Archive for the ‘New York’ Category

New Year’s Eve is Approaching

Thursday, December 31st, 2015
NYC Times Square During the Day

NYC Times Square During the Day

When I lived in Manhattan, December 31 was a day that required advance planning. The police and security teams begin very early in the day to put up barriers for crowd control and, particularly since 9-11, checkpoints to examine bags and people entering the area to verify that they are coming to celebrate New Year’s Eve in a peaceful way. I always made it a point to be out of mid-town Manhattan no later than noon. Even during the daylight hours, pedestrian traffic in the Times Square area moves very slowly.  Celebrating New Year’s Eve in Times Square is an activity perhaps best left for tourists.

But I also made it a point while living in Manhattan to explore a new neighborhood or cultural attraction each weekend. Too often, people spend years in New York and never have the fun of visiting, for example, the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or exploring the extraordinary ethnic and cultural diversity of communities throughout Brooklyn or Queens. So this year, I am going to do something different. I wish a peaceful New Year’s Eve celebration for everyone and of course, with festivities planned it is always best to send employees home early, if possible, to ensure their safety.

Did a Tornado Strike New York City Today?

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

A short burst of intense storm activity disrupted us in New York City this evening. The National Weather Service is evaluating meteorological data to determine if the storm can be classified as a tornado, as it presented 60 – 80 mile per hour winds. The damage is certainly suggestive of a tornado, with powerful winds knocking over trees and hurling them on power lines, thereby causing electrical outages. ConEdison is reporting power failures in various locations in the city. The Long Island Railroad canceled commuter service this evening when fallen trees disrupted service. Displaced passengers tried to use the subways instead, forcing officials to close Pennsylvania Station (where subway and train lines converge) due to overcrowding. Subway service resumed several hours later, but as I write this post, I can see long queues for taxi service owing to the delays or cancellations of public transportation lines. This is one that caught us by surprise. I am just glad that I was indoors when it struck. 2010 has certainly been a year for extreme weather events.

Day of Remembrance

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

Towers of Light

The weather today was similar to this date nine years ago: sunny and mild, with temperatures in the 70’s. That contributed to the disorientation I felt back then: there was a complete disconnect between the comfort and ease of a beautiful fall day and the smoke coming from the World Trade Center site, reaching high into the sky, blowing smoke clouds that completely covered the high-rise apartment buildings to the south. I remember the eerie calm as I left my apartment building with my neighbor and his dog when we walked over to the Hudson River where police boats were waiting to evacuate us to New Jersey. I just remember the feeling of an other-worldliness, like this couldn’t be happening. But it was very, very real. In the days that followed, I had a dual screen on Lower Manhattan. I was staying in an apartment on the Jersey City waterfront, directly facing the World Trade Center site. I could look out the window and see the view simultaneously on the television screen.  When the navy’s hospital ship, the U.S.N.S. Comfort sailed up the Hudson River, I saw it from the window and on the television screen and realized the window view was better. Sadly, most of the beds on the ship remained unused as few survivors were found. I briefly watched the memorial ceremony on television this morning, as family members read the names of their loved ones. But I became tearful and turned the television off. Right now, there is a party boat blasting music on the Hudson as passengers drink and dance. I find the intrusion incredibly annoying. I will go to sleep early and tomorrow will be a new day. My friends in New Orleans, by the way, tell me that they become very cranky and irritable on August 29, their anniversary date. Just being aware that these emotional reactions are normal makes them more manageable.

Times Square Returns to Normal

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

Mayor Bloomberg dined in Times Square with the men credited with averting disaster there. The men are Viet Nam veterans, work as street vendors and apparently are very observant. They altered authorities when they noticed something very unusual about an idling Nissan Pathfinder. The bomb squad responded to the alert and disabled the explosives, as police evacuated the area. The Mayor’s decision to dine in the neighborhood signals a return to normalcy that the threat has been averted. This weekend was certainly a reminder that urban life in the U.S. is no longer as secure as it used to be and underscores the importance of ongoing vigilance.

Resilience is the Key to Success

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Reception

Reception

This evening I attended a wine and cheese reception at the offices of Inc. magazine to hear Maria Bartiromo speak about her new book, The Ten Laws of Enduring Success. Inc.‘s new headquarters are located at 7 World Trade Center, the building constructed by private funds. Towers 1 and 2, dependent on public monies, are still holes in the ground as political gridlock has paralyzed the development process. It was bittersweet for me to be back in that area. Bartiromo’s book begins with the events of 9-11, noting the irony that her birthday falls on September 11 and had been a joyful date. But the tragic events of that date and the financial crises and economic recession that followed led many to question the meaning of success. This led to her book, identifying ten laws of success, including resilience. Certainly that is the critical characteristic in these challenging times. I enjoyed the discussion and of course, it was nice to reconnect with friends at Inc. magazine. Do check out the Comcast Productivity@Work promotion with Inc. magazine. I look forward to providing business continuity audits to the winners.

