The year that could be.

New York is undergoing a resurgence thanks in no small part to Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki. In the last several years the empty boosterism of past administrations has given way to a pragmatic "can do" atmosphere that is New York today. We must realize that solving the simplistic part of the equation is done; and it will take political strength and will power to continue to reverse our long decline.

For too many years, New York has ignored and contributed to the decline of its own greatness. At first, we believed that we had so much wealth we could afford to be overly generous to everyone. Then, believing that nothing could stop our economy or chase business from our borders, we began to place excessive taxes and regulations on these generators o f wealth and employment. An act of hubristic proportions guaranteed to eliminate our own very being.

In the last few years, sanity has returned and we have realized that the only way to retain our tax base is to allow our industry and entrepreneurs to keep a larger percentage of the money they earned. For our industry, the repeal of the "Cuomo Tax" is a good example of letting the market work to achieve economic ends. If the legislature continues in this vein, this may be the year when we see an end to residential rent regulation. This one act alone will add hundreds of millions of dollars in increased taxes and fees to both local and state government coffers.

Government can't reverse the continued decline for office space because the nature of work has changed. We are already witnessing large portions of obsolete loft and office space being converted to residential uses. In this regard government has been a hindrance by continuing to rely on outdated zoning and building codes. While it is clear that the Mayor recognizes that manufacturing is no longer viable here, the City Council, for strictly parochial political reasons, refuses to allow changes to occur.

A good example of this self-serving aggrandizement is the superstore debacle. Council members, using the cloak of community control, refuse to allow retailers to set up shop in nearly deserted industrial neighborhoods. The real reason is that if these stores could be built "as of right," then the members would be powerless to extort money and other concessions from these corporations. This is clearly evidenced by the Queens' Pathmark controversy.

The country as a whole has been experiencing good economic times for several years. New York finally has joined the rest of the nation, although rather late in this economic cycle. A stock market or economic downturn can result in the city once again not living up to potential. As I have said for a number of years, New York will continue its decline from its peak of prominence in the 1950's and 60's.

This lessening of pre-eminence is due to factors beyond our control. New York's reason for being was because of this location as a port city. All the economic might that it once had is tied to that central fact. As the nature of commerce changed over the last 400 years, New York's role has changed. Now, no longer much of a port, it relies on other economic venues. With the technology breakthrough of the last 20 years the nature of employment, especially office work, has been transformed.

A perfect example of this is the secretarial pool. Twenty-five years ago vast numbers of workers, mostly women, sat at typewriters all day transcribing taped, dictated or handwritten letters from their bosses, mostly men. This way of doing things required thousands of feet of space. Now most of this work is done by the executive, male or female - themselves on their trusty computer. In fact that executive, because of E-mail and fax, can literally work anywhere a good percentage of the time. The company no longer needs nearly as much space as it did 30 years ago.

1997 should be the year that we once again begin to enjoy a real estate boom. But this boom can be maximized and sustained through the hard work of both real estate owners and the government. The days of easy money for both are long over.