CRAINSNEW YORK BUSINESS 100 highest paid NYC executives P. 9 | Stereo Exchange now by appointment only P. 12 | All scream for Steve’s Ice Cream P. 16 NEW YORK BUSINESS® JUNE 19 - 25, 2017 | PRICE $3.00 UNCHARTED TERRITORY The city has spent more than a decade trying to figure out what to do with Governors Island. Michael Samuelian is the man with a plan PAGE 13 VOL. XXXIII, NO. 25 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM NEWSPAPER P001_CN_20170619.indd 1 6/16/17 8:25 PM JUNE 19 - 25, 2017 CRAINSNEW YORK BUSINESS FROM THE NEWSROOM | JEREMY SMERD | EDITOR IN THIS ISSUE A biz case to close Rikers 4 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 5 ENTERTAINMENT THERE IS AN ECONOMIC CASE for closing the jail on Rikers Legislature 6 ASKED & ANSWERED expected Island, and it has nothing to do with the savings taxpayers to pass would realize by reforming the city’s 19th-century approach 7 REAL ESTATE film and TV diversity bill to criminal justice. Don’t get me wrong: Shutting down 8 VIEWPOINTS the penal colony would itself be a net positive for the city. 9 THE LIST Reforms such as making it easier for the accused to make FEATURES bail could reduce by as much as half the jail’s population of 12 LIFE ON THE FLIP SIDE 9,500 inmates. And a smaller inmate population could save the city $540 million in annual operating costs after 10 years, 13 FANTASY ISLAND the nonpartisan Lippman Commission concluded. 16 FROZEN ASSETS But those savings are a rounding error compared LaGuardia is the with the economic cost of keeping Rikers open. The only local airport reason has nothing to do with the jail itself and every- “ thing to do with the 400-plus acres it sits on and one big where a runway problem that could be largely solved should the land be could be added. made available for redevelopment. Doing nothing The problem, as so many New Yorkers know, is our lousy airports, which consistently rank among the is not an option P. 6 worst in the nation for delays. At the top of the list is REGINA MYER LaGuardia, which is about 200 feet across the East River from Rikers. Gov. Andrew 20 GOTHAM GIGS Cuomo and the Port Authority are spending billions of dollars to remake the ter- minals, but if nothing is done to allow the airport to get more planes in and out, the 21 SNAPS new amenities will amount to a “more attractive place to sit and wait for delayed 22 FOR THE RECORD planes,” said Jamie Torres Springer, a partner at HR&A Advisors. 23 PHOTO FINISH Torres Springer spoke last week during our real estate conference (see page 7), CORRECTION which looked at potentially game-changing development projects. His idea of using WSP USA’s firmwide revenue was $5.1 billion in Rikers to add a runway at LaGuardia is not his alone. It was suggested in an April 2016. Previously the firm reported only its U.S. report by the commission created to study closing the jail and was put forward in a design revenue in the list of the largest engineering Crain’s story last year on how to reimagine the island. firms in the New York area, published June 12. The reason it has become a focus of planners is simple: All three of the metro area’s airports are space-constrained. But JFK is surrounded by the wetlands of a national recreation area. Newark is hemmed in by highways and housing. LaGuar- dia is the only place where a new runway could be situated. Doing nothing is not an option. The Regional Plan Association estimates that by 2030, failure to add runways would mean missing out on 40 million passengers and $17 billion in eco- nomic activity annually. Expanding LaGuardia could make up $7.5 billion of that. As this week’s cover story about Governors Island shows, there’s not a lot of ON THE COVER transformative development opportunities left in New York City. Rikers is one. The PHOTO: BUCK ENNIS problems at the jail underscore the opportunity the island offers us. DIGITAL DISPATCHES CONFERENCE CALLOUT JUNE 28 Go to CrainsNewYork.com CRAIN’S REGISTER Every year BREAKFAST FORUM Crain’s identifies the best employers in > THE TWO LEADING Republican New York City. If you candidates for mayor, Assembly- love working at your woman Nicole Malliotakis and company, let us know. businessman Paul Massey, will take To register your firm on the issues and each other in a or to learn more about debate moderated by Crain’s. the contest, visit bestplacestoworknyc.com. THE YALE CLUB There is a $199 registration fee, and the OF NEW YORK deadline is June 30. Visit CrainsNewYork 8 to 9:30 a.m. .com/BestPlaces to see previous honorees. [email protected] ■ SUBMIT If you just launched a company, moved or opened a new Vol. XXXIII, No. 25, June 19, 2017—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for location, let us know so we can share double issues the weeks of June 26, July 10, July 24, Aug. 7, Aug. 21 and Dec. 18, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third the news. Go to our For the Record Ave., New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send section at CrainsNewYork.com/FTR. address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2912. For subscriber service: Call (877) 824-9379. Fax (313) 446-6777. $3.00 a copy, $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years. Click on the red button to submit. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2017 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. BUCK ENNIS 2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 19, 2017 P002_CN_20170619.indd 2 6/16/17 8:25 PM WHAT’S NEW JUNE 19, 2017 AGENDACity should wash its hands of law scrapped by a federal judge t’s one thing for the City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio to pass measures sought by their friends in the labor movement who have political operations that help to elect them. Transactional and ugly as that may be, it’s politics. But there’s a solid line that they may Inot cross, which is to illegally aid and abet unionization drives, as they did by enacting a 2015 law regulating car washes. Don’t take our word for it; a federal judge ruled so last month. “Lest there be any doubt about the plain meaning of the text,” U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote, CUT AND DRIED: “the legislative history makes clear that a central purpose of Local Law 62 The city has no is to encourage unionization in the car-wash industry.” He backed up that good reason to appeal a judge’s conclusion with quotes from council members. ruling against car- The law that the judge struck down created two different versions of a wash regulations. mandate. Car washes with a collective bargaining agreement had to buy a $30,000 surety bond, while those lacking one needed a $150,000 bond. The Crain’s reported in 2014 that Make the Road had used millions of dol- nominal idea was to ensure money would be available should workers be lars in government contracts to build a membership that it then recruited stiffed by their employers on wages. But the law’s effect was to coerce car- for organization drives funded by labor unions. The mayor and Council wash owners who could not afford the more expensive bond to go union— Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito even attended a rally for car-wash workers despite a federal statute saying laws can- and their unionization effort. not take sides in battles between labor The mayor and council knew their bill Owners of car washes told council and management. members that the double standard was That restriction is widely known in risked being invalidated but passed it unfair and illegal. They said that rather government circles. It’s why unions are anyway to please the labor movement than lead to the creation of higher-paying not mentioned in many bills they lobby jobs, it would force the city’s 150 or so car for. Lawmakers know not to set one pay scale for union workers and washes to lay off workers and further automate their operations. Yet the another for nonunion workers, much as they might want to. council did not listen. The car washes hired a high-powered lawyer (for- Why, then, did the council and mayor set two standards for car washes? mer Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo) and sued. For two years, the To please the three groups that for two years had been trying to organize law has been a boon only for lawyers. Two years and counting: Rather than car-wash workers: the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; pass a revised bill, the city decided last week to appeal the judge’s ruling. New York Communities for Change; and Make the Road New York. The city should wash its hands of this illegal law. — THE EDITORS FINE PRINT Many lines were omitted, but only three words were added to the script of The Public Theater’s controversial Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar, which features a Trumpian portrayal of the title role. Criticizing a crowd for blindly adoring Caesar, Casca says, “If Caesar had stabbed their mothers on Fifth Avenue, they would have done no less.” BY GERALD SCHIFMAN STATS 25 WORDS OR LESS LABOR OF GUV IN HIS SEVENTH YEAR as governor, AND THE CITY Andrew Cuomo is taking heat for the MTA’s troubles, but pledged state “A ‘yes’ vote on this funding for its capital plan has ballooned.