NEW YORK CITY TOPS FORTUNE MAGAZINE'S LIST OF MOST IMPROVED CITIES FOR BUSINESS
Mayor Says Crime Decline, Improved Quality Of Life & Pro-Business Policies Help City Win #1 Ranking
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced today that FORTUNE magazine has ranked New York City Number One as the most improved City for business in North America in 1997. Joining the Mayor for today's announcement in Bryant Park were key officials from FORTUNE Magazine, including Managing Editor John Huey, and Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Randy Levine.
"I am very proud that FORTUNE magazine has recognized the incredible turn around New York City has achieved in a relatively short period of time," said Mayor Giuliani. "New York City is now a model for other cities in the nation and around the world.
"Over the last four years, my administration has worked hard to create an atmosphere where people want to do business. We've made targeted tax cuts -- the unincorporated business tax, the hotel occupancy tax, the sales tax on clothing and the commercial rent tax. We aggressively took on organized crime and removed its harmful and costly influence from key industries like the Fulton Fish Market, private carting and wholesale markets. We've opened up these markets to competition and reduced prices. For example, commercial waste removal prices are down 40 percent throughout the City, putting $600 million back in the pockets of business owners."
The Mayor commented on other factors responsible for New York City's business turn around. "Also contributing to our economic success, is the fact that New York City leads the nation in crime decline over the last four years," the Mayor said. "Violent crime has fallen to levels not seen since the 1960s, and the quality of life in all five boroughs has dramatically improved."
"We've also corrected past policies that once caused businesses to flee the City. Since 1994, 35 major companies have decided to stay -- and grow -- in New York City. This means almost 80,000 jobs have remained here and an additional 42,000 jobs are projected for the future. The City has already experienced the greatest four-year job growth in its history with the creation of 173,500 new jobs. Small businesses have also benefited from New York's resurgence because they too now have the opportunity and confidence to grow again," the Mayor added.
In a report to be published in its November 24 issue, FORTUNE evaluated factors that measure the business viability of a city and the quality of life. The magazine cited the dramatic decline in New York City's crime rate, its improved quality of life and its business-friendly policies and programs as key factors in earning the Number #1 ranking. Specifically, the magazine highlighted the City's ability to reverse years of job decline and to retain businesses.
In the FORTUNE report, New York City topped the list followed by Denver, Boston, Seattle and Raleigh-Durham. New York City's impressive growth in a wide range of industries, including tourism and film and television production, as well as its streamlined permit process and improved relations with labor unions, were also featured in the article.
The FORTUNE ranking is the City's latest honor in recent months. A September 1997 Gallup Poll showed that New York City is the place where the majority of Americans want to live. INC. magazine also recently recognized New York City as the City with the largest number of growing, privately-held companies. In addition, the City has recently been profiled favorably in U.S NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, TIME and NEWSWEEK.
The rating of FORTUNE's top ten cities was based on quantitative business indicators and the quality of life. The business aspect was measured by cost of labor, education level of work force, office rental rates and accessibility. The quality of life was measured by recreation and cultural opportunities, level of crime and quality of schools. Cities were also measured against their past records. Other factors included housing costs, private school tuition, average household expenses, number of movie screens, miles of City bike paths, and number of Starbucks coffee shops.
FORTUNE worked with Business Location Services Practice of Arthur Andersen in surveying executives worldwide, economic development organizations for 145 cities, and conducting worldwide independent research. The information was analyzed to select cities that satisfied basic business-location needs and also demonstrated improvement over a 5 to 10-year period in a number of business and quality of life measures. After all the calculations were in, New York City was the most improved City out of any City in North America and also had indictors pointing to a strong future.
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