MAYOR BLOOMBERG DISCUSSES HOW NEW YORK CITY'S INVESTMENTS IN INDUSTRIES LIKE BIOTECH ARE CREATING NEW JOBS IN WEEKLY RADIO ADDRESS

he following is the text of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s weekly radio address as prepared for delivery on 1010 WINS News Radio for Sunday, July 29, 2012.

“Good Morning. This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

“The latest employment numbers show that private sector jobs in New York City are at an all-time high. But we know that too many New Yorkers are still looking for work. That’s why we’ve been working to create jobs by investing in key industries, including our bio-science industry. And last week, I helped announce the creation of a new headquarters in Lower Manhattan for the New York Genome Center. Our Administration is committing $5 million in low-cost financing to help them complete it. And Bloomberg Philanthropies has provided a $2.5 million grant, as well. With this support, the new headquarters will be the largest genomics center in North America.

“The New York Genome Center is an independent non-profit that’s helping to advance genetic mapping and gene-based medicine. It brings together some of the country’s leading medical centers, research universities, and commercial organizations – including New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Rockefeller University, and Roche – to help transform biomedical research while improving patient care.

“New York City is already a global leader in the commercial bio-sciences. There are 110,000 people working in bio-science here – more than in any other metropolitan area in the United States. But as the industry grows, we must continue to invest in laboratories and infrastructure that can support world-class research, because that research will lead to the creation of private sector spin-off companies and thousands of jobs.

“By next year, after the Genome Center is complete, there will be 100 new jobs in the offices and labs there. Five years from now, that will grow to 500 new research-based jobs. And the start-ups resulting from the work there – work that could do so much to vanquish disease and reduce suffering in the world – will also produce thousands more new jobs for New Yorkers, as well as contribute to Lower Manhattan’s on-going revival.

“Just as the applied sciences campuses we’re developing on Roosevelt Island and in Downtown Brooklyn will feed into our city’s growing information technology industry, the New York Genome Center’s headquarters will help make our city even more of a leader in the life sciences. Both will help New York City remain a national leader in job growth.

“Our investment in the New York Genome Center is part of a broader strategy to expand our city’s bio-science industry. It builds on work we’ve done to establish other research centers, like the Alexandria Center for Life Sciences on Manhattan’s East Side. Still in development, it already houses labs for such major pharmaceutical companies as ImClone and Pfizer. And when it’s fully up and running, it will provide more than a million square feet of the kind of state-of-the art lab space that the start-ups spinning off from the New York Genome Center will need.

“Every day in City Hall, we’re focused on how we can create jobs that New Yorkers need today – and that our city will need for decades to come. By diversifying our economy and creating jobs in all five boroughs, we’re helping to ensure that our best days are still ahead.

“This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Thanks for listening.”