Date:  Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Time: 8:00 AM – Coffee & Networking, 8:30 AM – Meeting & Speaker

Location:  The Down Town Association
60 Pine Street (between William & Pearl streets)

RSVP:  Space will be limited, please RSVP early to Tina Ganther at tganther@downtownny.com or (212) 835-2750.

At today’s Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (D-LMA) breakfast, Empire State Development (ESD) President, CEO & Commissioner Kenneth Adams discussed New York State’s efforts to improve the business climate and stimulate job creation and economic growth.

“Kenneth Adams is no stranger to the D-LMA and he is no stranger to creative thinking,” said Robert R. Douglass, Chairman of the D-LMA. “It’s clear that Ken is committed to fueling innovation, creating jobs, and helping transform our state as a world-class center for business and new ideas.”

“Today’s discussion is critical to improving the business climate across our state,” said ESD President, CEO & Commissioner Kenneth Adams. “It is a way for all of us to come together and share our ideas for a new approach to job creation and economic growth. Whether you are from our cities or our suburbs, Upstate or Downstate, New York works best when New Yorkers are working. And it is up to us – all of us – to find a way to make New York work again.”

Mr. Adams discussed his vision for economic recovery in New York State, stressing a combination of policies and projects to guide the state to firmer economic footing. During the breakfast, he named several state legislative achievements, steered by Governor Cuomo, as fundamental steps in creating a climate more supportive of private sector investment and job growth, including:

Closing a $10 billion deficit with no new taxes or borrowing;

• Passing a property tax cap to ease the burden on families and businesses;
• Passing a new ethics bill to make government more open, accountable and efficient;
• Passing a new power plant siting bill that streamlines the permitting process and expands opportunities for homeowners and businesses to invest in energy efficiency;
• Passing a higher education bill to maintain academic affordability and transform higher education institutions into engines for economic development; and
• Passing Marriage Equality legislation to restore New York’s legacy of progressive leadership.

Mr. Adams also discussed the overhaul of New York’s operating model for economic development and job creation through the implementation of 10 Regional Economic Development Councils. Supported by $1 billion in state resources and the New York State is Open for Business campaign, these Regional Economic Development Councils empower individual areas to chart their own course for job creation and economic growth by designing a community-based, performance-driven strategy for economic development. For more information on these innovative Economic Development Councils please visit http://nyworks.ny.gov/.

With a strong focus on small business improvement efforts, Mr. Adams also spoke about $55.4 million in federal funding New York recently won from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The SSBCI funding, established through legislation signed by Governor Cuomo, will be used to support three separate small business development programs, including: 

• The Innovate NY Fund, a new seed-stage equity fund to support innovation, job creation, and high growth entrepreneurship throughout the state.   
• The Capital Access Program, a newly expanded program that will provide matching funds to loan loss reserve pools at financial intuitions as an incentive to increase small business lending.  
• The Bonding Guarantee Assistance Program, a newly activated program that provides credit support to help small and minority – and women-owned business secure surety bonds. 

“With $10 in new private lending expected for every $1 in federal funding, New York stands to receive over half a billion dollars in private investment to create thousands of jobs,” said Mr. Adams. “Vibrant small businesses are the backbone of a strong and growing economy. With this funding, we will better support our small business enterprises by making critically needed ’seed-stage’ capital available to spur job creation and rebuild our economy from the ground up.”

Mr. Douglass, who introduced Mr. Adams, has chaired the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association since 1992. It is the sister organization of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the business improvement district for Lower Manhattan. Founded in 1958 by David Rockefeller, the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association is a membership organization of key Downtown stakeholders committed to a vibrant business community below Canal Street. It serves as a networking platform for senior corporate and non-profit executives, as well as a public policy forum and powerful advocate for Lower Manhattan.

Left to Right: Council Member Margaret Chin, Downtown Alliance President Elizabeth H. Berger, NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Association for a Better New York Chairman William C. Rudin, Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association Chairman Robert R. Douglass, NY State Senator Daniel Squadron. Photo Credit: Marla S. Maritzer

Today, at a Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association breakfast, New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver delivered an address on the remarkable resilience and growth of Lower Manhattan over the last decade. Larry Silverstein, President and CEO of Silverstein Properties, also spoke about the transformation of the World Trade Center site and the surrounding neighborhood. Lower Manhattan representatives State Senator Daniel Squadron and Council Member Margaret Chin were also among the 125 guests.

