Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey hey hey. Are you getting Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. down. Good afternoon and welcome to today's hearing on the fiscal 2027 preliminary budget for the New York City Economic Development Corporation. My name is Virginia Maloney and I'm honored to chair this committee on economic development. We're joined today by my esteemed colleagues, Council Member Brewer, Council Member Ferdas, Council Member Riley, and Council Member Chanel Thomas Henry on Zoom. Thank you for being here. Today we're hearing from the New York City Economic Development Corporation on their budget, including the preliminary capital commitment plan and updates to the 2025 investment projects. These programs, which utilize taxpayer dollars, should support and be well integrated with one another to properly execute the city's economic development and vital infrastructure goals. Today, we plan to examine to what extent that's occurring, where improvements can be made, and the overall feasibility of EDC's preliminary plan. EDC is the city's primary agent for economic development, and their principal mandate is to encourage investment and to attract, retain, and create jobs here in New York City. As such, this committee is interested in having a robust conversation about how EDC's budget connects to that larger goal of job creation and economic development strategies for the city while maintaining equity and equipping historically underserved communities with tools for long-term success. One of the largest investments in EDC's budget is the World Cup, and we'll want to be digging into the investments there and how we plan to bring growth to businesses workforces cultural organizations, and community organizations across our city. One of the ways EDC supports the growth of the city's economy and job market is through what it calls investment projects. These represent discretionary financial assistance largely in the form of tax breaks and taxexempt bond financing. In fiscal year 2025, EDC provided subsidies to 28 new investment projects totaling 44.9 million. In addition, there were over 400 projects still active in fiscal 2025, some of which started in the9s. Clearly, these projects can have costs that are borne by the city over a long very long time frame. So, for that reason, it's important that we make sure each project provides the city and its residents a worthwhile return. Um, I would also like to hear some of the updates about the recent investment projects and their impact on the city's budget and how EDC will be using their ability to pro provide discretionary tax breaks going forward. The capital commitment plan um which we'll be digging into includes key investments that are that fund for city-owned grocery stores, redevelopment of the Hunts Point Produce Market and Kingsbridge Armory and Waterfront resiliency infrastructure. These projects serve critical needs within our communities from food access to transportation to supporting small business and workforce development. So today, I would like EDC to provide the committee with information on how these investments will benefit New Yorkers who are most in need and how the corporation has determined that this is the most effective use of our resources, especially considering the ongoing effort to find city savings within our city agencies. And I would also like EDC to give us some information regarding revenue contributed by EDC to the general fund and net revenue generated postcontributions to the general fund. Uh it is essential that the budget that we adopt is transparent, accountable, and reflective of the priorities and interests of the council and the people we represent. This hearing is a vital part of that process. I look forward to an active engagement with the administration over the next few months as well to ensure that the upcoming fiscal 2027 adopted budget meets the goals that the council has outset. I want to thank the EDC staff for being here today and for testifying. I know we were all hoping that we would have a president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation here and I urge the administration to fill that position as economic development is so critical for the future of our city. But I'm grateful for you all to be here today. I also want to thank the EDC staff who's been consistently responsive to so many of our requests. We would not be able to analyze the city's budget at such a detailed level without your cooperation. So thank you. And before we begin, I would like to thank the finance staff Spencer Hector German, Daniel Kun, Emoria Dev, and Shima Overashair for their work on this hearing, as well as the committee staff, Alex Pollenov, and William Horn for their support. And I would also like to thank Sophie Secor from my team and Shelby Garner, my chief, for all their work to prepare for this hearing. and I will now turn it over to the committee council to administer the oath to members of the administration. >> Thank you, Chair Alex Pollenov, committee council. Will all members of the administration testifying today please raise your right hands? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in your testimony today and to respond honestly to council member questions? >> Thank you. You may begin when ready. Good good afternoon, Chair Maloney and members of the economic development committee. Happy uh St. Patrick's Day, everyone, and we really appreciate being here. My name is Jeannie Pac, and I'm currently serving as the interim president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, as well as its chief financial officer. I am here today with my chief of staff, Jen Montavo, Shahila Stevens, EVP of equity and community impact, Josh Krauss, chief infrastructure officer, and Anton Frederickson, SVP, and heads of ports, waterfront, and transportation. I am excited to share the progress we have made over the last year. We know that to make our city more affordable and liveable livable, New York City needs a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy. At EDC, our mission is to build just that. Our work touches every corner of the five burrows, driving economic development and growth. We are incredibly excited to continue and advance this work under Mayor Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Sue, and all of our agency partners in city government. EDC has maintained a strong dedication to promoting equitable economic development across the five burrows, working to ensure that our prosperity reaches every New Yorker who calls our city home. We have long integrated principles of economic justice through our projects and initiatives from developing and building thousands of units of affordable housing to supporting increased economic mobility MWBEs and diverse entrepreneurship to helping businesses open their doors and hire locally to creating jobs that pay well and offer security to redeveloping assets and neighborhoods so New Yorkers have cleaner, safer, and greener livable spaces. Our projects have sought to expand opportunity and growth across the five burrows. We continue this work today. While my while my title may be interim, we have already hit the ground running on a number of different initiatives under the Mumani administration, including launching an RFP last month for modular restrooms across New York City, which will expand access to public bathrooms. We are also in conversations with the administration on how EDC can support the public groceries initiative across the five bureaus increasing food affordability to all New Yorkers. All of our efforts are guided by and implemented through four strategic pillars. The first building neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play. At EDC, we are committed to making neighborhoods places where New Yorkers can live, learn, work, and play. This means everything from planning affordable housing projects that support families staying in New York City, fostering industries of the future to promote job growth through the five burrows, constructing open spaces for children to play, and partnering with local communities and cultural organizations to grow community oriented facilities and programming. At EDC, we do projects big and small through the five burrows. I will now take you through a quick tour of the five burrows and hit on some of the work we are doing for New Yorkers. Starting in the Bronx, last October, our ambitious plan to transform Kingsbridge Armory was approved by the city council. From a training ground for troops during the First World War to distributing supplies after Hurricane Sandy and during CO 19, Kingsbridge Armory has served our city and the people of the Bronx for generations. Backed by 216 million in city, state, and federal investments, this transformation of the Kingsbridge Armory will deliver 500 units of 100% permanently affordable housing, so more families and working people in the Bronx have an affordable home. In addition, the redevelopment will deliver a state-of-the-art venue space for entertainment, recreational, cultural, community, and commercial spaces, as well as an industrial manufacturing space to the neighborhood, making it a worldclass destination for entertainment, work, and play in our city. And importantly, it will increase 3,600 jobs with a focus on local jobs, delivering good paying careers to Bronx residents. Moving to Hunts Point. In December, we announced an historic agreement to advance the redevel redevelopment of the Hunts Point produce market. The redevelopment envisions a new fully electric and modernized facility which will continue to bring affordability and healthy food to New Yorkers who need it most as well as preserve thousands of good paying jobs and dramatically improve the quality of life for an environmentally overburdened community by eliminating the diesel fueled refriger refrigerated trucks that sit idle at the market. Hunts Point is a critical component of the city's food supply chain and its redevelopment will help protect and strengthen the city's food security. Last November, we progressed another key link in our blue highway network while removing a painful relic of the past with a long-awaited dismantling of the Vernon C. Bane jail barge at Hunts Point. In its place, we will build a gateway to a cleaner fure, the Hunts Point Marine Terminal, which will move goods like fish, meat, and produce from ships onto barges and feries for last mile delivery across the five burrows. Both bolstering our food security while getting trucks off the streets and getting healthy food to New Yorkers faster, making the entire Bronx area more sustainable while also generating good paying jobs in maritime and the green economy. and we are expanding access to jobs that provide economic security in the Bronx through the Hunts Point Economic Mobility Network. Last June, we named the Greater Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation to lead this $1.4 million investment that connects the local workforce to good paying jobs in future focused industries like the green economy and tech and partners with countless local businesses and organizations. Turning to the world's burrow queens, EDC is transforming this valley of ashes at Willitz Point to a place where New Yorkers and families can thrive for generations to come. At the core of this transformation is the creation of 2,500 100% affordable homes, the largest affordable housing project New York City has seen in over 40 years. We are reimagining and re rebuilding this neighborhood into a vibrant and modern urban hub with more than 40,000 square feet of public open space, a new public school, and more housing. Last month, the housing lottery for the first 880 units closed and we anticipator anticipate New Yorkers to be opening the doors to their new homes this spring. And soon the world's sports will come to the world's burrow with the fully electric privately financed Etiad Stadium scheduled to be ready to welcome the NYCFC for the 2027 MLS season and open to the world for the 2028 Olympics. And as I'm sure most of you have seen recently the mayor took a trip down to Washington to discuss a transformative housing project, Sunnyside Yard. We are excited to be having conversations with the mayor and his administration about the previous Sunnyside Yard master plan and we are looking forward to identifying important next steps for this project with city hall and our federal, state, and local partners. We will work closely with the communities surrounding Sunnyside Yard to ensure that any future plans reflect and uplift their needs and priorities. Moving to Brooklyn last September, the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Task Force after more than a year of robust robust public engagement advanced an historic redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. At the heart of this plan is turning a long neglected decaying container terminal into a 60 acre modern all-electric port that will be the crown jewel in our Blue Highways network. taking trucks off our streets and moving more goods on our waterways, making our city cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable. Alongside the state-of-the-art port, we are building 6,000 new homes in the area, of which 2,400 will be permanently affordable. At a moment in time when our city faces a housing crisis, this will be a transformative project delivering thousands of affordable homes. The transformation of this site is anchored by a project labor agreement that brings tens of thousands of well-paying jobs, including 2,000 permanent jobs, to the Brooklyn community. Jobs that Red Hook residents can build a life around and support their families with. This project will bring more open space, parks, and affordable industrial and commercial space to the neighborhood. Additionally, the project will produce a $200 million investment in the Nicha Red Hook Houses to ensure residents have safe, highquality, affordable affordable homes and it will generate $18 billion of economic impact for the city and the community. The project is currently moving forward through the environmental review process and we look forward to continuing significant milestones later this year. In Coney Island, we are making significant investments in helping to modernize the neighborhood's infrastructure while building new homes, adding to the vibrancy of this historic neighborhood. We recently announced a $1 billion investment in reconstructing the Regalman Boardwalk, which includes upgrades to all 2.7 miles of the structure. We are also redeveloping the Abe Stark Sports Center, including the construction of a new h ice hockey rink and bringing 1,500 new homes, 25% of which will be affordable online in the coming years. We would like to thank council for their partnership in advancing the special permit for the Seaside Park and Community Arts Center, a key milestone in keeping the beloved amphitheater as an epicenter of Coney Island. At EDC, we are committed to bringing economic opportunities, services, and infrastructure to long underserved communities. New Yorkers deserve good jobs, safe streets, and bright, welcoming public spaces. In East Brooklyn, we are delivering just that with a generational investment in the Broadway Junction redevelopment, bringing two vibrant public spaces to the area, improving quality of life, creating family sustaining jobs, and unlocking inclusive economic growth through East New York. And last year we launched the East Brooklyn Workforce Fund, which is connecting lo local Brooklynite job seekers to employment opportunities in legacy industri industrial emerging construction and green economy sectors. That means more jobs in construction, more jobs in renewable energy, and more jobs in real estate and property development for New Yorkers in East Brooklyn. The Sunset Park District is a critical focal point in our efforts to marry climate action with a growing and just economy. For too long, the Sunset Park community has faced heightened risks from flooding, air quality problems, and industrial pollution. With our partners, we are working to make Sunset Park the center of offshore wind in New York City by transforming the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a nationleading offshore wind hub. Currently, the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal is over 90% complete with over 1,000 goodaying green collar and union jobs already created on site. We are also making significant investments in expanding opportunity and economic mobility for local workers and businesses in Sunset Park. In June of last year, we launched the Sunset Park Economic Mobility Network, connecting local New Yorkers to good paying jobs in the green economy, life sciences, manufacturing, and maritime industries. Just a few miles away at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, in addition to supporting over a 100 businesses and thousands of employees at this critically important industrial campus, we are building a worldclass climate innovation hub. Bat Works will anchor a growing ecosystem along the New York Harbor for new climate technologies and entrepreneurs working to develop develop, pilot, and deploy new solutions to combat the effects of climate change. It would also be home to the largest green workforce training facility in New York City, connecting New Yorkers, including residents in the Sunset Park community, to real economic opportunity while supporting green industrial growth. Heading across the harbor to Staten Island. Last May, we continue we continued to advance the Staten Island Northshore action plan by announcing the developers of 600 new housing units on Stapleton, which will be the city's largest mass timber residential development and over a 100 units will be affordable. This is part of a historic $400 