Joe Lhota
Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota unveiled a job creation plan in Jackson Heights Friday, touting the proposal as something that will strengthen the middle class and break the generational cycle of poverty.
The former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who is running for the city’s highest office against Democratic candidate and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, announced amidst the rows of mom-and-pop shops on 37th Avenue that he wants to execute a four-pronged approach to job creation.’
First, he said he wants to diversify the city’s economy to increase the variety of available jobs, as well as make it easier for different employers to launch businesses in each of the boroughs. Second, the Republican said he hopes to stimulate new industries and attract additional businesses to the city. Third, Lhota emphasized that he hopes to make the five boroughs more affordable places to live and conduct business by cutting taxes. Lastly, he said the city needs to “lower the barriers” to a quality higher education and further invest in the City University system.
“This plan is a blueprint on how to create quality jobs in the city that will expand the middle class,” Lhota said in a prepared statement. “New York City is a city of opportunity, but it’s critical to have the right policies in place that allow us to reach our potential. We need to have a comprehensive approach to expanding job creation in all five boroughs, while ensuring New Yorkers have the skills they need to excel in a growing economy. This is the best way to expand the middle class and break generational cycles of poverty.”
Among the specific recommendations in the proposal, Lhota said the city “relies too heavily on the finance, insurance and real estate industries for jobs and tax revenue” and should instead attempt to attract a more diversified set of businesses. The candidate suggested “stimulating the fast-growing hospitality and high-tech industries” by “encouraging the expansion of biotech and life sciences work.”
Additionally, Lhota noted that hospitality and tourism is the city’s fastest growing industry – employing more than 350,000 individuals throughout the five boroughs. To build on the industry’s expansion, the Republican said the city must remain “affordable, safe and attractive” to those in hospitality. In order to do so, Lhota said he wants to create a flagship CUNY Hospitality Management School, lower the city’s travel taxes and and chop the hotel tax to 5 percents, and “employ sound law enforcement strategies.”
Other initiatives in Lhota’s platform included replicating the Brooklyn Navy Yard model in the other four boroughs and create an Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Business to nurture and advocate on behalf of the city’s “vulnerable manufacturing base.”
Among his plans to make education more affordable, the former MTA chairman said he would establish a free online community college program for all city residents and create a tech campus in each borough, starting with Staten Island.
By Anna Gustafson
