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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 393-11
November 6, 2011

MAYOR BLOOMBERG DISCUSSES PROGRESS ON MAJOR JOB-CREATING INITAITIVES – A NEW APPLIED SCIENCES CAMPUS AND DEVELOPMENT AT HUDSON YARDS – IN WEEKLY RADIO ADDRESS

The following is the text of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s weekly radio address as prepared for delivery on 1010 WINS News Radio for Sunday, November 6, 2011

"Good Morning.  This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg."

"It's marathon Sunday in New York. I was at the starting line early this morning.  And maybe I'll see some of you along the course, rooting for the more than 47,000 racers who are heading for the finish line.  While we're at it, let's also raise a cheer for some key job-creating projects in our city.  They're really picking up speed, too.

"Let's start at the Hudson Yards area on Manhattan's Far West Side.  We've long worked to turn this now-underdeveloped area into a vibrant new community of offices, stores, market-rate and affordable housing, and parks.  A natural extension of the Midtown business district, it's got tremendous job-creating potential.  And thanks to a combination of public investment and private development, that potential is being realized now. 

"Last week, one of our city's leading fashion design firms, Coach, Inc., announced that it will anchor a major new office tower to be built in the Hudson Yards area.  With a ground-breaking anticipated in 2012, that's going to translate into thousands of new Hudson Yards construction jobs, and, later, office jobs – the leading edge of many thousands more jobs to follow.  The City-funded extension of the Number 7 subway line – a massive construction job in its own right – is playing a key role in transforming the Hudson Yards area.   The first major addition to the subway system in decades, it's on schedule for completion in late 2013.

"Hudson Yards shows how targeted public projects lay the groundwork for job-producing private investment.  Last week, we raised the curtain on another project that – with some public encouragement – we're confident will create thousands of jobs for New Yorkers in the years to come:  Bringing a major new applied sciences campus to our city.  We've issued a challenge to universities far and wide:  Develop a plan to create or expand such a campus here.  In exchange, we'll provide prime City-controlled real estate, and also invest up to $100 million in infrastructure improvements.  I explained our reasoning to city leaders from 18 nations at an "NYC Global Partners" summit on innovation and entrepreneurship last week:  The start-up companies and jobs this school would spin off, in such areas as digital media and computer science, would repay our up-front investment many, many times over.  

"The deadline for submissions in this competition was October 28th.  And the results went well beyond what we imagined:  Seven great applications by 17 major institutions from across America and around the world, some in partnership with each other and with top private companies.  They're proposing to invest up to $2.5 billion in this new school, and many are ready to begin work right away.  That's going to lead to lots of new jobs – not just in advanced research, but also in construction, administrative support, and other good occupations, too.

"Early next year we'll announce our selection in this applied science competition.  Of course, that'll be long after today's ING New York City Marathon is history.  Whatever the outcome, all its competitors are winners in my book.  And like the projects I just described, the $350 million in economic activity the marathon generates – and the priceless advertising it gives us before audiences around the globe – makes New York's economy a winner too."

"This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Thanks for listening."







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