million city investment in Staten Island's Northshore, which will create 2,400 homes, over 20 acres of public space, deliver more than 7,500 good paying and family sustaining jobs, and 3.8 billion in economic impact over 30 years. And after wide ranging wide ranging public engagement, we recently announced a new vision for the future of two key sites on Staten Island's Northshore. Empire Outlets and the formerly New York Whale site and the former New York Whale site. At the heart of this vision is a new vibrant mixeduse waterfront neighborhood near the ferry terminal with up to 2,500 new homes, open space, community facilities, and retail options for Staten Island Islanders. Connecting more families and workers to public transportation, delivering affordable homes, increasing quality of life, and meeting the needs of the community. We are also helping connect to connect more Staten Islanders to good paying jobs and career opportunities. This February, we released the North Staten Island Northshare Fund RFP. The fund is designed to expand and strengthen workforce programs that serve young Staten Islanders across the Northshore, expanding pathways to good paying careers and develing hope and dignity to young people through increased access to employment. At EDC, we are committed to finding creative ways to get housing online fast while preserving precious city subsidy where possible. Manhattan is a great example where we have three different housing projects that collectively could deliver more than 5,000 new homes with the three projects ranging from 25 to 55% affordable. These include Ganzavort Square we where we have selected developers for a project which will deliver 600 mixed income units with over half the units being affordable and will be colllocated with the expansion of the Whitney Museum and the Highline along with newly constructed open space. In the financial district 100 goal will create nearly 3,700 homes 25% which will be affordable. And in the upper upper west side, we have an RFP open to transform the Bloomingdale Library into up to 850 units of muchneeded affordable housing while creating a new state-of-the-art library. Last year, we began deconstructioning deconstruction at the Spark Kips Bay site where we are transforming an entire New York City block into a state-of-the-art and firstofits-kind education, job innovation hub focused on life sciences and health tech. The campus will help allow students to attend college attend high school, college, and advanced degree programs on the same campus as those at the forefront of med medicine and life sciences. We believe that this campus will create synergies and help build the next generation of leaders in what will be a critical industry of the future. Our second pillar is growing innovation industries with a focus on equity. Our city has always been powered by diverse talent, ingenuity, and the belief of the possibility of tomorrow. But it has flourished because we have invested in our greatest asset, our people, the entrepreneurs, the dreamers, the scientists, and the young people who dare to build the future. At EDC, we seek to harness that talent and foster the next generation of leaders in tech, healthcare, life sciences, the green economy, education, and workforce development. Tech New York City is a boom booming global tech hub, number two in the world. Our programs and initiatives in partnership with investors, innovators, and academic institutions are moving the sector forward. Through our workforce development programs, we're helping bridge the opportunity gap and building pipelines to the high techch good paying jobs of the future. Just a few weeks ago, we announced the fifth cohort of our founder fellowship program, which seeks to address long-standing inequities in tech. Since the Founder Fellowship launched in 2022, we have opened the door to nearly 400 New York City-based entrepreneurs across 243 startups who have raised over 170 million in follow-on capital. That means more New Yorkers are opening offices, creating better jobs, employing people, launching new products, and scaling their businesses. And our 2025 CUTUNI startup internship program placed more than 110 New York City-based students at over 80 startups and venture capital firms across the five bureaus with many of them continuing their internship beyond the summer or receiving full-time offers putting more young New Yorkers on the pathway to high wage jobs in tech. The green economy New York City has always been at the forefront of finding solutions to the challenges of today and tomorrow. As we all know, the climate crisis is here. But so are the solutions to combat it. By developing these solutions, we can also build a thriving green economy for all of us. A green economy that creates good paying jobs, makes our city more livable and affordable, our neighborhoods healthier and more resilient, and cements New York City as a leader in innovation, sustainability, and climate solutions. EDC's green economy action plan, a firstofits-kind plan, lays out a roadmap to grow to growing our green economy. As mentioned earlier, in Sunset Park at Brooklyn Army Terminal, we are building the climate innovation hub, a hund00 million investment bringing business development incubation research and workforce development programs to a 4 million square foot campus, turning Sunset Park into center for innovation, advanced manufacturing, and workforce training. Life Sciences. Similar to the tech sector and the green economy, we want to make New York City the number one global hub for life sciences. New York City is where innovation happens and we can make it the center of life sciences where people find cures to chronic diseases, create the new life saving saving vaccines, pioneer new treatments, and make the scientific discoveries for tomorrow. As mentioned earlier, a once- ina generation project at Sparks Kips Bay will make New York City a leader in life sciences, healthcare, and public health. Once complete, this is where we'll invent new vaccines, and unlock the knowledge that will help millions of people live longer, healthier lives, create high wage, high growth jobs in for New Yorkers, and build a pipeline of opportunity for our young people in the jobs of the future. We are also committed to ensuring diversity in our contracting, expanding the ladder of opportunity to more New Yorkers. In fiscal 25, 30% of all awards went to MWBees, equating to 234 million in contract value. Our MWB focused programs like Construct NYC and Waterfront Pathways create critical pipelines for for diverse firms to access EDC contracts while also giving them technical and financial support to expand. Our third pillar, delivering sustainable infrastructure. At EDC, we work to deliver sustainable the sustainable infrastructure New York City needs today and for the future. Earlier this year, together with NYC Ferry, we announced the 50 millionth rider in the history of the system. NYC Ferry operates with the lowest subsidy per rider of any publicly funded passenger only ferry system in the US and a lower subsidy than both the Long Island Railroad and Metro North. We do this while continuing to expand access and affordability to New York City riders through the Fairs program and making it cheaper for high school students and senior New Yorkers to get around the city. At EDC, we are committed to expanding increasing access to New Yorkers to to our to to New York to New Yorkers to our parks, waterfronts, and public green spaces, improving the quality of life for underserved communities, and creating more spaces for pedestrians and cyclists to get around the city. Working with our partners at New York City DOT and Parks, our greenway projects total 7.5 miles, including over one and over $1.5 billion investments from the Manhattan Water Greenway to the Staten Island Waterfront Greenway and to Queensway in central Queens, making the five burrows greener, healthier, and expanding access to more New Yorkers. New York City has always been a maritime city. Our past economic su success built on the back of a natural network of waterways with trade, business, and shipping. Our blue highways initiative builds on this legacy. Investing in sustainable infrastructure that moves goods off the street, streets, and roadways and onto our waterways, reducing pollution and making our city cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable. from from Hunts Point to the Brooklyn waterfront to Manhattan. Our blue highway network will reduce truck traffic and get goods, produce, and food to New Yorkers faster and more efficiently. Sustainable infrastructure is not just limited to our waterways. We are making our sky quieter and greener with the electrification of our helicopter infrastructure. Last year, we unveiled the na newly named Downtown Downtown Skyport, formerly known as the Downtown Manhattan Hleport, which we are transforming into a hub for sustainable transportation and last mile freight delivery. Upgrading the site's infrastructure for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and building out maritime freight birthing infrastructure to also make New York City's Blue Highway a real reality. And the fourth pillar, strengthening business competence. EDC works to strengthen competence in New York City as a pla great place to do business, ensuring that industry and business leaders entrepreneurs investors and top talent have confidence that our city, the world's 10th largest economy, is the best city in the world to do business. And this summer is going to be a big one. With our city welcoming the 2026 FIFA World Cup in 86 days, we are also welcoming Sale 250 to our harbor, a maritime celebration of the 250th anniversary of the USA. Both events present us with a once and generation e economic opportunity that will generate billions of dollars, helping support jobs and local businesses. This is a rare moment to show the world that New York City is open for business to a global audience of tourists, companies, investors, and delegations. In conclusion, at EDC, we don't measure our work in months or years. We think in terms of decades and generational change. From the northshore of Staten Island to the Brooklyn W waterfront to the fish and meat markets at Essex Street to the largest food distribution center in the nation at Hunts Point, our projects and initiatives seek to build an equitable equitable and competitive economy. An economy that ensures the promise and prosperity of our city reaches this generation and the next. We believe in building a city where hope and ambition create new industries and opportunities. A city that is more affordable and sustainable. a city that allows our workers and businesses to succeed. A city where families can thrive and grow. We are proud to work in partnership with the city council to improve the lives of our neighbors, expand opportunity, ensure New York City remains a global hub of business, culture, and innovation. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today, and we welcome any questions you have. Thank you so much for that testimony and for the very thorough overview of all the work that EDC does across all five buraus and touching key sectors like tech, life sciences, the green economy. That was very helpful. Thank you so much. I want to acknowledge we've been joined by Council Member Gutierrez and Council Member Banks. Thank you for being here. Um just to start with some of the questions about the the higher level economic context. Um, so many many of the inclusions in the preliminary plan, especially in the preliminary capital budget, are continuations of commitments that were made by previous mayoral administrations. With a lot of changes, the departure of your former CEO, the election of a new mayor, how has EDC's priorities, both in the programmatic sense or the capital funding, um, how have those shifted? >> Yeah, thank you for that question. Um, you know, EDC really has had a very smooth transition. We really continue to work um on all the projects and programs that we have always worked on and to continue to work with uh the mayor and deputy mayor Sue to ensure that all these projects are meeting the timelines and obligations and we're also looking forward to working on you know initiating new projects as well. >> Are there any existing projects or initiatives that are being dep prioritized delayed or rescoped to shift to new priorities? Um, no, we we continue to work. I mean, EEC is has a long-standing commitment to economic development and growth, um, focus on uh, equity and inclusion. And so, we continue to do do that with Deputy Mayor Sue. Uh, we are also, you know, we, as I mentioned in my testimony, we have, we were asked to um, procure a vendor for modular bathrooms. So, we did that very quickly. Um and also we are working on um the food affordability for New Yorkers through a sort of a grocery public grocery plan >> and we'll be digging into both of those over the course of the of the hearing. Um I wanted to touch on Moody's recently downgraded city bond rating. Can EDC provide its assessment of the factors that Moody's may have overlooked such as projected capital investments, pending federal or state funding, and revenue streams from city-owned enterprises and how these affect the city's true fiscal position. >> Yeah. So, um, we have an economic research and policy group that focus on they track every month and I encourage you to look at our e economic snapshot that we put out monthly. They track the city's economic indicators and they compare year-over-year, month over month. Um and so we do appreciate and understand sort of the headwinds that the city as well as the state and the country is facing uh given sort of what's happening globally and the impact on the the city's uh financial um state. Uh but we do feel that having studied and looking at these month by month that the we have strong economic indicators that sort of prove that New York City is resilient. I mean we have New York City is an incredibly resilient um city having recovered from 911 the financial crisis and co 19 we always prove that we can come out strong um even the Moody's report which is very specific to the GOTFA bonds even the Moody's report says that we are very strong with a diverse you know economy economy base and sort of um positive revenue projections so we track this very closely and we will continue to do Thank you. Uh OMB as well as the council finance team have forecasted a slowing of job growth over the course of this financial plan. Without jobs in healthcare and social services, we would have actually seen declining numbers in in the past year. So how does EDC conceive of its role in generating stronger job growth in the future and uh how do we ensure that those jobs are high quality? >> Yeah. So the mission of EDC is to um promote we're dedicated to promoting economic development and growth for all New Yorkers focused on equity and inclusion. And so through that we have many programs. We leverage our sites to ensure that small businesses have a place, industrial companies have a place um to to open up their offices and do their work. In addition, we have a lot of uh workforce development and economic development programs specifically, not only to ensure that New Yorkers are educated and trained for highquality, good paying jobs, but also that there's career pathways for them to um to expand their career. And you know, I uh I'm here with Shahila Stevens who runs that. So maybe she has a few comments she'd like to make. >> Yes. I think again, Shila Stevens, E executive vice president of equity and community impact. So what that means is I primarily oversee aspects of the workforce development, diverse entrepreneurship, and MW procurement across EDC's projects. Um, I think in this particular context, EDC has been very intentional about creating pipelines to innovative industries that are going to be able to provide long-term stability and financial growth for New Yorkers and and that is really aligned with our efforts around improving job quality um, and trying to get New Yorkers to a space where they're able to sustain jobs at a liveable wage. And I would just add there that we have several programs as specific on sort of you know uh previously disenfranchised communities such as we have a women.nyc program that really give provides sort of a network and technical support. We have construct NYC which I mentioned in my testimony and waterfront pathways that um provides MWBE again access to EDC projects but also ongoing technical um support and the founder fellowship which um really looks to diverse entrepreneurship for these um innovation industries. >> Thank you. Um, what are some of the metrics or the indicators that EDC uses to internally measure success or impact on the city's broader economy? And how do those indicators look different in periods of strong growth versus weak growth? Again, we have um we have a whole social impact and and um sort of metrics that we look at, but what we what we strive to do is create good highpaying quality jobs to support small businesses to grow like industrial sector, innovation sectors for all New Yorkers, and to create a more affordable city for for all of um both residents as well as promote businesses coming here so that we can increase sort of our tax dollars. um to to provide these services. Um so that's that's sort of the the overall mission of the economic growth that we look to. But we also as I mentioned have this economic snapshot and look at very specific indicators of employment and unemployment disagregated and labor force participation disagregated by gender, race and ethnicity. And we track that very closely um just to see what trends are and and the reasoning behind that. We track um commercial residential sort of the health of commercial residential