Opinion-Cody Lyon
This past Thursday, a number of media outlets were reporting on a Labor Department report that said new weekly claims for unemployment fallen by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 456,000. Most of those same stories included details that total unemployment benefit rolls had fallen by 255,000 to 4.5 million.
The unemployment claims drop was called the 'largest decline in almost a year.' In its story, The Associated Press reported speculation that the decline could be because more people are finding work. But then again, it could simply mean that those individuals exhausted their initial state unemployment insurance benefits. The same report said that a Labor Department analyst said state agencies didn't provide any explanation for the drop.
The news helped send the stock market up around 273 points. Reports said traders were encouraged by the 2225,000 drop in total unemployment benefit total claims the week before.
But later that day Barron's Tiernan Ray reported how East Shore Partners exec Joan McCullough had written in a memo to clients that the big drop-off in unemployment roll benefits coincides with the May 22nd cut-off date set by Congress. She noted that's the point when recipients of regular or extended unemployment are no longer eligible to receive emergency unemployment compensation, if there state even offered it.
link to Barrons -http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2010/06/10jobless-claims-drop-not-as-nice-as-it-seems-says-east-shore)
Barron's said, McCullough's conclusion is that 46% of the unemployed have just passed the threshold of no return. They've dropped off the edge, rather than simply finding jobs, as it might seem at first.
Add to that, just over a week ago the "The Center for American Progress" lamented the fact "there were 6.7 million long-term unemployed who now account for 46 percent of all unemployed job seekers. The think tank noted that because there are nearly six job seekers for every opening available and little net hiring, the chances of getting one of those (jobs) is indeed slim."
Of course, the hope is that some sort of recovery will chip away at that frustrating statistic and offer some nuggets of hope to jobseekers and for that matter, the overall economy. Americans are rightfully confused about the state of the economy and where its headed as each day seems to bring yet another jumbled and conflicting shard of data. But, one likely and sure fire conclusion is this; thousands of unemployed Americans probably will face many more months of frustration in the job hunt.
Right now, jobseekers-to-jobs ratio, which tells how hard positions are to get, remains around 5.6 to 1.
As things stand now, of the 15 million unemployed, over 7 million have been out of work for more than six months, nearly 5 million for a year and over 1 million for two years.
That leads back to the data from last week, and the way it got reported by a number of news organizations. Reading through the lines, some news stories read like desperate PR blitzes that were seeking to offer a bit of good news in a dismal situation. After all, psychology plays a role in all this.
Still, there were stories like the one from Barron's,that in essence challenged the intial market-moving Thursday stories and the way the data got framed. For instance, McCulough aargued 255,000 unemployed individuals have now dropped out of sight from Continuing Claims. According the article, she said "And the New York Times is touting this as a positive? "
It's worth wondering, where the questions that seek a solid explanation for that huge drop in unemployment benefit rolls? That particular statistic, as evidenced by that day's market shift, is the sort of indicator that has the potential to impact perception and move Wall Street.
But all this news of being stuck in the economic mud poses tougher questions and perhaps too, challenges American society to at least rethink and look more aggressively to what a future economy and workforce can and should be, long term. ,
But, for now, the Senate is debating another emergency unemployment benefits extension, part of H.R. 4213, and once again, there are holdouts in that governing body who say the weekly checks, a lifeline to millions, are to big a cost, in these days of growing national deficit. Others take a condescending view arguing, that the continuous unemployment extensions create America's own real version of the British term, being on the Dole, that they retard job hunt motivation.
But while the deficit looms large and very real on the horizon, it seems almost cruel that the Senate would even flirt with cutting off economic lifelines to so many Americans who, in most cases, arrived at this unfortunate state existence though no fault of their own. Besides that, the benefits are basically a form of stimulus since that money mostly gets pumped back through spending., etc.
And, unless you live in place where the cost of living has plummeted down a cliff, you would be hard pressed to find a laid off American worker satisfied and secure with the amount of money one gets to live on from unemployment insurance. In most cases, the weekly sums are a small portion of what the worker made while employed. For example, in New York State, the highest weekly payment is just over $400. Other states, offer max payments lower than that, a few others, slightly higher. Usually, they provide enough to get by, pay some bills, put food on the table. If it weren't for a current 65% subsidy for COBRA plan payments, which costs roughly the same amount as a month's unemployment benefits, the number of uninsured would have spiked even higher as well. But, that's another sad story.
A study on the effect of recessions on health by Economics Professor Christopher Ruhm, found that because unemployment insurance in the U.S. does not typically replace 50% of the income one received on the job, the unemployed often end up tapping welfare programs such as Food Stamps or accumulating debt.
The sad fact is that the high numbers of long term unemployed continues growing into a scourge in America. It not only decimates consumer power, it tears at less measurable indicators like the psychology of the nation infected by labor insecurity and a large pocket of hopelessness sense born out of the frustration of millions. The hope in all this, is that United States citizens will see immediate relief, but also demand greater investment in the future. There's never been a better moment to call upon the nation's best and brightest innovators, and begin rethinking the ways, places and rules by which we work, produce and buy.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Friday, June 04, 2010
Consider the Truths on Jobs Numbers
OPINION Cody Lyon
A number of early news stories on the Friday labor department jobs report were reading as if written encouraged by the spin patrol. Most of the stories opened with news that the US had added 431,000 new (nonfarm) jobs this past May. At a number of media outlets, the good news was reinforced with the line, it's the "largest (job creation) gain in the monthly figure in a decade."
But, after the good news, came a dose of reality that pointed out, 411,000 of those 'new jobs' were for Temporary Census Workers. Those jobs will disappear come August.
In truth, as the Labor Department data shows, big as it is, the private sector of the entire United States only added 41,000 new jobs to payrolls this past May. That leaves the unemployment rate essentially unchanged at 9.7%, a slight drop from 9.9% in April.
Around 15 million workers are now unemployed in the United States. That's more than double the 7.7 million at the end of 2007.
As a Labor Department and National Employment Law Project report highlighted by "TheHill.com's" Vicki Needham noted, the number of long-term unemployed has increased from 1.3 million at the start of the recession and has climbed to 6.8 million, making up 46 percent of all unemployed, up from 15 percent more than 2 years ago.
With all that, it was hard understand how the President and members of the administration can say the job market in the United States is “getting stronger by the day.”
The spin didn't fool the market, as U.S. stocks, already spooked by the debt of Hungary, dove to their lowest closing bell since February.
Perhaps it's even more difficult to understand why so many reporters and even respected economists initially attempted putting a positive spin on things when in fact, the nation's economy is still facing trying times. Truth and Leadership are crucial when faced with crisis of any magnitude, and even in a spin filled culture, people can smell smoke and read through mirrors.
But even more hair raising the fact that so many Americans will lose their only financial lifelines this week as extensions of unemployment insurance benefits expire after the Senate up and went home before passing an extension of benefits. Some in the Senate are warning of impending deficit crisis, which is a legitimate concern, but, in this case of humanitarian aid to fellow Americans, more debt maybe necessary. The House passed the new extension a few weeks ago, but, the Senate left the capital for its Memorial Day holiday break before taking up the issue. The Senate is meant to address the topic when it returns, June 7.
The hope is, the numbers will shrink, the lifeline will become less inflated and the nation, will witness a full recovery.
LINK TO VICKI NEEDHAM at THEHILL
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/101517-americans-face-eight-month-wait-to-find-a-job
A number of early news stories on the Friday labor department jobs report were reading as if written encouraged by the spin patrol. Most of the stories opened with news that the US had added 431,000 new (nonfarm) jobs this past May. At a number of media outlets, the good news was reinforced with the line, it's the "largest (job creation) gain in the monthly figure in a decade."
But, after the good news, came a dose of reality that pointed out, 411,000 of those 'new jobs' were for Temporary Census Workers. Those jobs will disappear come August.
In truth, as the Labor Department data shows, big as it is, the private sector of the entire United States only added 41,000 new jobs to payrolls this past May. That leaves the unemployment rate essentially unchanged at 9.7%, a slight drop from 9.9% in April.
Around 15 million workers are now unemployed in the United States. That's more than double the 7.7 million at the end of 2007.
As a Labor Department and National Employment Law Project report highlighted by "TheHill.com's" Vicki Needham noted, the number of long-term unemployed has increased from 1.3 million at the start of the recession and has climbed to 6.8 million, making up 46 percent of all unemployed, up from 15 percent more than 2 years ago.
With all that, it was hard understand how the President and members of the administration can say the job market in the United States is “getting stronger by the day.”
The spin didn't fool the market, as U.S. stocks, already spooked by the debt of Hungary, dove to their lowest closing bell since February.
Perhaps it's even more difficult to understand why so many reporters and even respected economists initially attempted putting a positive spin on things when in fact, the nation's economy is still facing trying times. Truth and Leadership are crucial when faced with crisis of any magnitude, and even in a spin filled culture, people can smell smoke and read through mirrors.
But even more hair raising the fact that so many Americans will lose their only financial lifelines this week as extensions of unemployment insurance benefits expire after the Senate up and went home before passing an extension of benefits. Some in the Senate are warning of impending deficit crisis, which is a legitimate concern, but, in this case of humanitarian aid to fellow Americans, more debt maybe necessary. The House passed the new extension a few weeks ago, but, the Senate left the capital for its Memorial Day holiday break before taking up the issue. The Senate is meant to address the topic when it returns, June 7.
The hope is, the numbers will shrink, the lifeline will become less inflated and the nation, will witness a full recovery.
LINK TO VICKI NEEDHAM at THEHILL
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/101517-americans-face-eight-month-wait-to-find-a-job
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Alabama, Tim James, George Wallace and Campaign Exploitation
by Cody Lyon
During a chat on politics while home visiting friends and family in Birmingham Ala., one friend remarked that candidates who speak in ‘positives’ rarely do well in campaigns for state office in Alabama. She pointed to the legacy of unfortunate condescension, that use political formulas where candidates steer people’s attention from true ‘center of life’ issues towards hot button social topics.
Of course, this is probably one of the easiest, oldest and cheapest tricks in politics but, fueled on by a media focused on the sensational, it often works, not just in the South, but, across the nation,
And, for some us who grew up or live in Alabama, headlines seem to say this deep-south state has produced more than its fair share of this sort of similar political games.
Over the past few weeks, Americans have met Alabama Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James, the 48-year old son of former Governor Fob James who was noted in part for blunt language and loud opposition to the teaching of evolution.
The younger James, a millionaire businessman, has inspired news headlines, sneers from liberals and now a barrage of viral videos based on a real television campaign ad where the candidate for governor tackles Alabama’s practice of offering drivers license exams in 12 languages.
During the ad, James looks earnestly into the camera and say’s “this is Alabama. We speak English. If you want to live here, learn it.” One would be hard pressed to find evidence that offering drivers license tests to a variety of languages is a ‘central to Alabama life issue,’ nonetheless, since the ad’s debut, James’ poll numbers have gone up and local interest in the governor’s race has jumped. These days, he’s drawing big crowds as he criss-crosses the state in the ‘common sense’ express.
James’ exploitation of anti-immigrant sentiment is one of the latest incidents in an immigrant backlash we’re seeing in many states like Arizona. But, in Alabama, one can’t help but draw comparisons to other candidates who, especially during times of economic instability, have exploited the insecurity of voter fear and insecurity.
As meticulous research in the book ‘Alabama, Portrait of a Deep South State,’ notes, in the 1960’s, when poor whites who’d recently entered the middle class saw their earning power failing to keep pace with inflation, instead of acting rationally and organizing or joining unions, they often acted in non-rational ways, “through scape-goating, fatalism, or blind rage.” To champion the cause, “they chose George C. Wallace.”
Interestingly, when George Wallace’s first ran for Governor in 1958, he ran with the support of the NAACP. Wallace was defeated by fellow democrat John Patterson who himself, had the support of the Ku Klux Klan. Afterwards, Wallace, who had been vocal in his opposition to the Klan and apparently seen by blacks as ‘fair’ before the first governors race, reportedly told an aide, that he’d been “outniggered” in the campaign by Patterson, and that he’d “never be outniggered “ again.
Then, in 1962, the historically familiar George Wallace was elected. He proclaimed against the backdrop of whoops and hollers during his Montgomery inauguration that he stood in defiance of coming change, proclaiming “segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.”
Earlier, he’d reportedly told a supporter that people didn’t pay attention to his campaign in 1958 when he tried to forward a progressive agenda peppered with talk of all the good he would do like building better roads and schools. In essence, although social change was inevitable, reactionary politics had become his ticket to the state capital in Montgomery.
In truth, Wallace had taken the cheap and easy highway to power, using persuasive political trickery, appealing to base emotions like fear. Although he lived to regret his tactics, begging history to paint him as reasonable, he took the sins of blood stained rhetoric to the grave.
Almost 50 years after the Wallace segregation speech, Alabama has seen remarkable economic and social transformation. It is a place filled with ethnic diversity, thousands of new jobs, many of them brought by foreign investment. But, like other states, Alabama has been hit hard by recession, so the appeal of anti-immigrant sounding rhetoric that we’ve seen in states like Arizona, comes as no surprise.
And although Tim James’ English only ad is a far cry from the dangerous 1960’s rhetoric of George Wallace, James tactic is at the core, cheap and easy politics.
Instead, why doesn’t James produce and star in an ad that taunts the insanity of Alabama tax structures? For example, a 2008 Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study that says that Alabama’s tax system is regressive, relying on income and sales taxes that are skewed against low income people.
