In the zone: City Council should approve City of Yes changes today

Today, the City Council will have the opportunity to vote on the economic opportunity part of Mayor Adams’ City of Yes proposals to modernize zoning, which broadly intends to make it easier to start and maintain businesses, ranging from one-person home businesses to new high-tech manufacturing. They should vote yes.

The evidence for the stagnation of the status quo is all around, in the empty storefronts and the would-be businesses that can’t inhabit them due to outdated zoning; in the vacant loading docks that take up space; in the rejection of new technologies that can, for example, enable businesses to engage in some level of indoor agriculture and manufacturing in a way that does not negatively impact the broader community.

With our life sciences sector growing and funds up for grabs as part of the federal government’s push to develop a domestic chips manufacturing industry, among other things, it’s the right time to roll out the red carpet for the next stage of high-paying and sustainable businesses.

Some New Yorkers tend to take any zoning proposals as a threat to rework the fabric of the city, but for all the hand-wringing, both the economic and housing opportunity planks of this overarching project are about returning to the vitality and flexibility that has long made NYC stand out. In some cases, it’s about literally allowing the same long-standing and characteristic city practices to continue after they’ve been blocked by short-sighted regulation.

With the problem of the middle class emptying out of NYC and a jobs recovery that has centered around lower-paid job growth, we need to find additional ways of incentivizing the development of industries and occupations that will be sustainable. We don’t need nor want a race to the bottom on deregulation under the theory that the best paths to prosperity run through unencumbered commerce, free from public oversight. Oversight remains, but Adams and his planning chief Dan Garodnick want to do it smarter.

These proposals are about removing some pointless obstacles in the path of pretty standard economic activity. Among the changes, the bill would get rid of antiquated business definitions — there aren’t too many telegraph operators opening up shop these days — and link them to federal definitions that actually get updated and can keep up with shifting times. Simple, straightforward and common sense. That doesn’t mean that all these businesses are on solid footing or will survive, but the city shouldn’t kill them before they get off the ground.

The Council already has gotten some concessions, including taking out provisions to ease the opening of corner stores (can you imagine? Corner stores in New York? What a problem that would have been!)

Now, Council members should adopt the program and direct its focus to the next step, the housing plank that will ensure there are still plenty of New Yorkers around in different income bands to actually engage in all this economic activity. Running the gauntlet of the Community Boards will all but ensure it’ll take fire from the NIMBY usual suspects, but lawmakers should understand that every month that passes without a substantial and targeted solution is one more risk to the city’s long-term viability.