um sectors in the in the city as well as um the tourism how tourism is doing and how people are using transit. So just the ongoing sort of economic activity of New York City >> and if we see something that is changing in a direction that we like or we don't like, we we really try to dig in to see what's what's going on there. >> The city's job numbers from the federal government are from January. Um, how is EDC managing having outdated data when you're trying to assess current economic conditions? >> Yeah, so as I mentioned, we we put out this snapshot monthly, but we haven't put it out since January for that very reason. Our next anticipated snapshot is going to come in April. >> Um, but you know, we have we we pay attention to news. We we see the trends and we are very invested in the programs that we have in terms of making sure like workforce development, job creation, good paying jobs and economic mobility um are all part of everything we do. >> I want to ask one more question on attracting new companies to New York and uh what strategies or incentives EDC has in place to support ex existing businesses but also growth in those sectors. >> Yeah. So we have a couple of of of things that we do. First and foremost, we have an entire business development group that works. This is a free service so to speak of we do outreach to companies that are considering coming to New York City both in other parts of the US and also globally. And we provide them connections to New York City. We we give them a like a one-on-one on the incentives that they might be able to access. In addition, we uh connect them we give site visits and we might connect them to commercial brokers. So this is an ongoing program that we have and they're very very active and they're they're they're well known. Um we also have IDA which is a discretionary um incentive program that we have that works to attract uh companies to stay here and grow reinvest here or bring new companies here. And we really focus on the providing these tax incentives um to it's really so these tax incentives are used as for like as a but for argument like before these tax incentives this this company would not move here reinvest here or grow here. So that's a that's first and foremost and we look at the return to the city the jobs created and sort of other community benefits that this company will bring. >> Thank you. I want to acknowledge that we have our finance chair, Council Member Lee, here. Thank you. I'm going to ask um two questions about the mayor's management report and then turn to Council Member Lee for any questions that she might have. >> Um so, the preliminary mayor management report outlined that the previously reported value of the MWBE award rate miscounted prime contractors and inflated the award rates for minority groups. has EDC verified the calculations from that report um or the award rates for from prior years that they're correct. >> Yeah. So this this was not a miscalculation um of of this award rate for MWBEs. The PMMR is a very specific report that truncates the year for four months. So it doesn't capture a full year. We we'll put out an MMR and it'll come out in se September. And so I encourage you to review that because that will have the real data. But the PMR showed four months. So what happens is the MWB award rate is the number of MW the amount of MWB awards we give over the total awards we give and because it's only four months it didn't capture the full denominator so it was didn't really capture the full value but um we do have a 35% MWB award rate goal and in 2025 we had 35% of our sort of construction award rates go to MWBEs which was a value about 240 million we anticipate sort of this the the the the goal being met at the end of this fiscal year as well. >> Got it. So on track for that 35%. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. >> And um another question on that report, the reporting period for the businesses served by industry focused programmatic initiatives and people receiving skills trainingwork experience through NYC EDC. the indicators that we used to measure those things were were changed and data was not included in the in the PMMR. Um that a little concerning about the exclusion of those metrics. So are there any key insights that would be helpful in shaping investments as we work through the 2027 budget and can you speak to the reasoning for excluding um those indicators in the report? Yeah, this is a similar um reason as as the MWB award rate because it's only four months. It doesn't really capture sort of the businesses that we serve or the people that we serve. Um and so what we asked the mayor's office is if we can just look at it a full year because most of that work is done towards the end of the year. So just looking at four months really understated the value of what we do. So we have like 28 programs for the businesses we serve and we have about 23 program 20 or so programs for the people that we serve um in terms of uh work skills. >> Thank you. Council member Lee. >> Sorry. Thank you. Hi. Good afternoon. >> Hi. >> Um just a few questions. Um uh first one on the tax expenditure efficiency. Um, so the committee is interested in exploring possible savings in the city's tax expenditures and we spend over 3.3 billion annually in tax breaks to encourage economic development in the city. And while much of this definitely represents uh commitments uh made that are important and um few years several years ago, many of the same tax incentive programs remain on the books and are unchanged from when they were developed in some cases decades ago. Um, so do you believe that each and every single one of the city's existing economic development tax incentives are working as efficiently as they could and if not which do you think need improvement and you know how you're basing that information? >> Thank you for that question. I think you're referring to the uh the 3.3 billion I think is is related to the department of finance statistics. Um we we at EDC have have you um run the IDA tax incentive discretionary program. So just to um give us some background on IDA, a lot of the tax incentives that the state and the city give out are as of right tax incentives. IDA is a discretionary tax incentive u tool that we use to like I said to um bring businesses to New York City, have them grow in New York City if they're already here or reinvest into their businesses in New York City. And we look at every single transaction individually to ensure that we're getting the best value both return to city and jobs through that transaction. And we negotiate very directly deal by deal with that counterparty company. And so to ensure that we're getting the maximum benefit. So I think it's only about 330 million of the tax uh benefit that we have of the 3.3 billion that you're quoting. But we we do think it's an important tool because it's a flexible tool and it allows us to attract business into New York City and have them grow here. >> Okay. And which ones in particular do you think from your vantage point are working really well that are working efficiently and which ones perhaps need to be revisited? Um, we're open to looking at, you know, all the various tax incentives. Again, we we we only have the IDA tax incentive program for the discretionary tax um for private businesses and we can apply that very flexibly. That's the other thing about IDA. It doesn't have to be for a particular sector. We can address whatever is an ongoing issue or the priorities of the city um to attract certain companies or invest in. for example, the green economy is is what we've done recently because we know understand that combating climate change is really important. Um so we can use those to attract companies and build th those industries appropriately through IDA, but we're open to looking at other possible um consented programs. >> Perfect. Um and you have the ability to and and ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the t the economic tax breaks are relevant and efficient, right? So if there was a need if it's if it's the um environment this time around but there's a new need that comes up you guys have the discretion to be able to switch that. Right. >> Correct. And we looked at every single even if it's the same sector we look at every single transaction and company indiv. >> Perfect. Um and I know that the chair touched upon this but um going back to the discount rate and present value um for the discount rates for multiple year tax breaks. Um since fiscal 2006 EDC has used a discount rate of 6.25% 25% despite fluctuations in inflation and the overall interest rate environment. Um so just wanted to make sure uh prior to fiscal 2006 EDC used a higher discount rate of 7.75% and what motivated the change um in the discount rate back then. >> Yeah. So we want to be in line with um what OMB uses this this discount is OM uses 6.25% 25% and we adjusted to be in line with them because we don't having different discount rates is is confusing and we need to be uniform about it. So I think it was a reflection of rates coming down but essentially the discount rate reflects the opportunity cost of sort of investing that revenue and so we are very aligned with OM on this. >> Okay. And then when was the last time you reviewed the uh discount rate? Is it the same time that OM is it always the case where if OM moves you guys move also? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and just wanted to get your thoughts on would it make sense or more sense to regularly update the discount rate to better reflect economic conditions. I think it's really relative. I mean, I think, you know, as long as we're all using the same discount rate, if someone's using a higher discount rate, uh, it's going to reflect the different value of the project than another one. So, you can't compare the value of two different projects if you're using two different discount rates. So I think what the primary um the goal is to use the same discount rate in order for us to do comparisons of of sort of the value of projects not necessarily like changing the discount rate if the markets move like you know we it's it's too it's too much >> right so so not that it would be different because I hear you and you're saying that you need to be same as OM but in terms of the frequency of how often you look at them >> yeah I think we look at the direction of OM and we want to be in line with them >> okay so would you be able to make recommendations if the you know if that needs to be looked at in terms of timeline right so if is it every one year is it every 5 years 3 years >> I can get back to you on how OMB looks at it we we take their direction >> okay um and then just lastly if I could about the chief savings officers um so wanted to know if you have appointed the chief saving officers um and are you able to share any other proposals for savings within the expense funding that EDC receives through SPS and I know that your agency is slightly different so just wanting to um see if that is the same mandate that you all have. >> Yes, we were asked um by city hall and OM to ALS like every other agency to appoint a chief saving off officer at EDC which we have and so we're working with OM and that that submission should be uh I believe is due this Friday. >> Okay. And is it the same where it's 1.5% for 26 and 2 Okay. Um, are you considering potential revenue loss resulting from the implementation of the savings plan affecting net positive revenue programs? >> No. >> Okay. Um, and are you considering changing any tax expenditures as a way to find savings? I'm assuming if it's >> No, as as you know, EDC is sort of self-sufficient financially. We collect revenue on behalf of the city on our assets and so we operationally sort of self-fund as well as do impact programs for the city. >> Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, chair. Thank you very much, Chair Lee. Um I am going to jump into some of the specific uh expense items um that we were addressed in your opening statement and then we'll ask um council member Brewer um to to ask our questions. So the first is on the modular modular bathrooms. EDC released an RFP for the development of modular public bathrooms and uh the request seeks proposals for designs of these modular units to be installed at various sites across the city and the preliminary plan has $4 million in support of this. The RFP closed on in February the on the 24th I believe and I'm wondering if you can share any information about the number of bathrooms or anything about that that plan so far. Yeah, that we were happy on behalf of um the mayor to uh work on the procurement for modular bathrooms to bring more public bathrooms throughout the five burrows. Um and so we did put out that RFP. We're uh currently in the selection process with DOT and parks as the bathrooms will be on their sites at DOT and and park sites and so we'll be getting back to you very quickly with that selection information. >> Looking forward to that. Is EDC responsible for selecting the locations of where the bathrooms will be placed? >> The plan is currently being developed with really being charged by DOT and parks, but EDC is in collaboration with them along with city hall. >> So, is uh DOT responsible or parks responsible for the locations or >> it's in like an inter agency? I think the RFPs um just was clear that we wanted it across the five buraus. Mhm. Is there any outreach being done to communities to determine which neighborhoods or communities need the bathrooms the most? >> Um, we we we're initially just doing the RFP and the procurement first and then there's going to be a plan that will be developed again inter agency. >> Sounds good. Um, bathrooms are long-term investments. Could you give more information on why the city chose to have these listed as an expense rather than capital funding when presumably an investment in bathroom development could be capital eligible? >> Yeah. So capital eligible requirements are very strict. Um modular bathrooms actually don't are not capital eligible. So they needed to use CTL. The 4 million was allocated in the preliminary budget. It's because these are movable. So they're not considered long-term infrastructure. So they're not capital eligible. Thank you. Um, and I I did have some questions on the city-owned grocery stores, but um, wanted to pass to Council Member Brewer to ask your questions. >> Thank you very very much. I think you're doing fine. I don't know that you need anybody new. You're doing great. >> I'll let you know. >> Um, I also love the internship, Rich Robbins's internship program, whatever you call it, something fellowship and ethics market. Those are two great EDC projects. Okay. So, there's a lot of discussion around the state and city budgets about corporate taxes. And so, my question, they said New Jersey, you know, we're going to be not able to compete. And then Mayor Bloomberg always said taxes don't determine where companies locate. So, I just I have about 10 questions. That's number one. >> What is the quick questions? What is your opinion on if we tax more corporations in the city of New York? How does that impact New Jersey competition? Number one. Number two, where is my Brooklyn Bridge? If you don't know about it, somebody here does know about it. I want to know where it's at. Number three, um the Bloomingdale Library SL project. It's not People aren't happy with it. We want 100% I think you know that affordable um we like the library blah blah blah but we think it should be turned over to HPD and much as we like EDC. So that's very very controversial. I want to know if you would do that. Three lettuce washing machines. So we're trying to get more upstate farmers to sell to the city of New York. But California has to provide the lettuce because they wash it. So, we need EDC to build us a lettuce washing machine so that the m the farmers can go to Grow NYC's hub at Hunts Point. Get, you know, get the lettuce wash and then it could come to the schools and other places in New York City. I need a lettuce washing machine. Um I also want to just say that um in ter uh the hole in the ground when you did the issue with um you know the the the place that you're talking about that you traded with Hunter College. You left a hole in the ground at 74th Street and I want you own it and I want to know what you're going to do. It's right near MSK. I want to know what you're going to do with that. And then also restrooms. I think it's great, but we did a report in the city council last year and 63% of the public restrooms now in the city of New York do not work or have repairs. So, can we use any of that very small amount of money for a million to repair the restrooms or how do you look at the the restrooms? That's a those are just some of my questions. Thank you. >> Okay, I'm going to try title tackle or >> helicopters. We don't like your helicopters going out of downtown. >> Okay. Well, that's Anton. So, I'm going to turn that over to Anton in a minute, but let's start with let's state for the let's start with the restrooms. Um, you know, I think everyone feels that there needs to be more public restrooms. So, these are all good solutions. So, repairing the existing restrooms, those will be city capital eligible. So, we are doing that. Parks and DOT are parks is doing that. Um, but this is not like a one >> parks isn't that's the problem. Just so you know, they're not putting any money into them. Well, yeah, we're we're the the parks is looking to try to in invest in uh um improving their public bathrooms, but that's a capid eligible project. This modu is okay >> for the public, they stand out there and ask me that question the public because they like what's wrong. >> Understood. All of these are sort of, you know, solutions that we're looking to uh >> and