Or perhaps, he could get people stirred up over Alabama’s consistent ranking as one of the top states for dangerous levels of obesity, smoking, diabetes and poverty. Another potential point of contention, Alabama’s localized school systems are markedly disparate, where in a few wealthy suburbs near cities like Birmingham, children are guaranteed public educational opportunity on a par with the best offered anywhere in the country. Meanwhile, inner city or rural areas, the bigger challenge is to simply see a child graduate from high school. And, while dramatizing these social ills, mention that the state’s biggest city, is home to one of the nation’s top ten homicide rates, yes, Birmingham is statistically a much more dangerous than New York City.
Those tidbits touch on a few problems facing today’s Alabama. But those problems are also America’s problems because we all operate under the same umbrella in this Republic of ours. Yet, with all that going on in this economically uncertain time that’s ripe for change, the most enthused political rhetoric spewed onto the nation’s airwaves is negative and marked by blame, finger-pointing and once again, scape-goating. For example, news stories in the mainstream media featuring colorful notes on the tea party movement trump stories on exactly how, why or who led America into the current Great Recession.
Meanwhile, there’s no doubt that Tim James is charismatic, smart and a good businessman who might make a fine Governor for Alabama.
But, like the originally moderate candidate named George Wallace, who made a campaign decision 50 year ago and won office, the political calculation behind James’ English only ad may grab attention now, but ultimately, such diversion mutes hope for healthy open discussion and debate that leads to change for the better of a people. In the end, these tactics block the path to progress into the future.
During a chat on politics while home visiting friends and family in Birmingham Ala., one friend remarked that candidates who speak in ‘positives’ rarely do well in campaigns for state office in Alabama. She pointed to the legacy of unfortunate condescension, that use political formulas where candidates steer people’s attention from true ‘center of life’ issues towards hot button social topics.
Of course, this is probably one of the easiest, oldest and cheapest tricks in politics but, fueled on by a media focused on the sensational, it often works, not just in the South, but, across the nation,
And, for some us who grew up or live in Alabama, headlines seem to say this deep-south state has produced more than its fair share of this sort of similar political games.
Over the past few weeks, Americans have met Alabama Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James, the 48-year old son of former Governor Fob James who was noted in part for blunt language and loud opposition to the teaching of evolution.
The younger James, a millionaire businessman, has inspired news headlines, sneers from liberals and now a barrage of viral videos based on a real television campaign ad where the candidate for governor tackles Alabama’s practice of offering drivers license exams in 12 languages.
During the ad, James looks earnestly into the camera and say’s “this is Alabama. We speak English. If you want to live here, learn it.” One would be hard pressed to find evidence that offering drivers license tests to a variety of languages is a ‘central to Alabama life issue,’ nonetheless, since the ad’s debut, James’ poll numbers have gone up and local interest in the governor’s race has jumped. These days, he’s drawing big crowds as he criss-crosses the state in the ‘common sense’ express.
James’ exploitation of anti-immigrant sentiment is one of the latest incidents in an immigrant backlash we’re seeing in many states like Arizona. But, in Alabama, one can’t help but draw comparisons to other candidates who, especially during times of economic instability, have exploited the insecurity of voter fear and insecurity.
As meticulous research in the book ‘Alabama, Portrait of a Deep South State,’ notes, in the 1960’s, when poor whites who’d recently entered the middle class saw their earning power failing to keep pace with inflation, instead of acting rationally and organizing or joining unions, they often acted in non-rational ways, “through scape-goating, fatalism, or blind rage.” To champion the cause, “they chose George C. Wallace.”
Interestingly, when George Wallace’s first ran for Governor in 1958, he ran with the support of the NAACP. Wallace was defeated by fellow democrat John Patterson who himself, had the support of the Ku Klux Klan. Afterwards, Wallace, who had been vocal in his opposition to the Klan and apparently seen by blacks as ‘fair’ before the first governors race, reportedly told an aide, that he’d been “outniggered” in the campaign by Patterson, and that he’d “never be outniggered “ again.
Then, in 1962, the historically familiar George Wallace was elected. He proclaimed against the backdrop of whoops and hollers during his Montgomery inauguration that he stood in defiance of coming change, proclaiming “segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.”
Earlier, he’d reportedly told a supporter that people didn’t pay attention to his campaign in 1958 when he tried to forward a progressive agenda peppered with talk of all the good he would do like building better roads and schools. In essence, although social change was inevitable, reactionary politics had become his ticket to the state capital in Montgomery.
In truth, Wallace had taken the cheap and easy highway to power, using persuasive political trickery, appealing to base emotions like fear. Although he lived to regret his tactics, begging history to paint him as reasonable, he took the sins of blood stained rhetoric to the grave.
Almost 50 years after the Wallace segregation speech, Alabama has seen remarkable economic and social transformation. It is a place filled with ethnic diversity, thousands of new jobs, many of them brought by foreign investment. But, like other states, Alabama has been hit hard by recession, so the appeal of anti-immigrant sounding rhetoric that we’ve seen in states like Arizona, comes as no surprise.
And although Tim James’ English only ad is a far cry from the dangerous 1960’s rhetoric of George Wallace, James tactic is at the core, cheap and easy politics.
Instead, why doesn’t James produce and star in an ad that taunts the insanity of Alabama tax structures? For example, a 2008 Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study that says that Alabama’s tax system is regressive, relying on income and sales taxes that are skewed against low income people.
Or perhaps, he could get people stirred up over Alabama’s consistent ranking as one of the top states for dangerous levels of obesity, smoking, diabetes and poverty. Another potential point of contention, Alabama’s localized school systems are markedly disparate, where in a few wealthy suburbs near cities like Birmingham, children are guaranteed public educational opportunity on a par with the best offered anywhere in the country. Meanwhile, inner city or rural areas, the bigger challenge is to simply see a child graduate from high school. And, while dramatizing these social ills, mention that the state’s biggest city, is home to one of the nation’s top ten homicide rates, yes, Birmingham is statistically a much more dangerous than New York City.
Those tidbits touch on a few problems facing today’s Alabama. But those problems are also America’s problems because we all operate under the same umbrella in this Republic of ours. Yet, with all that going on in this economically uncertain time that’s ripe for change, the most enthused political rhetoric spewed onto the nation’s airwaves is negative and marked by blame, finger-pointing and once again, scape-goating. For example, news stories in the mainstream media featuring colorful notes on the tea party movement trump stories on exactly how, why or who led America into the current Great Recession.
Meanwhile, there’s no doubt that Tim James is charismatic, smart and a good businessman who might make a fine Governor for Alabama.
But, like the originally moderate candidate named George Wallace, who made a campaign decision 50 year ago and won office, the political calculation behind James’ English only ad may grab attention now, but ultimately, such diversion mutes hope for healthy open discussion and debate that leads to change for the better of a people. In the end, these tactics block the path to progress into the future.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Thought for the day
With thousands of square miles to choose from, how is it possible, Science can pinpoint where to drill and extract oil, but, when faced with environmental catastrophe, human ingenuity fails to deliver a solution to plug up a hole in the ground....
Friday, May 07, 2010
Interview with Limelight Marketplace Developer Jack Menashe at Portoflio.com
Back Into the Limelight
Cody Lyon
The Limelight Marketplace, New York City retail developer Jack Menashe’s latest vision for a 163-year-old former Episcopalian Church turned legendary nightclub is set to finally open this week as a boutique mall.
Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/entrepreneurship/2010/05/06/jack-menashe-turns-limelight-nightclub-into-artisan-mall#ixzz0nIvzw2SL
Cody Lyon
The Limelight Marketplace, New York City retail developer Jack Menashe’s latest vision for a 163-year-old former Episcopalian Church turned legendary nightclub is set to finally open this week as a boutique mall.
Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/entrepreneurship/2010/05/06/jack-menashe-turns-limelight-nightclub-into-artisan-mall#ixzz0nIvzw2SL
You want some design with those Fries? Story looks at McDonald's new Euro Look in NYC (Portfolio.com)
Cody Lyon for Portfolio.com
Curing a Big Mac attack with a visit to McDonald’s has gotten a little more chic in a handful of the fast-food giant’s 250 New York City locations. Diners are treated to egg chairs, wide tables, bright walls, and fresh art deco panels, elements based on a store model created by French interior designer Phillipe Avanzi, the mastermind of similar redesign efforts at McDonald’s locations in Europe.
Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/companies-executives/2010/05/06/will-redesign-boost-mcdonalds-franchisees-bottom-line#ixzz0nIuz28ur
Curing a Big Mac attack with a visit to McDonald’s has gotten a little more chic in a handful of the fast-food giant’s 250 New York City locations. Diners are treated to egg chairs, wide tables, bright walls, and fresh art deco panels, elements based on a store model created by French interior designer Phillipe Avanzi, the mastermind of similar redesign efforts at McDonald’s locations in Europe.
Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/companies-executives/2010/05/06/will-redesign-boost-mcdonalds-franchisees-bottom-line#ixzz0nIuz28ur
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Cody Lyon's Reflections on an earlier time in NYC
Back in the Day (from Portfolio.com)
by Cody Lyon Apr 26 2010
A New Yorker’s reflection of an earlier time in Manhattan, back when nightclubs were more than $300 bottles of vodka and when restaurants weren’t part of chains. Now, those were fun times.
Read more:
http://www.portfolio.com/views/columns/2010/04/26/cody-lyon-on-past-new-york-city-clubs-and-restaurants
by Cody Lyon Apr 26 2010
A New Yorker’s reflection of an earlier time in Manhattan, back when nightclubs were more than $300 bottles of vodka and when restaurants weren’t part of chains. Now, those were fun times.
Read more:
http://www.portfolio.com/views/columns/2010/04/26/cody-lyon-on-past-new-york-city-clubs-and-restaurants
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Lower Manhattan CRE could take a hit (story at Portfolio.com)
http://www.portfolio.com/business-news/portfolio/2010/04/01/lower-manhattan-real-estate-hits-the-skids#
by Cody Lyon Apr 01 2010
After surviving 9/11, the credit crisis and the Great Recession, the commercial real estate market in lower Manhattan finally shows signs of exhaustion. But investors are looking ahead to the resilient neighborhood's recovery.
by Cody Lyon Apr 01 2010
After surviving 9/11, the credit crisis and the Great Recession, the commercial real estate market in lower Manhattan finally shows signs of exhaustion. But investors are looking ahead to the resilient neighborhood's recovery.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Prom Tolerance and the Changing of Hearts and Minds
by CODY LYON
OPINION
News that the Itawamba County Mississippi school board would cancel its upcoming prom rather than allow a gay student, Constance McMillen, to bring her same sex date to the event was a disturbing but necessary reminder of just how hostile much of the nation to the 'full acceptance' of LGBT people, and that includes students.
Perhaps the school system's decision is based in fear rooted in flawed and prejudiced assumptions, that by allowing a teenager to bring her same sex date to such a traditional event as the prom, the powers that be may appear to be condoning gayness to the local masses. More likely,moral concerns extending from literal interpretations of scripture, verses located on the same pages where one finds instructions for the stoning of adulterers and punishments for wearing certain types of textiles. But then again, the Mississippi prom case is more likely just another piece of fallout from a very commonly held membership in a society where there is a quiet tolerance of homophobia which is nothing more than a phobia of homosexuality itself.
It's easy to draw comparisons to this incident and a 1994 case involving a student in the little east Alabama town of Wedowee. In February of that year, the principal of Randolph County High School called the student body, then around 60% white and 40% black, to an assembly, where he asked the group how many juniors and seniors planned to attend the prom with 'dates' as he put it, "outside their race?" To his, and perhaps many northern readers who later read details of this tale surprise, several students did in fact raise their hands. Reportedly, the principal, a white man named Hulond Humphries, promptly cancelled the prom, asking, "how would that look at a prom, a bunch of mixed race couples?"
Most would probably agree, that no matter how you phrase it, spin it or frame it, at the root of the Wedowee principal's prom decision in 1994, was phobia, a phobia of African American students mixing with whites, and that phobia, still held by many in America, is most likely rooted in racism of one form or another.
But, back to present day Mississippi. There is no denying the bravery of this young student who with help from the ACLU is standing up to authority. It is a shame, that the majority of students who are most likely heterosexual are upset about seeing their big night get spoiled. Like the 1994 Wedowee principal, Itawamba County officials had rather cancel the event, than run the risk of 'appearing unsavory' after all, how would it look if their are lesbians at the prom? Worth mentioning, for those LGBT leaders in bastions of tolerance, far from places like rural Mississippi, the hope is they will not only take notice of this young girl's brave actions, but, instill the support of all watching this little drama unfold. Because, in truth, its those drama's that unfold daily in the smaller places of America's heartland, where hearts and minds are changed, ever so slowly, but oh so often, surely. You see that kind of change in places like Ashburn Georgia, a small town 160 miles south of Atlanta, that held its first integrated black and white together prom in 2007, yes, that' just two years ago. Guess who voted for the change from 'Jim Crow" appearing segregation to modern day integration, the majority of the student body, all 212 of them. One hopes too, that despite old thought principals or school boards caught up in society's prejudices, moral conflicts or hang-ups based in misinterpretation or hate, that students like Constance McMillen, will someday have the support of her student body, and that they too, will vote for an integrated prom along the same lines as those kids in Georgia but perhaps, these kids will go a bit further on the tolerance trail, a place where black, white, straight, gay or whatever well behaved junior or senior from that school gains admission to the prom and dances the night away with his or her date, regardless of whether that date is a boy or a girl.