Sept. 11 Terror Suspects to be Tried in NYC

Sunday, November 15th, 2009
00 p.m.

September 14, 2001, 6:00 p.m.

Much has been written about the Obama administration’s decision to bring 9/11 terrorist suspects held in Guantanamo to New York for trial, particularly as regards the threats to the City’s security. Even worse is the threat to the rule of law in the United States, as the Obama administration increasingly exercises its discretion in procedural matters. While the Administration believes that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be brought from Guantanamo to New York for trial, the Guantanamo detainees charged with planning the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole would face trials by military commission. It is troubling that the Obama administration is politicizing a fundamental issue of law and venue for its own purposes. Now consider the consequence of this decision for Lower Manhattan small businesses. We can look forward to years of disruption while this trial drags on.  With the never-ending delays caused by political interference in the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site, we are often navigating a pedestrian obstacle course in Lower Manhattan.  Add to that a civilian trial against Muslim terrorists and we can look forward to more rooftop snipers, truck bomb barricades and pedestrians walking single file on blocked sidewalks. Plus we will have the expense of police overtime at a time when the City’s coffers are drained by the recession and the Wall Street meltdown. Lower Manhattan small businesses are battle-weary.

We are still living with 9-11 owing to the painstakingly slow reconstruction process. And the major Wall Street banks that captured the corporate welfare in post-9/11 aid blew up our financial system in 2008, with devastating consequences for the local small business ecosystem. Merrill Lynch and Lehman no longer exist and “survivors”, such as AIG, have fewer employees. As a result, the restaurants, shops and other small businesses of Lower Manhattan are suffering. The Administration appears remarkably indifferent to the consequences of its decision for open access to Lower Manhattan small businesses once the 9/11 trials begin. This is gratuitous abuse.

I took this photograph, by the way, on September 14, 2001 when I was staying on the New Jersey waterfront after being evacuated from my home on 9-11-01. This photograph shows the U.S.N.S. Comfort, a hospital ship of the U.S. Navy, sailing up the Hudson River to provide additional support for victims to be recovered from the WTC site. Sadly, the ship’s hospital facilities remained unused as few survivors were found.

July 4th Fireworks (Better Late Than Never)!

Sunday, July 12th, 2009
July 4th Fireworks

July 4th Fireworks

I must have been born under a lucky star. As a contractor to the United Nations Capital Development Fund for my business, I had a UN grounds pass and an invitation to bring my friends to the UN to view the Fourth of July fireworks on the East River. The UN Secretariat is located exactly on the East River at First Avenue, with an absolutely perfect location. So I made my friends very happy when I hosted a party and viewing for the national holiday. This year, Macy’s moved its traditional Fourth of July fireworks display to the Hudson River so, for the first time since I can remember, we had the traditional fireworks to the west of Manhattan rather than to the east. And my office is directly on the Hudson River, so I hosted a fun event. I wanted to share some photographs of the display and apologize for my tardiness in posting them.

Macy's Fireworks Float

Macy's Fireworks Float

View at Nightfall

View at Nightfall

Getting Ready in the Afternoon

Getting Ready in the Afternoon

Fireworks

Fireworks

More Fireworks

More Fireworks

Too Little, Too Late for NYC Small Businesses

Saturday, July 4th, 2009
The View is Much Better From Afar

The View is Much Better From Afar

Crain’s New York Business reports that City Hall is taking steps to make doing business less painful for smaller businesses in New York City. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is introducing legislation to waive penalties for small businesses with outstanding fines owed to certain, but not all, city agencies. She is also pursuing a measure that would require the City to assess the impact of any new regulations on small businesses prior to their adoption. This seems a small step given that in the past, small business owners have proved to the local newspapers that city inspectors smashed lights on their premises and then fined those businesses for not meeting lighting regulations. Presumably this was done to meet quota requirements for city inspectors. It was a shrewd calculus; the cost of appearing to protest such abuse exceeds the cost of paying the fine to make it go away. But it was a Pyrrhic victory for New York City government. The City has issued over $200 million in fines and penalties that it appears unable to collect. But more significantly, small businesses are fleeing the City and new start-ups don’t offset the attrition. Ms. Quinn has proposed convening a panel of legislators to review regulations, one by one, to find those that impede business operations while doing little or nothing to improve the quality of life in the City. I think that is a good first step, but it is too little, too late for New York City which has an extremely hostile small business climate. I suspect that this realization, that small businesses are good for the economy, was likely motivated by the troubles facing Wall Street. With Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch gone, and other institutions downsizing, who else will hire employees? If the City is really serious, it needs to move beyond the small potato, but extremely irritating issues, of fines and regulations and start looking at the tax structure.

It’s Raining Losses

Monday, June 29th, 2009
Rainbow Over Geneva, Not New York

Rainbow Over Geneva, Not New York

Everyday disasters are taking their toll on small businesses in New York City where 21 of the 26 days of the month to date have been rainy and unseasonably cold. Businesses that cater to outdoor pursuits, such as street vendors, outdoor cafés, sports entertainers, beach vendors, Central Park carriage rides, amusement parks and others have seen dramatic declines in seasonally-adjusted revenues for the month of June.
Cumulative rainfall in New York City for the month of June is close to nine inches. I suppose the bright side is that umbrella vendors may be faring well this month. The economic impact of the rainfall is unlikely to make the news; news media prefer more dramatic, and less frequent disasters, such as major hurricanes. But this certainly illustrates how the everyday disasters are often ruinous to small businesses. I photographed this rainbow appearing over Lake Geneva when I lived in Switzerland. Unfortunately, for New York City small business owners, the rainbow has not yet appeared.

TRIA Setting On the Horizon

Thursday, June 18th, 2009
It Won't Last Forever

It Won't Last Forever

I chose this graphic because it was a more optimistic image than my 9/11 World Trade Center photographs, several of which I have already published on this site. But while the image is positive, the message is not. A sunset provision repeals all or part of the law on a specific date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend it. Most laws do not have sunset clauses; they remain in effect indefinitely. Such is not the case with the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), which became a U.S. federal law in 2002. The Act authorizes the federal government to provide a reinsurance backstop for insurance claims related to terrorism and was motivated by the events of 9/11.  Indeed, in the first edition of Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses (John Wiley & Sons Inc., second edition, 2008), I wrote, in connection with terrorism insurance, that “several countries particularly exposed to the risk of terrorism – the United Kingdom, Spain, South Africa and Israel – have special government support to cover these risks, but they are the exceptions. Most countries implicitly allow the commercial underwriting of terrorist risks….now, the new dimensions of terrorism call for some type of private sector-public sector solution.  Until such time as a solution is put forward, however, insurance companies will pay significant premiums for reinsurance cover because they now realize that they cannot afford to be without it.” The first edition went to press early in 2002 for publication in October and six weeks after the book came out, this prediction came true with respect to TRIA. Soon thereafter, France and Germany each passed similar legislation to deal with terrorism insurance in their countries.

However, TRIA was intended to be a temporary measure to afford time to the insurance industry to develop its own solutions to cover terrorist risks. TRIA was set to expire, or sunset, on December 31, 2005. Congress extended it for two years to December 31, 2007 and then on December 26, 2007, five days before it was due to expire, extended TRIA once more through December 31, 2014. The lengthy extension was to compensate for the market disruptions caused by the delay in dealing with TRIA only five days before its scheduled expiration.  But it won’t likely be extended again. In connection with its budget proposal, the Obama Administration wishes to phase out TRIA at its scheduled expiry in 2014. The stated motive is to realize $263 million in budget savings.

The threat of terrorism in the U.S. has not diminished and the global threat environment has actually increased since 9/11 with events like the Mumbai attacks and bombings in London and Madrid. Aon, a leading commercial insurance brokerage, estimates that 70 – 80% of the commercial property market, by per risk capacity, will revert to absolute exclusions for terrorism. Aon derived this estimate based on prior periods when TRIA’s fate was in question.  There is no need to take action now, but we should have this issue on our radar screen. It was because of presidential fiat that many 9/11 terrorist claims were paid by the insurance industry (even though for most policies they had probably been excluded) because the alternative was economic catastrophe. The issues around TRIA impact domestic terrorism as well, such as the Oklahoma City bombings. The turbulence in the commercial real estate market around the most recent sunset provision was extreme, so we should plan how to deal with this well in advance of TRIA’s expiration, assuming of course, that the Administration’s recommendation for the phase-out is accepted.