E73rd is Yes, we're going to be acquiring E73rd. We haven't acquired it quite yet and we are going to >> talk about the hole in the ground which when you say what do you what do you what do you said east 73rd what do you mean the hole in I call it the hole in the ground go ahead >> yes that's a property we are going to it's >> called the hole in the ground the holding ground >> we're going to redevelop it into sort of uh institutional life sciences um but we're we're still working on a program to to redevelop that site >> do you have some timing on that because it was supposed to be part of Hunter College will they get anything out of Um, yeah, maybe we'll go back to you on that. Josh has more information. >> Science is there because they don't have a great science. >> It's part of the whole life science real development. I >> understand that, but I'm trying to think about CUNI. >> Yes. So, CUNI is going to get Sparks Kay. That's part of the Sparks campus. So, they have a whole new >> a little bit >> a little bit >> um school there. >> All right. I just want you when you talk about East Center, I want to make sure that you at least consider also putting CUNI >> understood. >> projects there. Okay. >> The lettuce washing. We'll have to get back to you on that one. It's first I've heard of that. And same with the Brooklyn Beach. >> Remind me the other question. >> Yeah, sure. What about New Jersey competition even? >> Oh, yeah. So, you know, we again, as I mentioned, we have an economic research and policy group that tracks these things very closely. We don't opine upon sort of like tax changes in terms of policy of but we do track the impact of it. So we we can do ongoing analysis of of um and we we monthtomonth we track what the what the implications are helicopters. >> Okay, I'll turn it over to Anton. >> Everybody doesn't like those damn helicopters. No, thank you for the for the question and and appreciate the we certainly recognize the the concern around helicopter noise and and and emissions uh for for many New Yorkers. So EDC, we manage two, for those that aren't familiar, there's three three helports in Manhattan. EDC is the agreement administrator for two of those helports. And aviation and airspace in particular operates within a complex regulatory environment as you can appreciate. Um so the airspace is all federal. So there are very limited local powers on where these aircraft can or cannot go. However, where we do have the ability, we are taking a number of steps. So thanks to to your leadership, Council Member Brewer, there was the 50% cut um of 2015 levels that remains in place. Uh we also limit the operating hours and we've negotiated with industry designated overwater tour routes as well. So the helour helicopters that leave the downtown skyport as we're calling it now um they stay overwater which cannot be said for aircraft that originate from helports outside outside of the five burrows. Now in addition to this uh we're looking forward to new technology on the horizon. This electric aviation or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. A couple points on that. Uh, as part of a 2023 announcement for a procurement of an operator at the what was then known as the downtown Manhattan teleport. We were there. >> Yeah, we appreciated your your attendance there. We demonstrated a piloted electric uh EV toll flights uh with with a leading European and leading American company and we could hear or rather not hear the improvements that has over traditional helicopters. So, we're we're leaning into that industry heavily. Um so we made electrification a requirement at downtown Skyport and so we were selected uh downtown Skyport the operator um Skyport's infrastructure and group ADP to electrify teleport I know you are familiar with a lot of these >> every last bit of it >> I could give the speech >> in addition to that we also required blue highways buildout uh with the city at at downtown skyport. So, this is tying into the the Blue Highways work in moving our freight from our waterways from our roadways to our waterways. Sorry. And then at the East 34th Street Helport, there was a 5-year extension in in 2024 that we also included this requirement um to electrify. So, that's what we're doing on >> What's the timing on this electrify? I It's quite a far in the future, I believe. >> Potentially closer than we think. Just a week ago, we were announced a joint New York New Jersey application was selected by the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration as one of eight kind of launch regions as part of the EV tool integration pilot program. So, we're actively working with the private parties that develop these aircraft as well as our partner of agencies to to safely integrate this technology uh into our skies. I'm sorry. The timing >> the timing could >> a year, two years, three years because meanwhile >> in terms of the EIP program, there are provisions in place that could see um you know, by the end of this year, certain kind of demonstrations and and pilots that will inform the certification. >> Okay. I mean, just saying people are you just you're not you know, going to the island, which is what they do in the summer. It's noisy. He's still flying over they're not all going over the waterway. I don't need to talk about this forever, but the numbers of complaints on 311 is the highest in ever. So, >> you I mean, I know it's New Jersey. I got I I went in that plane. I took the the wheel, you know, the the the door off. I flew it. I got it. But you still have to curtail it or do something because of the complaints. I would suggest >> Yeah. And and the tours, as you know, and and the kind of airport shuttles are great initial use cases for this electric aviation just because of the distance. So, our hope is by accommodating and welcoming this new technology, it can start to out compete the traditional ladder helicopters. >> We have buses and subways that go to the airports, just in case you didn't know. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Council Member Brewer. I have some follow-up questions on particularly on the 34th Street Helport, and then we'll turn to Council Member Riley. Um, in the preliminary capital plan, we have an additional 41 million over a 10-year period to support the rehabilitation of the helport, bringing the total city capital commitment to 52 million. My question is first, who owns the 34th Street helport and what's the mechanics of the lease with Atlantic Aviation? This is building off of council member Brewer's questions. Yeah. So the the city of New York owns the helport and EDC through the maritime contract is the agreement administrator and the private operator is Atlantic Aviation. Now on to your earlier point on the capital that's substructure work that is keeping of the island of Manhattan upright and it's more than just a helport. So it's stretching a number of sites to the north and a number of sites to the south. >> That's helpful. Um, how much revenue does EDC take in from its lease agreement with Atlantic Aviation for operation of the helport and is any of that remitted to the city? >> Yeah, thank you for the question. So, the way the the fee structure is done, it's the it's the greater of a minimum annual guarantee payment which escalates depending on the year. This year it's this year is one and a half million dollars or 30% of gross receipts of the revenues collected. So, one and a half is what we're currently making. The helport's actually operating significantly below capacity today. >> And can you explain the breakdown of who's rehabilitating the 34th Street helport and how the additional funds are going to be applied and is Atlantic Aviation committing any private funding to the to the project? >> Yeah. So all the in investment at the helport itself is the responsibility of Atlantic Aviation. So the electrification work, we put that onus on the private sector. the the work that you're referencing is the substructure work throughout this stretch of of waterfront and we can get back to you with specific details on the contractors behind that if helpful. >> That's that's helpful to clarify. Thank you, Council Member Riley. >> So, good afternoon and thank you, Chair Maloney, uh for your leadership and I just want to share the same sentiments as Council Member Brewer saying that you guys are doing a tremendous job this morning. Thank you. Uh just want to spend some time on the World Cup. Uh we know that is coming very, very soon. Um, and recently, uh, the administration allocated, uh, funding for activations and fan events. Um, what are the primary goals for the additional $15 million allocated for the FIFA World Cup? And how does the investment align with the city's broader economic and tourism strategies? >> Yeah, thank you for that question. We're really, this is a very going to be a very exciting time for this city. You know, we're again like we're like a diverse immigrant community city and so this is like the world sports at coming. So I think it's going to be very exciting for the city where it's going to generate an incredible economic impact to the city. We're estimating over $3 billion from the World Cup activity. Um so the 15 million specifically that was in the preliminary bud budget, we are working with the um World Cup ZAR now to seeing how that's going to to be deployed. But the sort of the primary uh goals to to for the World Cup is um to promote the World Cup. EDC's prime sort of role in that is to promote the World Cup. So to get the word out that the World Cup is coming, get people excited about it. You're going to see flags, you're going to see murals, you're going to see banners sort of all across our EDC assets to engage the community um prior to the World Cup, but also during the World Cup for like fan events and community- based programming, etc., watch parties, and then business attraction. Again, we really believe this is an incredible opportunity to highlight that New York City is open for business and that is through not only companies coming from other parts of the US, but global companies are going to have delegations here. And so, we're going to actively work to make sure that they understand everything we have to offer. >> Thank you. And I'm really interested in hearing about the small business engagement that you guys are going to be doing, especially within the outer burrows. Um, want to make sure that uh majority is not even though Council Member Brew is looking at me, majority is not in Manhattan. We want to get some love in the Bronx to make sure that they're utilizing some of the small businesses out there as well. So, if you could just speak a little bit more how you're trying to get out of burrows more engaged during the World Cup. >> Absolutely. So, small businesses are sort of the backbone of the economy um for New York City and it's you know a tremendous part of all of our New York City assets. We have over 100 small businesses and all all of our assets. Um we also have the public markets. So the public markets has also laretta in East Harlem, Essex Street and more street in Brooklyn. They also have about a hundred small business and vendors and all of that together. We're going to look at all of our sites, Coney Island, East New York, uh, Kingsbridge, etc. Just all across the city, especially in the outer burrows. And we're going to activate those sites for the World Cup. And we going to we really think this is going to bring both people in the community to like spend money the small businesses in their community but also bring people into that community to support the small businesses. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um wanted to take a step and move to the modular bathrooms. Um I see right here that the administration said $4 million in funding. Is this $4 million supposed to um be invested in all the bathrooms that are being installed? >> So this $4 million is for for a one-year contract. Um, and so it is to bring online modular bathrooms throughout the five burrows. And again, we we're in this selection process and so you'll see more news, you know, more more announcements about that. >> So you don't have an anticipation of how much each bathroom will cost? >> It's 4 million for all of the bathrooms. That's what the >> the only reason I'm asking because I just spent I think 5.3 million on a bathroom in my district and it was a comfort station in a park. So, I was just interested in seeing $4 million here >> and seeing if you guys were just going to install one public bathroom. >> No, no. I think the reason why we're doing these modular bathrooms, this sort of like an innovation techn innovative technology is that the 4 million is going to deploy many bathrooms. >> Okay, that's good. Um, if we could talk about Hunts Point real quick. Um, the money, can you speak about the phases on I I believe it was 240 million you stated that was going to point >> for the Hunts Point produce market? Yes. >> It's about 405 million. >> 405 million. Excuse me. Can you discuss the phases on how that money will be implemented in this construction process? >> Yes. So, the Huntsborn Produce Market will be a allnew electric new facility. So, there's not really phases. It's going to be built all at once because you're not going to be like decanting and moving people out. They're going to the current Hunts Point produce market is going to stay as is. We're going to build an all electric all-electric new facility right next door. And so once that full is fully online, hopefully by the end of 2029, the Huntsville produce market will move in there. Um we're doing it under a design build contract. So we're hoping that that's going to move it quicker because um you know that's >> Can you discuss the difference between that contract and the normal contract? >> Yeah, I Josh Cruss who runs our capital team can sort of >> Thank you. >> give some information. >> Uh happily. So um I I think generally speaking the way that the city approaches things is what we call design bid build. So first there is a design consultant that is procured. They complete a design and then the city goes back out separately to procure a construction contractor. And sometimes there are disadvantages to this because the contractor who's doing the work uh wasn't a a participant in the process to design the facility. So there are some gaps that sometimes occur. Also there is the the gap in time between when the design is complete and when the procurement for the construction can can begin. Uh under design build these things are brought together as one. so that you have a faster implementation and you don't have the ability uh for there to be any gaps between the design phase and the construction phase. So that's why we're approaching it in this way. We think it will really help us to deliver this project in the most efficient uh both timeefficient and costefficient way. >> Thank you. And during the Oh, sorry madam chair if I may have a few more questions. Thank you. Um during this uh construction uh process, can you speak about job retention on those who are currently there working? Will they be uh moved to another location to work or what will happen during the construction process? And can you talk about the implementation of new possible jobs being there after this is completed? >> Yeah. So there, you know, the Hunts Point Food Dist has hundreds of jobs um up there, thousands of jobs up there that are all union, mostly union. Um and all of those were retained. Again, we're not closing anything. There's no businesses that are going to close temporarily. Everything is going to be up and running all through the construction. In fact, there'll be tons of new, you know, construction jobs up there. Um once it's fully online, then uh the the the produce market will move next door and it'll be fully operational. So, there'll be no time where people are out of work. >> Okay. Um and my last set of questions will be focused on MWBEs. Do you have um and and I'm only asking this because I have a very interesting bill, not the place to speak about it, but I just want to know um within my community, I have a lot of young people that are transitioning into entrepreneurship, right? And a lot of them want to uh learn about and how to get city contracts. You spoke about 35% of the contracts were given to MWBees. Do you have like a I guess a range on those contracts given to those business owners between the ages of 18 to 25? And if you don't have that now, could you please provide that for me at some time? And also, would you guys be interested in entertaining the conversation of youth business entrepreneurship um of guaranteeing these contracts to youth businesses? >> Uh we don't have that data. So, so we will have to get back to you on that, but we appreciate the question. >> Okay. And would you guys be interested in that conversation with youth businesses? >> We'd like to talk about it further. Yes. