EDITORIAL
BUILDING A MORE
EQUAL NYC ECONOMY
On the surface, New York City’s economy was doing
marvelously back in February 2020 — with
a record 4.1 million private sector jobs, an alltime
low unemployment rate of 4.1 percent and
a booming tourism sector.
Then the pandemic hit New York hard — and tremendous
economic pain resulted. Millions lost their
jobs. Businesses closed. The tourism sector dried up.
These generalizations of New York’s economic state
are bad enough; a closer inspection of the figures, however,
reveal that the levels of economic pain the city
currently suffers differ depending on where you live,
who you work for and who you are.
A report that City Comptroller Scott Stringer recently
released shows just how bad the inequality is.
Nearly one in four New Yorkers of color — Asian, Hispanic,
Black — lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Many lost work in the low-paying service sectors of
our economy — retail, hotels, entertainment venues,
restaurants and bars, all of which were closed for many
long months.
The end of the pandemic is still months away, but
in plain sight now, thanks to the advent of two reliable
vaccines. In weeks, the vaccination process will begin;
in months, most Americans will have the protection
needed to, in a sense, return to some semblance of normalcy.
But in a larger sense, we can’t just return to normalcy.
The pandemic exposed the massive social and
economic inequalities within our city like never before,
and we need to find some way to inoculate ourselves
from repeating the damage incurred whenever the next
crisis hits.
After the Great Recession, New York worked to diversify
its economy beyond just finance, and it worked.
Now we have to diversify the economy for the people of
this city.
That means pumping millions of dollars toward
new schools, hospitals and trade in communities of
color that have long been ignored.
That means adopting the One Fair Wage plan where
restaurant and bar workers are no longer reliant upon
gratuities to earn a decent living.
That means millions of dollars in economic relief for
the most impacted sectors of our economy to get back
on their feet and rebuild.
After Inauguration Day, the city, state and federal
governments must work together toward this objective.
A more equal economy for everyone will lead to a stronger
New York for all.
HOW TO REACH US
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.12 COM | DEC. 11-DEC. 17, 2020
With COVD-19 vaccine on its way, Governor
Cuomo must set aside issues with Trump
It has been reported that the federal
government is set to deliver
the first 170,000 doses of Pfizer’s
coronavirus vaccine to New
York by Dec. 15 to New York. Good
news, right ?
Now the problem is Gov. Cuomo
has doubts about the Trump Administration’s
safety standards for
the vaccine and the need for federal
funding for distribution. Meanwhile,
the CDC says it is safe.
The state has millions of dollars
in unclaimed federal funds for vaccine
distribution. In my opinion,
Gov. Cuomo’s dislike of President
Trump should not cause more New
Yorkers to lose their lives from
COVID-19. I’m over 70 years old
and I’m asking Gov. Cuomo to use
common sense and to do the right
thing.
He needs to stop griping on
what can’t be done and instead focus
on what can be done.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Bellerose
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The pandemic has exposed the massive social and economic inequalities within our city like never before.
File photo by Reuters/Nick Oxford
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