Monday's meeting of the Drum Major Institute and Baruch College's School of Public Affairs featured three major policy papers which, perhaps because of the structure of the conference, did not get the attention they deserved. All three are available at the DMI site. There's a lot to think about there.

The first, by CUNY professor John Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research (if you are not familiar with their work and have the time, explore their website) looked closely and economic and income trends over time to characterize the "Middle Class" His presentation, "Is New York Still a Middle Class Town?," is on the DMI site here . (pdf). It was excellent. It calls to mind and complements presentations about income distribution and employment trends in NYC by the Fiscal Policy Institute especially by FPI Director James Parrott and Senior Fellow David Dyssegaard Kallick.

The second was a report which could and should have been the focus of the meeting. The Drum Major Institute surveyed 100 (anonymous, but for one) leaders and experts. They asked detailed questions about the leaders views on the facts of life for the middle class in New York City. While the survey is really only about the views of those polled. They questions asked and the answers are intriguing . It's not data, it's not analysis of data -- but I bet that if you start reading it carefully, you'll finish. Read the executive summary here even if you're not an executive. They have a link to the full report (sorry again, pdf).

The final substantive report, by Adam Friedman, of the New York Industrial Retention Network was simply excellent because it reminded those of us who may have forgotten that New York City is still, in many ways, a blue collar town. (Friedman also admitted that he was one of those surveyed. Only 99 more to unmask!) Those blue collar jobs pay well, provide health insurance and the opportunities for wealth accumulation. Jobs like those need to be increased. Unfortunately, as I see it, the policy of the Bloomberg administration has been actively hostile to industrial retention and expansion. Freidman's presentation which was entirely too gentle to the Bloomberg anti-industry land-use policies is here . Interestingly, when asked about blue collar jobs, William Thompson said flatly --
those jobs are gone and they are not coming back. As I see it, Thompson has bought into Mr. Bloomberg's lullaby that advocates abandoning industry and turning to luxury estate instead. There was no way to challenge Mr. Thompson's utter conviction on the point however.

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