Elizabeth Lusskin
Feb. 10, 2015 Michael Florio
The Long Island City Partnership’s program that provides financial assistance and an array of different services to industrial and manufacturing firms will be receiving $100,000 in funds.
The funds, which were allocated by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, are going to be used to support this neighborhood’s Industrial Business Zone, which is a program overseen by the Long Island City Partnership that helps promote and service local businesses.
The primary purpose of the IBZ is to protect manufacturing and industrial firms from soaring costs and to ensure that they stay in Long Island City.
The Long Island City Partnership through the IBZ program helps companies located in the zone (see map) obtain financing, tax credits and abatements to grow their businesses.
Last year, Van Bramer allocated $75,000 to the program but this year upped it to $100,000.
“The Long Island City Partnership has a strong record of helping small businesses stay and grow,” Van Bramer said. “By nurturing Long Island City’s industrial business zone, we are strengthening our local economy.”
Elizabeth Lusskin, the president of the Long Island City Partnership, said that the IBZ program is more important than ever before as businesses continue to face rising costs.
“We help these companies stay and grow in Long Island City…by connecting them with everything from incentives, financing, energy efficiency, and workforce training, to helping them with permits, potholes and parking,” Lusskin said.
Lusskin said that there are about 2,100 companies in Long Island City that fall into the category of industrial and manufacturing. Those companies employ over 39,500 people, she added.
The $100,000 that has been allocated to the IBZ program is separate from the funds the LIC Partnership received for a research study last month. That study will investigate the neighborhood’s transformation from an industrial hub to an area filled with apartments and hotels. It will also put forward a long-term plan.
Meanwhile, the IBZ is not part of the Queens Plaza Court Square study by the Dept. of City Planning that could lead to a rezoning.
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Long Island City Partnership IBZ Map by sunnysidepost
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