New York City’s 1980 Boom

New York City has gone through several phases in terms of economic mobility and cultural architecture. The 20th century, however, brought a lot of challenges for the Big Apple. For most of the century, NYC was unfortunately plagued by poverty, organized crime, and economic conundrum. Nevertheless, at the start of the 1980’s, the tide had turned and the city was entering a new era, especially in construction.

A boom for Wall Street, following President Reagan’s election victory, fed the real estate market tremendously. Construction companies, enhanced by the city’s new tax incentives for building bigger, hired workers by the thousands. The financial crisis was virtually over by 1981. As unemployment rates dropped, people not only started to work in New York City, but move there as well.

But reduction of crime did not necessarily follow as planned. The Italian Mob was able to take advantage of the situation and control construction work, following their decades-long takeover of various worker unions. This caused not only questionable construction site accidents, but definite instances of foul play. Both construction site injury lawyers and criminal lawyers were called into action.

Construction incentives had many lasting and unexpected effects on NYC. The overall layout of who was approved for building was more or less arbitrary and highly politicized. Gentrified neighborhoods improved community crime rates, but worsened the city’s homeless crisis.