Silver Announces Chinatown Empire Zone Designation

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver today announced that the Lower Manhattan Chinatown community has been designated as an Empire Zone by New York State. The designation will provide a significant economic boost to a community still struggling to rebuild in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"No community in New York State is more deserving of Empire Zone benefits than Chinatown," said Silver. "After four years of battling the partisan politics that, until now, controlled the designation process, we are taking a tremendous step forward in rebuilding our downtown community and returning it to the vibrant, exciting neighborhood it was and deserves to be again."

Silver, who has in the past praised the Empire Zone program as a highly effective economic-development tool, has also been critical of the way the program has been administered and the politicalization of the zone-designation process. To bring about needed changes to address these problems, Silver initiated an Empire Zone reform plan in 2005 that resulted in dramatic legislative improvements, including reform of the designation process, which had until now, been controlled by the governor's office.

"Prior to this year, the executive controlled the creation of all new zones," said Silver. "As a result of the reforms we put in place last year, we are ensuring that this and future designations are based on a community's needs, rather than political expediency."

Silver noted that in the downtown commercial community, retail shops, restaurants and other small businesses were particularly hard hit in recent years. With more than 50,000 jobs lost in Lower Manhattan and a reduction in tourist traffic to Chinatown and the surrounding neighborhoods since September 11, delis, restaurants, clothing stores, newsstands and other businesses experienced a precipitous drop in revenues that continues to cause economic hardship more than four years later.

"By fostering all kinds of commercial activity, a Lower Manhattan Empire Zone will stimulate economic activity that has been missing from our community since September 11," said Silver.

The Empire Zone concept was created by Silver and the Assembly Majority in 2000 to bolster struggling communities all around the state by using a range of tax-based incentives to attract new businesses and support existing ones.

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Click here, to view an explanation of Empire Zone tax benefits.