NEW YORK FORUM ABOUT BUSINESS - I Manufacture Opportunity CITY Edition

• Published in: Newsday
• Main Author: By J. David Sweeny. J. David Sweeny is the director of
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 25.03.1991
• Edition: Combined editions

One such group of manufacturers in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, have been trying to convert a 360,000-square-foot industrial complex into a woodworking and furniture design center for five years. Their proposal would create dozens of new businesses by offering amenities and services in an incubator setting (in which fledgling firms share equipment and certain costs) to small start-up firms. Over 200 new woodworking and cabinet-making jobs would be generated. The Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program is a good example. Administered by the Department of Finance, ICIP gives business owners tax breaks if they expand their existing facilities or buy new ones. But businesses are now putting expansion plans on the back burner. The only relocations are coming from producers downscaling their operations. Should the ICIP be used to encourage this sort of industrial shrinkage? The city, led by the Office of Economic Development, should do more to finance start-up companies, to sponsor technology-led enterprise within the City College and technical schools, and to encourage small-business creation in low-income neighborhoods. Smaller, more flexible revolving loan funds, which are constantly replenished, are crucial. Coupled with a venture capital program and a more active small-business investment plan, a creative start-up financing scheme would add considerably to the city's garden of budding businesses. Industry cooperatives and industrial extension programs (like their agricultural counterparts) are also promising.