This afternoon, members of the Getting Our Money’s Worth Coalition commented on Good Job First’s new report, Money for Something: Job Creation and Job Quality Standards in State Economic Development Subsidy Programs, which ranked New York State 43rd.
Downtown Brooklyn was filled with a raucous crowd of protesters this afternoon, as dozens gathered in front of JP Morgan Chase at MetroTech to demand corporate subsidies deliver good jobs. Community, labor, and Occupy Wall Street activists joined together to draw attention to Chase’s misuse of public dollars meant to retain employees in New York City.
“The Walmartization of New York City,” a new study released today by ALIGN, a New York-based nonprofit organization, reveals that Walmart's growth plans for New York City could lead the company to open an estimated 159 stores here, most of them smaller format stores designed for urban areas, a finding consistent with Walmart’s oft-repeated declaration that it is evaluating opportunities for new stores across the five boroughs.
Newly released Census Bureau statistics, including poverty data released today, show that the economic recovery has not yet reached New Yorkers. A significant and growing percentage of New York City’s individuals and families continue to live in poverty. Nearly half of individuals living in poverty worked full or part time jobs in 2010. Racial disparities in earnings remain high and household incomes have fallen.
Governor Cuomo announced the membership of the new Western New York Regional Economic Development Council today. Regional Councils are the state’s flagship job creation program, and it’s expected that the Governor will announce appointments to the Finger Lakes Regional Council when he stops in Rochester and the Central New York Regional Council when he stops in Syracuse later today.
The announcement comes several days after the release of a fifty-two-page plan for Regional Councils, which laid out more detail about their operation and how membership on the Councils will be structured.