Shaping the future of Brooklyn with Chamber President Carlo Scissura

City & State recently released the first installment of its 2016 Borough Series, with a print edition dedicated to exploring the future of Brooklyn. One person who knows the borough as well as anyone is Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Carlo Scissura, who sat down with City & State a few weeks ago to discuss some of the current projects that could shape the city’s direction.

Scissura said that his organization was one of the “earliest advocates” of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recently passed rezoning plan.

“When government tries to spur economic development in places like East New York … we should all embrace it,” Scissura said. “Because there has already been some good things happening in East New York in recent years, but this is a game changer.”

Another major de Blasio initiative is his proposed Brooklyn-Queens Connector, a streetcar that would run along the East River waterfront and connect the two boroughs. The proposal, Scissura said, is “truly transformative” and “visionary.”

“Building a BQX not just will help commuters, but imagine the number of jobs, the number of jobs in construction, good paying jobs,” Scissura said. “The number of community jobs, the number of local jobs, the number of MWBE jobs; it’s mind boggling what this will do. It will just create the greatest innovative corridor in America."