By: Timothy Williams
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - The economic impact of the
World Trade Center attack could reach $95 billion and
cost 83,000 jobs in New York, according to a report by
the city's financial manager.
Replacing the buildings, infrastructure and tenants' financial
losses account for $21.8 billion of that sum,
Comptroller William Thompson said in his fiscal analysis
released Wednesday.
"While this devastating event can never be reduced to
numbers, it is clear that New York City and the nation
will continue to suffer its economic ramifications for years
to come," Thompson wrote in the 58-page report that
provides the fullest picture to date on the economic
shock felt in the city.
For instance, the analysis found that half of the city's
projected $6 billion budget deficit is directly attributable
to the terrorist attack, including almost $3 billion in lost
tax revenue. The city has also paid some $500 million
in expenses that have not been reimbursed, including
police and fire overtime and security costs.
New York also eventually must pay some $36 million in
debt service costs on the $1.5 billion bonds issued to
balance its budget in the immediate weeks after the
Sept. 11 attack.
The report also found a particularly harsh loss in lower
Manhattan in terms of its stock of commercial buildings,
which represents the nation's third largest block of
commercial office space after midtown Manhattan and
Chicago's business district.
Some 13 million square feet of prime office space
downtown was destroyed - a total equal to the entire
office space inventory of Atlanta or Miami. An additional
30 million square feet of office space was damaged.
While $21.4 billion in federal aide has been set aside,
the report said, only $2.7 billion has been released so far.
A second report released Wednesday showed domestic
visitors to New York City spent nearly $1 billion less in 2001
than in the previous year.
While tourists still visit the city, their stays are shorter and
they spend less money, said Cristyne Lategano, president
of NYC & Company, the city's tourism bureau.
The bureau's report found 29.5 million domestic visitors came
to New York in 2001, an increase from 29.42 million in 2000.
Statistics for international visitors have not yet been released.
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