New York, NY – On Friday afternoon, August 9, the Friends of Javits sent a letter to New York Gov. Cuomo regarding the decision by the Governor’s office to change the dates of the New York Boat Show at the Jacob Javits Center, which in the process, would disrupt the “branded” time frames of many established trade shows. The Friends of Javits is an organization representing more than 50 trade show organizers at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Here is the letter in its entirety.
August 9, 2013
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
New York State Capitol Building
Albany, New York 12224
Dear Governor Cuomo:
It has come to the attention of Friends of Javits – an organization representing more than 50 trade show organizers at the Jacob Javits Convention Center – that the Javits Center will be negotiating and executing contracts with the New York Boat Show. This is highly disappointing given the legitimate concerns raised by our members.
We respectfully ask that, as an act of good faith given the unprecedented nature of the decision by your administration to give the Boat Show preferential treatment, you postpone all contract discussions with the Boat Show until we have had an opportunity to hold productive, good faith discussions with your office to come to a mutually beneficial resolution to this matter.
As you are aware, it is longstanding policy that exhibition dates at the Javits Center are carefully chosen based on tax revenue generation for the City and State of New York, as well as economic opportunity for the New York hotel, restaurant and transportation sectors. For your administration to give the Boat Show preferential treatment over more successful and qualified exhibitions stands in steep contrast to this policy – especially given that the Boat Show has seen attendance precipitously drop more than 30 percent over the past three years, even before Superstorm Sandy.
Given these concerns and others, the members of Friends of Javits stand united against this decision.
To be clear, moving the Boat Show at this juncture will displace many other events and result in grave consequences for trade show and event organizers, local New York businesses, New York laborers and the Javits Center itself in the coming years.
Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to sitting down with your office in a timely fashion to discuss this matter.
Sincerely,
The Members of Friends of Javits
AccessoriesTheShow – 5 x annually
International Security Conference and Show
Accessories Circuit
Interop NY
Agenda – Action Sports Apparel Show
Internet Retailer Focus
AHR Expo
Interphex
American International Toy Fair
LIGHTFAIR International
Apparel Sourcing Expo
JA Summer
ASIS New York Security Conference & Expo
JA Special Delivery
Atlantic Design & Mfg.
JA Winter
ATX Automation Technology Expo
Medical Design & Mfg. East
Book Expo America
Moda Manhattan 5 x annually
Buildings NY
MRket – 2 x annually
Business Journals Inc.
National Retail Federation – Retail’s BIG S
