Made in Brooklyn
The Story
Read more at city-journal.org photo: iStock
After decades of neglect and decay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard is leading a minor manufacturing renaissance in New York City. Other once-abandoned areas of the city could benefit from rezoning for mixed- and light-industrial use. For the Brooklyn renaissance to spread, government should loosen regulatory and tax policies that stifle New York’s entrepreneurial spirit.
The Facts You Need to Know
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Job Engine: The Brooklyn Navy Yard is now home to 330 small- to medium-size manufacturing firms employing 7,000 workers—double the total of 15 years ago. Read more.
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Industry City: Redevelopment of the Brooklyn Army Terminal will add 2 million square feet of manufacturing space for the city’s industrial sector. Read more.
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Borough Breakout: Any broader New York manufacturing revival would require an overhaul of tax and regulatory policy. Read more.
“This is probably one of the most positive signs in manufacturing in years. We’re seeing for the first time in a while a real entrepreneurial boom in manufacturing in Brooklyn. The question is, will it continue?”
Twitter Take
Center for Urban Future stat: Brooklyn manufacturing average employee size is only 11. Implies entrepreneurial Renaissance. #CUENYC
— Joanna Oltman Smith (@jooltman) March 6, 2015The Past is Present
During a decade in which New York City lost 120,000 manufacturing jobs, [Brooklyn neighborhood] Sunset Park’s industrial zone actually gained 12,000 jobs.
On The Calendar
Distinguished editor John Tamny uses entertaining stories from sports, movies, popular culture, and famous businesses to demonstrate the basic principles of economics, including: how the Rolling Stones, Dallas Cowboys, and Paris Hilton are examples of good and bad tax policy; how The Godfather, Gone With the Wind, and The Sopranos reveal the downside of antitrust regulation, and many more.
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And in other news...
Brooklyn’s booming Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream will soon open a 5,000 manufacturing facility in the borough.