New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. launched a revamped, user-friendly Web site this morning, addressing the city’s current fiscal crisis and forecasting 165,000 lost jobs over the next two years in a new column, “The C-Note.”

“With a monumental economic drama playing out in the daily headlines, many New Yorkers are asking what the crisis will mean for their families and their city,” The C-Note reads. “Those are appropriate and important questions, and the Comptroller’s Office has been working to keep its answers well-informed and up-to-date.”

The new column can easily be accessed by visiting www.comptroller.nyc.gov and clicking on the ticker at the top of the home page. Today’s column, “New York City’s Changing Economic Picture,” was penned by Chief Economist Frank Braconi.

“The events of the past several weeks portend a much more difficult economic climate for the city in the near future,” according to The C-Note. “Our current forecast anticipates that as many as 165,000 private-sector jobs will be lost throughout the city’s economy over the next 24 months, which compares to a forecast of 85,000 jobs lost in the Comptroller’s most recent budget report, issued in July.  We now believe that as many as 35,000 of those job losses may come in the financial services industry; our previous forecast was that the industry would contract by 25,000 jobs.”

The Web site – which follows a “two-click rule,” meaning that users can access any part of the site with no more than two mouse clicks - also includes the latest news releases and video links involving the Comptroller’s Office. The C-Note will be issued periodically, and primarily focus on economic and financial matters concerning New York City.

“The current tumult on Wall Street makes it abundantly clear that New Yorkers want to know – and deserve to know – what is taking place in the world around them,” Thompson said. “My office will continue to report on the latest economic developments, explaining how what happens in Washington and on Wall Street affects all of our lives.”

Today’s The C-Note also points out that the Comptroller’s most recent revenue forecast (released in July) anticipated that the City’s tax revenues would drop by about $2.4 billion (6.2%) in the current fiscal year compared to Fiscal Year 2008. That forecast likely will be downgraded.

Additionally, according to The C-Note, in the long run economic growth will resume and the city’s premier position in the global financial network will be retained. However, the financial crisis has sped up the process of financial dispersion that was already under way.

The re-designed Web site also features:

• An Events section for New Yorkers to RSVP to attend events – including the 2008 series of “Save Our Homes” clinics to help New Yorkers hold onto their homes amid the worsening economic climate. The first event will be held on Staten Island on October 25th;

• Detailed maps illustrating New York City areas hit hardest by the current foreclosure crisis;
• An updated list of the top City agencies submitting late contracts to the Comptroller’s Office for registration;
• Monthly Consumer Alerts detailing information regularly provided to members of the New York City Pension Funds;
• Access to information about roughly two dozen Banking Development District (BDD) program branches that have opened in neighborhoods previously underserved by banking facilities;
• A RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed to allow visitors to subscribe to news feeds from the Comptroller’s Office; and,
• A Google-powered search engine.

Thompson said that the Comptroller’s Office will be adding new features to the site in the coming months to make City government more transparent and accountable.

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