Economic Opportunity

NYC’s waterfront and waterways present exciting opportunities to build upon the green economy, sustain and create a diverse mix of jobs for New Yorkers, improve key infrastructure and support tourism in the next 10 years and beyond.   

 

Throughout its history, the New York Harbor has played a vital role in creating economic opportunity for New Yorkers. NYC grew into a domestic and international center of trade and commerce partly due to the presence of its deep harbor and connection to the Erie Canal.  

The City can help generate economic opportunity for New Yorkers by expanding access to well-paying jobs as part of its climate mitigation strategies. These strategies include transforming how energy is produced and distributed in NYC, retrofitting buildings to be more efficient, and promoting greener forms of production and distribution. In addition, the City can help equip New Yorkers with the skills they need to find jobs in established and emerging industries that provide the potential for careers. These efforts, combined with enhancements to infrastructure and cleaning up contaminated sites, help drive economic growth and upward mobility in economically disadvantaged communities and improve their quality of life. 

 

Advocate for a 21st century working waterfront by pivoting to green technology and environmentally sustainable practices

+ How can we do it?

  • Position NYC to become a regional hub for the manufacturing, assembly, installation and operation of offshore wind components by upgrading key waterfront facilities.
  • Study the potential for renewable energy generation and storage on Rikers Island.
  • Streamline permitting processes to unlock the safe and rapid deployment of battery energy storage.
  • Continue to work with energy stakeholders to reduce reliance on old, inefficient fossil fuel-based generators located along the waterfront.
  • Pursue energy efficiency and sustainable energy solutions on City-owned waterfront property including school sites, housing campuses and wastewater treatment facilities.
  • Increase the availability of shore power whereby cruise ships can plug into the local electricity grid and turn off auxiliary engines while at dock to reduce or eliminate on-site emissions.
  • Support the research and implementation of alternative fuels and other clean technology in the maritime industry to reduce carbon and particulate emissions from vessels.
  • Promote low- and zero-emission vehicles that provide last-mile delivery to businesses and consumers.
  • Leverage the City's procurement power to drive increased safety, efficiency and sustainability in freight.
  • Improve the efficiency and sustainability of air travel by expanding capacity at airports and working with airlines and other stakeholders to reduce noise and greenhouse gas emissions.

Harness NYC’s waterfront setting to help diversify the economy and drive equitable economic recovery

+ How can we do it?

  • Activate and modernize publicly controlled waterfront sites with business activity that grows and diversifies the city's economy, including industrial, tech, creative and cultural uses.
    • Continue investing in the reactivation of the Brooklyn Army Terminal to attract both large and small manufacturers that offer well-paying jobs.
    • Continue to modernize the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center by enhancing resiliency measures, promoting more variety in freight transportation and implementing workforce development strategies.
    • Support the creation of a creative campus at Bush Terminal to encourage the continued growth of the fashion and film industries by offering affordable industrial space for garment manufacturing, film and media production, and related services.
    • Position Governors Island to become a center for climate solutions and a lively, year-round destination with academic, commercial, non-profit and cultural uses that support expanded public access.
    • Grow the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a major employment center by implementing a campus-wide plan.
  • Help businesses acquire property, construct and renovate facilities, and invest in equipment.
    • Utilize the IDA's benefits to grow companies that create well-paying jobs for New Yorkers.
    • Provide seed funding, business management education and branding assistance to support business development.
    • Advocate for funding programs such as Business PREP, to support resiliency planning by small businesses to prepare business interruptions and other negative effects from climate change.
  • Address the need for additional workspace for a wide variety of activities, flexibility to accommodate evolving business needs, as well as the building, site, and logistical needs of waterfront commercial and industrial uses.
    • Identify opportunities to implement new zoning tools (such as those proposed by NYCDCP for the Gowanus Neighborhood Plan) to allow more space for a wider and more flexible variety of business activities in industrial and commercial waterfront areas.
    • Continue to support opportunities for mixed-use growth in waterfront communities, including transit-accessible clusters of office and other workspaces.
    • Support the availability of space and real estate stability that industrial businesses require for their operation by discouraging residential rezonings in IBZs.
  • Help small businesses and M/W/BEs sustain and expand their businesses.
    • Work with partners in government, business, and the nonprofit sector to provide financial resources and expertise to small businesses to help them reopen and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Provide free legal services through the Commercial Lease Assistance Program to help businesses with lease-related issues.
    • Continue to address barriers that make it difficult for M/W/BEs to win contracts on public projects.
    • Identify and work with an operator to establish a program to assist M/W/BEs with opportunities in waterfront construction, including offshore wind infrastructure development.
 
 

Connect investments on the waterfront to employment and career advancement opportunities for New Yorkers.

+ How can we do it?