OPINION
News that the Itawamba County Mississippi school board would cancel its upcoming prom rather than allow a gay student, Constance McMillen, to bring her same sex date to the event was a disturbing but necessary reminder of just how hostile much of the nation to the 'full acceptance' of LGBT people, and that includes students.
Perhaps the school system's decision is based in fear rooted in flawed and prejudiced assumptions, that by allowing a teenager to bring her same sex date to such a traditional event as the prom, the powers that be may appear to be condoning gayness to the local masses. More likely,moral concerns extending from literal interpretations of scripture, verses located on the same pages where one finds instructions for the stoning of adulterers and punishments for wearing certain types of textiles. But then again, the Mississippi prom case is more likely just another piece of fallout from a very commonly held membership in a society where there is a quiet tolerance of homophobia which is nothing more than a phobia of homosexuality itself.
It's easy to draw comparisons to this incident and a 1994 case involving a student in the little east Alabama town of Wedowee. In February of that year, the principal of Randolph County High School called the student body, then around 60% white and 40% black, to an assembly, where he asked the group how many juniors and seniors planned to attend the prom with 'dates' as he put it, "outside their race?" To his, and perhaps many northern readers who later read details of this tale surprise, several students did in fact raise their hands. Reportedly, the principal, a white man named Hulond Humphries, promptly cancelled the prom, asking, "how would that look at a prom, a bunch of mixed race couples?"
Most would probably agree, that no matter how you phrase it, spin it or frame it, at the root of the Wedowee principal's prom decision in 1994, was phobia, a phobia of African American students mixing with whites, and that phobia, still held by many in America, is most likely rooted in racism of one form or another.
But, back to present day Mississippi. There is no denying the bravery of this young student who with help from the ACLU is standing up to authority. It is a shame, that the majority of students who are most likely heterosexual are upset about seeing their big night get spoiled. Like the 1994 Wedowee principal, Itawamba County officials had rather cancel the event, than run the risk of 'appearing unsavory' after all, how would it look if their are lesbians at the prom? Worth mentioning, for those LGBT leaders in bastions of tolerance, far from places like rural Mississippi, the hope is they will not only take notice of this young girl's brave actions, but, instill the support of all watching this little drama unfold. Because, in truth, its those drama's that unfold daily in the smaller places of America's heartland, where hearts and minds are changed, ever so slowly, but oh so often, surely. You see that kind of change in places like Ashburn Georgia, a small town 160 miles south of Atlanta, that held its first integrated black and white together prom in 2007, yes, that' just two years ago. Guess who voted for the change from 'Jim Crow" appearing segregation to modern day integration, the majority of the student body, all 212 of them. One hopes too, that despite old thought principals or school boards caught up in society's prejudices, moral conflicts or hang-ups based in misinterpretation or hate, that students like Constance McMillen, will someday have the support of her student body, and that they too, will vote for an integrated prom along the same lines as those kids in Georgia but perhaps, these kids will go a bit further on the tolerance trail, a place where black, white, straight, gay or whatever well behaved junior or senior from that school gains admission to the prom and dances the night away with his or her date, regardless of whether that date is a boy or a girl.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Drawing a line in the sand on Healthcare reform
OPINION
by CODY LYON
Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY-R) told Democrats in the Senate that `every election this fall will be a referendum" on health care reform. McConnell, was rattling his saber after President Obama threw down the gauntlet, where he said congress owes the American people a final vote on healthcare reform. The president gave his blessings to procedural `reconciliation,' a way by which Democrats bypass what has become unanimous Republican opposition to the legislation, in other words, get'er done!
Mind you, the healthcare reform bill is flawed. And, the ways by which the miles high pile of details contained in this bill, the nuts and bolts of "what this legislation" would mean to the American people, have been short in coming to say the least. Republicans and others have seized upon what they portray as frightening hints of socialism, portraying the bill as government interference into the private sector that they falsely proclaim serves us well. But, truth be told, we live in a nation that is home to a healthcare system that does serves some well, while it neglects our less fortunate, the uninsured citizens among us, a number now approaching 50 million with another 15 million considered "under-insured." Even those who are insured, are unlikely to sing the praises of their insurance companies, especially in these days of skyrocketing premiums and added costs where every nook and cranny within the healthcare system's costs are already interconnected much like a synthetic rubik's cube.
Take note, a February 16 RAND Corporation analysis found that the Senate healthcare reform plan would cause overall health spending to increase by 2 percent because of 'increased utilization among newly insured people.'
For those worried about increased health care costs, RAND says the legislation would help drive down out of pocket insurance premiums. Researchers at RAND estimated that premiums in the employer-sponsored market in 2019 would be 2 percent lower and the premiums paid by individuals buying insurance through exchanges would be 3.7 percent lower than otherwise expected.
Further the analysis found that by 2019, about 28 million people would purchase insurance through the Health Benefit Exchanges mandated by the legislation. The Exchanges would be state-run organizations through which private companies would sell health insurance to individuals. Researchers at RAND estimate that 15 million of those who use the exchanges would qualify for government subsidies to help pay for their insurance.
RAND predicts that among the 25 million Americans who would remain uninsured in 2019, about one-third (9 million) would be eligible for Medicaid but not enroll.
The study finds that health care legislation passed by the Senate would cut the number of uninsured Americans to 25 million by 2019 (a 53 percent decrease) and increase overall national spending on health care by about 2 percent cumulatively between 2013 and 2019.
Perhaps what makes all of this back and forth politicking over healthcare reform even more infuriating, is that Democrats have yet to seize this bull by the horns and broadcast the deeper truths and connect the dots for those Americans who do have insurance already. Truth's like findings from the privately run Commonwealth Fund who reported in a August 2009 study, that employer sponsored health insurance premiums increased by 119% from 1999 until 2008. The study projects that premiums will double again without some sort of reform measure.
Fact of the matter, with healthcare reform as it stands, American families will likely save almost $4,000 by 2020 according to the Commonwealth Fund study.
As things stand, Democrats have yet to demonstrate that they have gumption and ability to forge legislation through to fruition that will impact the lives of their constituents in a positive way. With the current somewhat flawed, but still `incrementally' positive healthcare reform bill, Democrats have the chance to show they are proactive as leaders and that government can do good things for its people. The President is correct to ask that they draw a line in the sand, and that they pass this bill.
by CODY LYON
Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY-R) told Democrats in the Senate that `every election this fall will be a referendum" on health care reform. McConnell, was rattling his saber after President Obama threw down the gauntlet, where he said congress owes the American people a final vote on healthcare reform. The president gave his blessings to procedural `reconciliation,' a way by which Democrats bypass what has become unanimous Republican opposition to the legislation, in other words, get'er done!
Mind you, the healthcare reform bill is flawed. And, the ways by which the miles high pile of details contained in this bill, the nuts and bolts of "what this legislation" would mean to the American people, have been short in coming to say the least. Republicans and others have seized upon what they portray as frightening hints of socialism, portraying the bill as government interference into the private sector that they falsely proclaim serves us well. But, truth be told, we live in a nation that is home to a healthcare system that does serves some well, while it neglects our less fortunate, the uninsured citizens among us, a number now approaching 50 million with another 15 million considered "under-insured." Even those who are insured, are unlikely to sing the praises of their insurance companies, especially in these days of skyrocketing premiums and added costs where every nook and cranny within the healthcare system's costs are already interconnected much like a synthetic rubik's cube.
Take note, a February 16 RAND Corporation analysis found that the Senate healthcare reform plan would cause overall health spending to increase by 2 percent because of 'increased utilization among newly insured people.'
For those worried about increased health care costs, RAND says the legislation would help drive down out of pocket insurance premiums. Researchers at RAND estimated that premiums in the employer-sponsored market in 2019 would be 2 percent lower and the premiums paid by individuals buying insurance through exchanges would be 3.7 percent lower than otherwise expected.
Further the analysis found that by 2019, about 28 million people would purchase insurance through the Health Benefit Exchanges mandated by the legislation. The Exchanges would be state-run organizations through which private companies would sell health insurance to individuals. Researchers at RAND estimate that 15 million of those who use the exchanges would qualify for government subsidies to help pay for their insurance.
RAND predicts that among the 25 million Americans who would remain uninsured in 2019, about one-third (9 million) would be eligible for Medicaid but not enroll.
The study finds that health care legislation passed by the Senate would cut the number of uninsured Americans to 25 million by 2019 (a 53 percent decrease) and increase overall national spending on health care by about 2 percent cumulatively between 2013 and 2019.
Perhaps what makes all of this back and forth politicking over healthcare reform even more infuriating, is that Democrats have yet to seize this bull by the horns and broadcast the deeper truths and connect the dots for those Americans who do have insurance already. Truth's like findings from the privately run Commonwealth Fund who reported in a August 2009 study, that employer sponsored health insurance premiums increased by 119% from 1999 until 2008. The study projects that premiums will double again without some sort of reform measure.
Fact of the matter, with healthcare reform as it stands, American families will likely save almost $4,000 by 2020 according to the Commonwealth Fund study.
As things stand, Democrats have yet to demonstrate that they have gumption and ability to forge legislation through to fruition that will impact the lives of their constituents in a positive way. With the current somewhat flawed, but still `incrementally' positive healthcare reform bill, Democrats have the chance to show they are proactive as leaders and that government can do good things for its people. The President is correct to ask that they draw a line in the sand, and that they pass this bill.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Small Banks at Greater Risk from CRE mortgages (from September at globest.com)
FROM SEPTEMBER 2009...globeSt.com (ALM)
This past September, it was becoming increasingly clear that smaller banks would suffer greater hardship as more commercial real estate mortgages started coming home to roost...
by Cody Lyon
NEW YORK CITY-Commercial mortgage defaults, which are projected to reach unprecedented levels in 2011, pose an even greater risk for smaller, regional lenders than the nation’s more high-profile large banks. So says Dr. Sam Chandan, president of Real Estate Econometrics.
"If you look across the banking system, commercial mortgage loans represent about 14% of banks’ net loans and leases," Chandan tells GlobeSt.com. However, he says, banks that have assets of $10 billion or more typically see a less than 10% exposure rate to commercial real estate. On the other hand, smaller institutions with assets between $100 million and $1 billion see exposures as high as 30%.
And therein lies a very big problem and more pressing calls for policy interventions. "Some of these smaller institutions that have not been the direct focus of policy interventions are seeing a tremendous deterioration of commercial mortgage performance," says Chandan. "If default rates continue to rise in the way current trends suggest, and if low rates of recovery on exposures worsen, some institutions will be impacted in terms of their viability, not only in their terms of their capacity to lend for commercial real estate, but also in their capacity to participate in the market."
The handwriting is on the wall, according to data from federal bank regulators. During the second quarter of 2009, the FDIC issued 151 regulatory orders. Nearly half of those orders were "cease and desist," which often precede a bank’s closure. Already this year, the FDIC says there have been 89 bank failures with assets totaling $91.6 billion.
A spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that the FDIC is looking closely at commercial real estate, but adds, "we do not have any projections to make regarding its future impact."
But the alarm bells were ringing in July testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress from Jon D. Greenlee, associate director of the Federal Reserve’s Division of Banking and Regulation. Greenlee told that committee, "A high proportion of small- and medium-sized institutions continue to have sizable exposure to commercial real estate, including land development and construction loans, built up earlier this decade, with some having concentrations equal to several multiples of their capital."
Those would be the banks with names like Platinum Community Bank of Rolling Meadows, IL; First Bank of Kansas in Kansas City, KS; and First Coweta Bank of Newnan, GA, to name three of the casualties in the past two months, according to FDIC data. According to local news reports, each had bet heavily in the commercial real estate market.
The now defunct First Coweta Bank’s web page read, "Let First Coweta be your business partner! For construction and real estate purchases, call one of our commercial loan officers today for rates!" Another regional bank, United Bank Corp. of Barnesville, GA, has assumed First Coweta’s deposits and loans.
"The difference is, we’re not talking about the biggest banks right now," Chandan says. "It’s not the TARP recipients: the JPMorgans and Citibanks. Instead, it’s the hundreds, perhaps thousands of smaller, community and regional banks that provide liquidity to people in smaller markets across the nation."
He says "the failure of any one of these smaller banks will not impact financial stability on a national level. Individually, the failures do not get the same degree of attention as the large institutions, whose failure would present systemic risk for the entire financial system and economy."
Chandan says policy makers have paid significant attention to conditions in the CMBS markets. But, he says, there has been little in the way of support for banks struggling with a deterioration of mortgage performance. The outstanding pool of commercial real estate mortgages on the balance sheets of banks is "much larger than the CMBS universe," Chandan notes.
And, he says, REEcon’s view is that the banking system will play the dominant role in the commercial real estate marketplace, as it has historically. Ultimately, Chandan says, "there can’t be a normalization of credit conditions without a healthy banking system."
As the latest Federal Reserve Bank Senior Loan Officer Opinion survey noted, 40% of lending institutions indicated that standards for investment-grade commercial real estate lending would remain tighter than their longer-term average levels for the foreseeable future. About 55% expected this outcome for non-investment-grade loans.
Chandan says that so far, there does not seem to be consensus on how policy makers and banks themselves will alleviate some of the strain on smaller and regional banks. He says banks are being encouraged to modify balances, so that loans can become performing again. But, he says, modification of loans implies significant cost to banks.
