News (12.02.2020): Certain NYC Neighborhoods Return To Using Subway, JFK Terminal 4 Renovations Likely Delayed, NYC Has Plans to Help Retiring Owners Sell Businesses to Employees
Select news stories for Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020
Crowded Subways? Yes, in Neighborhoods Where People Have to Go to Work (NY Times)
Subway stations located in NYC neighborhoods that are more dependent on public transit, such Woodhaven Queens, is helping push overall subway ridership to about 30% of pre pandemic levels.
Manhattan subway hubs, such as Times Square, 34 St.-Herald Square and Grand Central, are still operating at about 20% of normal passenger volume.
For example, at Junction Boulevard on the 7 line and the 111th St. station on the J line, ridership is over 55% of the pandemic level.
People returning to jobs that cannot be carried out remotely, such as home health aides, clerks, waiters, housekeepers and kitchen, are the main reason for the uptick in ridership on the Subway.
“Everyone is practically sitting on top of each other now and virus cases are spiking,” said Adela Rivera, 45, who works in accounting for a cleaning services company in Lower Manhattan and takes the J train at the 85th Street-Forest Parkway station in Queens. “It all adds to the anxiety for sure.”
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JFK Airport’s Busiest Terminal Seen Recovering From Covid-19 Slowly (Wall Street Journal)
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which operates JFK Airport, said its passenger numbers may not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.
Due to the expected decline in future passenger volume and uncertainty around whether the Port Authority will receive a federal bailout, the agency said it will scale back or delay $3.8 billion of planned refurbishments and expansion at Terminal 4, which is JFK’s main international departures/arrivals terminal.
Terminal 4 is JFK’s busiest terminal and accounted for about 1/3 of JFK’s 62 million passengers last year. Delta is also planning to consolidate all its services from Terminal 2 to Terminal 4 in the coming years.
The Terminal 4 project is part of a broader $15 billion refresh of JFK, which was set to be completed by 2025. Right now only American Airlines $400 million redevelopment of Terminal 8 is moving ahead.
The terminal operator also said it has cut its on-site workforce in half and its executives have taken voluntary pay cuts.
Some JFK stats below, which we think readers will find interesting:
The Port Authority says passenger volumes at New York City’s three major airports are down between 65% and 71% through September of this year.
Passenger boardings at Terminal 4 fell almost 70% during the first nine months of 2020 vs same period last year.
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New York City Has New Plan To Help Small Businesses (CBS New York / Yahoo)
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced "Employee Ownership NYC" an initiative to help owners sell to their employees.
The program will give owners and employees access to up to $10,000 worth of services, education and support.
A rapid response hotline and site called Owner To Owners is already up to help proprietors explore the potential of selling their company to their employees at a fair market price. (Note: The phone number is 646-363-6592)
According to Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson 85% of aging owners don't have a succession plan. Of those looking to sell, 80% can't find a buyer, he said.
Four community-based organizations — Democracy at Work Institute, The Working World, the ICA Group, and the Business Outreach Center Network — will provide support, according to press release.
"Employee Ownership NYC — this is going to be a systematic effort to ensure that employees have an opportunity to own…And that particularly in communities of color, we shift that painful reality where there hasn't been enough ownership and enough capital built and maintained in communities because of structural racism." - Mayor De Blasio
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