“The world is taking the measure of Lower Manhattan as never before,” said Robert R. Douglass, Chairman of the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association. “The memorial activities this weekend will be a solemn reminder of what happened here a decade ago. The good news is that Lower Manhattan has come roaring back from that tragic day. Today we have more companies than on 9/11, more residents, more visitors, more parks and more hotels. Lower Manhattan is thriving as never before.”

“On streets where people once ran for their lives, they will find young parents – among the 55,000 residents of Lower Manhattan, double the number that were here before 9/11 – pushing their strollers,” said Speaker Silver. “On busy avenues of commerce that were expected to wither away, they will find more than 300,000 well-educated and highly trained weekday workers, many of whom are walking to work. In a community to which no one was expected to return, nine million tourists are coming and going and spending their dollars in our local economy.”

NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver & Silverstein Properties CEO and President Larry Silverstein.  Photo Credits: Marla S. Maritzer 

“Looking at this area now, it’s hard to remember that 10 years ago, many were convinced that Lower Manhattan was finished as a business district,” said Larry Silverstein, President and CEO of Silverstein Properties. “I can tell you that I never wavered on Downtown.  I’ve been in the business for 50 years, and long ago learned to never bet against New York. My company and I held firm to our conviction that Downtown had enormous potential both as a residential neighborhood and as a business district – that it could and would become a model 24/7 live-work mixed-use community.”

Founded in 1958 by David Rockefeller, the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association is a membership organization of key Downtown stakeholders committed to a vibrant business community below Canal Street. It serves as a networking platform for senior corporate and non-profit executives, as well as a public policy forum and powerful advocate for Lower Manhattan.

Robert R. Douglass has chaired the organization since 1992. It is the sister organization of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the business improvement district for Lower Manhattan. The Alliance for Downtown New York recently released a comprehensive report detailing Lower Manhattan’s ten years of progress and growth. The report can be downloaded at: http://www.downtownny.com/solm.

The Downtown Alliance reports that last year alone more than nine million people visited Lower Manhattan, one million more than the previous year, and that millions more are expected to visit Lower Manhattan after the opening of the National September 11 Memorial in September this year.

Lower Manhattan also is home to more than 56,000 residents – more than double a decade ago – and more than 309,000 workers. Visitors can stay at one of 18 Lower Manhattan hotels, triple that number in the area 10 years ago, or visit more than a dozen museums and other cultural attractions.

To learn more about Lower Manhattan events, and view Downtown Alliance research, go to http://www.downtownny.com.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler at the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association breakfast Monday.

New York, NY, (December 6, 2010) - U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Monday that he is confident the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act will pass the Senate in the final weeks of the 110th Congress. With strong support from Nadler, the bill passed the House in late September. The bill would provide medical treatment to 9/11 rescue workers and area residents who suffered illnesses after breathing in toxic fumes.

“I think we’re going to pass this bill,” Nadler told the crowd of more than 100 at a Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (D-LMA) breakfast at 7 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. “If it doesn’t pass now, it will never pass the House—not in a Republican Congress. So it’s all or nothing now.”

Nadler also argued for more stimulus spending to invigorate the economy and the elimination of tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000, enacted under President Bush. He defended the State Secret Protection Act, which would prohibit a court from dismissing lawsuits simply because the government claims that consideration would compromise state secrets. Nadler called the issue “the most important civil liberties question before us.”

Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association President Elizabeth H. Berger, World Trade Center Properties President Janno Lieber, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Downtown-Lower Manhattan Chairman Robert R. Douglass.

In introductory remarks, Robert R. Douglass, Chairman of the D-LMA, praised Nadler for his long-time advocacy for Lower Manhattan, on issues ranging from care for 9/11 first-responders to aid for mass transit in New York City.

“Jerry was instrumental after 9/11 in securing $20 billion in federal funds to make reconstruction of the World Trade Center a reality,” Douglass said.

Also speaking was Janno Lieber, President of World Trade Center Properties, an affiliate of Silverstein Properties, Inc. Lieber noted the progress at the World Trade Center site and throughout Lower Manhattan.

“In the last few years we’ve seen a doubling of the residential population Downtown, a huge upsurge in retail activity and a growing recognition that Downtown has to be restored as a world-class business district,” Lieber said. “Downtown has become that world-class business district by becoming the center of high-tech office development and most importantly of green office development—not just green because the buildings here are green but because this is the most mass-transit-intensive business district in the City of New York, in the United States and maybe in the world.”