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Chair. >> Thank you, Council Member Riley. Turning to uh FIFA, one of the questions that Council Member Riley just brought up. Uh I guess about a few weeks ago in our last hearing, we raised uh oversight over a lot of questions that have yet to be answered with FIFA and the first match of the World Cup is just 86 days out. Um, do you have any more information that you can share about the World Cup related plans or I can get into more specific questions? >> I mean, yes, we we are working with the World Cups are very closely and sort of activating our sites to for these engagements for the World Cup. >> Great. Uh, do we have any specifics on the programs or the partnerships that are in place to ensure small businesses are incorporated and how will that support be measured? Yeah, again we're working closely with the mayor's office on this. We are also, you know, we we have our own assets that we are going to activate such as BAT, Coney Island, Staten Island, etc. Kingsbridge. So, we're going to activate our public markets are also good venue. So, we are actively working with our asset management team to be make ensure that we're going to activate that for community engagement and to support local small businesses. In the oversight hearing, we heard from bids and community organizations about the plaza activation permit moratorum during and leading up to the World Cup. And has there been any progress made on lifting that moratorum from June 1st to July 18th so that bids can participate in fan activations and contribute to driving regional economic development and even just continue with their regularly scheduled programming? >> I don't have that information, but we can look into that and get back to you on that. All right. Um, and is EDC utilizing any additional funding outside of um, city council allocations to support band engagement in community events, for example, public private partnerships >> to further those. >> We have our own, like I said, we're own budget. We're self-sustaining. So, we'll be using our asset management budget that we have for our particular assets and we are going to activate those assets for World Cup related engagements using our own budget. Great. Are there any other public private partnerships in the works? >> Um not aware of this time. >> In um the scope of services contract, the projected economic output varies from 2.14 billion to 3.4 billion for what to expect from uh in terms of local economic impact for the area. What steps is the city taking and EDC taking to ensure that our return is closer to the 3.4 billion >> for the World Cup? You're talking World Cup. >> Yeah, we estimate about 3.3 billion of economic activity. Again, I think it's it's it's multiple it's multiple sort of ways that we're going to create that activity. One is city residents just sort of being out spending money engaging um visitors coming into the city and also from the from other parts of the country and also um and also um uh global de delegations also like a lot of companies will be spending a lot of their own money to to create excitement and and build upon the the FIFA World Cup >> and that and then still within the World Cup that 15 million in fiscal year 2026 >> um is that going to be negotiated through an additional contract uh with the host committee or um spent separately if you could share more information about that 15 million. >> Yeah, again we're working with the World Cup zone now to see how it's going to be deployed and budgeted and how it's going to be structured. So, we'll get back to you on that. >> All right, we look forward to more information >> um in 86 days just calling that out. I'm now going to ask Council Member Gutierrez to ask questions and then we'll turn to Chanel Thomas Henry on Zoom. >> Thank you so much, Chair. Um, and thank you all so much for your testimony. Before I ask questions, I just want to um give flowers to the awesome folks at the Moore Street Market, at the Marqueta, Natalie, Eileen. Um it's been amazing, an amazing experience, really transformative. And so I'm really encouraged by um your response to like what some of these how these small businesses will be activated. Would love to when the when the time comes really learn a little bit more about it, but um I just want to make sure that they get all the praise cuz um we're we're really happy and the community is really happy. Um my questions are the first is just regarding industrial businesses. Um, Council Member Federas and I in the last term worked really hard with DCP specifically on legislation to ensure thoughtful planning to preserve industrial businesses. Um, as well as, you know, creating opportunities for job retention. Um, and so I just have two questions related to the policy to to one of their policies. Uh, the city just released its industrial plan um, late last year calling for specialized placebased support for industrial businesses. Um and so my concern and I think council member's concern is um about SPS's um RFP that was released essentially eliminating the industrial service the industrial business service provider program um and replacing it with a rotating burrowbased model. So, how does and I I I get that this is a question for SPS and we will have that conversation, but but but you all um at EDC, how do you think that a plan or an RFP like this really aligns with the recommendation of um specialized placebased support for these industrial businesses and you all are doing a tremendous amount of work with >> Thank you for that question. Um, you know, we greatly appreciated the council's leadership in driving that industrial action plan and, you know, we have a lot of city assets and they're focused on sort of industrial industries. So, Brooklyn Army T Hunts Point that we talked about, Bathgate, East New York. Um, one in three of our tenants are industrial companies and one out of 12 industrial companies in the outer burrows are our tenants. So, we are really engaged with them. We are very focused on focusing on them um on the industrial sector and growing the industrial sector and we we all focused on workforce development and econom as it relates to those industrial sector. Uh I you know again we have benefit of Shila Stevens here so I'd like to turn it over to her to sort of answer any more additional color. >> It's wrong. How are you? So I do want to talk a little bit about um EDC's commitment around equity especially in these industrial industries. So EDC launched what we call the East Brooklyn fund um in October 2025. So this fund um created opportunities to build capacity for community- based organizations. So we spent a lot of time with the community talking with them about like what is the support that they need to be able to stay in place and grow. Um, and this is really a part of our commitment to place-based equity. Um, and so we did award over five community- based organizations to offer either workforce pipeline training as well as transitioning from a workforce into an entrepreneurship space and also providing additional capacity for smaller um, industrial businesses to help them grow as well. So, we committed about $1.4 million to that particular fund. >> Well, I So, this is great. I I remember hearing that in your testimony, but would it be too much to ask if you all connect with SPS and really speak to the like the thoughtfulness and success of this community-based program? That's really what the role of the industrial business service providers have been doing, have been funded in the new in the city for the last 40 years to do. And every year they do come to these budget hearings and say, "We need more money because we want to be able to do more of this work." Um, and I really believe that this this RFP is going to reverse a lot of that progress. Um, and yes, you should have a unhappy face because we are out here really fighting for our industrial businesses, especially in districts like ours that really employ such a vast majority of people. And you you all know the benefits. I don't have to preach here to you, but it's really important that we really invest um in organizations that are really um filling holes for manufacturing businesses that are day-to-day facing so many challenges. Um, and we fought so hard um in the with the last administration to make sure that we are being inclusive. So I would love for some communication and maybe we could help um we could help make that happen. Um my next question is related to uh tech and I'll be fast. Um I see ED EDC EDC is investing heavily in sectors like the green economy and energy infrastructure yet many of those projects rely on industrial space and workforce. um how is the city ensuring that industrial land and businesses are preserved as part of its broader tech and innovation strategy? >> Yeah, so tech is an important sector for New York City. Um it is diversified our economy here when we were like you know of decades ago very reliant on sort of the financial e um businesses and now we've diversified. So it's about 7% of our city's total workforce. We have about 25,000 tech enable enabled startups. We're number two in the world in tech. And so we really um we really are working hard to make sure that tech grows here. We understand though that there's a lot of communities that have been sort of boxed out of of sort of the tech sector. And so we are working on creating workforce not only workforce development, economic mobility programs, but also supporting diverse entrepreneurship through the founder fellowship program. >> Yeah, I think they're both great and thank you so much for highlighting it in your in your testimony. Um and please just just keep the conversation um going on that piece. And chair, can I just ask one more question? Um uh related to child care. Um the there's a report that shows that EDC is investing hundreds of millions into economic development projects and long-term business incentives. How is the city thinking about child care as part of its economic development strategy, particularly um as a prerequisite prerequisite for workforce participation? Yeah, child care is affordable. Child care is an incredibly important for the economic growth of the city. We understand that child care is needed for all sort of um workers to be able to go to their jobs and work every day. And so we are aligned with the mayor on sort of figuring out sort of a childare affordability solution. Um so we you know we are working you know on that and we support that uh because it's part of economic development. It can't be separated. Mhm. And I'll just say um lastly, I want to also just um uplift the work of the modular bathrooms. I think it's really great, really innovative, really excited for the administration, but I also just want to give flowers to my colleagues, Council Member Joseph and Nurse, who passed legislation on expanding bathroom access citywide before the administration's announcement earlier this year. Um and would just love more collaboration on some of these things. But really, really good stuff. Thank you so much, chair. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, council member. And now to Zoom, Council Member Thomas Henry. Thank you so much, chair. Um, good afternoon everyone. I have a couple of quick questions. Um, in terms of So, Willlets Point is in my district and I just wanted to get a timeline for phase two. So, the rest of the affordable housing units, the school, the hotel. >> Yes. So, um, we'll have to get back to you the get back to you on the specific tie line. Um, as you mentioned, phase two includes additional 1,400 affordable units, a 25,000 um privately financed all-electric soccer stadium, a 250 250 key hotel, about 115,000 additional square foot of open space, and more remediation on 17 acres there. So, we are looking forward to that. Um, we'll have to get back to you on a specific timeline. >> Okay. And with that in mind, since that only accounts for about a third of the entire Willlets Point um property that all that's out there, does the admin have any desire or have there been any conversations about acquiring additional parcels? So part of the affordable housing >> well part of the project includes a public school and in in order to build that school public school we do need to acquire some of those private assets uh private sites. So we are do undergoing that right now >> but any discussions about the remaining approximately 40 acres that are out there privately currently privately owned. >> Um I I'm not aware of that. I have to get back to you on that one. >> Okay. Um moving to uh ferry service. So there is a desire by the community um the local electeds in the area from the burough president to our state of electeds to myself for ferry service um out at Flushing Meadows Corona Park the Malcolm X prominade. Um have any studies been done to see the feasibility of this? We have um 880 units coming online next month. And right now there's only one bus that stops there and the seven train which on a good day is overcrowded. So, and then you have the soccer stadium opening next year. You have USDA. You have City Field. Um have you guys started looking at the possibility of putting a ferry there? >> Thank you so much for asking that question. We love talking about NYC fairies. We're very really happy with um our progress with NYC fairies. Everybody loves NYC fairies and that's why everybody wants more NYC fairies in their communities. It's an important transit part of the transit hub of New York City activating our waterways. You know, as I mentioned in my testimony, we're at an all-time high in writership. Um 95% or over 90% of our riders are New York City residents, you know, students, senior citizens, commuters. Um and also we have these like fun services to the beach, Rockaway, Rocket, etc. So, um we also have worked really, really, really hard to make it more efficient. So we we our per riser subsidy is the lowest it's ever been. Um in terms of expanded service, I'm going to turn it over to Josh Krauss who runs the NYC fairy system. >> Yeah, thank you so much Jeanie. So um you you may have heard that towards the end of last year we put out our 2025 future of fairies report. Uh and one of the things that was included within it was a vision for the future of ferry service uh really across the harbor. Um we are deeply aware of the interest that many communities have in seeing expansion of the NYC ferry service. Uh and through this study, this is going to be the vehicle for us to really take an indepth look at some of these places that have long been called for such as the one uh at Willlet Point at Willitz Point that you uh that you raise uh and and delve deeply into understanding all of the constraints and opportunities that may exist. Um so we are just getting started on that study. Uh and as we proceed with it, we're going to be working very very closely with communities, with council members, with affected stakeholders, and all who have jurisdiction to help us uh really evaluate the possibility of going farther than we have before. Uh and I and I'll even uh point out that really even within the uh the ferry report that we put out last year, uh Willlet's Point is one of the locations that we flagged for study. So, we are definitely aware of it and we're looking forward to getting that work started. >> And just a um plug, it would be great if if you tested it out while the um during FIFA, we have one of the fan zones right here in our backyard and we also have the Mets playing for a good um length of time that it's here. So, that would be a perfect opportunity to test it out. Um, another good question with the Sunnyside project with that um with federal funds being involved, would that rely on the federal DBE program in terms of participation or would we still be able to rely on our MWBE program for participation on construction um opportunities for that plan? Yeah, the Sunnyside Yard um redevelopment is sort of a generational um uh development to bring over, you know, 100 acres um creating tons of housing, open space, commercial uses, etc. Um the visit from the mayor to Washington uh with the $21 billion price tag um is sort of the initial conversation allowing us to have conversations with our federal, state and local partners um and engaging the community in sort of everything in the development. As you know NYC EDC uh developed the master planard master plan in 2020. So um we are now sort of in the initial conversation. So we we'll um we'll know more as time goes on. >> I do want to flag for you if it is dependent upon the DBE program. As of last year, the Trump administration has rescended a lot of those certification based on uh gender and race. So a lot of our firms that were certified under the DP certification program have to be reertified. So, as any conversations are being had, it would be good to keep that in mind because it would be a great disadvantage that a lot of our women and minority businesses don't get to partake in this um monumental development. >> Thank you. We appreciate that comment. We'll take note. My final question, chair, if I may, with the 250th anniversary, similar to um the World Cup, is there a plan in terms of um promoting it, revenue generating activities, merchandise or the like to help um the city? >> Uh yeah, we're very excited for sale 250. We are activating our waterways for that. And I'm going to turn it over to Anton. >> And thank you for the question. So 250th birthday of the United States. Uh we're estimating$2.85 billion dollars of economic impact as part of that. So this is July 3rd to 9th. We'll be welcoming 46 nations, 50 tall ships and 52 allied and US naval vessels and EDC is a supporting in the in accommodating those vessels to the New York Harbor. So we're really looking forward to that event. >> Thank you, Chair. >> Thank you, Council Member Thomas Henry. Um on uh the World Cup, one final question. The comproller in council finance estimates a $50 million return for the city in tax revenue. Can EDC share any estimates that they have generated for local tax revenue >> in terms of the FIFA World Cup? We have not project We've not done our own projections from what I'm aware of. And uh building on our our favorite topic, the New York City ferry. Um I personally love riding the ferry. Um I I know we have new local laws to make it easier and more affordable for middle school students um to to take the ferry approximately one month from now. Um what uh increase in ridership do you expect after those laws go into place? Thank you so much for the question. We and we share your excitement. Um it's been uh since uh September of 2024 that we've been welcoming our high school students on board. Um and this has been