Mayor Bloomberg Address - Clip 2: Transcript

This is an ecosystem, as we call it, because all of these businesses do depend on one another. We are more susceptible to downturns, more dependent on Wall Street than others. But we've worked very hard to diversify our economy in the last five years so we don't get in trouble the way we did after the end of the Internet bubble.

You know, people talk about 9/11 being a disaster, and it was terrible - the tragedy obviously was terrible - but in economic terms, the market went down and the market came back a little bit. The real decline in the economy in New York started with the end of the Internet bubble because we are so dependent on that one industry.

And today, I'm happy to say, all these industries are booming. There's record tourism. You want to make a movie in this city, good luck. There are three big studios, all of whom are working on expansions, but you can't get a sound stage for the next year and a half. Business has moved back here from California, back from Canada, back from Eastern Europe.

We have programs where when you talk to a director and a producer, they'll tell you they like to film in New York. Yes, it's unionized, but the unions here work with them.

And that's the other secret. New York has a workforce that is cooperative and phenomenally competent, and the ethic here is to work harder than it is in lots of other places. And so they may have to pay more for their employees, but most producers and directors will tell you they get a lot more, and they would rather film here.