economic development

Testimony to New York City Council Committee on Economic Development Oversight Hearing on Economic Development Incentive Packages

Marnie McGregor
Policy and Communications Specialist, Pratt Center for Community Development
December 19, 2006

Chairman White, Jr. and Committee members, my name is Marnie McGregor from the Pratt Center for Community Development.

First we would like to commend the Committee for convening this oversight hearing, and the leadership of Speaker Quinn. We particularly applaud the Council for passing Local Law 48 last year which significantly helps policy makers and the public better understand the fiscal and employment impacts of economic development deals negotiated outside of the budget process by the IDA & EDC.

In addition, many improvements have been made by the IDA over the past year to make the public process for subsidy proposals more meaningful. In addition, stronger clawback provisions now generally require commercial companies to meet job growth targets in order to receive subsidies.

Testimony to Manhattan Community Board 3

Mercedes Narciso, R.A.
Senior Planner, Pratt Center for Community Development
April 12, 2007

Good evening to everybody. Thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony today. My name is Mercedes Narciso and I am a Senior Planner with the Pratt Center for Community Development, a university- based organization that works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers by helping communities to plan for and realize their future. One of those communities is the Lower East Side, and in partnership with the Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), we are currently working on a community assessment and planning initiative in the area.

I am here today to express our support for East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers Project proposed by the Department of City Planning, a project full of vision and creativity, which would provide the diverse nearby community and the city at large the opportunity to access and enjoy the waterfront.

Testimony to the City Council Committee on Zoning and Franchises Special Hunts Point District, Bronx (C080248ZMX)

Joan Byron
Director, Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative
Pratt Center for Community Development
June 17, 2008

My name is Joan Byron; I am the Director of the Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative of the Pratt Center for Community and Environmental Development. The Pratt Center works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers, by empowering communities to plan for and realize their futures. We are especially proud to have supported the work of Hunts Point and other South Bronx organizations since the early 1990s in the many battles they have fought for environmental justice; Hunts Point bears more than its share of the burdens of the infrastructure and land uses that make New York City's density and vitality possible, to the daily cost of the people who live, work, and breathe in the shadow of highways, electric power plants, sewage treatment and sludge pelletization facilities, and dozens of waste transfer stations and waste handling facilities.