Ok so I saw the HBO special on the garment industry and it was quite sad. It reminded me of as a teen and in my 20's during the 80's/90's passing through the fashion district seeing all those racks of clothes, being walked through the streets which is now a real distant memory. It was at one time by far the biggest local industry for NYC, manhattan most assuredly. Near 100% of us clothing... [more]
Ok so I saw the HBO special on the garment industry and it was quite sad.
It reminded me of as a teen and in my 20's during the 80's/90's passing through the fashion district seeing all those racks of clothes, being walked through the streets which is now a real distant memory.
It was at one time by far the biggest local industry for NYC, manhattan most assuredly.
Near 100% of us clothing purchases were made in USA in the 50s.
Kennedy era brought in a 5% import, or 95% US made.
In the 70s it went down to 75%
In the 80's it was 50%
In the 90s 25%.
And now I think 5% would be a lot.
So maybe rent control and rent stabilization helped keep this heavy middle class genre in manhattan real estate, slowly pushed out by development and gentrification over the last 10/20 years to the white collar finance industry which took manhattan by storm.
And though mildly affected by the likes of London, Hong Kong, Zurich,and that flash in the pan Dubai, New York is/was easily the king.
But now in the wake of many things, 9/11, recent crash, and technology, I have to wonder if NYC will need a new trade to maintain itself in the not distant future.
Technology grows exponentially now making it very unecessary to deal in finance from an NYC office.
Of course the bones will need an office and for some prestige as well however, the meat is easily served through network cables.
I post this because there are so many articles and threads that seem to offer wall street bonuses as the be all end all for nyc real estate.I just don't see it affecting NYC's long term health anymore.
Thoughts?
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