20151116-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 11/13/2015 7:45 PM Page 1 CRAINS CRAINS ® NOVEMBER 16-22, 2015 | PRICE $3.00 NEW YORK BUSINESS THE LAST MEATPACKERS IN THE MEATPACKING DISTRICT THE LIST NEW YORK’S LARGEST PRIVATE COMPANIES P. 1 7 PLUS Bodegas say cut in food subsidy bites P. 12 VOL. XXXI, NO. 46 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM 46 5 NEWSPAPER 71486 01068 0 Publication: Crains NY Business Ship Info: Crains NY Business IO #: None None Issue: 2015-11/16 None Ad Type: P4CB None, None None Client: Munn Rabot - 417821 B: = 11.125” x 14.75” Attn: None Project: 2015 Ad Work T: = 10.875” x 14.5” T: None Campaign: NYU1630 S: = 10.375” x 14” E: None Creative: NYU1630 Proofs: 1 AE: PM B:11.125” T:10.875” S:10.375” RANKED #1 AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. B:14.75” T:14.5” S:14” UHC HAS RECOGNIZED US WITH THE BERNARD A. BIRNBAUM, MD, QUALITY LEADERSHIP AWARD, THREE YEARS IN A ROW. For the third consecutive year, NYU Langone has had the distinct honor of receiving UHC’s Award for quality and patient safety at Tisch Hospital, Hospital for Joint Diseases, and Rusk Rehabilitation. The award is given to hospitals that go above and beyond in delivering safe, high-quality, ef cient, patient-centered, and equitable care. And this year, we also received the inaugural UHC Ambulatory Care Quality and Accountability Leadership Award for outpatient care. We’d like to thank everyone at NYU Langone who worked tirelessly to make these recognitions possible. 417821_NYU1630_CrainsNYBusiness_Nov16-2015_P4CB.inddFull page doc IN CN.indd 1 1 NYU PURPLE: C=78 M=94 Y=0 K=0 11/10/201511/5/15 10:42:18 11:03 AMAM PAPER K100 K75 K50 K25 C100 C75 C50 C25 M100 M75 M50 M25 Y100 Y75 Y50 Y25 R100 R75 R50 R25 G100 G75 G50 G25 B100 B75 B50 B25 33 East 17th Street, New York, NY 10003 • 646-230-1900 Contact Erica Ventura with any questions regarding these materials. ph: 646-929-5060 email: [email protected] 20151116-NEWS--0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 11/13/2015 7:00 PM Page 1 NOVEMBERCRAINS 16-22, 2015 FROM THE NEWSROOM | JEREMY SMERD Schneiderman’s fantasy IN THIS ISSUE 4 AGENDA BE VERY AFRAID, PEOPLE. Eric Schneiderman wants to 5 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT take down the nerds. 6 ASKED & ANSWERED Kids who grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons 8 WHO OWNS THE BLOCK and have moved on to fantasy sports are now being Demand for 10 INSTANT EXPERT palaces in the sky rescued from this grave danger by an attorney general is falling 11 REAL ESTATE who spins his protection of the government’s gambling racket as a morality play. He says his 12 SMALL BUSINESS attempted takedown last week of daily fantasy sports 13 VIEWPOINTS sites FanDuel and DraftKings was justified because they offer games of luck, not skill. He said it was the FEATURES right thing to do because fantasy sports cause “the 17 THE LIST same kinds of social and economic harms as other I can pick teams 31 FOOD forms of illegal gambling.” that are so bad 33 COVER STORY Talk about chutzpah. “ 39 Not only is the AG’s reasoning off, his moralizing I can guarantee that GOTHAM GIGS smacks of hypocrisy. Sports betting is far less harmful I’m going to lose. 40 EXECUTIVE MOVES than the lotteries and slot machines legalized by the That’s the proof 41 SNAPS state. Lotteries are the crack cocaine of the gambling 42 FOR THE RECORD world. Cheap and easy with empty promises of a life- that it’s skill 43 PHOTO FINISH changing payday. The odds are worse than awful, luck determines everything and the government always wins. The AG would rather a New Yorker with a head for numbers not bet fantasy football but instead drive to Yonkers and put $40 into a slot machine. Schneiderman says he’s just following state law: Games of luck are illegal; games of skill are not. Forget that there’s a federal carve-out for fantasy sports. The AG knows nothing about the amount of thought (skill you might call it) that goes into forecasting winners and losers, be they P. 6 ASKED & ANSWERED stocks or sports teams. “I can pick teams that are so bad I can guarantee that I’m going to lose,” said Dink, a New York bookie turned Las Vegas sports CORRECTION: Third parties such as general contractors and owners are liable for falls under the gambler, and a friend of mine. “That’s the proof that it’s skill.” What’s at Scaffold Law, not employers. This fact was misstated in the play is money: These companies are now worth billions and though they pay Nov. 9 “Dying on the job site.” taxes (unlike an offshore