20160620-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 6/17/2016 7:50 PM Page 1 CRAINS An angry good-bye in Harlem P. 6 | New York’s top-paid CEOs P. 12 | Trump’s not-so-public garden P. 15 ® JUNE 20-26, 2016 | PRICE $3.00 NEW YORK BUSINESS Networking Genius PAGE 17 The anxiety-provokingand the businesses but still helping vital Newpractice Yorkers of face-to-face master it meetings— VOL. XXXII, NO. 25 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM 0 71486 01068 5 25 NEWSPAPER 20160620-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 6/17/2016 7:51 PM Page 1 JUNECRAINS 20-26, 2016 FROM THE NEWSROOM | JEREMY SMERD A glaring problem IN THIS ISSUE 3 AGENDA THE COPS WHO FLOODED STREET CORNERS last summer in Bed- 4 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Stuy, my Brooklyn neighborhood, are gone, but the diesel- 5 THE BUSINESS OF POT powered floodlights that came with them remain outside 6 SPOTLIGHT the dilapidated Armstrong Houses. These 1,250-watt Ernst & Young 7 HEALTH CARE looks to decamp towers shine at least 20 times brighter than your average to New Jersey 8 REAL ESTATE light bulb—so bright that the U.S. military forbade soldiers 9 from facing Guantanamo detainees at them. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Designed for nighttime construction crews, they are 10 ASKED & ANSWERED used to deter crime. I hate the 11 VIEWPOINTS lights’ glare but I’ve learned to accept them. However Elderly residents, 12 THE LIST oppressive they feel, violence—or the fear of it—is more so. “I feel safer,” said Ann Johnson, 63, sitting with her women and parents FEATURES family under a concrete awning outside the Armstrong saw the lights as a 15 TRUMP’S SECRET GARDEN projects. Above her, a light flickered dimly, then went necessary evil. Young 17 THE BUSINESS OF NETWORKING dark. But 20 feet away, the floodlights beamed. “You can 28 GOTHAM GIGS see what’s going on,” she said. men called them The lights symbolize the sad trade-offs forced upon New harsh. “These lights Yorkers by previous government and community leaders are for you,” one said who let public housing fall into a $17 billion state of disrepair. Longtime neighbor Shani Newsome sat on her stoop a block from the projects. “If the police are out here, then we won’t need those horrific lights.” Her friend agreed. “I adore the police foot patrol,” said Tisha Brown. “But unless the city is going to do more, the lights have to stay.” Mohaad Ali, 29, who works at Marcy Supermarket and Deli, said the lights P. 28 ensure there are witnesses when a crime happens. “When the light is on, RABBI MIRA RIVERA everybody can see, the camera can see,” he said. 29 In my conversations, elderly residents, women and parents saw the lights as a SNAPS necessary evil. Young boys and men felt that they were overly harsh. “Them lights, 30 FOR THE RECORD they’re angry,” said Rayquan Felder, 14. “They’re so bright, I can hardly see down 31 PHOTO FINISH the block.” Another said: “These lights are for you.” Meaning gentrifiers like me. Mayor Bill de Blasio last week said crime is down in areas with the lights. Housing Authority CEO Shola Olatoye, who spoke the next day at a Crain’s forum, told me last summer’s cops are now dedicated to certain projects. Fifteen NYCHA developments are getting new, permanent lighting by the end of next year. Everyone else, including those in the Armstrong houses, will have to wait. The lights are just one symptom of the problems afflicting public housing and its residents, and is a metaphor for our struggle to fix them, said Newsome, a ON THE COVER teacher in Brownsville, Brooklyn. “We’re a city divided,” she said. “We can use CRAIN’S COMPOSITE the lights as a Band-Aid, but as a city we need to come together and regroup.” DIGITAL DISPATCHES CONFERENCE CALLOUT JUNE 27 Go to CrainsNewYork.com READ DISRUPTION AT THE Anbang Insurance Group may DOCTOR’S OFFICE convert 1,000 hotel rooms at the Waldorf Astoria New JOIN CRAIN’S for a morning York into luxury condos. The conference that will bring Chinese firm bought together the most important the landmarked > executives in health care to exam- property for $1.95 billion DR. TOM X. LEE, ine how doctors are adapting to two years ago. founder and CEO upheavals in the field and the ■ of One Medical implications for costs and quality. Christie’s is auctioning Group, will keynote off Joan Rivers’ Fabergé NEW YORK the conference. mini picture frames, silk pagoda dog bed ATHLETIC CLUB and other items from the legendary comedi- 8 a.m. to noon an’s penthouse. Rivers died in 2014. [email protected] LISTEN A master networker gives the inside scoop on how to navigate business meet- Vol. XXXII, No. 