uh a really successful program, very meaningful for those high schoolers who are able to now commute uh by ferry. And we're very excited to now do the same for our middle schoolers. Uh we intend to follow a similar playbook in terms of getting the word out. Um working with our partners at the Department of Education, working with our um our operator Hornblower through their social media, through our social media, um doing tableabling, doing everything we can to make sure that uh we get the greatest possible um uptick in uh in ridership there. Uh we don't have any projections right now. Um but we are really looking forward to welcoming our middle schoolers on board. >> That's great. And I want to again commend you on ridership trending upward, reaching a record high of 7.4 million in fiscal year 2025 and subsidy per rider trending down to roughly $8 in fiscal year 2025. Um, what steps is EDC taking to continue to increase ridership and lower that cost per rider subsidy? >> Thank you so much for highlighting the work that we have been so focused on over the past uh four years, especially through our NYC Ferry Forward program. Uh, as you correctly point out, we are now at record high ridership coupled with record low subsidy per rider. uh and we don't intend on looking back. So, uh I'll talk about probably two things that come to mind first when it comes to um making sure that uh our wrership remains robust and that we are welcoming as many New Yorkers as possible onto our boats. Uh the first one is the work that we really talked a lot about and and began towards the end of last year which was to um to to really reconfigure the routes that we have in NYC ferry. Um the the things that we did um a couple of the most important ones were one to break our very very popular East River route into an A route and a B route uh which we did to ensure that we would have faster travel times and fewer folks who are left behind. Uh we also uh for the first time in many many decades uh reestablished a water-based transportation between Staten Island and Brooklyn. Uh I remember uh the tremendous excitement despite the frigid weather uh that we had on the day that it was begun. Uh and so even beyond that, we've also made some small changes to ensure that uh more riders across the system have access to Midtown. Uh and the reason we did that is because in the surveys that we uh completed leading up to our uh our change, uh that's one of the main things we heard is that um our riders, especially our regular riders, are seeking opportunities for employment, for health care, for entertainment in Midtown. And we want to be responsive to that request to those riders. That's why I think uh when we got our surveys back the tremendous majority something like 90% said that on the basis of what we are doing they would ride the same or more. So we have had that in place since um December and we're just now starting to really see as we get into the warmer months um how successful that's going to be. Our prediction is that thanks to this reconfigured route system, we're going to see even more riders. Um so that's a very big piece of how we are moving the system forward and ensuring continued ridership. The other thing that we did um is to create a new ticket. Uh we created a new ticket type mostly targeted uh at tourists but also for New Yorkers who want to do some uh intensive ferry riding over a two-day period. Um so this too a uh a two-day unlimited $15 ticket um we think is going to help us to reach more people. It's a it's a great deal for uh for riders. It's a great deal for us. So these are just a couple of the ways that we are not resting on our l la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la laurels and continuing to drive ridership on NYC Ferry. >> Thank you. I I raised my hand as interested in the two-day unlimited ticket. >> All right. >> Um as you're thinking about new Well, first off, when are those new routes to be implemented? >> So they are they are going on now. Okay. >> They have been implemented. >> And have you seen any shifts in wrership or any data changes? So uh there's a reason why we made this change in the December time period. It's because this is generally among the lower sort of ridership times of year. And the good thing about that is that it allows our riders and in fact even our system operator to develop a rhythm and to really perfect the way the schedules are working um before we get to the spring and summer months when ridership is really high. So, it's probably a little too early to draw meaningful conclusions from the data, but from what we have seen so far, we're seeing a small but measurable uptick in ridership, especially on our East River route and our St. George route. >> That's encouraging. And as you're looking at new firm terminal sites, new ferry terminal sites um in new neighborhoods like um council member Chanel Thomas Henry mentioned, how do you measure whether expansion will generate sufficient ridership to open up that site or other economic or social returns that justify the investment? Excellent question. Thank you so much. This is something we spend a lot of time focused on. Uh there are a number of factors. Um one of which is the uh the ability for the service to really work from a physical and operational standpoint. Uh not all areas in our waterfront are exactly the same in terms of water depth, in terms of access. Um so we need to make sure that uh at a at a minimum the physical access and the operational accessibility are there. Uh then we also look at whether the service that we provide can be competitive with other modes that are existing op uh options for riders. So if there is a a subway ride that can substant that can be substantially faster than the service that we can offer, we think it might be less likely uh that we're going to have a huge amount of ridership even though uh sometimes there are mitigating factors because people say they enjoy the commute so much more. Uh we also take a very close look at the upland conditions so to speak um how easy it is for members of a community folks in the neighborhood to access the landing and also we look at uh socioeconomic and demographic factors. It is very important to us that NYC ferry is accessible to all New Yorkers from all walks of life. Um, so this is something that is really centered in our evaluation and is something that we're going to be ca uh taking a very close look at in the vision study that I talked about earlier. Thank you. One last question. The pre preliminary plan includes 4 million in FY26 of federal highway administration grant funding. How can EDC maximize incoming funds from those types of grants? Is it based on ridership? What are the other factors? >> Thank you. Thank you so much. We're looking at that as well. Um, obviously we want to maximize the amount of federal dollars that we get. Uh, some of them are earmarks, some of them are formula based. Um, so we're going to continue to look at all of the federal opportunities, uh, and do what we can to maximize those. Would expanding to more locations, particularly other bureaus that aren't served by fairy access right now, would that unlock additional funds or not necessarily? >> I'd have to look uh a little bit more carefully at the language uh of some of the federal uh bills and uh get back to you on that question. >> Thank you. I'm going to now turn to council member Banks and I also want to recognize that we have council member Aletz who joined us and I'll turn to her afterwards for questions. >> Thank you madam chair. Um first of all I heard East New York mentioned a couple of times so it's always good to hear that. Uh particularly um and I guess on a sidebar I would love to hear uh about the plan on how they're going to activate the community uh for the World Cup. Um, I know that was mentioned that he's going to activate the Eastern New York community. So, we'll definitely love to have uh further conversation about that as well as um we would love to uh get a time frame on the uh BRC 160 million uh project uh uh that that is supposed to be a demolition and we're supposed to get a new community center. So, if we can uh get some information on that particular time frame on that as well. Um, also too, uh, in our district, we also do have a desire for ferry service as well. Um, as you do know, we right up the block from the Canasi pairs. Um, and we do have the amazing Shirley Chisom Park. Um, that um, definitely uh, a lot of residents would would be happy if there was a uh, fair service, especially in that area where it is a transportation desert in the Stat City, the more southern part of my district. Um let me get to my line of questions uh particularly dealing with the um energy storage u community impact. Um given the concentration of energy storage projects and ongoing concerns um from residents uh what resources in the uh F uh in the 2027 um preliminary budget are being allocated for community engagement, oversight and um safety review of these developments. >> Yeah, thank you for that question. The battery storage projects are incentivized through our IDA benefits. Um so these are private companies that come in that uh we structure these transaction individually so that they pro provide tax incentives for them to build battery storage which is incredibly important for our green economy and building a more resilient New York City. Um it does have benefits to the community because it takes off these gaseous peaker plants that are nox put out noxious fumes into the community to a more greener sort of renewable energy grid. Um so we you know we this is a IDA program and through that we ensure that there's workforce and each of the battery storage projects that we've done recently we've ensured that there's a workforce development component that these companies are are um creating to train local residents to uh is sort of in this new industry of battery storage. And so it's not only just at the plant, but a lot of these companies have relocated and built their offices in New York City in Brooklyn. Um, and so their headquarters was not quoted in sort of the jobs created by the IDA project, but they are creating jobs um in that company for Brooklyn residents. All right. And um I guess you probably probably answer this, but I'm going to ask the question. Uh is the uh EDC currently involved or uh in or supporting the proposed battery storage project uh at Juul Street um in the Juul Street area? And if so, uh what outreach has been conducted uh with residents in the 42nd Council District? And additionally, uh, what resources are being directed specifically, uh, to my district to ensure meaningful community engagement? >> Yeah. So, I'll have to check specifically about Juul Street, if it's an IDA project or not. And so, we'll get back to you on that. >> You can. Yeah. >> Uh when it comes down to Brooklyn's EDC support, in the uh last year's uh preliminary budget, Brooklyn received approximately uh 12 uh 1 million in economic development support and about 709 million in life in lifetime support, the second lowest among the burrows. uh despite being the largest uh burrow by population. Uh how does the uh FY27 preliminary budget address this imbalance? >> Um you know, I'd have to get back to you on that. I don't have the spec specifics on on sort of that budget amount. >> I'm not sure. >> You can get back to me. I appreciate that. Um can you provide any updated figures or anything? Is there any information that you have? >> I am not sure that goes through EDC specifically, but we'll get back to you. Okay. Um, also uh when it comes down to uh small business support that we believe has taken a decline uh based off of the data uh the data shows that uh the the number of small businesses served declined by 8% um from over 6,000 to just uh over 5,500. Yet there are no new investments in the uh 2027 preliminary budget to address this. Uh why is small business support declining? Um and where is this budget uh and are there any resources to reverse that this trend? >> Yeah. So EDC focuses on sort of supporting small businesses through our assets. Again, we have 644 million square feet, 224 assets, and primarily it's Brooklyn Army Terminal. um Hunts Point, East New York, Coney Island, etc. And so um we support and also our public markets, you know, we have three major public markets. One is more street in Brooklyn. Um and so we through that we support support small businesses. We also support small businesses, MWB businesses through our sort of a construction um awards. So 35% of our all of our construction awards are to MWBE. That's that equates to about 240 million last year. And we have sort of pathways to break break barriers of entry for MWBE firms both in sort of maritime construction and also um regular construction through our construct NYC and waterfront pathways program. >> Okay, thank you for that response. I have two more questions if you may endorse me madam chair. Uh but since we just spoke about WMBBE participation uh I want to talk about the decline. uh WMBB participation has declined significantly uh from over 40% uh to under 20%. Uh what specific funding and corrective actions are included in the FY27 preliminary budget uh to reverse uh this trend and how will the administration ensure accountability and meeting uh participation goals? So the city has a 30% MWBE goal. EDC on our projects that we manage and we award, we have a 35% MWBE goal and we have been meeting that. We met that in last year as I mentioned in fiscal 25 and we anticipate meeting that 35% goal in fiscal 26. >> Right. And um the last thing uh we want to also uh you know uh thank uh the EDC uh with the for the East Brooklyn work workforce fund. Uh we had the opportunity the 42nd Council District had the opportunity to to uh partake in it. We had two community based organizations that were recipients of the of the uh of the RFP or selected. Um so uh we we we thank you for that opportunity. Obviously it's still in effect because uh they're doing the work. Um so we want to thank you for that and uh that you know the participation in that as well. Thank you. Thank you. >> We appreciate that. Council member Avio. >> Thank you, Chair. Hello, friends. I know you're waiting for me. >> Um I need more time, of course, but um let me not belabor the many many questions I have. So, um, can I I guess first I want to underscore the importance of council member Gutierrez's comment about, um, the change of the, uh, RFP related to industrial businesses and our profound concerns there. Um uh could you tell me what metrics uh EDC uses to um track uh industrial growth and is there a metric that you are using on a on a yearly basis uh to to note whether in fact that is happening? >> Yeah. So so we are you know we run uh at our assets are very industrial focused. Um we have one in three of our tenants at our assets are industrial companies and one in 12 of the industrial companies and outer burrows are at our assets. So we invest heavily not only in sort of as tenants but as an industry. Um so we are constantly looking at how to support the industrial sector both in the new development projects as well as as as in our existing assets. And so we we know it's a very important um workforce. It's for, you know, highpaying good jobs for blueco collar workers. And so we're really, it's really important to us to make sure that that industry expands, is supported, and uh grows, >> right? U so can you um I I guess off the record, if you would send me what the breakdown of those industries are and the markers like having one in three tenants necessarily doesn't say that we are meeting growth targets. It means that's what's existing. Are we maintaining those? And what is in fact the growth target? um and are we pushing those targets you know in the in the coming years. So I'd love to really learn more granularly what growth is, how growth is defined and whether or not we are actually meeting that in the various sectors because I'm sure there are smaller manufacturers, larger and what we consider uh industrial might be a point of uh I don't know interpretation. >> Yes, thank you. We'll reach out to you. >> Yeah. So in terms of um has can EDC provide uh its uh gross and net revenues for the last um fiscal years like for fiscal 25 or fiscal 24 25 and 26. Yeah. So, so EDC is a not for-profit organization and we collect operate and maintain assets on behalf of the city and through that we uh collect revenue to mostly um do our ground leases and from our tenants um at our assets and we operate and maintain them. So we have expenditures. We also um do a lot of programming like workforce development, economic mobility, etc. um activating for the World's Cup at our assets, you know, whatever is sort of um important for the city and for EDC. We use our sort of net dollars to activate programs. We call it our impact spending. Um so we don't really have sort of net revenue. If anything, we have an unrestricted cash balance that we keep in sort of as a financial measure in case like a CO 19 happens. So we all of our assets shut down and we're not collecting any revenue so we can still continue like paying our staff and and running our programs. >> Sure. Um so I guess I would love if EDC could send me you know on the record particularly what what the revenue the gross in net looks like specifically for Atlantic Basin and then particularly because I'm one of the council members that has quite a large EDC footprint in my district. The Sunset Park waterfront includes everything from BAT all the way to BMT as SPMT as you know. I would like to understand very clearly what each of those um asset centers are generating. Obviously, you're saying you're putting that back into programming. I'd like to really understand what that looks like specifically for my district. >> Okay. >> Okay, great. And