones throughout the city. Special thanks to North Brooklyn Council Members Levin and Reynoso for their commitment to the local industrial community!”

“This text amendment was a huge win for the South Bronx, and demonstrates our commitment to ensuring we can protect and promote industry and manufacturing jobs in New York City,” said Council Member Rafael Salamanca. “I’m very proud of the work we did to make this a reality.”

“The special permit for self-storage in New York City’s Industrial Business Zones is a crucial first step in protecting industrial and manufacturing jobs in the City,” said Nancy Carin, Executive Director of the BOC Network. “Blue collar workers, a majority of which are working class immigrants and people of color, can rest easier knowing that City Council has recognized this critical opportunity to actively prioritize job creation and encourage growth of the industrial sector in New York City.”

“This new special permit requirement is a solid victory. Industrial businesses are truly the heart of New York City’s economy – providing essential services and making decades of sacrifices on behalf of employees and our communities,” said Ben Margolis, Executive Director, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC). “We are heartened to know that the City Council believes that IBZs are dedicated places to prioritize our city’s industrial community, and that it is working to implement the Administration’s own 10-Point Industrial Action Plan.”

City Steps Back from their Industrial Action Plan

Almost two years to the day since Mayor de Blasio announced his historic Industrial Action Plan, the City seems to be stepping back from their plan. Yesterday, the City Planning Commission voted on a proposal to mix manufacturing and self-storage in core industrial areas. Rather than vote on the City’s own original proposal to limit self-storage, which was supported by the majority of community boards and industrial service providers, the Department of City Planning (DCP) put forward an amended proposal that will continue the self-storage industry’s as-of-right access to our core industrial areas. As the final stop in Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the City Council has the power to make alterations and corrections to a proposal before the text is enacted.

Two years after the Action Plan, the Administration is losing sight of some of the Mayor’s goals. Land-use policies that protect good jobs are an important part of an equitable economic development vision for the City. Employment-dense, blue-collar manufacturing uses are increasingly being displaced by non-manufacturing uses, including and especially self-storage, across the city.

The reforms that would have limited self-storage and hotels in the Industrial Business Zones were announced in the Action Plan two years ago. While the process for self-storage is reaching the end of its ULURP, the ULURP on hotels has not even started. All the while, these and other competing uses have continued to go up in core industrial areas, placing rent pressures on manufacturers to either pay up or get out. At this point, the City has the opportunity to fulfill one of these long-overdue promises to strengthen the IBZs.

But to do this, the City must ignore the self-storage industry and listen to the diverse set of manufacturers, developers, community boards, borough presidents, and city councilmembers, who are fighting in support of the Mayor’s original vision.

The self-storage text amendment (in both the original and A-Text forms) is unique in that it would finally map the Industrial Business Zones in zoning maps, creating a foundation for future use group reforms. However, the A-Text that passed yesterday only creates a foundation for more carve-outs in our core industrial areas, essentially putting a bullseye on the Industrial Business Zones. Once the City opens the door to the self-storage lobby to shape policy, you open the door for arguments about manufacturers needing hotels or big box retailers nearby, the next important fight. This same tactic – watering down a protection through a mixed-use proposal – can be re-applied in any future attempt at use group reform. It is true that this proposal is setting a major precedent; it is crucial that the City and Council ensure it set the right precedent.

Councilmembers know from their local Industrial Business Service providers and manufacturers that Industrial Business Zones need to be protected with meaningful zoning protections. As the core areas of industrial and manufacturing activity, Industrial Business Zones are hubs for good paying jobs and engines of economic opportunity. The Council has historically led and must continue to lead on strengthening Industrial Business Zones and championing industrial issues. ANHD and the Industrial Jobs Coalition look forward to continuing to work with the City Council to strengthen the IBZs, protect and grow industrial jobs and businesses, and keep the engine of opportunity running.
Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen, ANHD’s Campaign Coordinator for Equitable Economic Development

City Supports Quality Jobs with New Land Use Action, but Self Storage Industry Fights Back – Here’s Why We Have To Win

The City recently certified a land-use proposal to limit self-storage development in core industrial areas. This step forward is a significant victory for City Council members and community groups that care about a progressive industrial policy that promotes quality jobs and equitable economic development. But the self-storage industry association is pushing back, and we have to make sure that we keep the momentum to win this important step forward.

With speculation and rising real estate costs in industrial areas making it harder for manufacturing tenants to stay in the city, it is crucial for this proposal to move forward. Advocacy from communities and within the City Council ensured the Mayor would include use group reform as part of his 2015 Industrial Action Plan, and this same advocacy will ensure this commitment is fulfilled.

Here are 5 key facts to remember as the proposal moves forward:

1. Industrial and manufacturing jobs are good paying jobs.

The industrial and manufacturing sector has historically played a key role in creating a robust working middle class. While the sector has changed since its peak in the middle of the 20th century, wages remain strong. Average wages in the industrial sector are over $50,000 a year, significantly more than average wages in retail or food service. In a city where affordability is a constant challenge, retaining the kinds of jobs that allow people to stay in the city is crucial to an equitable economic development strategy.

2. The majority of industrial and manufacturing workers are immigrants and people of color.

In terms of who receives these wages, the demographic breakdown of the sector presents a diversity that mirrors New York City as a whole. With a majority of workers foreign-born and over 80% of workers being people of color, the industrial and manufacturing sector provides access to good paying jobs while often not requiring a college degree.

3. The proposed special permit begins tackling the broader displacement of good paying jobs from NYC.

A major challenge to the sector has been the commercialization of industrial-zoned land. The Council’s Engines of Opportunity report recognized the “continued pattern of speculation and warehousing…and lack of suitable zoning.” The overly broad use groups have allowed competing uses to displace industrial businesses and workers, leading to a loss of jobs. The Administration’s Industrial Action Plan aimed to address this challenge by limiting self-storage and hotel uses via a special permit.

4. There is considerable space available for self-storage.

The proposed special permit for self-storage only applies in “designated M-districts,” areas which largely overlap with the City’s existing core manufacturing areas – the Industrial Business Zones – as shown in the map on the left. In other words, new self-storage storage facilities will still be permitted as-of-right in C8 and M zones outside of the “designated M-districts”, as shown in the map on the right. Additionally—while the self-storage industry’s model is still rapidly evolving in terms of space needs—industrial and manufacturing businesses, supporting local supply networks, locate and operate in the city as a matter of necessity.

5. When space is preserved for manufacturing, those jobs stay in the city.

If manufacturers are less concerned about being priced out of their neighborhood, they are able to focus their attention back into running their business, whether through investing in new equipment or scaling up and hiring more employees. Manufacturers have been pushed out of the city due to rising real estate prices, but there has been continuous demand for affordable industrial and manufacturing space. The City has recognized this challenge, launching the non-profit Industrial Development Fund to address this gap and keep more jobs in the city.

Click here to download the Industrial Jobs Coalition Fact Sheet.

About the  Industrial Jobs Coalition (IJC)