25, June 20, 2016—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for double issues the weeks of June 27, July 11, July 25, Aug. 8, Aug. 22 and Dec. 19, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., ings. The president of the Municipal Arts New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address Society argues that the public is getting a changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912. raw deal on privately owned public spaces. And For subscriber service: Call (877) 824-9379. Fax (313) 446-6777. $3.00 a copy, $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years. (GST NYCHA’s CEO on the challenges facing the No. 13676-0444-RT) city’s public-housing stock. COURTESY OF ONE MEDICAL GROUP, BUCK ENNIS ©Entire contents copyright 2016 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. CrainsNewYork.com/podcast 2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 20, 2016 20160620-NEWS--0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 6/17/2016 8:12 PM Page 1 AGENDAWHAT’S NEW JUNE 20, 2016 That’s no way to make the sausage: End lawmakers’ rush to judgment tate politics is complicated, which is why Albany lawmakers always wind up their annual legislative session in frenzied negotiations to produce what is appropriately called “The Big Ugly”—an agreement to pass bills that have little in common, Sbut in combination generate a critical mass of political support. We see this complexity not as an excuse for this madness but as a reason for our elected officials to hash things out in a more measured fashion. Their machinations, after all, affect the lives of many people. JUST BEFORE Even legislation that has bipartisan support tends to get rushed the legislature through every June, when the state Assembly and Senate adjourn for adjourns, members the year. This year, a package of bills to address the scourge of vote on what’s known as “The painkiller and heroin addictions includes one measure that allows Big Ugly.” authorities to force an addict into inpatient treatment for three days. While that might seem beneficial on its face, some experts fear that endemic to the end of session is one of the reasons. briefly detoxifying drug users who are not ready to quit will increase No amount of rule-changing will take the politics out of politics, so their risk of overdosing when they resume their habits upon release, perhaps there is no technical remedy for the pettiness that often con- as they typically do. sumes elected officials. Senate Lawmakers should take time this The deadline imposed by the end of Republicans’ refusal to make mayoral summer to reflect on their annual ritual control of New York City’s public schools and think of a better way. Certainly, the session does inspire Albany to act. permanent, or even extend it for any sub- deadline imposed by the end of session But there’s an alternative—elections stantial length of time, is a good example. has the benefit of inspiring legislators to But there is no doubt that New act, lest they return to their districts Yorkers would benefit if their lawmakers with little progress to report. Businesspeople, especially in our indus- in Albany had a more professional, systematic approach. Many bills try of newspapers, are keenly aware of the power of deadlines to pro- that are important to small constituencies die because the herding the duce results. But state politics has a handy alternative to the impetus cats—63 in the Senate, 150 in the Assembly—can be an exercise in of legislative deadlines. They’re called elections. We have argued futility. If not passed during the six-month session, they must wait before that serving in the state legislature should be a year-round, until the following year to be introduced again. This strikes us as full-time job, and avoiding the harried, sleep-deprived negotiations arbitrary. It’s no way to do business. – THE EDITORS FINE PRINT Bars, restaurants and taverns will be permitted to sell alcohol to the Sunday brunch crowd as early as 10 a.m. rather than wait until noon, thanks to legislation passed at the end of the session in Albany. The law will have an ancillary benefit: It will amend state code to allow liquor stores to sell gift wrapping and gift bags, too. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the bill. BY GERALD SCHIFMAN STATS 25 WORDS OR LESS CITY LETS ITS BELT OUT LAST WEEK, THE CITY COUNCIL approved an $84 billion fiscal 2017 budget, increasing expendi- Thiel has shown tures and reserves as tax revenues climb. AND THE CITY “how easily an ag- Budgeted rise in the city’s spending, BREAKDOWN OF THE $3.2 BILLION IN NEW SPENDING up $3.2 billion from fiscal 2016.