in terms of um in terms of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, my favorite topic, um we we noticed in the fiscal 26 November plan that um there is added three staffing positions for the development corporations, which my understanding was supposed to be um self-supporting. Uh can you tell me um and the preliminary plan also includes 129 million for various infrastructure improvements at the terminal. Can you tell me specifically what these positions are? Have they been filled? Um and then is there a timeline for further staffing? And also can you talk to me specifically about what is included in that 129 million? >> Yes, happy to do that. Um so the Brooklyn the BMTDC uh once it's online is going to sort of operate and maintain the the BMT redevelopment. Um and so we are anticipating >> mind right it is it has been formed BMTC. Yes. Yes. Once Yeah. So they're going to operate and maintain the implementation of the redevelopment. Um so we are anticipating uh an executive director being hired maybe the end of this year. um and it accounts for two staff members. We haven't defined exactly the level or or um for the staff members, but that's what that CTL is for. As for the 129 million, that is really looking at some of the investments that we're doing now. So, the 15 million all electrical crane that we pre-ordered that's hopefully going to come this summer. Um as well as some peer improvements um that we're doing on the peers. And it also looks at the hund that's also the 129 million also is the 100 109 local match or the city match for the >> so this is this is money we've been talking about in the previous fiscal years that is just rolling over. This is not new money. >> No the >> these are the 15 million last year. Oh, I'm looking over like you were there. Um the 15 million for the electric crane was something last year that uh actually maybe two years ago that the administration had on the books. So, is this just rolling over money? >> Yes, this is not new money. >> Okay. Um, lastly, if you could So, actually for the 129, if you could send to my office an itemization of what of what that um is going to be paying for. >> And then I'd like to know as it relates to the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. I know there was a $10 million pot of consultants that were being paid for a process. Can I I asked EDC at a hearing many months ago to provide an itemization of those payments and and who they went to and how much they were for. I have never received any of those um documents. So I'm just asking for a re-upping of that. Mhm. >> Um I have so many more questions, but this is your um I I'll just say lastly before I hand it back to the chair is incredibly gracious with all her council members who can't get enough of questions in. Um obviously I have ongoing concerns about Brooklyn Bereine Terminal. Um, I'm deeply concerned that this administration has decided to just continue and not really look deeply at alternative options and real plan options on all the points that community members have put out very clearly and have articulated that. So, I will continue to be a little bit of a thorn in the side around around this issue because it is the biggest land use transaction in New York City and has gotten very very little um support in the way that this commu our community feels very overlooked. Um and in terms of reinvest investment, I know EDC has a number of workforce. We pump in a ton of workforce. What we have yet to see is a materialization of jobs, actual jobs from the property. So again, I know you've heard me say this a million times. I would like to see what jobs are resulting from any of this investment in the communities that directly abut all of these properties. Um, I have yet to see any articulation that these investments are having any positive impact on our community other than seeing extraction for big corporations. I'll continue to chase that number uh across projects because it is important to my community that watches the city pump in hundreds of millions of dollars and see no direct benefit. So, thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Um, I want to turn back to the budget and the $70 million allocation for EDC to develop citywide grocery stores. This is one of the commitments that were made during the mayor's campaign implementation of these citywide grocery stores as part of the affordability agenda. And I gather there is an intention to develop five stores in total, one in each burrow. Is there any information you can share about this plan? >> Yeah, so we're really excited to create more food affordability for New York New Yorkers. Um since precoid food prices have gone up more than 30% for all of New Yorkers and so we're really looking to ensure that New York has um New York City is more affordable and food affordability is part of that. So, uh, we're working with the mayor and deputy mayor Sue in developing a plan. The $70 million, uh, allocation that was in the preliminary budget is for capital only. It's not for expense. So, it will be used primarily for the BU building build out and fit out of those five grocery stores. And uh besides having that burrow level target, do you have any other criteria in place such as income levels or food insecurity rates or retail gaps that are being used to determine the locations? >> Yeah, the main objective for these five grocery stores is food affordability, food affordability in sort of clean, nice grocery stores, a good experience for the customer, and good paying jobs for the workers at the grocery stores. >> Any other criteria in place? We're working in developing that as we as we move forward with the plan. >> And uh what will the total number of grocery stores be constructed? >> The 70 million includes five grocery stores, one in each burrow. >> And do we have a timeline or when we expect those to be complete? >> Yeah, we're actively working on a development plan. I think you'll see some announcements made in the near future and we're really excited about bringing it online. >> Great. And um is is the administration and I know you're speaking on behalf of the administration envisioning a plan to expand grocery stores in future years, additional funds for more locations. >> We're focused on these first five stores and so uh that is what we're working on right now. >> And EDC operates um existing retail retail markets. >> We operate directly manage three public markets. Lamar get to East Harlem, Morris Street in Brooklyn and um Essex Street in East uh Lower East Side. >> What is the annual operating cost and the net revenue or loss for those existing retail markets? >> Yes, so the public markets are really important for the city. It brings you know again like I mentioned it supports 100 small businesses um you know 300 or so workers in those businesses. Um, and it also provides fresh c culturally relevant food for those neighborhoods. So, we think it's a really important sort of public good for New York City. Um, it is not a money maker and so I would have to get back to you on the details on that, but we're committed to um the three the these public markets as a as a public good for New York City. >> Great. It would be helpful to understand uh the economics and how do these markets that currently exist differ in structure and operation from the intention behind the new city-owned grocery stores. >> So, the public markets are really just as I said, these these are allowing for culturally relevant sort of small businesses and food vendors in these markets. The public grocery stores are specifically for food affordability. Um, but both of them, you know, there's in terms of food access, food affordability, etc. There's like multiple tools that we're using. So, these sort of align, but the public grocery stores are specifically going to have food discounts. >> And do you suspect that we'll need additional city subsidies in the future to continue to support operations and the ongoing infrastructure needed to operate the five stores? >> We're looking into that now. We're sort of developing a plan. So, we'll we'll get back to you very quickly on that. >> And will the stores be staffed by the city or or contracted out to a managing company? >> We're looking for a third party operator because it's a very complex business and so we want to make sure we have experts sort of um doing that. >> And are you in touch with food access organizations about partnering partnering with them? Um part of the development plan is a whole outreach in terms of everyone involved in the in including community folks involved in sort of the supermarket world and the food accessibility world. So we're having those conversations. >> The other uh resource available is the food retail expansion to support health or fresh programs >> where we have a hundred million in total assistance granted over the lifetime of those projects. Can you speak to the advantages or differences between the Fresh program and the proposed city-owned grocery stores? >> Yeah, so the Fresh program is part of our IDA um tax incentive program. And this is so again, this is like another tool that we use to bring food accessibility um and food affordability to this to New Yorkers. And this one specifically is for food accessibility. It targets specific highnee neighborhoods and we provide tax incentives for those supermarket private supermarkets to go into those neighborhoods. It doesn't necessarily focus on discount but it f focuses on food accessibility >> and why why the decision to create a new program versus invest further in these existing programs. So these public grocery stores are, you know, we found that there's a real affordability crisis in the, you know, uh, and it became a priority of the mayor, um, that one of the measures to combat sort of the affordability crisis is through food, um, affordability. And so this is a way to offer again like the public markets, the fresh program, they don't really um specifically target like food prices and these public grocery stores were very specifically target food prices and food affordability. >> Has EDC done any analysis on the impact of opening these grocery stores on other community-based food groups? Uh, for example, the council's food initiatives provides over 27 million to scour of local organizations for food access in underserved communities. >> Yeah, that is part of our sort of public grocery store um plan and and sort of development and so we're working through that right now. >> So, more information to come. >> Yes. >> And I'm I am in particular curious about the, you know, the long-term subsidies to keep the program funding. If we're committing 70 million now, what does that commitment look like year-over-year and into the future, particularly in a year where we are scouring for savings in every in every turn? >> I wanted to also ask about uh the tin building since we're on the topic of food. So last month we learned that the tin building food hall at the South Street Seapport is being replaced by the balloon museum. And in a 2014 agreement with the council and EDC as part of that redevelopment, they the Howard Hughes Corporation committed to putting a food market occupying um at least 10,000 square feet that would include locally and regionally sourced food items that are sold by multiple vendors and open to the public seven days a week. So certainly getting at that issue of accessibility of food if not affordability of food. Um is the is this new change of the balloon museum in violation of that original agreement? >> No within they stayed within the the requirements under the original agreement bringing a cultural institution is is part of that and the balloon museum is a cultural institution. Um I would say that you know it had been losing money millions and millions of dollars every year and they were planning to shut it down anyway. But we did uh get a commitment is that they're going to keep a sort of u a what is it called? Um farmers market open seven days a week um right next door. >> Got it. So the the original agreement did not require that food market. My understanding was that there was an agreement between the council and EDC as part of that redevelopment requiring the food market. But >> yeah, it so the food market's going to stay. It's going to still be open 7 days a week, but it's not going to be in the tin building, >> but and not at least 10,000 square feet. >> I'm not sure what the size is. Yeah. >> So, is it EDC's responsibility to enforce those commitments from that original agreement from the >> So, the original agreement, the the balloon museum coming into it, we did look take a very close look at it. They all the requirements under their original agreement were met or the the lease So, I I see that the reports indicated the Seapport Entertainment Group was losing 33 million alone in in one year. Um, is there anything EDC or the city could have done to support a venture like that on city land? >> I mean, $30 million a year is is a steep number. And so we worked with them to try to help promote the tin building more and and but it really is on the risk is really on the private entity and that's how we structure the deal within the confines of sort of the use restrictions of that site. >> And in the case of these new city-owned grocery stores, is that uh responsibility then placed on the city to ensure that we're having an economically stable business? We're going to we're still working out the development, but that those city- owned grocery stores will be restricted to be used for for sort of food food um purposes. >> Well, I don't have any other colleagues here to ask questions. Um but thank you very much for your testimony. Are we now moving to public testimony? Thank you. What else am I supposed to say? >> All right, the panel is dismissed. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Um, first I want to invite Francis U from Community Food Advocates, Noah Meexler from Consortium for Worker Education, Legalia Gua from Workers Justice Project, and Jorge Roas from Workers Justice Project. And thank you again to EDC for your time today and helpful helpful testimony. All >> right, you may begin starting with Francis. >> Good afternoon, Chair Maloney and members of the committee. My name is Francis Hugh, director of supermarket access at Community Food Advocates. On behalf of CFA and the growing coalition we are building to advance equitable supermarket access across New York City, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the upcoming preliminary budget. Community Food Advocates works to ensure all New Yorkers have access to healthy, affordable, culturally affirming food. In addition to leading major w major citywide campaigns such as universal school meals and Good Food New York, we have spent the last several years conducting research and organizing partners around equitable supermarket access. The urgency is clear. A newly released 2026 share our strength New York hunger survey found that twothirds of New Yorkers had to choose between buying enough nutritious food and paying for other essential household expenses in the past year. For families with children, that number rises to 74%. This is why we strongly support Mayor Mdani's initiative to develop city-owned supermarkets. Community food advocates currently convene a growing coalition of community organizations, food systems experts, and researchers helping shape recommendations for the initiative. Last year, alongside industry experts Errol Schweiser and Raj Patel, we released a report outlining strategies to ensure these supermarkets deliver real affordability and access. This report is included in the materials I provided. Two factors determine whether this e effort succeeds, scale and sustained operational investment. Achieving real affordability requires a model that operates at sufficient scale that unlocks significant wholesale savings, which we've identified at 20 stores, and recognizes supermarket access as a public good. We're very pleased with the $70 million in capital funds in the preliminary budget. While this initial capital investment is important, long-term success depends on ongoing operational funding. Current projection suggests approximately $20 million per store in annual subsidy, roughly $und00 million annually for these first five stores to ensure sustained affordability, quality jobs, and a dignified grocery experience for New Yorkers. Thank you for your leadership and your attention to this issue. >> Thank you, Noah from Consortium for Worker Education. >> Great. Thank you, Chair Maloney, and members of the Committee on Economic Development. My name is Noah Mesler and I serve as the director of the Historia Worker Project, an initiative of the consortium for worker education. As the workforce development arm of the New York City Central Labor Council, CWE brings a worker- centered approach to workforce development. The historic worker project has anchored our work in a neighborhood as we seek to build worker power and develop innovative programming and partnerships to reach underserved populations. Over the past three years, with the support of the council, we have built this program from the ground up, seeing steady growth each year. Our programming is designed and responsive to community feedback. We began our work with a quantitative analysis of the local economy paired with a focus group study of workers in the neighborhood. Last fiscal year, we delivered over 12,000 hours of instruction and served thousands of local residents. Our programming includes ESL, know your rights, finance and work readiness classes, leadership development, and cooperative business education, all delivered in partnership with unions and trusted community organizations. Our partners include the UAW, Local 79, 1199, Workers United, Malikica, the