Bloomberg sends jobs to Mexico

Click above to hear the interview on the WWRL morning show

Many New Yorkers that are unemployed or under employed just lost out. The Disabled community that face extreme challenges in their daily routines will continue to face those challenges all because of the decision made on May 3, 2011, by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and David Yassky, Commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission to have the Taxi of Tomorrow to be built by Nissan.

Mayor Bloomberg announced that Nissan Motor Company has won the right to exclusively supply taxis to New York City for the next ten years, a deal which estimated to be worth one billion dollars. Ford Motor Company and Karsan, USA were also finalists however they were edged out by Nissan.

The Nissan Taxi will be built in Mexico. How does that help New York’s economy? Ford’s version of the Taxi would have been built in Turkey which would not have helped our economy either. Karsan USA is an auto company based in Turkey that unconditionally committed to build an assembly plant in Brooklyn in order to build its version of the Taxi for New York City, a move that absolutely would help our economy. Can you believe Automobile production right here in Brooklyn. It has been close to one hundred years since the down-state area of New York had Automobile production.

By the way, Karsan’s Taxi design, the V1, met and exceeded all criteria set forth by Mayor Bloomberg and the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Furthermore, after numerous polling of New Yorkers, the V1 was always the sound and clear choice by New Yorkers to be the Taxi of Tomorrow. 

Karsan had projected that initially three hundred workers would be needed and at full production eight hundred workers would be required to meet production goals. Various studies have shown that when it comes to auto manufacturing that for each auto worker job, there are ten other jobs that are created, so the real opportunity for eight thousand jobs has been lost. 

We must also recognize that the Disabled community would be served well by the Karsan Taxi. Today, there are 13,200 Taxi’s today in NYC and only 238 are wheelchair accessible and tomorrow there still will be less than two percent of NYC taxis that are wheel chair accessible because of this wrong decision. The Karsan Taxi is designed with ramps that extend to curbs and walkways to provide easy wheel chair access. The Nissan and Ford Taxi’s do not. 

Just think of what has been lost by this flawed decision. Many Construction workers that desperately need jobs will continue to have nothing to build. The Brooklyn waterfront will remain a wasteland. Eight hundred working families now will continue to suffer. The Disabled Community will continue to be under served. New York’s economy will continue to struggle. This is just one more example of what has happened to our country, Politicians saying no to manufacturing. Manufacturing matters, specifically automobile manufacturing which is largely credited for creating the middle class in the United States. We have witnessed over the last few decades what the impact has been with the outsourcing of good paying manufacturing jobs to cheaper labor markets.

Not too long ago, New York City had many manufactures that employed hundreds of thousands of workers that made good wages and had good benefits which supported a workers ability to raise a family. In the interest of corporate profits, less to pay in taxes and union-free environments business leaders left New York City to relocate in Southern States, Mexico and now China. What about America and the American workers? What we need in this Country is a strong Manufacturing policy which would include assisting Employers that are committed to producing goods in the US and punishing Employers that chose to produce abroad but yet declare themselves as American Corporations. How do you say that you are an American corporation when you leave American workers and their communities behind in a quest to enhance the bottom line?

Was this decision to go with Nissan knowing that the Taxi’s would be built in Mexico made because having Karsan, USA win would have been a complete reversal of our Country’s current Manufacturing policy? Why is it that Wall Street and the Banks are always without hesitation granted consideration but when blue-collar workers are in the equation our leaders’ side with workers in another Country? Manufacturing matters! Blue collar factory jobs matter! We have all been taught a terrible lesson when our economy depends too much on Wall Street and the Banks. 

You are probably saying to yourself “This just does not make sense”, and everyone that I have spoken with has offered that same response.

So, the score board on this issue is this - the losers are American workers – New Yorkers, the NY economy and the Disabled Community. Unfortunately, the winners are workers in Mexico where Nissan will build the Taxi of Tomorrow. I did not realize that Bloomberg was the Mayor of Mexico City.

Mayor Bloomberg – Shame on you! You are no longer allowed to ever publically say that you are a supporter of Job creation. You left your constituents flat, decided against revitalizing the Brooklyn waterfront and your decision discriminates the disabled community.

Do you think Bloomberg made the right choice?

Call Bloomberg at (212) 788-3000 and tell him what you think!