Ultimately, Chandan says, the costs to capital reserves are where policy needs to be focused. He says that to achieve that goal, there should be some sharing of the costs associated with writedowns.
This past September, it was becoming increasingly clear that smaller banks would suffer greater hardship as more commercial real estate mortgages started coming home to roost...
by Cody Lyon
NEW YORK CITY-Commercial mortgage defaults, which are projected to reach unprecedented levels in 2011, pose an even greater risk for smaller, regional lenders than the nation’s more high-profile large banks. So says Dr. Sam Chandan, president of Real Estate Econometrics.
"If you look across the banking system, commercial mortgage loans represent about 14% of banks’ net loans and leases," Chandan tells GlobeSt.com. However, he says, banks that have assets of $10 billion or more typically see a less than 10% exposure rate to commercial real estate. On the other hand, smaller institutions with assets between $100 million and $1 billion see exposures as high as 30%.
And therein lies a very big problem and more pressing calls for policy interventions. "Some of these smaller institutions that have not been the direct focus of policy interventions are seeing a tremendous deterioration of commercial mortgage performance," says Chandan. "If default rates continue to rise in the way current trends suggest, and if low rates of recovery on exposures worsen, some institutions will be impacted in terms of their viability, not only in their terms of their capacity to lend for commercial real estate, but also in their capacity to participate in the market."
The handwriting is on the wall, according to data from federal bank regulators. During the second quarter of 2009, the FDIC issued 151 regulatory orders. Nearly half of those orders were "cease and desist," which often precede a bank’s closure. Already this year, the FDIC says there have been 89 bank failures with assets totaling $91.6 billion.
A spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that the FDIC is looking closely at commercial real estate, but adds, "we do not have any projections to make regarding its future impact."
But the alarm bells were ringing in July testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress from Jon D. Greenlee, associate director of the Federal Reserve’s Division of Banking and Regulation. Greenlee told that committee, "A high proportion of small- and medium-sized institutions continue to have sizable exposure to commercial real estate, including land development and construction loans, built up earlier this decade, with some having concentrations equal to several multiples of their capital."
Those would be the banks with names like Platinum Community Bank of Rolling Meadows, IL; First Bank of Kansas in Kansas City, KS; and First Coweta Bank of Newnan, GA, to name three of the casualties in the past two months, according to FDIC data. According to local news reports, each had bet heavily in the commercial real estate market.
The now defunct First Coweta Bank’s web page read, "Let First Coweta be your business partner! For construction and real estate purchases, call one of our commercial loan officers today for rates!" Another regional bank, United Bank Corp. of Barnesville, GA, has assumed First Coweta’s deposits and loans.
"The difference is, we’re not talking about the biggest banks right now," Chandan says. "It’s not the TARP recipients: the JPMorgans and Citibanks. Instead, it’s the hundreds, perhaps thousands of smaller, community and regional banks that provide liquidity to people in smaller markets across the nation."
He says "the failure of any one of these smaller banks will not impact financial stability on a national level. Individually, the failures do not get the same degree of attention as the large institutions, whose failure would present systemic risk for the entire financial system and economy."
Chandan says policy makers have paid significant attention to conditions in the CMBS markets. But, he says, there has been little in the way of support for banks struggling with a deterioration of mortgage performance. The outstanding pool of commercial real estate mortgages on the balance sheets of banks is "much larger than the CMBS universe," Chandan notes.
And, he says, REEcon’s view is that the banking system will play the dominant role in the commercial real estate marketplace, as it has historically. Ultimately, Chandan says, "there can’t be a normalization of credit conditions without a healthy banking system."
As the latest Federal Reserve Bank Senior Loan Officer Opinion survey noted, 40% of lending institutions indicated that standards for investment-grade commercial real estate lending would remain tighter than their longer-term average levels for the foreseeable future. About 55% expected this outcome for non-investment-grade loans.
Chandan says that so far, there does not seem to be consensus on how policy makers and banks themselves will alleviate some of the strain on smaller and regional banks. He says banks are being encouraged to modify balances, so that loans can become performing again. But, he says, modification of loans implies significant cost to banks.
Ultimately, Chandan says, the costs to capital reserves are where policy needs to be focused. He says that to achieve that goal, there should be some sharing of the costs associated with writedowns.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Real Estate exposure pose Great risks to Small Banks
FROM September 15, GlobeSt.com (ALM)
by Cody Lyon
NEW YORK CITY-Commercial mortgage defaults, which are projected to reach unprecedented levels in 2011, pose an even greater risk for smaller, regional lenders than the nation’s more high-profile large banks. So says Dr. Sam Chandan, president of Real Estate Econometrics.
"If you look across the banking system, commercial mortgage loans represent about 14% of banks’ net loans and leases," Chandan tells GlobeSt.com. However, he says, banks that have assets of $10 billion or more typically see a less than 10% exposure rate to commercial real estate. On the other hand, smaller institutions with assets between $100 million and $1 billion see exposures as high as 30%.
And therein lies a very big problem and more pressing calls for policy interventions. "Some of these smaller institutions that have not been the direct focus of policy interventions are seeing a tremendous deterioration of commercial mortgage performance," says Chandan. "If default rates continue to rise in the way current trends suggest, and if low rates of recovery on exposures worsen, some institutions will be impacted in terms of their viability, not only in their terms of their capacity to lend for commercial real estate, but also in their capacity to participate in the market."
The handwriting is on the wall, according to data from federal bank regulators. During the second quarter of 2009, the FDIC issued 151 regulatory orders. Nearly half of those orders were "cease and desist," which often precede a bank’s closure. Already this year, the FDIC says there have been 89 bank failures with assets totaling $91.6 billion.
A spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that the FDIC is looking closely at commercial real estate, but adds, "we do not have any projections to make regarding its future impact."
But the alarm bells were ringing in July testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress from Jon D. Greenlee, associate director of the Federal Reserve’s Division of Banking and Regulation. Greenlee told that committee, "A high proportion of small- and medium-sized institutions continue to have sizable exposure to commercial real estate, including land development and construction loans, built up earlier this decade, with some having concentrations equal to several multiples of their capital."
Those would be the banks with names like Platinum Community Bank of Rolling Meadows, IL; First Bank of Kansas in Kansas City, KS; and First Coweta Bank of Newnan, GA, to name three of the casualties in the past two months, according to FDIC data. According to local news reports, each had bet heavily in the commercial real estate market.
The now defunct First Coweta Bank’s web page read, "Let First Coweta be your business partner! For construction and real estate purchases, call one of our commercial loan officers today for rates!" Another regional bank, United Bank Corp. of Barnesville, GA, has assumed First Coweta’s deposits and loans.
"The difference is, we’re not talking about the biggest banks right now," Chandan says. "It’s not the TARP recipients: the JPMorgans and Citibanks. Instead, it’s the hundreds, perhaps thousands of smaller, community and regional banks that provide liquidity to people in smaller markets across the nation."
He says "the failure of any one of these smaller banks will not impact financial stability on a national level. Individually, the failures do not get the same degree of attention as the large institutions, whose failure would present systemic risk for the entire financial system and economy."
Chandan says policy makers have paid significant attention to conditions in the CMBS markets. But, he says, there has been little in the way of support for banks struggling with a deterioration of mortgage performance. The outstanding pool of commercial real estate mortgages on the balance sheets of banks is "much larger than the CMBS universe," Chandan notes.
And, he says, REEcon’s view is that the banking system will play the dominant role in the commercial real estate marketplace, as it has historically. Ultimately, Chandan says, "there can’t be a normalization of credit conditions without a healthy banking system."
As the latest Federal Reserve Bank Senior Loan Officer Opinion survey noted, 40% of lending institutions indicated that standards for investment-grade commercial real estate lending would remain tighter than their longer-term average levels for the foreseeable future. About 55% expected this outcome for non-investment-grade loans.
Chandan says that so far, there does not seem to be consensus on how policy makers and banks themselves will alleviate some of the strain on smaller and regional banks. He says banks are being encouraged to modify balances, so that loans can become performing again. But, he says, modification of loans implies significant cost to banks.
Ultimately, Chandan says, the costs to capital reserves are where policy needs to be focused. He says that to achieve that goal, there should be some sharing of the costs associated with writedowns.
by Cody Lyon
NEW YORK CITY-Commercial mortgage defaults, which are projected to reach unprecedented levels in 2011, pose an even greater risk for smaller, regional lenders than the nation’s more high-profile large banks. So says Dr. Sam Chandan, president of Real Estate Econometrics.
"If you look across the banking system, commercial mortgage loans represent about 14% of banks’ net loans and leases," Chandan tells GlobeSt.com. However, he says, banks that have assets of $10 billion or more typically see a less than 10% exposure rate to commercial real estate. On the other hand, smaller institutions with assets between $100 million and $1 billion see exposures as high as 30%.
And therein lies a very big problem and more pressing calls for policy interventions. "Some of these smaller institutions that have not been the direct focus of policy interventions are seeing a tremendous deterioration of commercial mortgage performance," says Chandan. "If default rates continue to rise in the way current trends suggest, and if low rates of recovery on exposures worsen, some institutions will be impacted in terms of their viability, not only in their terms of their capacity to lend for commercial real estate, but also in their capacity to participate in the market."
The handwriting is on the wall, according to data from federal bank regulators. During the second quarter of 2009, the FDIC issued 151 regulatory orders. Nearly half of those orders were "cease and desist," which often precede a bank’s closure. Already this year, the FDIC says there have been 89 bank failures with assets totaling $91.6 billion.
A spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that the FDIC is looking closely at commercial real estate, but adds, "we do not have any projections to make regarding its future impact."
But the alarm bells were ringing in July testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress from Jon D. Greenlee, associate director of the Federal Reserve’s Division of Banking and Regulation. Greenlee told that committee, "A high proportion of small- and medium-sized institutions continue to have sizable exposure to commercial real estate, including land development and construction loans, built up earlier this decade, with some having concentrations equal to several multiples of their capital."
Those would be the banks with names like Platinum Community Bank of Rolling Meadows, IL; First Bank of Kansas in Kansas City, KS; and First Coweta Bank of Newnan, GA, to name three of the casualties in the past two months, according to FDIC data. According to local news reports, each had bet heavily in the commercial real estate market.
The now defunct First Coweta Bank’s web page read, "Let First Coweta be your business partner! For construction and real estate purchases, call one of our commercial loan officers today for rates!" Another regional bank, United Bank Corp. of Barnesville, GA, has assumed First Coweta’s deposits and loans.
"The difference is, we’re not talking about the biggest banks right now," Chandan says. "It’s not the TARP recipients: the JPMorgans and Citibanks. Instead, it’s the hundreds, perhaps thousands of smaller, community and regional banks that provide liquidity to people in smaller markets across the nation."
He says "the failure of any one of these smaller banks will not impact financial stability on a national level. Individually, the failures do not get the same degree of attention as the large institutions, whose failure would present systemic risk for the entire financial system and economy."
Chandan says policy makers have paid significant attention to conditions in the CMBS markets. But, he says, there has been little in the way of support for banks struggling with a deterioration of mortgage performance. The outstanding pool of commercial real estate mortgages on the balance sheets of banks is "much larger than the CMBS universe," Chandan notes.
And, he says, REEcon’s view is that the banking system will play the dominant role in the commercial real estate marketplace, as it has historically. Ultimately, Chandan says, "there can’t be a normalization of credit conditions without a healthy banking system."
As the latest Federal Reserve Bank Senior Loan Officer Opinion survey noted, 40% of lending institutions indicated that standards for investment-grade commercial real estate lending would remain tighter than their longer-term average levels for the foreseeable future. About 55% expected this outcome for non-investment-grade loans.
Chandan says that so far, there does not seem to be consensus on how policy makers and banks themselves will alleviate some of the strain on smaller and regional banks. He says banks are being encouraged to modify balances, so that loans can become performing again. But, he says, modification of loans implies significant cost to banks.
Ultimately, Chandan says, the costs to capital reserves are where policy needs to be focused. He says that to achieve that goal, there should be some sharing of the costs associated with writedowns.
Friday, January 22, 2010
A Thought On Thursday's Supreme Judicial Activism
by Cody Lyon
In light of Thursday's apparent Supreme 'judicial activism' now capturing headlines and raising brows from coast to coast....It's important to understand that many important decisions in DC flow from an increasingly flawed system, a government where money fueled lobbyist exert influence on public policy in both parties. For far to long, 'sway' has been sold to the highest bidders from well moneyed interests, all with self serving agendas that in the end lead to actions that impact the day to day lives of millions America's people. It is a system of government bordering on the corrupt, that now more than ever, warrants public dissection and scrutiny by all Americans concerned with the survival of a free and open Democracy. Ultimately, public discourse and passions will demand decisive actions that lead to true reform where all people's voices are heard. And, with that, the hope is that America will see greater transparency, honesty and integrity in its halls of government, enabling elected US government representatives to carry out the true wishes, needs and collective missions of the citizens who voted them into power.
In light of Thursday's apparent Supreme 'judicial activism' now capturing headlines and raising brows from coast to coast....It's important to understand that many important decisions in DC flow from an increasingly flawed system, a government where money fueled lobbyist exert influence on public policy in both parties. For far to long, 'sway' has been sold to the highest bidders from well moneyed interests, all with self serving agendas that in the end lead to actions that impact the day to day lives of millions America's people. It is a system of government bordering on the corrupt, that now more than ever, warrants public dissection and scrutiny by all Americans concerned with the survival of a free and open Democracy. Ultimately, public discourse and passions will demand decisive actions that lead to true reform where all people's voices are heard. And, with that, the hope is that America will see greater transparency, honesty and integrity in its halls of government, enabling elected US government representatives to carry out the true wishes, needs and collective missions of the citizens who voted them into power.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Economist Harry S. Dent's predictions From one Year ago:
BY CODY LYON- From January 2009, ALM's GLOBEST.com
**At a January 2009 CORENET Luncheon, Economist Harry S. Dent made interesting projections about the nation's economy and urged investment in tangible assets like infrastructure.
NEW YORK CITY-The current downturn is no ordinary economic crisis and nothing like it has been seen since the 1930s, economist Harry S. Dent told a CoreNet Global audience here on Friday. Author of The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History, Dent warned attendees at the CoreNet luncheon not to expect miracles from President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.
He predicted that the current administration will put up around $3 trillion to $4 trillion in stimulus to try breaking the current downturn. But Dent said he sees the country as rounding the bottom of the crisis and over the next year and a half, the economy will have what he called a "choppy, wimpy bounce."
"We have a downturn that will not be inflationary," and instead "will be deflationary," he said. Tossing humor into the pain-filled punch, Dent said, "this much stimulus is like taking a whole bottle of Viagra and not having anything happen."
After the chuckles ended, Dent again assumed the tone of a Sunday morning preacher, saying that by late next year, the economy would crash yet again. "This is a classic scenario. We're telling people, particularly in commercial real estate, to be looking at late 2012 or maybe 2013 to come out of this deep mess." He added that this is a good time to refinance.
Dent said demographics ranging from age to location play a tremendous role in how this economy is playing out as well as its impact on commercial real estate. He said baby boomers are retiring, work force entry is shrinking and people are moving away from congestion. Places like Atlanta were once desirable but now are too congested and that instead, families are choosing places like Tucson, AZ and Birmingham, AL.
"In real estate, this is a shakeup," Dent said. "People left standing with cash flow and credit inherit the world, and the banks will give them all the devalued real estate for very low prices."
He also advised that making money should not be the number one priority. "Your goals should be, how do I refinance the property I have, how do I re-structure, sell the ones I can’t and maintain cash flow and credit." Offering the corporate example of General Motors, he said that despite their woes, the company didn't go down as fast and as far as their competitors.
Calling on history, Dent said there was a major crash in Japan in the 1990s and a major crash in the United States in the 1930s and that was it. The intervening years, he said, had been mostly up. "The Depression was a pretty good pattern for what happens, because we are going through a boom, bubble and bust. Stock markets and asset prices overreact and the banking system just gets killed."
Dent said this is a 12 to 14-year process, with the 1929-1942 cycle as the closet analogy. He added that the real estate bottom should occur in 2013.
If we only see a modest rebound from the current stimulus efforts, the stock markets are going to react negatively, Dent said. World markets are going to look at the US dollar and say it’s deflated and that the country has "debased itself and has nothing to show for it." Dent said that ultimately, either the stimulus will not be enough or the government will be forced to stop because its own dollars and financing become too questionable, too quick. He says for the economy to triumph, it will have to wash out the debt.
More specifically, he said there would be some temporary rebounds: stocks for three to six months; maybe commodities for 12 months; perhaps oil, silver and gold. But he warned that the US faces huge trade deficits and that half the debt is owned by foreign governments or entities who would not be as tolerant of the nation's stimulus programs.
To address this, Dent recommended that the greater part of the stimulus package should be directed towards infrastructure projects. At present, it’s about one third of the package.
Dent told the New York audience they should be lobbying for infrastructure project money, that it pays off in the long term and that investments in it help make the most of the most attractive mega-city in America. More broadly, "if you can borrow money when things are down, at least have an investment that pays off in the long term. In 2012 or so, China, Dubai or Japan will say to the United States, 'you guys are bankrupt, you threw away three or four bottles of Viagra.'"
But he added that these countries would be willing to make deals and help us if they get a piece of an investment like infrastructure, which is broadly defined. "If we’re going to add debt to stimulate the economy, you need to be lobbying for infrastructure."
**At a January 2009 CORENET Luncheon, Economist Harry S. Dent made interesting projections about the nation's economy and urged investment in tangible assets like infrastructure.
NEW YORK CITY-The current downturn is no ordinary economic crisis and nothing like it has been seen since the 1930s, economist Harry S. Dent told a CoreNet Global audience here on Friday. Author of The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History, Dent warned attendees at the CoreNet luncheon not to expect miracles from President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.
He predicted that the current administration will put up around $3 trillion to $4 trillion in stimulus to try breaking the current downturn. But Dent said he sees the country as rounding the bottom of the crisis and over the next year and a half, the economy will have what he called a "choppy, wimpy bounce."
"We have a downturn that will not be inflationary," and instead "will be deflationary," he said. Tossing humor into the pain-filled punch, Dent said, "this much stimulus is like taking a whole bottle of Viagra and not having anything happen."
After the chuckles ended, Dent again assumed the tone of a Sunday morning preacher, saying that by late next year, the economy would crash yet again. "This is a classic scenario. We're telling people, particularly in commercial real estate, to be looking at late 2012 or maybe 2013 to come out of this deep mess." He added that this is a good time to refinance.
Dent said demographics ranging from age to location play a tremendous role in how this economy is playing out as well as its impact on commercial real estate. He said baby boomers are retiring, work force entry is shrinking and people are moving away from congestion. Places like Atlanta were once desirable but now are too congested and that instead, families are choosing places like Tucson, AZ and Birmingham, AL.
"In real estate, this is a shakeup," Dent said. "People left standing with cash flow and credit inherit the world, and the banks will give them all the devalued real estate for very low prices."
He also advised that making money should not be the number one priority. "Your goals should be, how do I refinance the property I have, how do I re-structure, sell the ones I can’t and maintain cash flow and credit." Offering the corporate example of General Motors, he said that despite their woes, the company didn't go down as fast and as far as their competitors.
Calling on history, Dent said there was a major crash in Japan in the 1990s and a major crash in the United States in the 1930s and that was it. The intervening years, he said, had been mostly up. "The Depression was a pretty good pattern for what happens, because we are going through a boom, bubble and bust. Stock markets and asset prices overreact and the banking system just gets killed."
Dent said this is a 12 to 14-year process, with the 1929-1942 cycle as the closet analogy. He added that the real estate bottom should occur in 2013.
If we only see a modest rebound from the current stimulus efforts, the stock markets are going to react negatively, Dent said. World markets are going to look at the US dollar and say it’s deflated and that the country has "debased itself and has nothing to show for it." Dent said that ultimately, either the stimulus will not be enough or the government will be forced to stop because its own dollars and financing become too questionable, too quick. He says for the economy to triumph, it will have to wash out the debt.
More specifically, he said there would be some temporary rebounds: stocks for three to six months; maybe commodities for 12 months; perhaps oil, silver and gold. But he warned that the US faces huge trade deficits and that half the debt is owned by foreign governments or entities who would not be as tolerant of the nation's stimulus programs.
To address this, Dent recommended that the greater part of the stimulus package should be directed towards infrastructure projects. At present, it’s about one third of the package.
Dent told the New York audience they should be lobbying for infrastructure project money, that it pays off in the long term and that investments in it help make the most of the most attractive mega-city in America. More broadly, "if you can borrow money when things are down, at least have an investment that pays off in the long term. In 2012 or so, China, Dubai or Japan will say to the United States, 'you guys are bankrupt, you threw away three or four bottles of Viagra.'"
But he added that these countries would be willing to make deals and help us if they get a piece of an investment like infrastructure, which is broadly defined. "If we’re going to add debt to stimulate the economy, you need to be lobbying for infrastructure."
NYC Seeks to get Fresh Produce into Underserved Areas through Economic Incentives to Grocery Store Developers
New York City Gets FRESH With Grocery Incentives in Fresh Produce deprived neighborhoods( From October 2009, GLOBEST.COM-New York)
By Cody Lyon
Post
Republish
NEW YORK CITY-To the developer, owner or grocery chain looking for a potentially recession-proof and, perhaps, highly profitable investment opportunity, consider this: New York City, the most densely populated city in the United States, is experiencing a shortage of grocery stores and supermarkets, particularly in lower-income areas where lack of access to fresh produce contributes to higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Hoping to impact health outcomes by encouraging greater private investment in supermarket-challenged areas, the Bloomberg administration is proposing the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health program, or FRESH.
Through enticing zoning initiatives, the proposed action, set to be voted on by the City Council sometime this year, seeks to “facilitate the development of stores that sell a full range of food products,” with an emphasis on perishable items that are fresh.
“Part of what the incentives are meant to do is attract the attention of the business community to the opportunities they’ve been missing out on,” Ben Thomases, New York City’s first ever food policy coordinator, tells GlobeSt.com. He and representatives from other city agencies spearheading the proposal believe that "landlords, developers and supermarket operators haven’t quite put together that the growth of population in these communities, and the lack of high quality supermarkets, is a lucrative opportunity."
In fact, according to research by the Center for an Urban Future’s City Limits magazine, 1.67 million New Yorkers have, on average, less than one square foot of grocery store space each. Of those, 74,178 have no grocery store at all. More recently, the Department of City Planning summed that up more grimly, saying that three million New Yorkers are caught in areas with limited access to fresh produce, areas of the nation’s largest city it calls “food deserts.”
The stats tell a typical tale of urban sociological disparity. According to a 2008 study by the New York City Economic Development Corp. and the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and City Planning, a good number of the fresh food denied, live in low to moderate income neighborhoods. That lack of easy access and choice contributes to the fact that some city neighborhoods are home to some of the nation’s highest rates of diabetes and obesity and all the ills that come with it.
“We have wealthy neighborhoods in Manhattan where less than 10% of the adults are obese, and low income neighborhoods in the South Bronx, north and central Brooklyn where more than 30% of the adults are obese,” says Thomases. “Even if you factor out median income or mean educational attainment in an area, you still find that the presence or absence of a quality grocery store makes a substantial difference in health outcomes in that area.”
John A. Williams, senior managing director at Savills, tells GlobeSt.com that investors are willing, and are in fact, “eager” to invest in the city’s targeted neighborhoods. “We’ve seen performance levels that are among the tops in the nation,” in lower income areas that had been traditionally under-served by supermarkets.
For example, the 50,000-square-foot Harlem Pathmark, which anchors an $85-million retail complex, has been one of the chain’s highest-grossing stores since opening in 1999, according to the NYCEDC. According to a report from the Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, the Harlem store generates sales of around $800 per square foot.
The proposed FRESH program chose 19 of the city’s 54 community districts as the test fields for the program. Among them are neighborhoods in Northern Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn, with a special target district in Jamaica, Queens. All the districts showed population growth from the 1980 census to the last official count in 2000, unlike a number of economically challenged areas in other parts of the country.
For example, the area served by Brooklyn’s Community Board 5 grew from 154,932 residents in 1980 to 173,198 in 2000. The Bronx’s Community Board 4 grew from 114,309 in 1980 to 139,513 while Manhattan’s CB12 saw a growth spurt from 179,941 to 208,414 in 20 years. Estimates indicate even greater population growth over the years since.
Thomases says despite that growth, supermarkets--many of which had left in the 1970s and 1980s--have not yet returned en masse. He says that some of the tepidness about returning was because rents had gotten so expensive. “When the real estate market was booming so rapidly, rents in those neighborhoods went from being really depressed to being speculatively very high.”
The city’s Planning Commission says the FRESH initiative includes a zoning text amendment with a series of incentives allowing developers and retailers to get certain zoning benefits if they will put a food store in their development. “Having zoning initiatives for building a grocery store is unique,” says Barry Dinerstein, senior planner at the New York City Department of Planning.
Among the nuts and bolts of the proposal he explains to GlobeSt.com are incentives to residential developers. They will be allowed to increase floor area by one foot for every foot of grocery put into the development, with a maximum of 20,000 square feet. Another incentive eases parking requirements, and the plan also increases the size of as-of-right stores in M1 districts, where development is capped at 10,000 square feet, to 30,000 square feet.
The Department of Planning stresses bringing the grocery stores to the people, since the city’s neighborhoods are pedestrian-centric, meaning that New Yorkers are more likely to walk to their local grocery store than most places in the nation. The department also notes that since New York City is a built environment, stores no larger than 30,000 square feet can usually be built on most commercial corridors.
Williams tells GlobeSt.com that from the “developer’s standpoint, whatever incentives go into place and allow you to get bigger spaces for tenants” are an inducement. “Obviously, larger supermarket chains would like to operate in the manner they are accustomed to.”
The larger stores “like to be as cookie cutter as they can,” he says. But those companies “are willing to modify concepts and prototypes to get into urban areas.”
As part of an effort to incorporate community concerns, the new zoning was modified to require that any grocery store that comes in be first referred to the local community board. “We assume that will alleviate fears that might exist within the communities, and also provide the operator with insight on the community” he’s investing in, says Dinerstein.
He adds that once the FRESH plan is passed, a point person will be coming on board to handle the new program. Dinerstein says the Planning Department has been in conversation with people who build and develop grocery stores, as well as those who specialize in apartment buildings.
The department has upped its dialogue with people in the supermarket industry including major wholesalers who distribute into the targeted neighborhoods. Dinerstein tells GlobeSt.com that as soon as the City Council approves the proposal, the initiative will begin a major marketing effort at attracting grocery stores to those neighborhoods.
“Obviously, the economic situation doesn’t make it ideal to open new stores or build new buildings,” says Dinerstein. However, he adds, “if you look at what’s happening with retail, food sales are holding their own, unlike sub-sectors like apparel.”
And, people have to eat. Data from industry trade association the Food Marketing Institute shows that nationwide, supermarket sales in 2008 were up around 5% from the year before to $547.1 billion.
In areas of New York City, where grocery stores are rare, or non-existent, the average price of basic fresh food items--like milk--trends more expensive than areas served by quality supermarkets. Thomases says he’s aware of the issue, and has heard of the FRESH initiative.
But, he says “in any economic system, when there are barriers for new players, it weakens competition for the existing players, and in a more competitive environment, that would create a situation where the existing supermarkets would have better products and competitive prices.” That often motivates shoppers to commute to other areas for their food shopping.
According to the multi-agency ’08 report, the city has the potential to capture around $1 billion in lost grocery sales to suburbs. The report says that loss alone is enough to support more than 100 new grocery stores and supermarkets in New York City. Enticingly, the report promotes the theory that having nearby food retail serves as a selling point in residential real estate listings.
Nonetheless, future supermarkets in New York City neighborhoods will be determined by the private sector who make the investment decisions of when, where and how food retail will be developed. “The challenge on the financing side is pretty straightforward,” according to Williams. In fact, he says that’s not such a big obstacle. “If you have a good solid sponsor or developer, the banks have been traditionally eager to lend in the areas the city is targeting,” since the lenders stand to win points from the community reinvestment act.
Thomases goes further, saying “the FRESH program is designed to create partnerships between developers and supermarket operators. It’s designed to be a win-win.”
By Cody Lyon
Post
Republish
NEW YORK CITY-To the developer, owner or grocery chain looking for a potentially recession-proof and, perhaps, highly profitable investment opportunity, consider this: New York City, the most densely populated city in the United States, is experiencing a shortage of grocery stores and supermarkets, particularly in lower-income areas where lack of access to fresh produce contributes to higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Hoping to impact health outcomes by encouraging greater private investment in supermarket-challenged areas, the Bloomberg administration is proposing the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health program, or FRESH.
Through enticing zoning initiatives, the proposed action, set to be voted on by the City Council sometime this year, seeks to “facilitate the development of stores that sell a full range of food products,” with an emphasis on perishable items that are fresh.
“Part of what the incentives are meant to do is attract the attention of the business community to the opportunities they’ve been missing out on,” Ben Thomases, New York City’s first ever food policy coordinator, tells GlobeSt.com. He and representatives from other city agencies spearheading the proposal believe that "landlords, developers and supermarket operators haven’t quite put together that the growth of population in these communities, and the lack of high quality supermarkets, is a lucrative opportunity."
In fact, according to research by the Center for an Urban Future’s City Limits magazine, 1.67 million New Yorkers have, on average, less than one square foot of grocery store space each. Of those, 74,178 have no grocery store at all. More recently, the Department of City Planning summed that up more grimly, saying that three million New Yorkers are caught in areas with limited access to fresh produce, areas of the nation’s largest city it calls “food deserts.”
The stats tell a typical tale of urban sociological disparity. According to a 2008 study by the New York City Economic Development Corp. and the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and City Planning, a good number of the fresh food denied, live in low to moderate income neighborhoods. That lack of easy access and choice contributes to the fact that some city neighborhoods are home to some of the nation’s highest rates of diabetes and obesity and all the ills that come with it.
“We have wealthy neighborhoods in Manhattan where less than 10% of the adults are obese, and low income neighborhoods in the South Bronx, north and central Brooklyn where more than 30% of the adults are obese,” says Thomases. “Even if you factor out median income or mean educational attainment in an area, you still find that the presence or absence of a quality grocery store makes a substantial difference in health outcomes in that area.”
John A. Williams, senior managing director at Savills, tells GlobeSt.com that investors are willing, and are in fact, “eager” to invest in the city’s targeted neighborhoods. “We’ve seen performance levels that are among the tops in the nation,” in lower income areas that had been traditionally under-served by supermarkets.
For example, the 50,000-square-foot Harlem Pathmark, which anchors an $85-million retail complex, has been one of the chain’s highest-grossing stores since opening in 1999, according to the NYCEDC. According to a report from the Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, the Harlem store generates sales of around $800 per square foot.
The proposed FRESH program chose 19 of the city’s 54 community districts as the test fields for the program. Among them are neighborhoods in Northern Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn, with a special target district in Jamaica, Queens. All the districts showed population growth from the 1980 census to the last official count in 2000, unlike a number of economically challenged areas in other parts of the country.
For example, the area served by Brooklyn’s Community Board 5 grew from 154,932 residents in 1980 to 173,198 in 2000. The Bronx’s Community Board 4 grew from 114,309 in 1980 to 139,513 while Manhattan’s CB12 saw a growth spurt from 179,941 to 208,414 in 20 years. Estimates indicate even greater population growth over the years since.
Thomases says despite that growth, supermarkets--many of which had left in the 1970s and 1980s--have not yet returned en masse. He says that some of the tepidness about returning was because rents had gotten so expensive. “When the real estate market was booming so rapidly, rents in those neighborhoods went from being really depressed to being speculatively very high.”
The city’s Planning Commission says the FRESH initiative includes a zoning text amendment with a series of incentives allowing developers and retailers to get certain zoning benefits if they will put a food store in their development. “Having zoning initiatives for building a grocery store is unique,” says Barry Dinerstein, senior planner at the New York City Department of Planning.
Among the nuts and bolts of the proposal he explains to GlobeSt.com are incentives to residential developers. They will be allowed to increase floor area by one foot for every foot of grocery put into the development, with a maximum of 20,000 square feet. Another incentive eases parking requirements, and the plan also increases the size of as-of-right stores in M1 districts, where development is capped at 10,000 square feet, to 30,000 square feet.
The Department of Planning stresses bringing the grocery stores to the people, since the city’s neighborhoods are pedestrian-centric, meaning that New Yorkers are more likely to walk to their local grocery store than most places in the nation. The department also notes that since New York City is a built environment, stores no larger than 30,000 square feet can usually be built on most commercial corridors.
Williams tells GlobeSt.com that from the “developer’s standpoint, whatever incentives go into place and allow you to get bigger spaces for tenants” are an inducement. “Obviously, larger supermarket chains would like to operate in the manner they are accustomed to.”
The larger stores “like to be as cookie cutter as they can,” he says. But those companies “are willing to modify concepts and prototypes to get into urban areas.”
As part of an effort to incorporate community concerns, the new zoning was modified to require that any grocery store that comes in be first referred to the local community board. “We assume that will alleviate fears that might exist within the communities, and also provide the operator with insight on the community” he’s investing in, says Dinerstein.
He adds that once the FRESH plan is passed, a point person will be coming on board to handle the new program. Dinerstein says the Planning Department has been in conversation with people who build and develop grocery stores, as well as those who specialize in apartment buildings.
The department has upped its dialogue with people in the supermarket industry including major wholesalers who distribute into the targeted neighborhoods. Dinerstein tells GlobeSt.com that as soon as the City Council approves the proposal, the initiative will begin a major marketing effort at attracting grocery stores to those neighborhoods.
“Obviously, the economic situation doesn’t make it ideal to open new stores or build new buildings,” says Dinerstein. However, he adds, “if you look at what’s happening with retail, food sales are holding their own, unlike sub-sectors like apparel.”
And, people have to eat. Data from industry trade association the Food Marketing Institute shows that nationwide, supermarket sales in 2008 were up around 5% from the year before to $547.1 billion.
In areas of New York City, where grocery stores are rare, or non-existent, the average price of basic fresh food items--like milk--trends more expensive than areas served by quality supermarkets. Thomases says he’s aware of the issue, and has heard of the FRESH initiative.
But, he says “in any economic system, when there are barriers for new players, it weakens competition for the existing players, and in a more competitive environment, that would create a situation where the existing supermarkets would have better products and competitive prices.” That often motivates shoppers to commute to other areas for their food shopping.
According to the multi-agency ’08 report, the city has the potential to capture around $1 billion in lost grocery sales to suburbs. The report says that loss alone is enough to support more than 100 new grocery stores and supermarkets in New York City. Enticingly, the report promotes the theory that having nearby food retail serves as a selling point in residential real estate listings.
Nonetheless, future supermarkets in New York City neighborhoods will be determined by the private sector who make the investment decisions of when, where and how food retail will be developed. “The challenge on the financing side is pretty straightforward,” according to Williams. In fact, he says that’s not such a big obstacle. “If you have a good solid sponsor or developer, the banks have been traditionally eager to lend in the areas the city is targeting,” since the lenders stand to win points from the community reinvestment act.
Thomases goes further, saying “the FRESH program is designed to create partnerships between developers and supermarket operators. It’s designed to be a win-win.”
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Why is the new World Trade Center is taking so long? (from RENY)
LINK TO Latest World Trade Center Feature at "Real Estate New York"
Cody Lyon
Excerpts:
Meanwhile, for its part, the Port maintains it’s met obligations called for in the 2006 Master Development plan, and “continues to meet them.” In August, Port Authority executive director Chris Ward argued that any arbitration decision under the 2006 MDA will not resolve the question of ‘when there will be a market for the two private office towers on the site, and how the ‘speculative’ private office space should be financed.
Almost sadly, the squabble of today seems decades away from the time eight years ago, when at least officially, a consensus emerged, that foresaw the timely rebuilding of the World Trade Center as a message of defiance and triumph that would serve as a symbol of New York City’s economic and real estate dominance as well as the major catalyst for revitalizing Lower Manhattan.
Another Excerpt:
Pataki tells Real Estate New York “we had an obligation to keep Lower Manhattan a viable commercial center, in fact, the financial capital of the world.” He adds, “that’s why, the commitment was made, not to just have the memorial, the transit hub and the upgrading of infrastructure facilities, but, as the insurance documents required, the reconstruction of office space.”
Long Island (GlobeSt.com and RENY)
Cody Lyon
Link to www.globest.com
HEMPSTEAD, NY-Early this month, in Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi and the Lighthouse Development Group announced a proposed lease agreement for the massive mixed use Lighthouse project, a planned mixed use development surround the Nassau Coliseum in the Town of Hempstead. The new agreement, was for a sports transaction and ground lease for the 77 acres surrounding the Nassau Coliseum, home to the New York Islanders hockey franchise.
Lighthouse Development Group is the joint venture headed by Islanders owner Charles Wang and Scott Rechler, CEO and chair at RXR Realty. The group seeks to build over 2,000 units of housing, retail and entertainment venues along with office space, a sports technology industry incubator, exhibition facilities as well as a multi-million dollar renovation of the existing 1970s-era coliseum. The group also plans a five star hotel, said to be Long Island's first, and it's all reportedly set to be done in eight to 10 years, provided all the necessary zoning and environmental impact approvals are granted by the Town of Hempstead. Before that stop, the project had already essentially been stalled for five years before Nassau County's governing body gave its green light to the project developer.
As RXR CEO and Chair Scott Rechler told GlobeSt.com in early October after the proposed lease agreement was announced, "it has been a lot of work to get a fully negotiated lease with Nassau County." But, he said, "we still need to get the municipality to provide the zoning approval. We've got to get over a roadblock in that." He added, "whenever you deal with these things, you get concerned that politics gets in the way. So until something's actually done, you just never know."
The “Island” beyond the borough of Queens consists of numerous borders and government entities, including two counties, countless townships, villages and hamlets along with various civic organizations each with its own set of regulations, interests. For developers, that often presents obstacles.
The days when open space beckoned millions from the crowded city to the green lawns of Long Island seem like ages ago. Put simply, Long Island has very little developable land, and with a recession raging across the nation, there are increased fears that unemployment may call for pro-activity by local government that include innovative incentives to lure business and job creation.
“Long Island has been known as a very difficult region to get developments off the ground, because of all the red tape and politics involved," says Gary Meltzer, a partner at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone in Mineola, NY. "There are many agencies, all with power, so some projects can take years to get off the ground.”
In recent years, Meltzer says a more ‘progressive’ tone has been seeping into government, where officials were beginning to be more open to development. However, he says since the recession, that pro-development has only been accelerated since many officials are recognizing “development keeps local economies going.”
Currently, most indicators show that Long Island's economy, including commercial real estate is relatively stable. Office renewals have experienced uptick and other property sectors are holding their own. And, despite a few recent high profile blows, there have been indications the area could see growth in what some call the new economy, the bio-technology and tech research sector, thanks to incubators associated with area universities.
Detailed in a portion of Robert Caro's biography of New York City master builder Robert Moses, The Power Broker, Long Island is a study in the rapid suburbanization of America. In the years during and after the Depression, roads began to open the Long Island’s large swaths of open space to development. Growth, fueled mostly by New York City residents seeking relief from the crowded pavement of the city was rapid. In fact, during the decade after Moses opened the Southern State Parkway in Nassau County, 200,000 new residents moved in, but along with the explosion in population, only 12,000 new jobs in the area.
Even today, as many as 22% of Long Island's working residents commute to Manhattan according to a Federal Reserve Bank study. Currently, Nassau County’s per capita income stands as the third highest in New York State according to the census Bureau while Suffolk County ranks sixth.
Meltzer says the business corridors are around Uniondale near the Nassau coliseum. He says businesses also are interested in the Melville area in Suffolk County and Great Neck's Marcus Avenue section. He says the other big area is Riverhead, an area he says developers think of as the next frontier for Long Island.
Hoping to get Riverhead off the ground someday is Rechler Equity managing partner Mitchell Rechler. He says that in the 1950s, his grandfather started the company and by early 1960s, the company was developing Long Island, its first project on the island being the Vanderbilt Industrial park in Hauppauge. Rechler explains that the Long Island market has changed dramatically since the late 1980s.
“Long Island was really a defense industry-centric economy before the late '80s," he says. "There was a tremendous amount of engineering and manufacturing related to the defense industry.” But, Rechler says that in those years simultaneous to the last downturn, the defense industry cut back and closed literally millions of square feet of operations on the island.
Then, he says, over the course of the next five to 10 years, Long Island evolved into a service oriented economy that was serving the Island’s population, now around three million. “It’s rare that a headquarters moves here from someplace else,” says Rechler. Instead, he says, “they develop here, because there’s a huge amount of business growth and entreprenureal spirit.”
Rechler says there are some manufacturing firms still on the island that relate to computer technology, aeronautics, homeland security but, most of the office market is dedicated to servicing Long Island. He calls the area the classic infill market.
“At this point, Long Island is very developed,” says Rechler, whose company hopes to break ground in a year or so on a business and technology development at Grabreski Airport at Suffolk County’s east end. He says the mixed-use development, to be called Hampton Business and Technology Park, is the perfect example of Suffolk County and local municipalities working together in the approval process.
But on the other hand, Rechler couldn’t offer many details on the 300-acre business and technology center at Calverton. In that case, Rechler says the development is in the beginning stages of the approval process. Rechler says the project in the Town of Riverhead has the local municipality’s support, but local civic organization and state agencies are a challenge.
“There’s no big tracts of land in Nassau County at all,” and in Suffolk, “there are a few more that are possible for development, Riverhead being one of them.”
Dominic Paparo Jr., VP of business development at EW Howell construction in Woodbury, calls his company's relationships with Long Island municipalities solid across the board. He notes that each town has different rules and processes, but adds, “each one has the same goal, which is an inspected, safe building for the public." Still, he acknowledges, each one "has different processes for getting there. It's something where there is always a learning curve."
These days, he says the bulk of his work comes from government agencies, for example, three projects at Stony Brook. He said retail work on the Island has slowed significantly, while institutional is picking up, with more work expected from Brookhaven National Laboratory over the next two to three years.
Ellen Rudin, managing director of the Long Island Operation at CB Richard Ellis, says renewals indicate signs of stability on the Island. Rudin, who oversees day to day operations at CBRE's offices in Woodbury and Long Island City in Queens, says "many of the tenants on Long Island tend to stay on Long Island." She calls current times an opportunity for tenants looking to renew.
However, Rudin adds the price differential between a good market and a bad market is not that dramatic. "So to wait for a bottom, even a lot of tenants out here realize, doesn't make sense."
Rudin says landlords are being very aggressive. They don't want to lose tenants and more than ever, they are reaching out and working with tenants.
Mitchell Rechler affirms that observation, saying from a leasing standpoint, he was more active this year than the 12 months before. He said the vast majority of all his new leasing activity was industrial. By comparison, the office market is tougher and more competitive.
"Generally speaking, no one is looking to spend money," and the "cost of moving make the likelihood of an office tenant staying where they are, more likely than in previous years," says Rechler. “Where we had 96.5% occupancy rate this time last year, we have 93% occupancy this year."
Again affirming Rudin’s observation, Rechler say any new tenants he's seen have been Long Island companies. "We are signing some leases with companies that are growing." He tells the story of a company that moved out of a building in Brentwood to one of his properties, because of a company growth issue.
Looking to the future, Rechler says, his firm designs buildings with tremendous flexibility. “If it’s a warehouse distribution-type user, we can accommodate because we design with the height and required spacing," he says. "If they require lab space, our mechanical systems are designed to provide flexibility, providing air conditioning and necessary environmental conditions for lab use. And, with office or combination facility, we can design buildings the client can split into smaller spaces.
Still, Rudin says there should be greater effort at growing and maintaining the area's burgeoning biotech sector. Local leaders have to recognize, she says, that governments in other parts of the state and nation are aggressively courting high tech companies with lucrative incentives.
As a case in point, this past July OSI Pharmaceuticals, the island's largest such company said it would consolidate its U.S. operations into a single campus in the Westchester County community of Ardsley. That month, Newsday reported that an OSI spokeswoman had said OSI wanted to expand at Farmingdale State College and that other companies would follow it there. At that point, OSI occupied 65% of the space there.
But, in an interview with Newsday, OSI's company chair Colin Godard said "we tried to make biotech work here, it hasn't, and with us going, it's going to be a real challenge to make it happen in the future." <
Reportedly, the company had run into resistance from Sen Charles Fushillo Jr (R-Merrick), who said OSI would be leasing and building on state property without any public bid.
More simply, Rudin says, the company was not able to get the deal it wanted, in the time it wanted. And despite being home to numerous biotech operations, companies Rudin calls success stories, the announcement that OSI would move and bring along its 200 employees caused everyone to pause, and ask, "what happened?"
In the end, leaders may have learned a very important lesson, she says. Of biotech that is born or grows itself on Long Island, Rudin says, "typically, they start small, with certain types of lab space with certain types of requirements, that was built out by the Farmingdale State College campus to attract that type of company. The hope is, they grow into a stand-alone building," as OSI did.
Of industrial, she says Long Island is home to distribution centers on the east end and near airports, are industrial centers. Problem areas include the middle of Nassau and Suffolk, where Industrial is not trading right now. "It's very flat," she says. In other words, "people aren't doing initiatives, if you will."
One sign of a green shoot is the site that calls itself "the place where the technology business grows," the Long Island High Technology incubator. LIHTI works through its affiliation with Stony Brook University to help new technology-innovative companies get on their feet by providing them with support, research and services. The nonprofit says that since opening in 1992, it has been associated with 70 businesses, and 44 companies that its graduated from its programs.
Noting that there are a few tech based incubators on Long Island, LIHTI executive director Anil Dhundale says the reasons they reside where they do is because of the research in places like Stony Brook, Cold Spring Harbor and Brookhaven. He says it's clear that people have become increasingly interested in the incubator model to build the foundations of a more diverse economy.
On Long Island, the job by government "could be done better," says Dhundale. But he adds, "there are a lot of organizations that exist on the government side," to help with finding appropriate real estate and other practical issues. "We all kind of know each other, and it's more of a network. But, because the world is changing, with economic downturns, money is slow to come, economic incentives take time with government." Ultimately, he says, New York State and Long Island have been "a little slow to respond to a company's needs."
But, Dhundale warns, "That inaction comes at a time when other parts of the country and world are soliciting these companies as they get ready to graduate the incubator, seeing that these new companies might be a good match for their states."
Of Long Island's OSI blow, he said "when it hit the papers, all of a sudden, everyone realized what had happened. But it was too late." He says that in fact, "the move had been coming for years. The facility they are moving to is a beautiful space for them. Overall, government was just to slow to respond. It's sort of like the marriage that was slowly going the wrong way. All of a sudden, you hear, 'I'm separating from you' and it's too late. You send flowers, but there are years worth of damage, and your efforts are met with non-responsiveness."
Dhundale spares no punches, saying that for the sake of Long Island's tech jobs future, there has to be a responsive team with the ability to make decisions on the local level. At present, he says, a company has to go through the New York Legislature to make decisions about leasing space on a local site.
The initial enthusiasm for biotech, he says, is closer to reality today than it was a decade or so ago, when there were overexpectations for the sector. "What happened was an overreaction on the part of investors and even on the part of lay public as to what bio tech is going to do for them. That phase led to a period of disappointment," but now, he says, "real productivity is beginning to show up."
Link to www.globest.com
HEMPSTEAD, NY-Early this month, in Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi and the Lighthouse Development Group announced a proposed lease agreement for the massive mixed use Lighthouse project, a planned mixed use development surround the Nassau Coliseum in the Town of Hempstead. The new agreement, was for a sports transaction and ground lease for the 77 acres surrounding the Nassau Coliseum, home to the New York Islanders hockey franchise.
Lighthouse Development Group is the joint venture headed by Islanders owner Charles Wang and Scott Rechler, CEO and chair at RXR Realty. The group seeks to build over 2,000 units of housing, retail and entertainment venues along with office space, a sports technology industry incubator, exhibition facilities as well as a multi-million dollar renovation of the existing 1970s-era coliseum. The group also plans a five star hotel, said to be Long Island's first, and it's all reportedly set to be done in eight to 10 years, provided all the necessary zoning and environmental impact approvals are granted by the Town of Hempstead. Before that stop, the project had already essentially been stalled for five years before Nassau County's governing body gave its green light to the project developer.
As RXR CEO and Chair Scott Rechler told GlobeSt.com in early October after the proposed lease agreement was announced, "it has been a lot of work to get a fully negotiated lease with Nassau County." But, he said, "we still need to get the municipality to provide the zoning approval. We've got to get over a roadblock in that." He added, "whenever you deal with these things, you get concerned that politics gets in the way. So until something's actually done, you just never know."
The “Island” beyond the borough of Queens consists of numerous borders and government entities, including two counties, countless townships, villages and hamlets along with various civic organizations each with its own set of regulations, interests. For developers, that often presents obstacles.
The days when open space beckoned millions from the crowded city to the green lawns of Long Island seem like ages ago. Put simply, Long Island has very little developable land, and with a recession raging across the nation, there are increased fears that unemployment may call for pro-activity by local government that include innovative incentives to lure business and job creation.
“Long Island has been known as a very difficult region to get developments off the ground, because of all the red tape and politics involved," says Gary Meltzer, a partner at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone in Mineola, NY. "There are many agencies, all with power, so some projects can take years to get off the ground.”
In recent years, Meltzer says a more ‘progressive’ tone has been seeping into government, where officials were beginning to be more open to development. However, he says since the recession, that pro-development has only been accelerated since many officials are recognizing “development keeps local economies going.”
Currently, most indicators show that Long Island's economy, including commercial real estate is relatively stable. Office renewals have experienced uptick and other property sectors are holding their own. And, despite a few recent high profile blows, there have been indications the area could see growth in what some call the new economy, the bio-technology and tech research sector, thanks to incubators associated with area universities.
Detailed in a portion of Robert Caro's biography of New York City master builder Robert Moses, The Power Broker, Long Island is a study in the rapid suburbanization of America. In the years during and after the Depression, roads began to open the Long Island’s large swaths of open space to development. Growth, fueled mostly by New York City residents seeking relief from the crowded pavement of the city was rapid. In fact, during the decade after Moses opened the Southern State Parkway in Nassau County, 200,000 new residents moved in, but along with the explosion in population, only 12,000 new jobs in the area.
Even today, as many as 22% of Long Island's working residents commute to Manhattan according to a Federal Reserve Bank study. Currently, Nassau County’s per capita income stands as the third highest in New York State according to the census Bureau while Suffolk County ranks sixth.
Meltzer says the business corridors are around Uniondale near the Nassau coliseum. He says businesses also are interested in the Melville area in Suffolk County and Great Neck's Marcus Avenue section. He says the other big area is Riverhead, an area he says developers think of as the next frontier for Long Island.
Hoping to get Riverhead off the ground someday is Rechler Equity managing partner Mitchell Rechler. He says that in the 1950s, his grandfather started the company and by early 1960s, the company was developing Long Island, its first project on the island being the Vanderbilt Industrial park in Hauppauge. Rechler explains that the Long Island market has changed dramatically since the late 1980s.
“Long Island was really a defense industry-centric economy before the late '80s," he says. "There was a tremendous amount of engineering and manufacturing related to the defense industry.” But, Rechler says that in those years simultaneous to the last downturn, the defense industry cut back and closed literally millions of square feet of operations on the island.
Then, he says, over the course of the next five to 10 years, Long Island evolved into a service oriented economy that was serving the Island’s population, now around three million. “It’s rare that a headquarters moves here from someplace else,” says Rechler. Instead, he says, “they develop here, because there’s a huge amount of business growth and entreprenureal spirit.”
Rechler says there are some manufacturing firms still on the island that relate to computer technology, aeronautics, homeland security but, most of the office market is dedicated to servicing Long Island. He calls the area the classic infill market.
“At this point, Long Island is very developed,” says Rechler, whose company hopes to break ground in a year or so on a business and technology development at Grabreski Airport at Suffolk County’s east end. He says the mixed-use development, to be called Hampton Business and Technology Park, is the perfect example of Suffolk County and local municipalities working together in the approval process.
But on the other hand, Rechler couldn’t offer many details on the 300-acre business and technology center at Calverton. In that case, Rechler says the development is in the beginning stages of the approval process. Rechler says the project in the Town of Riverhead has the local municipality’s support, but local civic organization and state agencies are a challenge.
“There’s no big tracts of land in Nassau County at all,” and in Suffolk, “there are a few more that are possible for development, Riverhead being one of them.”
Dominic Paparo Jr., VP of business development at EW Howell construction in Woodbury, calls his company's relationships with Long Island municipalities solid across the board. He notes that each town has different rules and processes, but adds, “each one has the same goal, which is an inspected, safe building for the public." Still, he acknowledges, each one "has different processes for getting there. It's something where there is always a learning curve."
These days, he says the bulk of his work comes from government agencies, for example, three projects at Stony Brook. He said retail work on the Island has slowed significantly, while institutional is picking up, with more work expected from Brookhaven National Laboratory over the next two to three years.
Ellen Rudin, managing director of the Long Island Operation at CB Richard Ellis, says renewals indicate signs of stability on the Island. Rudin, who oversees day to day operations at CBRE's offices in Woodbury and Long Island City in Queens, says "many of the tenants on Long Island tend to stay on Long Island." She calls current times an opportunity for tenants looking to renew.
However, Rudin adds the price differential between a good market and a bad market is not that dramatic. "So to wait for a bottom, even a lot of tenants out here realize, doesn't make sense."
Rudin says landlords are being very aggressive. They don't want to lose tenants and more than ever, they are reaching out and working with tenants.
Mitchell Rechler affirms that observation, saying from a leasing standpoint, he was more active this year than the 12 months before. He said the vast majority of all his new leasing activity was industrial. By comparison, the office market is tougher and more competitive.
"Generally speaking, no one is looking to spend money," and the "cost of moving make the likelihood of an office tenant staying where they are, more likely than in previous years," says Rechler. “Where we had 96.5% occupancy rate this time last year, we have 93% occupancy this year."
Again affirming Rudin’s observation, Rechler say any new tenants he's seen have been Long Island companies. "We are signing some leases with companies that are growing." He tells the story of a company that moved out of a building in Brentwood to one of his properties, because of a company growth issue.
Looking to the future, Rechler says, his firm designs buildings with tremendous flexibility. “If it’s a warehouse distribution-type user, we can accommodate because we design with the height and required spacing," he says. "If they require lab space, our mechanical systems are designed to provide flexibility, providing air conditioning and necessary environmental conditions for lab use. And, with office or combination facility, we can design buildings the client can split into smaller spaces.
Still, Rudin says there should be greater effort at growing and maintaining the area's burgeoning biotech sector. Local leaders have to recognize, she says, that governments in other parts of the state and nation are aggressively courting high tech companies with lucrative incentives.
As a case in point, this past July OSI Pharmaceuticals, the island's largest such company said it would consolidate its U.S. operations into a single campus in the Westchester County community of Ardsley. That month, Newsday reported that an OSI spokeswoman had said OSI wanted to expand at Farmingdale State College and that other companies would follow it there. At that point, OSI occupied 65% of the space there.
But, in an interview with Newsday, OSI's company chair Colin Godard said "we tried to make biotech work here, it hasn't, and with us going, it's going to be a real challenge to make it happen in the future." <
Reportedly, the company had run into resistance from Sen Charles Fushillo Jr (R-Merrick), who said OSI would be leasing and building on state property without any public bid.
More simply, Rudin says, the company was not able to get the deal it wanted, in the time it wanted. And despite being home to numerous biotech operations, companies Rudin calls success stories, the announcement that OSI would move and bring along its 200 employees caused everyone to pause, and ask, "what happened?"
In the end, leaders may have learned a very important lesson, she says. Of biotech that is born or grows itself on Long Island, Rudin says, "typically, they start small, with certain types of lab space with certain types of requirements, that was built out by the Farmingdale State College campus to attract that type of company. The hope is, they grow into a stand-alone building," as OSI did.
Of industrial, she says Long Island is home to distribution centers on the east end and near airports, are industrial centers. Problem areas include the middle of Nassau and Suffolk, where Industrial is not trading right now. "It's very flat," she says. In other words, "people aren't doing initiatives, if you will."
One sign of a green shoot is the site that calls itself "the place where the technology business grows," the Long Island High Technology incubator. LIHTI works through its affiliation with Stony Brook University to help new technology-innovative companies get on their feet by providing them with support, research and services. The nonprofit says that since opening in 1992, it has been associated with 70 businesses, and 44 companies that its graduated from its programs.
Noting that there are a few tech based incubators on Long Island, LIHTI executive director Anil Dhundale says the reasons they reside where they do is because of the research in places like Stony Brook, Cold Spring Harbor and Brookhaven. He says it's clear that people have become increasingly interested in the incubator model to build the foundations of a more diverse economy.
On Long Island, the job by government "could be done better," says Dhundale. But he adds, "there are a lot of organizations that exist on the government side," to help with finding appropriate real estate and other practical issues. "We all kind of know each other, and it's more of a network. But, because the world is changing, with economic downturns, money is slow to come, economic incentives take time with government." Ultimately, he says, New York State and Long Island have been "a little slow to respond to a company's needs."
But, Dhundale warns, "That inaction comes at a time when other parts of the country and world are soliciting these companies as they get ready to graduate the incubator, seeing that these new companies might be a good match for their states."
Of Long Island's OSI blow, he said "when it hit the papers, all of a sudden, everyone realized what had happened. But it was too late." He says that in fact, "the move had been coming for years. The facility they are moving to is a beautiful space for them. Overall, government was just to slow to respond. It's sort of like the marriage that was slowly going the wrong way. All of a sudden, you hear, 'I'm separating from you' and it's too late. You send flowers, but there are years worth of damage, and your efforts are met with non-responsiveness."
Dhundale spares no punches, saying that for the sake of Long Island's tech jobs future, there has to be a responsive team with the ability to make decisions on the local level. At present, he says, a company has to go through the New York Legislature to make decisions about leasing space on a local site.
The initial enthusiasm for biotech, he says, is closer to reality today than it was a decade or so ago, when there were overexpectations for the sector. "What happened was an overreaction on the part of investors and even on the part of lay public as to what bio tech is going to do for them. That phase led to a period of disappointment," but now, he says, "real productivity is beginning to show up."
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Commission Approves Bronx Development
EXCERPT FROM www.globeSt.com
http://www.globest.com/news/1520_1520/newyork/181713-1.html
by Cody Lyon
...The Kingsbridge Armory Development, which has seen community opposition and controversy over wages and another debate over grocery stores, would be a $310-million outside investment in the poorest urban county in the United States by the Related Cos.
Project opponents are asking that Related and future tenants provide living wage jobs and benefits. The hourly "living wage" for one adult in the Bronx is $11.86 per hour. However, for two adults with two children, a living wage is $30.30 per hour, according to the Living Wage Calculator developed by MIT’s Amy Glasmeier.
Sources close to the developer-community disputes over Kingsbridge’s future point out to GlobeSt.com that with the exception of supermarkets, no retailer pays a living wage. As a research associate from the Fiscal Policy Institute noted in her June 2009 testimony before Bronx Community Board 7, the median wage of a New York City non-managerial retail worker is $10.78 per hour.
With that, Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr., who currently opposes the project, says he’s hopeful the developer will sit down and negotiate with his office prior to the City Council’s upcoming vote on the project.
Diaz tells GlobeSt.com that "the office is willing to help the developer identify tenants that would offer a living wage to its employees."
A Related spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that "Related has always committed to union construction and paid the employees within its direct employee a living wage." However, she says, "demands on the retail community to pay a living wage that are not required anywhere else in New York City or New York State render the project un-leasable, un-buildable and un-financable for Related or any other developer."
She adds, "The requirement would therefore result in the loss of 1,000 new union construction jobs and 1,200 permanent jobs that would be created at the Kingsbridge Armory."
Full story at
http://www.globest.com/news/1520_1520/newyork/181713-1.html
http://www.globest.com/news/1520_1520/newyork/181713-1.html
by Cody Lyon
...The Kingsbridge Armory Development, which has seen community opposition and controversy over wages and another debate over grocery stores, would be a $310-million outside investment in the poorest urban county in the United States by the Related Cos.
Project opponents are asking that Related and future tenants provide living wage jobs and benefits. The hourly "living wage" for one adult in the Bronx is $11.86 per hour. However, for two adults with two children, a living wage is $30.30 per hour, according to the Living Wage Calculator developed by MIT’s Amy Glasmeier.
Sources close to the developer-community disputes over Kingsbridge’s future point out to GlobeSt.com that with the exception of supermarkets, no retailer pays a living wage. As a research associate from the Fiscal Policy Institute noted in her June 2009 testimony before Bronx Community Board 7, the median wage of a New York City non-managerial retail worker is $10.78 per hour.
With that, Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr., who currently opposes the project, says he’s hopeful the developer will sit down and negotiate with his office prior to the City Council’s upcoming vote on the project.
Diaz tells GlobeSt.com that "the office is willing to help the developer identify tenants that would offer a living wage to its employees."
A Related spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that "Related has always committed to union construction and paid the employees within its direct employee a living wage." However, she says, "demands on the retail community to pay a living wage that are not required anywhere else in New York City or New York State render the project un-leasable, un-buildable and un-financable for Related or any other developer."
She adds, "The requirement would therefore result in the loss of 1,000 new union construction jobs and 1,200 permanent jobs that would be created at the Kingsbridge Armory."
Full story at
http://www.globest.com/news/1520_1520/newyork/181713-1.html
Friday, October 09, 2009
New York City gets FRESH with new Grocery Store Incentives
EXCERPT FROM www.globeSt.com
Cody Lyon
NEW YORK CITY-To the developer, owner or grocery chain looking for a potentially recession-proof and, perhaps, highly profitable investment opportunity, consider this: New York City, the most densely populated city in the United States, is experiencing a shortage of grocery stores and supermarkets, particularly in lower-income areas where lack of access to fresh produce contributes to higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Hoping to impact health outcomes by encouraging greater private investment in supermarket-challenged areas, the Bloomberg administration is proposing the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health program, or FRESH.
Through enticing zoning initiatives, the proposed action, set to be voted on by the City Council sometime this year, seeks to “facilitate the development of stores that sell a full range of food products,” with an emphasis on perishable items that are fresh.
“Part of what the incentives are meant to do is attract the attention of the business community to the opportunities they’ve been missing out on,” Ben Thomases, New York City’s first ever food policy coordinator, tells GlobeSt.com. He and representatives from other city agencies spearheading the proposal believe that "landlords, developers and supermarket operators haven’t quite put together that the growth of population in these communities, and the lack of high quality supermarkets, is a lucrative opportunity."
In fact, according to research by the Center for an Urban Future’s City Limits magazine, 1.67 million New Yorkers have, on average, less than one square foot of grocery store space each. Of those, 74,178 have no grocery store at all. More recently, the Department of City Planning summed that up more grimly, saying that three million New Yorkers are caught in areas with limited access to fresh produce, areas of the nation’s largest city it calls “food deserts.”
The stats tell a typical tale of urban sociological disparity. According to a 2008 study by the New York City Economic Development Corp. and the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and City Planning, a good number of the fresh food denied, live in low to moderate income neighborhoods. That lack of easy access and choice contributes to the fact that some city neighborhoods are home to some of the nation’s highest rates of diabetes and obesity and all the ills that come with it.
“We have wealthy neighborhoods in Manhattan where less than 10% of the adults are obese, and low income neighborhoods in the South Bronx, north and central Brooklyn where more than 30% of the adults are obese,” says Thomases. “Even if you factor out median income or mean educational attainment in an area, you still find that the presence or absence of a quality grocery store makes a substantial difference in health outcomes in that area.”
READ THE FULL STORY AT www.globest.com
Cody Lyon
NEW YORK CITY-To the developer, owner or grocery chain looking for a potentially recession-proof and, perhaps, highly profitable investment opportunity, consider this: New York City, the most densely populated city in the United States, is experiencing a shortage of grocery stores and supermarkets, particularly in lower-income areas where lack of access to fresh produce contributes to higher rates of diabetes and obesity. Hoping to impact health outcomes by encouraging greater private investment in supermarket-challenged areas, the Bloomberg administration is proposing the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health program, or FRESH.
Through enticing zoning initiatives, the proposed action, set to be voted on by the City Council sometime this year, seeks to “facilitate the development of stores that sell a full range of food products,” with an emphasis on perishable items that are fresh.
“Part of what the incentives are meant to do is attract the attention of the business community to the opportunities they’ve been missing out on,” Ben Thomases, New York City’s first ever food policy coordinator, tells GlobeSt.com. He and representatives from other city agencies spearheading the proposal believe that "landlords, developers and supermarket operators haven’t quite put together that the growth of population in these communities, and the lack of high quality supermarkets, is a lucrative opportunity."
In fact, according to research by the Center for an Urban Future’s City Limits magazine, 1.67 million New Yorkers have, on average, less than one square foot of grocery store space each. Of those, 74,178 have no grocery store at all. More recently, the Department of City Planning summed that up more grimly, saying that three million New Yorkers are caught in areas with limited access to fresh produce, areas of the nation’s largest city it calls “food deserts.”
The stats tell a typical tale of urban sociological disparity. According to a 2008 study by the New York City Economic Development Corp. and the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and City Planning, a good number of the fresh food denied, live in low to moderate income neighborhoods. That lack of easy access and choice contributes to the fact that some city neighborhoods are home to some of the nation’s highest rates of diabetes and obesity and all the ills that come with it.
“We have wealthy neighborhoods in Manhattan where less than 10% of the adults are obese, and low income neighborhoods in the South Bronx, north and central Brooklyn where more than 30% of the adults are obese,” says Thomases. “Even if you factor out median income or mean educational attainment in an area, you still find that the presence or absence of a quality grocery store makes a substantial difference in health outcomes in that area.”
READ THE FULL STORY AT www.globest.com
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