sportsbook, where many bettors would otherwise be spending their money), they are undoubtedly bad for the state’s gambling monopoly—even if they are good for those who want to play them (as entertainment or as a means toward paying the rent.) Gamblers expect a judge to side with the state. After all, they’ve got a racket to protect. I’m not that cynical, nor am I a betting man. But if I were, ON THE COVER Ⅲ I’d wager Schneiderman’s fantasy will end badly for him. PHOTO: BUCK ENNIS Can’t get enough of Crain’s? EMAIL OFFERINGS DIGITAL DISPATCHES Go to CrainsNewYork.com Keep up with the latest business news READ Nearly half of the city’s households throughout the day are using more than 30% of their income to Starting at 6 a.m. and continuing pay for rent. Low-income singles and seniors until the markets close bear the biggest burden. at 4 p.m., Crain’s provides ■ Cirque du Soleil plans two traveling shows morning roundups and next fall and one for afternoon updates on the most the spring in the > important stories affecting city. The Montreal- New York’s economy. based troupe has had a Delivered to your inbox. tough time making a splash in the Big Apple, CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/ where it has set up an NEWSLETTERS office to help it find its footing here. LISTEN to a discussion of the food busi- Vol. XXXI, No. 46, November 16, 2015—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for double nesses that help make up New York’s largest issues the weeks of June 29, July 13, July 27, Aug. 10, Aug. 24 and Dec. 21, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: private companies as well as the last meat- Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912. packers in Manhattan. With music by Sontag For subscriber service: Call (877) 824-9379. Fax (313) 446-6777. $3.00 a copy, $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years. Shogun. CrainsNewYork.com/podcast (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) BUCK ENNIS ©Entire contents copyright 2015 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. NOVEMBER 16, 2015 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3 20151116-NEWS--0004-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 11/13/2015 7:03 PM Page 1 AGENDAWHAT’S NEW NOVEMBER 16, 2015 To pay for Brooklyn Bridge Park, don’t build any more than necessary he history of Brooklyn Bridge Park is a long-running soap opera. It started three decades ago when a hardy band of locals began pushing for a long waterfront park in a wealthy part of the borough, where green space was virtually non- Texistent. The activists created a set of guiding principles, the most sacrosanct of which was that there should be no housing in the park. It was their belief that housing makes parks feel private, deterring outsiders from using them. ART OF THE DEAL: A render- Eventually, the advocates learned how much their principles were ing of two worth in the context of a project that would cost hundreds of millions proposed of dollars. Which is to say that their lofty principles, along with $2.75, residential buildings with would pay for a subway ride. 430 units. The Pataki and Bloomberg administrations ultimately built the park on the condition that its operating and maintenance costs would be park managers’ argument that they were only building housing as a paid by the park itself, rather than be a recurring expense for taxpay- last resort. Their rationale has become: The residential market is so ers. Predictably, that led to the dreaded housing, because the infra- hot that we can afford to do this social good. A state board must structure holding up the park is being approve the change and might do so next devoured by marine organisms, and Putting a few housing-lottery winners month. consultants found the only way to into 117 units on Brooklyn’s priciest From our viewpoint, the park is the fund repairs was by allowing water- real estate, on top of a public park, social good that should be promoted here. front apartments (a four-bedroom It has been enormously successful, recently sold for $6.75 million— is a poor use of resources attracting millions of visitors, but will Hello, Brooklyn!). The folks who require hundreds of millions of dollars to conceived the park say the costs are being exaggerated but are power- maintain in the coming years. Putting a few housing-lottery winners less against the development corporation established to run the park, into 117 units on Brooklyn’s priciest real estate, on top of a public park, which now answers to Mayor Bill de Blasio.