By John Tierney

FOR NEW YORKERS, the Presidential campaign has been a depressing reminder of how happy our fellow Americans are. We keep hearing about an economic boom that has created millions of jobs, but New York still hasn't recovered all those lost during the last recession. Other cities have labor shortages; New York's unemployment rate remains one of the highest in the country. What are we doing wrong?

Free-market zealots mistakenly blame City Hall. They think New York's distinctively weak economy is somehow related to its distinctively strong government. It's true that the economy is more heavily regulated than any other city's, a fact that companies like to point out when they leave town. But as everyone must know by now, New York City imposes all these regulations because it is determined to help business. Whenever private businesses blunder, the City Council can be counted on to hold a public hearing to devise a rescue plan. Officials in other cities struggle just to take care of basic responsibilities like streets and schools, but New York's have found time to advise the rest of us how to do our jobs.

These public servants turned management consultants have been so productive that businesses have a hard time keeping up with their recommendations. That's the real problem. The expertise of city officials is being squandered. New York's best entrepreneurial minds are trapped in public service. What would happen if their talents were unleashed on private businesses? Their departure from government would be a great loss (as the officials have explained to us during the current debate about the term-limits referendum). Still, applying their talents privately could absolutely invigorate the economy. Consider a few of the enterprises they could start:

Pure Peter's Pub. If restaurateurs knew their customers as well as City Council President Peter F. Vallone does, they might not be complaining about losing business because of his anti-smoking ordinance. They've argued that it's an unnecessary intrusion on private business—people were always free to patronize nonsmoking restaurants—but they don't understand their patrons' devotion to health. In his own establishment, Vallone would be free to introduce other life-saving innovations. Would Pure Peter's be alcohol-free, too? Fat-free? Make your reservations early.

Fort Eldridge: The Safe Savings and Loan. After Councilwoman Ronnie M. Eldridge was mugged at a cash machine in 1991, she championed the nation's first law requiring security measures at A.T.M. parlors. Bankers, who noted that their facilities already had better security systems than the sidewalks outside, claimed that the measures would force them to spend $120 million per year, close parlors and raise fees. Some experts believed that the total cost to consumers might be more than what Eldridge lost in the robbery.

The Council's investigation never resolved the mystery of why banks, which spend so much money competing for customers, would endanger their reputations by skimping on security measures. One possible, though undocumented, explanation: Market researchers discovered that customers are more likely to put their money into an institution known for frequent muggings, because it's a sign that the bank keeps its machines well stocked with cash—why else would the muggers be hanging around?

Despite the law's passage, muggings have occurred at cash machines --and one mugging is one too many, as Eldridge knows. If she opened a bank, its fortified A.T.M. bunkers could set a new industry standard.

The Dapper Donna. When Pathmark was seeking approval to open a supermarket in her Queens district last year, Councilwoman Juanita E. Watkins convinced the company to "donate" $400,000, to be distributed to "the community" under her supervision. Watkins was forced to cancel the deal, but her efforts wouldn't be lost in the private sector. Her skill could revive a New York industry weakened by the loss of John Gotti.

Green's Greens. In 1990, Mark Green sent undercover investigators from the Department of Consumer Affairs into the city's salad bars. They caught the owners charging for salads without deducting the weight of the plastic containers. Green announced that the fraud, which amounted to a few pennies per salad, cost consumers a total of $12 million annually. Apologists for salad bars argued that the owners should be free to determine prices however they wanted, and that they would just make up the $12 million difference by charging more for salad ingredients. But there's an important principle at stake here. Consumers who care about this issue would welcome Green's establishment with its slogan: "Our lettuce may cost a little more, but the plastic is FREE!"

Koslowitz & Freed Cleaners. Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz is crusading for a law that would, as she says, "persuade" dry cleaners to stop charging more for a woman's shirt than for a man's. At a hearing in September, a spokesman for the dry-cleaning industry claimed that some women's shirts are more expensive to clean than men's because they're too small to fit on the automatic presses and need to be ironed by hand, but Council members knew better than to fall for that line.

A more likely explanation is that the dry-cleaning industry, dominated by immigrants from countries with patriarchal cultures, is engaged in a conspiracy to oppress women. The typical female consumer isn't able to shop around for a better deal, partly because price comparisons require complex mathematical calculations and partly because there's simply no choice in most New York neighborhoods. (Within two blocks of my apartment there are only nine dry cleaners.) Overhauling the industry will require someone with more initiative than the ordinary immigrant—someone like Councilwoman Kathryn Freed.

At the hearing, when the dry cleaner mentioned the problem with the automatic press, Freed suggested, "Your automatic machine should be a little more adjustable." Eureka! A technological breakthrough that had eluded the industry's best minds! A few more innovations like that and our economy could be booming again.