NEW YORK, NY October 28, 2009 —A new report argues that the Bloomberg administration's attempts to keep manufacturing jobs in New York City are coming up short. A loophole is allowing hotels and bowling alleys to locate in places the Mayor set aside for wood shops and bakeries. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman has more.

REPORTER: Advocates for blue collar jobs applauded when Bloomberg established Industrial Business Zones in places like Long Island City and East New York back in 2005. These 16 IBZ's promised to be places where small manufacturers could escape the real estate pressures that were turning loft buildings into condominiums and rental apartments.

But Michael Freedman-Schnapp says the IBZ's fell short of their goal.

FREEDMAN-SCHNAPP: There's not that much difference between the development that's happening inside the IBZ's and what's happening just outside the IBZ's.

REPORTER: Freedman-Schnapp works for the nonprofit New York Industrial Retention Network, which issued the report. While the IBZ's have succeeded in keeping out most residential conversions, the organization found that at least 39 non-industrial uses have taken root in IBZ's over the past four years. North 14th Street in Williamsburg is one example.

FREEDMAN-SCHNAPP: There's three bars on this street, a bowling alley, an art gallery and two hotels that are proposed a couple blocks away.

REPORTER: That's because the Bloomberg administration didn't change the zoning when it designated Industrial Business Zones. And the zoning also permits commercial and entertainment uses. A spokeswoman for the city's Department of Small Business Services says that was intentional. A certain mix is healthy, she says, and at the time the IBZ's were created, the manufacturing sector was worried about residential conversions rather than commercial activities.

The state labor department says 84,000 New Yorkers work at manufacturing companies. For WNYC, I'm Matthew Schuerman.