Manhattan’s Big Economic Reset Comes With A Security Boost

NEW YORK CITY — Small businesses could get help paying for panic buttons, alarms and other security technology under a new $200,000 City Council initiative.

The security funding, announced by Council Speaker Julie Menin, will be split evenly among the five boroughs and distributed through the Five Borough Chamber Alliance Initiative. Each chamber will receive $40,000 to help eligible businesses buy and install security equipment.

The funding targets ground-floor retail businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

Priority will go to businesses outside business improvement districts, businesses in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and minority- and women-owned businesses.

How Will Small Businesses Get Help?

Each borough chamber of commerce will work with local businesses to determine who receives financial assistance.

The Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island chambers will each receive $40,000. They must report to the Council's Finance Division on how they distribute the money, including the criteria they use to select businesses.

The funding provides an immediate source of assistance while the City develops a permanent security program required under Local Law 120.

The law requires the Department of Small Business Services, or another agency designated by the Mayor, to create a program that helps eligible small retail businesses reduce the cost of buying and installing security systems.

The Manhattan Chamber plans to focus its security funding on businesses with limited access to security resources.

“Retail theft hits the smallest shops the hardest," Jessica Walker, the chamber’s president and chief executive, said. "One bad week can wipe out a month of profits."

What Does Manhattan 2040 Measure?

For Manhattan, the funding arrives as the Chamber begins a separate long-term effort to measure whether the borough’s economy can grow while retaining small businesses, workers and middle-income households.

The Chamber's Manhattan 2040 initiative will track population, jobs, housing construction, household income and small-business activity.

Its first report, “Unleashing Four Economies,” will examine the borough’s small-business sector.

Manhattan’s economy produces more than $1 trillion in annual economic output, making it the first county in the country to reach that level, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The initiative will examine whether economic growth reaches small businesses and workers as well as larger companies and higher-income households.

“We want to be very intentional about where we’re going to end up in 2020," Walker told Patch.

“The idea is that we’re going to put forward ideas to help get us there, but also to use data to help course correct when we’re falling short.”

What Could Manhattan Look Like In 2040?

The Chamber has outlined three possible paths for the borough.

One, called Renaissance Borough, envisions population growth, 80,000 to 100,000 new homes, a larger applied artificial intelligence industry and broader economic gains.

Managed Decline would bring slower housing construction, rising rents, an exodus of families and middle-income workers, and weaker growth in emerging industries.

A third scenario, Concentrated Manhattan, would see the economy continue growing while small businesses disappear, middle-income households shrink and more wealth accumulate among higher-income residents.

The Chamber plans to use public dashboards to track which direction the borough is moving.

What Does The Chamber Want To Change?

Housing, small-business growth, workforce development and affordability sit at the center of Manhattan 2040.

The Chamber plans to study ways to convert unused office space into housing, expand residential construction, support small businesses and prepare workers for changes tied to artificial intelligence.

Walker said the Chamber will assemble a civic advisory committee of former public officials, nonprofit leaders and other experts to help shape the initiative’s priorities.

“We need more eyes, more leaders to really be helping us to interpret the data and make sure that we’re on the right course," she said.

Office-to-residential conversions have become a growing part of Manhattan’s housing strategy as older office buildings struggle with vacancies and developers look for new uses.

A City Comptroller analysis found that 44 completed, ongoing or potential conversions identified through early 2025 could produce about 17,400 apartments, including more than 3,600 income-restricted units.

The Chamber also plans to examine child care, which can affect whether parents can remain in the workforce and whether families can afford to stay in Manhattan.

Child care challenges have pushed 34 percent of working mothers in New York City to take part-time jobs or turn down promotions, while 29 percent have left the workforce entirely, according to a City University of New York analysis published last week.

The Chamber will also examine climate resilience, including efforts to protect Lower Manhattan from coastal flooding.

Industries including health care, law, media and fashion will be part of its effort to diversify an economy long dominated by finance while maintaining Manhattan’s position as a global financial center.

What Comes Next?

The Chamber’s first report is scheduled for release Nov. 19.

It will divide small businesses into four groups: solo entrepreneurs; microbusinesses with one to 20 employees; small businesses with 20 to 100 employees; and medium-sized businesses with more than 100 employees.

The report will examine who owns those businesses, the challenges they face and how government agencies, private organizations and community groups can support their growth.

A roughly 25-member Civic Advisory Council will advise the initiative on its research and priorities.

The group includes civic leaders, nonprofit executives and former government officials and is scheduled to hold its first meeting Oct. 22.

The initiative has financial support from Amazon, Con Edison, Citizens Financial Group, Fontas Advisors, Lyft, PMI U.S. and United Airlines.

The Chamber represents more than 125,000 businesses in Manhattan and provides small businesses with training, grants and connections to other resources.