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EDC: City Not a One-Trick Pony

NEW YORK CITY-A more diversified economy better prepares the city to withstand the downturn, says the COO of the Economic Development Corp.

By Paul Bubny | Updated on January 15, 2009

NEW YORK CITY-”We are undeniably in difficult times,” Tokumbo Shobowale, COO of the New York City Economic Development Corp., told an Associated Builders and Owners audience on Wednesday. However, he said that in many ways the city is better prepared to withstand the current downturn than it was following 9/11, thanks in large part to a diversifying economy. “We’re no longer a one-trick pony,” Shobowale said.

Encouraging growth in industries outside the financial services sector is one aspect of a three-part strategy the Bloomberg administration has pursued since taking office in 2002. That strategy has also encompassed fiscal prudence and infrastructure investment, and Shobowale said the city intends to avoid repeating the mistakes of the 1970s, when quality of life declined and both residents and businesses moved out as a result.

He said that even during the 2002-2006 boom years in financial services, that sector’s share of total employment in the city was declining. Among the industries the city has been developing include film and television production, which doubled citywide between 2002 and 2007, and biotechnology. To that end, construction on phase one of the East River Science Park is expected to be completed this year.

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