Dear Friends,
New economic figures came out last week - and it's not pretty.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York City's jobless rate has now topped 10% ( Crain's New York ). That's 400,000 New Yorkers seeking work and unable to find it--more than the total population of New Orleans or Minneapolis.
If you find this troubling, you should. We ALL should - especially our government.
Yet, somehow this message isn't getting through to City Hall.
Rather than helping New York City businesses grow, there is increasing
evidence that City Hall's excessive fines may be putting local mom-and-pop shops out of business. Earlier this week, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio published an Op-Ed in the New York Post to drive home this point. His message was simple yet powerful - it's time for City Hall to stop treating our small businesses like an ATM ( http://nyp.st/PS5Tdw ).
Helping small
businesses is just one part of De Blasio's strategy for fostering
long-term economic growth in New York. On Tuesday, I had the
pleasure of attending his speech at NYU's Wagner School on this topic.
If you missed the event, you can watch the video below or read the
entire speech here: http://advocate.nyc.gov/econ-speech
It can be tempting to turn our heads and look the other way when we see bad news about our economy. We must not. Rather, I invite you to join us as we embark on an effort to see the Public Advocate's reforms put into action. Please take a moment to sign up to volunteer here: http://action.advocate.nyc.gov/ and spread the word to your friends and family. We also sincerely appreciate your thoughts and feedback about our work - you can send us an email anytime at ideas@pubadvocate.nyc.gov .
Thanks,
Jeff S. Merritt
Senior Advisor
NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio