Proclamation for the Mayor of New York City

WHEREAS:    One hundred years ago, 17 paper merchants met at Delmonico’s Restaurant in lower Manhattan to celebrate the founding of the National Paper Trade Association, now the NPTA Alliance.  It has grown since then in size and scope, but it has remained constant in its goal of ensuring the longevity of the paper industry by providing Americans with quality products.  Now, what has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry is celebrating its centennial at the oldest restaurant in New York, the place where it all began.  

WHEREAS:    Since its founding, the NPTA Alliance has grown to a membership of 17,000 individuals representing 500 companies in 1,200 locations, encompassing a more than $50 billion industry that manufactures a wide variety of paper products.  It provides its many members with educational programs and current industry information, and its Annual Convention is the foremost industry gathering for distributors and suppliers.  In addition, it awards 15 scholarships every year to children who have shown academic excellence, demonstrating a commitment not only to the progress of the paper industry, but also to the success of America’s youth.

WHEREAS:    Paper surrounds us constantly, whether we are reading the newspaper on the subway, preparing agendas for business meetings, wrapping holiday gifts, or falling asleep with the latest bestseller.  Even as technology has advanced and we have attained online access to everything from newspapers to bill payments, the NPTA Alliance has continued to thrive, proving that there is still no substitute for the tangible:  the phone directory we can flip through, the letter we can seal in an envelope, the book with the cracked spine.  In New York, a place of constant motion, where trends change as quickly as the front-page headlines, the paper industry offers us products that we can keep always within reach.

NOW THEREFORE, I, MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, in recognition of the 100th Anniversary of the NPTA Alliance, do hereby proclaim Monday, December 15th, 2003 in the City of New York as:

“NPTA Alliance Day”