He said the Empire Zone would help fill some of those gaps.

"We're talking upward of $2 million on a $15 million project - so it pays to go with the Empire Zone."

During that time, state and local officials decided to place four of his properties inside the Empire Zone.

"We think it would be terrific if the entire state could be an Empire Zone."

Instead, they added Empire Zones to the growing list of unfinished business in Albany.

Empire Zones were created 20 years ago to stimulate long-term economic growth in distressed communities.

He has claimed to have created more than 2,500 jobs just through rejiggering the Empire Zones in the last month.

Empire Zones were created by the state in 1986.

The Empire Zone took a dive into the fine print of the mayor's proposal.

In 1989, the state added most of the district to Troy's Empire Zone.