NEW YORK CITY-Reminding everyone in attendance that—despite their differences—all of the candidates agree that New York City can and should be a technological leader, six mayoral candidates squared off in a debate Friday at a technology conference arranged by Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer.
Held in lower Manhattan, "Startup-City: An Entrepreneurial Economy for Middle Class New York" was capped off by a discussion of the city's Internet access, a failure to deliver connectivity by Verizon and other providers, the creation of office space for technology firms, infringements on affordable housing and a host of other issues.
“As a city, we need to invest in a digital and wireless highway,” said former Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion Jr. “We want to be the most wired and user-friendly city on the globe.”
Public speaker Bill de Blasio surprised the audience, and his fellow panelists when he revealed he had sent a letter to the city's chief information officer earlier in the day expressing disappointment with Verizon falling behind on a promise to deliver high-speed Internet access citywide. In the letter, he requested the release of all data on the company's track record, and demanded a plan within the next 30 days to get installation back on schedule.
“They have 14 months to cover the city,” he said, referring to the company's contract for the job, “and their feet aren't being held to the fire.”
Added City Council speaker Christine Quinn, “As we look at providers, if they're not accomplishing what they're supposed to, the city may have to take it over.” She asserted, “we need to be competitive again, by no later than 2018.”
Part of the problem is, in fact, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's reliance on the private sector to get things done, suggested Comptroller John Liu. “You have to have city managers watching consultants. Mayor Bloomberg has consultants watching consultants who are watching consultants. That leads to big budget overruns.”
Former councilmember Sal Albanese said, “We tend to be reactive, we had warnings of major storms 10 years before Hurricane Sandy. I know it's not politically sexy,” he said, “but we have to think about New York 100 years from now.”
Quinn raised the issue of making space for tech sector workers. “We need to expand and continue the incubator,” she said. “That's why we're now trying to seize Brooklyn's back offices to retrofit and make them affordable and workable for technology.” Brooklyn has enough tech workers to create a “triangle between downtown, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and DUMBO,” she said.
The conversation turned toward airbandb, a site that allows residents of an area to rent out their homes to tourists. It's a tech success story but it poses some threats to affordable housing, the candidates noted.
“We have laws about habitation and airbandb exposes residents of a building to a lack of compliance with safety,” said DeBlasio. Added Quinn, “We're having a loss of affordable housing units to landlords who are converting these units into tourist hotels, and that's illegal.”
To combat the issue, in part, Quinn suggested, “We need technology entrepreneurs to get in conversation with the city. My office is talking to them now to see if we can thread the needle different.”
Noting the popularity of New York City as a tourist destination, Carrion laid blame at the feet of the hospitality industry. “We have to take a public policy posture on tourism to figure out ways to make the city affordable so that people aren't exploiting opportunities and taking over what could be affordable housing.”
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
