Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Wage Bill's Effect on Jobs

Happy New Year, MCC Members and the NYC Business Community. The following is a letter written by MCC President Nancy Ploeger in response to the following article in the NY Times:


MCC continues to advocate on your behalf for job creation and economic development in NYC.


To the Editor:

"A Living Wage, Long Overdue" (editorial, Dec. 26) did not mention New York City's own failed experience with a so-called living-wage law: the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx.
Rather than a bustling retail center creating thousands of jobs, the armory sits embarrassingly empty after politicians demanded wage requirements more than two years ago. Today, no serious plan is in sight for Kingsbridge, and the community is deprived of good jobs.

While the wage bill before the City Council is well intentioned, Kingsbridge shows that it will result in fewer jobs for New Yorkers when job creation should be our No. 1 focus. It also unfairly increases costs for retailers and other tenants who do the right thing by investing in vulnerable neighborhoods but, unlike developers, receive no financial incentives from the city.

The Kingsbridge Armory is Exhibit 1 in the debate about wage mandates in New York City.

NANCY PLOEGER
President
Manhattan Chamber of Commerce
New York, Dec. 27, 2011

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