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Garment Center Gets A Reprieve

The Garment Center, the hub of apparel manufacturing in New York City has been seeing a downturn since the 1950s. One of the biggest problems facing companies that wish to employ workers there, besides labor costs, is the skyrocketing cost of rent. Nanette Lepore says the global economic crisis has stopped that trend from getting worse.

“In a sense, we have a reprieve,” Lepore said. “But we’ll be back in this battle again, if we don’t decide that the garment district is important to the heritage of New York.”

Lepore is a New York fashion designer who is unique from many of her counterpart. She manufactures 85 percent of her clothing line in approximately 30 independent factories that are located within a few blocks of her office on West 35th Street.

Most of her competitors have off-shored jobs. Since the 1950s Garment Center apparel manufacturing jobs have been cut from 275,000 to around 20,000 today.

Lepore is passionate about the subject because she thinks the Garment Center is a part of New York City’s heritage, and losing the area would be a major blow to current and future fashion industry movers and shakers.

Nanette Lepore has set up a website about her Save The Garment Center campaign.

Rezoning of the Garment Center could result in the end of the fashion industry in New York. A number of tourists come to the city each year due to events in the area, and key events like “Fashion Week” attract millions of dollars into the area.

People will need to act quick in order to save this historic industry. For now, lower rents are doing the job, but long term success will require new zoning laws and rents that allow local businesses to remain competitive.

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New York City Hoping To Avoid 70’s Disaster

New York City is facing its’ worst financial crisis in years. The last time the City faced so many challenges, the results were devastating. In the 1970s as tax money dried up, city services went along for the ride and residents fled the City in droves as the situation deteriorated.

New York City officials are confident they’ll avoid many of the worst problems this time around.

“The city, obviously, is looking at a deteriorating economy and eroding revenues, but it has a full handle and grasp on the extent of the problems,” said Harrison Goldin. “As painful and difficult as they may be, it is in a position to act pre-emptively and to avoid ending up in the sewer.”

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is seeking a third time in office, says he won’t ignore the lessons of the past.

“I know some are concerned that city services will erode,” he recently told reporters. “Let me remind you that the city went down that road in the 1970s … I can just tell you that we are not going to make that mistake again.”

Of course the problems facing NYC might very well get tougher in coming months, rather than better, as more revenue promises to evaporate. Wall Street firms, in particular, are unlikely to contribute much to the bottom line.

As fewer municipal bonds are purchased, the woes may worsen.

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New York City Real Estate Decline Causing Funding Gap

The decline in the value of New York City real estate is causing a new set of problems. The city faces a $8 billion funding gap as revenue declines mount due to the implosion of Wall Street.

The government of Mayor Mike Bloomberg is already cutting back on staff and expenses, but the latest numbers indicate much more may need to be done in order to avert an economic disaster.

“We don’t know how long the recession will last, or how deep it will be, but it’s clear that New Yorkers should brace themselves for possibly the worst fiscal crisis since the 1970s,” New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

The news is already getting worse. November saw New York City shed 20,000 jobs, the worst numbers since the last recession in 2001. A loss of 175,000 jobs in the next two years is currently expected due to the increased layoffs emerging from the securities sector. Massive investor losses are causing investors to pull money from Wall Street, causing more rapid job losses for the area.

Add in the cuts coming from the state and there’s a smaller piece of the pie for the city to feast on. Bloomberg’s office has already acknowledged that their earlier forecasts are too optimistic and that they’ll be making adjustments again to the city’s budget in upcoming months.

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Hard Times On Broadway

Broadway can’t escape the realities of a global recession. Less people are buying fewer tickets and the issue is hitting producers right in their wallets. There’s less money from investors being pumped into producing shows and the net effect is bad times on Broadway.

Things are expected to get worse before they get any better.

But even the best Broadway press agent cannot spin the fact that New York theater appears to be entering one of its darkest periods: with the surprise announcement on Sunday night that the much-lauded “Gypsy” would close seven weeks ahead of schedule because of poor box-office sales, 12 Broadway productions - including once-dependable crowd pullers like “Grease” and “Hairspray” - will be closing in the first half of January, either because of weak sales or because they were already set to close.