  • Help job seekers and incumbent workers develop high-demand skills in existing and emerging industries on the waterfront, as outlined in New York Works.
    • Use Workforce1 Career Centers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Brooklyn Army Terminal and other business zone clusters to help New Yorkers access industrial jobs.
    • Work with CUNY colleges, industry stakeholders and unions to prepare students and faculty for in-demand jobs, including those in industries along the waterfront such as offshore wind.
    • Provide NYC residents aged 21 and over that have not obtained a high school diploma with technical, trade, construction or entrepreneurial skills to pursue meaningful employment or post-secondary education through career and technical education (CTE) courses.
    • Continue to develop connections between CTE schools and the maritime industry through internships, apprenticeships and maritime career awareness opportunities.
    • Develop curriculum in CTE programs and universities, including CUNY, that provide students with the ability to graduate into careers or continue to higher education in maritime commerce, supply chain management, operations research and other related fields.
    • Train young adults aged 18 to 24 who reside in NYCHA buildings in environmental stewardship, building green infrastructure, urban farming, and resident education through the AmeriCorps Green City Force program.
    • Train and pay workers to clean and green NYC's parks, playgrounds, and other facilities while also providing skills training and career coaching to find permanent work through NYC Parks' Parks Opportunity Program (POP).
    • Push for State legislation to drive economic recovery in economically disadvantaged communities by requiring contractors and businesses working with the City to hire low-income New Yorkers.
    • Expand access to construction and building service jobs by prioritizing low-income New Yorkers and NYCHA residents for such positions.
    • Through the Department of Youth and Community Development, promote internships and job shadow initiatives with public agencies and private companies to introduce NYC public school students to waterfront careers, including offshore wind.

Advance categories of investments in waterfront areas that broadly support economic activity locally and throughout the region.

+ How can we do it?

  • Continue to implement Food Forward NYC, Freight NYC, and Delivering New York: A Smart Truck Management Plan, which include infrastructure and operational strategies to ensure that NYC's supply chains are modern, efficient and resilient.
    • Support regional and local projects that advance the U.S. Department of Transportation's Marine Highway Program initiatives to enable NYC to shift to a hub-and-spoke approach with marine highway barging operations.
    • Continue to leverage federal and State grants to support marine highway services.
    • Continue investment in critical waterfront food distribution infrastructure, including the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center.
    • Promote waterborne and rail options through investment in new infrastructure near or adjacent to key NYC food markets.
    • Advocate for deepening primary navigation channels, where appropriate, to advance container, offshore wind, recreation and other marine activities, and deepening secondary channels that provide access to marine terminals and recreational boating marinas.
    • Support the development of geographically dispersed freight hubs across the city.
    • Advocate for federal infrastructure funding to improve the ease of loading and unloading goods from water to land and vice versa.
    • Analyze and support strategies to move more e-commerce freight by water, including encouraging distributors to use waterborne options to reach fulfillment centers located along NYC's waterways.
    • Support NYCDOT's freight programs for curbside management and off-hour deliveries, particularly when pedestrian volumes are high and curb space is limited.
  • Build and maintain waterfront infrastructure to support day-to-day harbor operations while identifying means to address deferred maintenance.
    • Invest in preventative maintenance technology for bulkheads to reduce corrosion and decrease future capital reconstruction needs.
    • Activate and refurbish more of NYC's existing piers and docks to move goods by water and to create growth opportunities for NYC maritime businesses.
  • Improve capital project delivery to accommodate the current and future needs of waterfront communities, particularly those that have experienced historical disinvestment and face the greatest risks from the effects of climate change.
    • Expand use of triple-bottom-line planning among City agencies, with a focus on inter-agency collaboration to maximize the economic, environmental, and social benefits of capital investments.
    • Promote forward-looking, holistic capital planning, target investment in infrastructure in advance of growth and recognize historical disinvestment trends in certain areas.
    • Incorporate Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines into all capital project design and construction exposed to climate hazards.
  • Upgrade critical regional transportation infrastructure at or near the waterfront to help improve the reliability and resiliency of NYC's transportation network while linking millions of people to well-paying jobs.
    • Advocate for federal funding for the Gateway Program, which will provide new tunnels across the Hudson River to increase capacity and redundancy and allow for the proper rehabilitation of the existing 110-year-old tunnels that sustained damaged from Hurricane Sandy and face growing risk from rising sea levels.
    • Support implementation of near-term and long-term flood mitigation measures introduced by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to address critical climate vulnerabilities.
  • Promote the clean-up of contaminated sites and waterways.
    • Continue use of the Brownfield Incentive Grant Program to support the cleanup and redevelopment of vacant and underutilized property in NYC.
    • Support the expansion of the Clean Soil Bank to provide low-cost soils for construction of berms and other structures to make the City's waterfront more resilient and sustainable.
    • Continue use of pre-development grants to support community-based organizations that seek to redevelop vacant or underutilized property in their communities.
    • Continue use of federal funds to help remediate sites where the City is financing construction of affordable or supportive housing and to help community-based organizations that want to develop new buildings in their communities conduct Phase I and Phase II studies.
    • Support the extension of the State's voluntary Brownfield Cleanup Program tax credits, which will expire in 2022.
 
 

Promote the use of our waterways for entertainment, hospitality, and education to provide jobs and drive tourism, including ecotourism.

+ How can we do it?

  • Celebrate NYC's waterfront and waterways in marketing initiatives to highlight tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs.
  • Complete planned upgrades of the NYC cruise ship terminals in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
  • Ensure that berthing locations can accommodate a wide variety of vessels, including tug and barge operators, excursion operators, and cultural, historic and educational ships.
  • Support the network of commercial and non-profit marinas that anchor many of NYC's waterfront communities and provide access to recreational boating services.
    • Support historic vessels and non-profit uses of public marinas and docks, where feasible.
    • Reduce permitting and operational barriers to marina operations, including routine dredging, dock rehabilitation, and bulkhead maintenance.
    • Ensure that permitting for marina operations supports necessary long-term investments in resiliency and capital and provide opportunity for community input.

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