The decline in manufacturing is the worst eight-year drop in NYC history; one reason is rezonings

Remember how Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said the country needs to get back to manufacturing?

Well, New York City has its niche manufacturing, but that niche is narrowing. Tom Robbins, soon to depart from the Village Voice, reports:

This month, City Limits magazine reported that under Mayor Bloomberg's watch, manufacturing jobs in the city disappeared twice as fast as in the rest of the country. Almost 64,000 blue-collar positions vanished, a decline of 46 percent. It is the worst eight-year slide in city history, says Sarah Crean, who has kept an eye on these statistics for the New York Industrial Retention Network. Land rezoning is one reason, says Crean. Indifference is another.

It might be added that, when rezonings were passed, the city didn't always predict things well, as with Downtown Brooklyn. And sometimes, as with Atlantic Yards, the city let the state override zoning.