Crain's New York - April 29, 2013 - (Page 3)

IN THE BOROUGHS QUEENS Fortifying the food network Jet noise has locals plane mad ROCKAWAY RESCUE: Food Bank CEO Margarette Purvis is working with the private sector to bring relief to hardhit areas. Protest takes wing as LaGuardia neighbors blast new flight paths BY CHRIS BRAGG See FORTIFYING on Page 22 See LOCALS on Page 8 buck ennis also proving to be a catalyst for change. No one was more surprised than Ms. Purvis when the fashion industry, INSURANCE for example, stepped up to HEADACHES help in the aftermath of the Lawsuits follow storm. denial of claims “As a group, they had nevPage 4 er been big cash givers,” she said. “But we have always wanted the fashion community.” Big retailers like Century 21, Bloomingdale’s and Burlington Coat Factory became Food Bank donors for the first time, while model Last summer, residents of several pleasant, low-rise neighborhoods in northeast Queens swore they noticed a sudden spike in noise levels. Jets from neighboring LaGuardia airport seemed to be thundering overhead lower and more frequently than ever, setting off car alarms and rattling homes from dawn to dusk. “It’s been like living in a war zone,” said Janet McEneany, president of a newly formed organization wistfully dubbed Queens Quiet Skies. “Planes have been flying in low and loud every 20 seconds, from 6 a.m. until midnight.” In retaliation, last year one frustrated homeowner in Woodside began phoning the manager’s office at LaGuardia every time a plane roared by. That strategy, however, only managed to land her a personal visit from uniformed officers of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that owns the airport. Meanwhile, other residents in Woodside, as well as in nearby Bayside, Douglaston and Whitestone, began picking up their phones and REBUILDING NY BY LISA FICKENSCHER The Food Bank for New York City began reinventing itself soon after Superstorm Sandy struck six months ago. Like the rest of New York, the 30-year-old nonprofit was unprepared for the havoc the storm wreaked and the impact it continues to have on the Far Rockaways and Coney Island, among other places. “These areas were already isolated and underserved by social services, and then the storm knocked out their basic infrastructure,” said Margarette Purvis, chief executive of the Food Bank, which supports 600 food pantries and 200 soup kitchens citywide. But the Food Bank, the backbone of the emergency food supply in the city, is rising to the challenge. It is rethinking how it delivers services, mapping out a strategy for the next disaster and looking at how it can leverage the outpouring of support from the private sector.Sandy may have devastated shoreline communities, but it is Incredible shrinking branch is banking’s cramped new world bloomberg news Less square footage means roaming tellers with iPads and prime retail vacancies BY AARON ELSTEIN The future of banking can be found in a Chelsea basement. That’s where Wells Fargo & Co. is developing its next-generation branch, which features everything from high-tech ATMs that remember how much cash you typically withdraw to free-ranging tellers toting iPads so they can address questions about your accounts. But what’s really striking is how small the prototype branch is: At about 1,000 square feet, it’s 75% smaller than the traditional Wells Fargo outpost upstairs. ‘Smaller branches are unquestionably the future’ Say hello to banking’s brave,new, cramped world. Driven by changing consumer behavior and the urgent need to re- duce costs, banks are devising ways to cut their branches down to size. Wells Fargo opened its first nextgeneration branch in April in Washington, D.C., and is looking to open seriously shrunken branches in New York and other major cities. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has started building branches that are 25% smaller than older models. They have started showing up on Long Island to replace banks deluged by Superstorm Sandy. The decision by banks to slim down their branches could have major implications for the real estate market throughout the city. In just the first dozen years of the millennium, the number of bank branches in the five boroughs increased by 45%, to 1,761, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. Many of them occupy prime retail space that could be freed up for STATS AND THE CITY GREENING THE BIG APPLE: The Bloomberg administration last week expanded its plastics recycling program and pushed for composting. 1.2M TONS THE CITY recycled in 2011, down 36% from 2008, partly because of fewer newspapers 6,700 TONS OF FOOD waste generated daily, a third of the city’s total refuse $642 PER-TON recycling cost in 2011, compared with $261, the cost of collecting garbage 50K ANNUAL TONS of waste expected to be diverted from landfills under new plastic-recycling rule All years are city fiscal years. Sources: City of New York; NYC Dept. of Sanitation 150 POUNDS of waste prevented when an office using 50,000 sheets of paper prints double-sided istockphoto Food Bank is using the harsh lessons from Sandy to prep for the next disaster ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY See BANKS on Page 24 April 29, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's New York - April 29, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
REAL ESTATE DEALS
SMALL BUSINESS
OPINION
GREG DAVID
REPORT: EDUCATION
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crain's New York - April 29, 2013