Other ambitious musicals, like “Bob Fosse’s Dancin”‘ and the already delayed production of “Vanities,” are all but officially postponed until at least the 2009-10 season because of financial considerations, people closely involved with those productions said in interviews this week.

It’s not hard to imagine how the troubles keep compounding for Broadway. Consumers have less disposable income than ever, tourism is drying up, and many of the shows currently being offered just aren’t resonating with the fans the way they used. That means now is a great time to revamp your lineup, but there’s nowhere near as much cash floating around for shows as their used to be.

Despite the gloom and doom, many experts thinks matters can be resolved by discounting ticket prices. At $200 per ticket, many people are forced to think twice about attending shows. With discounted offers, companies could expect less per ticket, but for more tickets overall to sell. That philosophy is currently serving Disney well with their properties on Broadway.

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Choosing The Best New York City Hotels

Finding a deal on New York City travel during the recession

New York City has one of the oldest and best regarded hotel industries in the world. Long known for world-class hotels, NYC has recently been going through a period where hotel prices are declining after many years of rising. The recession that’s engulfed the world is also hitting New York City. A case in point: there are currently more cab drivers in the city than cabs. That usually happens when unemployment is high and job opportunities are few and far between.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra Performing At Blue Cross Arena

If you’re looking for another way to get into the spirit of the holidays, you’ll want to be sure to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they perform at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York, on Saturday December 27, 2008 at 8 PM.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra electrifies holiday classics with a sound all their own. This would be a great gift for the music lover in your life, or for yourself!

Ticket prices are as follows:

UPPER LEVEL BOWL SEATING - $37.00 - $47.00
LOWER LEVEL BOWL SEATING - $47.00
FLOOR SEATING - $47.00

Tickets for the show are on sale now. They can be purchased at any Ticketmaster outlet or online.

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New York City Fate Depends On Bailout

Interesting article by Amity Shlaes today concerning the role of New York City after the bailout vote. New York City has a number of pressing issues right now.

Even before this month, the New York gladiator had weaknesses. Analyst Richard Persichetti of real-estate brokerage Grubb & Ellis Co. quantifies not only vacancies in commercial buildings but also “shadow space” and subleases — the millions of square footage New York companies lease, but find they can’t themselves use. Last summer, the top 10 investment companies were holding 6 million square feet (557,418 square meters) of underused space. The shadow number, especially, was a meter of predicted growth that wasn’t happening.

A budget trap also endangered New York’s future. As E.J. McMahon of the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center points out, that trap was laid more than half a century ago. At a 1938 constitutional convention for the state, New York progressives determined that public-pension promises should never be “diminished” — the government couldn’t renege on pensions it promised at the time of hiring.

With Wall Street having such a terrible year, it’s bound to affect New York City, which has been used to the large tax payments it’s been receiving from investment bankers and the like. If a large exodus of jobs continues, their could be dire times indeed for NYC.

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Chrysler Building Sold To Abu Dhabi Investors

The Chrysler building has been sold to Abu Dhabi Investors. The Chrysler building is considered to be an iconic New York structure, and is perhaps the most famous Art Deco building of all.

As oil prices have surged, Middle East investors have poured money into U.S. real estate assets. The building is believed to have sold for $800 million.

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Kenny Chesney And LeAnn Rimes Poets and Pirates Tour

The Poets and Pirates Tour featuring Kenny Chesney and LeeAnn Rimes will be making a stop at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey on Thursday July 24, 2008.

The concert is a rain or shine event and starts at 7:30 PM.

Tickets for the show are $43.50 for General Admission Lawn Standing, $80.75 for Loge seats, $80.75 for Orchestra seats, ans $80.75 for Terrace seats. No video is allowed.

Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets.

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Bon Jovi Playing Free Concert

Bon Jovi will be giving a free concert at Central Park on July 12, 2008.

New York officials confirmed the free concert and dubbed it a prelude to to the July 15, 2008 All-Star baseball game. The All star game will highlight the final season at the Yankee stadium, the Yank’s home field since 1923.

Tickets for the free show will be distributed at Yankee Stadium, but some will also be given out at Shea, Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, and Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island starting on Wednesday.

Please visit the MLB for more information.

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