Ansup Center for Refugees, What's on the Move, the Variety Boys and Girls Club, and the Aid Center of Queens County. We started this program as a pilot initiative, and we're now working in partnership with our Bronx, formerly known as the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition to replicate this model in the Kingsbridge Armory. Our vision for Kingsbridge is rooted in the same principles that have guided our work in Atoria. Meeting workers where they are, investing in underserved communities, and building economic power from the ground up. We will keep the city council and this committee informed as we continue to to move this work forward. Thank you for the time. >> Thank you. Workers justice project. And the translation version is African. Construction. Capacit. Foreigne construction. fundament. importance in Okay. Um, so good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity, Chair Maloney, for to testify today. My name is Liia Walpa. I'm the executive director of the Workers Justice Project, and I'm here to emphasize the importance of supporting day labors, domestic workers, and app delivery workers in the city of New York. I want to share a bit about our programs and how we're creating pathways for hardworking New Yorkers to access living wage jobs um in industries that often are low paid and also exploitative. Workers Justice Project runs workforce development programs and workers rights programs that fills critical gaps for immigrant New Yorkers in low-wage industries. Our programs have helped set labor standards in the app delivery industry, construction, and domestic work, providing workers with dignified jobs, fair wages. This just this fiscal year, we have connected uh domestic workers and day laborers to 600 jobs, helped over 400 deliver um um construction work uh delivery workers return into their jobs after ownair being deactivated, which is a form of being fired um in the app industry and ensure that many construction and domestic workers earn an average wage of $25 an hour. through our workers rights uh program we have recovered $20 million in a stolen wages for delivery workers and also 13 23,000 for day labors and domestic workers. We have trained um 400 workers in 40 hours of construction site safety. We're proud to be able to do this work with the support of the New York City Council. And I'm here today asking for the support again to make sure that our key initiatives that sustains these programs are fully funded. The day labor workforce initiative, the construction site safety, the worker cooperative. So for the day labor workforce initiative, we're asking 4.9 for five uh worker organizations which were part of that coalition across the city. also for our legal service for day labors and domestic workers to be restored at 500 for workers justice project the construction site safety uh 150 and um also and amending now um and also supporting our new initiative which is the workers rights organizing education initiative which will be be launching soon. Thank you for the opportunity and we look forward to working with you. >> Thank you for your testimony. >> Thank you. Next we have Yzmin Vega from Hispanic Federation and Hannah Buren from Western Queens Community Land Trust. Thank you. >> Whenever you're ready. Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. It's my first time here. Um my name is Yin Vega, director of economic empowerment for Hispanic Federation. And thank you so much for taking the time to hear this testimony today on behalf of Hispanic Federation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering and advancing Hispanic communities through its programs and legislative advocacy. our network of over 780 member and partner organizations, including 200 located here in New York City, our frontline service providers for our neighborhoods and communities. Despite being significantly underc capitalapitalized and underresourced, these local organizations remain at the heart of our communities and a crit and are a critical support system for Latino families. These organizations are deeply embedded in our neighborhoods, providing the most vulnerable residents with food, shelter, and clothing, supporting atrisisk youth in achieving academic success, and assisting low-income families in obtaining health insurance, helping workers gain the training and skills needed to achieve economic mobility. And additionally, these organizations that might otherwise go unheard of are really are at the heart of advancing equitable opportunities that improve New Yorkers quality of life. And today, we are asking for the expansion of key funding for the incoming fiscal year to support our growing Latino families and to ensure that the city prioritizes the allocation of resources that will improve the well-being of vulnerable communities across the city. HF is requesting that the city council provide baseline funding of 100 million for community food connection to support emergency food providers in battling food insecurity for all New Yorkers. Oh my goodness. Additionally, HF supports an allocation of 25 million in the feeding our communities council initiative in fiscal year 27 to support food pantries including Hispanic Federation and partner organizations such as the Met Council and Catholic Charities. For over 16 years, Hispanic Federation's Lucha Contra Lambre Hunger Relief effort has been a cornerstone in improving the health and nutritional status of New Yorkers by expanding nutrient-rich food to needy families across the city and filling a gap in food items, specifically culturally responsive food items uh that pantries often have a hard time sourcing. And in 2025, Lucha Contam provided 1.3 million meals, including Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas panels, impacting over 100,000 underserved families in New York. So, thank you so much for your support and looking forward to working with you. Thank you so much for your testimony. We'll now turn to the Zoom. Um, we'll start with Milot Suyom and then go to Sarah Bratco, followed by Katherine Mercer. Meat, if you're on the zoom. >> Yes, thank you. Good afternoon, honorable chairperson and distinguished members of the New York City Council Committee on Economic Development. My name is Mati and I'm the director of policy advocacy and strategic partnerships at the New York City network of workerown cooperatives, also known as Nickn. We are the member-ledd local trade association representing worker cooperative businesses and democratic workplaces in New York City. I'm here alongside my colleagues from the Democracy at Work Institute, the Center for Family Life, Cooney Law, um, and also our WJP advocates with our advocacy council members representing nine other organizations that make up the worker cooperative business development initiative. Um, we are here asking the New York City Council to continue supporting the expansion of worker ownership in next year's budget and firmly into the future. Since the inception of the initiative, we've created over 200 new cooper cooperative businesses and over 1,200 new jobs that are not only providing how higher hourly wages, but also building wealth and assets for individuals who are overwhelmingly bipok women and immigrants. We have seen firsthand how this initiative has served to bolster our sector and strengthened existing cooperative businesses and created new ones. The initiative partners have collectively worked to create a comprehensive ecosystem of support for cooperative businesses that not only ensures the creation of new cooperatives in low-income areas, but also the technical assistance needed to sustain businesses and create jobs, as well as the education and outreach needed for communities, interested entrepreneurs and allied organizations. We did a lot of work during the early years of the pandemic and beyond to bring in over 20 million in grants and loans to cooperatives and keep them afloat. And we did this with a 3.7 million budget. We are here asking the city council to enhance our funding to $5,97,000 in order for an initiative to double down on the essential long-term economic recovery for cooperative businesses that is needed to claw ourselves out of this current crisis that we are facing. We thank the city council for the opportunities to testify and we hope that you will consider our budget priorities and recommendations during the year's negotiation process. Thank you. Thank you very much, >> Sarah Bradco, followed by Katherine Murker. >> Thank you. My name is My name is Sarah Braco here on behalf of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. The economic strength of New York City is inseparable from the vitality of its hotel industry. Each hotel room night drives roughly $1,100 in total visitor spending, totaling $ 38 billion annually across all five burrows. That mark money is going directly back into the community through restaurants, attractions, retail, and other small businesses. It's also going directly back to the city budget. In total, the industry is projected to generate an estimated $4.9 billion in tax revenue in 2026 alone for this for the federal, state, and New York City. Hotels support nearly 264,000 jobs in New York City. And these are careers that provide strong wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities for New York New Yorkers. Since 2020, average hotel wages have grown more than 15% faster than wages in the broader economy. As we said in our February 27th testimony, the industry is also facing significant cost pressures. Over the last five years, operating costs have risen roughly four times faster than revenue growth. With local policy decisions, making New York City one of the most expensive operating markets in the world. We continue to face uncertainty due to the decline in international travel and ongoing tariff and trade disputes. And even with major events like the World Cup on the horizon, hotel revenue growth nationwide is projected to remain under 1% this year. It's because of this and against this backdrop that budget proposals to increase corporate taxes, reduce the pass through entity tax credit, and significantly raise property taxes would add further strain. Hotels can't simply relocate when operating costs become unsustainable. They close. And we have seen this dynamic in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles where compounding policy decisions including continuous tax increases and extreme labor mandates have placed significant strain on the hospitality sector leading to visitor decline in hotel closures. A strong hotel industry means a strong New York City economy and we look forward to working with the council to advance policies that promote job create job creation and sustained economic growth for the city. Thank you. Thank you, Katherine Merchek, followed by Eli Shin Perez. >> You may begin. >> Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Katherine Merc and I'm a worker owner at two co-ops here in New York City. The Samaya Yoga Back Care and Scoliosis Collective and Oasis Solidarity Collective. We're members of Nicknock, who you heard from already, which is a partner organization in the worker cooperative business development initiative. Your support of our community of democratically run businesses, helps to protect and create jobs for women, immigrant workers, and communities of color across the five bureaus in a wide array of industries. Uh New York City now has the the most co-ops in any in the country because of your support. I'm testifying today to urge you to continue to support the great work of WCBDI enhancing the initiative's funding to 5.09 million and to also support commercial rent stabilization to protect New York City's workers and small businesses from displacement. The first co-op I joined, Sam Kaya, is a very special little studio for therapeutic yoga in Chelsea with classes both online and in studio. I'm proud to say my 19 other worker owners and I have been democratically running the studio together for 11 years in the same space the whole time. To make yoga accessible to all ages and abilities, we use specialized rope walls and equipment which incurred a lot of startup costs that we are still paying back. Getting our business through the pandemic was a huge challenge that for forced us to close our physical space temporarily and pivot to teaching online. But we were able to get through it for two main reasons. One, because we're a cooperative, and two, our landlord was willing to renegotiate our lease. As a co-op, we banded together to decide as a team how we would pivot, divide the labor, and work together to keep the studio afloat while making sure our teachers who most needed to work could keep teaching online and make ends meet. We were also grateful to have access to technical support from WCBDI partners and a couple small grants specific to worker co-ops. This support provided proono legal services with take root justice to help us with the negotiation of our lease and Nicknox cooperative sustainability fund which allowed us to pay for consulting sessions. >> Thank you. Your time's expired. >> Okay. Um just please uh enhance the funding to 5.0909 million. And I'd like to put in request to please um extend testimony time to three minutes like it was before the pandemic. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um, Eli Shin Perez and then Will Spisac. >> You may begin. >> Hi. Good afternoon, Chair Virginia Maloney and distinguished members of the New York City Council on Economic Development. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify. My name is Ellie Perez and I'm a business developer at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park. I'm here today to respectfully urge the council to support the worker cooperative business development initiative and allocating $5.09 09 million in fiscal year 2027, including $675,000 to the Center for Family Life. This work is deeply personal to me. In fiscal year 25, I helped a group of low-income immigrant women launch their business. Many of them came to this country seeking a better life, only to be mistreated and exploited for their labor, uh, an experience echoed by my own family. Some of them earned as little as $11 an hour here in New York City. These past two years, I watched them grow, find their voices, and take up leadership positions, learning so much along the way. With your help, we're going to continue helping them uh equipping them with the tools to manage and sustainably grow their own business. In fiscal year 27, with your support, we plan to offer 275 technical assistance services to existing worker co-ops to help them address administrative challenges and remain operational. will also provide 20 trainings in business administration finance marketing and domestic industry specific skills so that 400 participants can strengthen their entrepreneurial knowledge. Through these efforts, we aim to create at least 15 new jobs in cooperative businesses and ensure that members of the co-ops we incubate earn an average of $39 per hour. These achievements are only possible with the steadfast support of the council and on behalf of the center for family life and the worker cooperative business development initiative. Thank you so much for your time, consideration, and commitment to economic equity. We respectfully ask for your continued support in fiscal year 27. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. And last, we have Will Spac. >> You may begin. Good afternoon, committee chair. My name is Will Spizac. I'm a senior policy strategist at New Economy Project, a citywide organization that works with community groups across the city to build a new economy that works for all New Yorkers based on community wealth buildinging, collective ownership, and racial justice. We coordinate the citywide coalition of community land trusts known as Nicely and manage the new economy loan fund which provides non-extractive financing to community controlled solidarity enterprises across the city. Since 2019, our organization has received city council discretionary funding uh through the citywide community land trust initiative or CLT initiative. Um and we are asking the city council to enhance funding uh for that initiative to $3 million uh in fiscal year 27 expense budget. We're also asking the city council to hold the mayor accountable to his uh campaign promise to create a $50 million CLT capital fund to provide nimble funding to CLTs operating in a fast-paced competitive market. By bringing land into community ownership, CLTs are a driving force away from the old model of economic development, so-called smoke stack chasing, and towards community wealth building and locally rooted economic development. Since the 90s, Cooper Square CLT on Manhattan's Lower East Side has preserved more than 320 deeply affordable apartments and two dozen affordable storefronts uh in 21 buildings with primarily MWBE businesses operating in them. Uh more recently, the Bronx CLT, Western Queen CLT, East New York, Mont Havenport, Morris Community Land Stewarts, and the Real Edgeirre CLT have acquired or in the process of closing on properties that will provide muchneeded affordable community, commercial, and manufacturing space to build economic opportunity in their neighborhoods from a community wealthbuilding solidarity framework. Um, we're asking you to uh take this opportunity with this council and this administration to create a new unique way to uh for New York City to do economic development and use CLTs as a tip of the spear to lead community wealth buildinging projects um and hopefully become the new norm for the way New York City does economic development. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. That concludes the public comment. Thank you all for being here. And this hearing is adjourned.