By Matthew J. Perlman, CUNY graduate student
Bidding goodbye to Mayor Michael Bloomberg won’t be easy for the business community.
“He’s one of our own,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership forNew York City, a nonprofit association of city business leaders.
Ms. Wylde moderated a discussion Wednesday among four Democrats—all of them current or former elected city officials—who want to replace Mr. Bloomberg. They appeared together at Crain’s annual Future of New York City conference. It was an audition of sorts before an influential audience that could help or hurt their ability to raise their profile as the November 2013 election season gets underway.
Ms. Wylde and others on panels and in the audience made it clear that the conference was their opening shot in trying to influence the next mayor.
The four candidates each hewed to familiar stances. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn aligned herself most closely with Mr. Bloomberg, touting her experience as a manager of city budgets.
City Comptroller John Liu again aggressively denounced the Bloomberg administration’s use of tax subsidies to spur development through the Economic Development Corp.
Former comptroller Bill Thompson, the only officially declared candidate on the panel, spoke generally about helping businesses in the outer boroughs—a geography that will be necessary for him to capture in order to prevail in a crowded primary.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio reiterated his support for a tax increase on the wealthy.
“We’re not on the right track,” he said, noting the city’s growing income disparity and calling for a bolstering of education programs. He touted his plan to increase taxes on New Yorkers earning $500,000 or more and using that revenue to support early-education efforts.
Ms. Quinn said she was optimistic about the future of New York City’s economy, saying it has recovered from the recession better than any other part of the country. She said the city “needs to build strong middle class jobs.”
Mr. Thompson, who lost to Mr. Bloomberg in 2009, said growth will come in the small business sector, and part of this involves keeping taxes for owners low.
“We don’t want to tax people out of the city,” he said.
Mr. Liu called for the elimination of tax subsidies, saying that tax incentives for development projects have not been effective in creating jobs.
“Eliminate all subsidies and lower taxes,” he said.
Small business came up in many of the panel discussions earlier in the day, and the potential candidates agreed that the best thing the city can do is to get rid of burdensome rules and regulations.
They all said, for example, that city’s massive system of fines and fees were onerous.
“The vast majority of businesses don’t want the city’s help,” said Mr. Liu. “They just want the government to get out of the way. “
Hurricane Sandy was also a hot topic. The candidates all talked about storm prevention measures such as sea walls. Mr. Liu took the ideas a step further, calling for the use of federal relief money to update and improve infrastructure.
When the conversation turned to the national debate about the extension of Bush-era tax breaks, the candidates all agreed that New York will take a hit. Tax-deduction limits were especially problematic for New Yorkers whose incomes and property values are generally higher than elsewhere in the United States. The candidates also lamented that the city chronically sends far more money in taxes to Washington than it receives back in funding. The ratio is around 80 cents returned to New York for every dollar sent in taxes.
Mr. Thompson said the mayor should work with other big cities around the country to promote “an urban agenda.” He noted that population shifts have reduced the number of New York City congressional seats, making the city even less influential in Washington.
For an audience anxiously awaiting the 2013 election, the panel offered a look under the hoods of the some in the Democratic field. The candidates’ differences are slowly emerging, but it takes forums like this one to flesh them out.
“The business community is very eager to be a partner to whoever gets elected,” said Ms. Wylde.