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Brooklyn Gym Owner And Real Estate Pro Paying Workers Over Rent
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – The franchisee owner of children’s gyms in Brooklyn, who is also a real estate attorney, is choosing to pay his employees over his rent.
“I can’t pay both my employees and my rent at the same time,” said James Wacht who owns two locations of the global franchise My Gym Children’s Fitness Center in Park Slope and Cobble Hill. “My decision was to pay my employees and not pay my rent.”
This was a difficult decision for Wacht, who runs the activity spaces for infants to 10 year old kids with his son Evan, while also serving as president of Lee & Associates NYC, thus being on both sides of the tenant-landlord predicament during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He hired highly skilled trainers over a two year period and concluded it would be more effective and smarter to retain his employees and hope for leniency from his two landlords during a global crisis.
“Given what’s happened in retail the last two years, the likelihood that landlords will be able to replace a retail tenant quickly at the same rent they’re currently getting, is really unlikely, so I think landlords are going to be really hard-pressed to work something out with their tenants, Wacht said, adding, “Some of them are just not going to be able to survive.”
He highlighted restaurants and other small businesses with low margins that may not be able to bounce back from a months-long closure, even with government relief programs, as it will take capital to jump-start business operations.
He told WCBS 880 he applied for the Payment Protection Payment (PPP) Loan and the New York City small businesses loan for both gyms and a few of his other businesses. The PPP loan is forgivable if a company maintains its workforce. It can be partially used for rent payments. If accepted through his Small Business Administration-approved bank, he would be able to pay part of his monthly payment.
“What I’m hoping to be able to do with my landlords is make a deal with them saying, ‘Listen, my business got hurt, what I’m willing to do is: I will pay you some of the rent, but I want some rent forgiveness for the period of time that I couldn’t operate,’” Wacht said.
He is developing online classes for children as non-essential businesses remain shuttered through at least April 29 and he has been upfront with his landlords that he and his son are working on new revenue streams to stay afloat.
“I look at this as sort of a collaboration between me and my landlord. It isn’t me against them,” Wacht said, adding his mantra through this challenge is, “How do we solve a problem together?”
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Hackers Deploy New Tactics During COVID-19 Crisis
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW JERSEY (WCBS 880) — Scammers are out in full force in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.
“The most stimulating part of the stimulus is the fact that the hackers are out there in droves,” Adam Levin, former director of consumer affairs in New Jersey, told WCBS 880’s Neil A. Carousso.
Levin, co-founder of the cybersecurity firm CyberScout, said scammers are deploying new tactics to take advantage of people relying on the stimulus checks that could be direct deposited as soon as Thursday.
“While we have day jobs, we are their day job, that’s never changed. The intensity, however, has increased dramatically as a result of this virus and the disaster is the unemployment, and frankly, the terror that people are going through on two levels: health and economics,” he said.
Another 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Nearly 17 million Americans have filed jobless claims since the coronavirus pandemic forced the shutdown of businesses nationwide.
Levin warns people to never click on links that appear to come from government agencies. Scammers are looking to take advantage by pretending to be the U.S. Government and preying on one’s financial stress by offering a way to receive the stimulus check faster and get more money.
“Ransomware, which is where they freeze your files, lock everything down and demand to be paid or else your files will be deleted or forever encrypted,” Levin said of one tactic. Another one is by turning one’s computer or smartphone into a “keystroke logger.” “Your log on credentials are being transmitted to the hacker,” Levin said.
He said scammers, looking to install malware, are promoting phony links for COVID-19 tracking. If one were to download it, a hacker would be able to access files and bank accounts.
“(Federal agencies) don’t send links, they don’t send attachments that you can open, they don’t call you on the phone and they don’t text,” Levin emphasized.
He encouraged people who are concerned or have questions to go on government agencies’ official .gov websites and initiate contact with their inquiry.
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Small Business Survival: Brooklyn Navy Yard Business Ramps Up War-Like Effort to Make Face Shields for Hospital Workers
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Businesses in the Brooklyn Navy Yard are invigorated with the same spirit and patriotism that defined the East River industrial complex during World War II when factories produced ships used to fight Nazi Germany.
Michael Bednark reinvented his design and fabrication company named Bednark Studio to make face shields as protective gear for medical professionals in New York who are treating COVID-19 patients. He told Joe Connolly on this week’s WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast focusing on small business survival, sponsored by BNB Bank, that he is surrounded by small businesses who are stepping up in the battle against the deadly virus.
“I’m looking right across the street right now to a very large manufacturer called Cyre Precision. They are manufacturing hospital gowns and other safety equipment for our frontline workers,” Bednark said, adding, “The building to my right, they’re working on a ventilator prototype.”
At the impetus of the coronavirus outbreak in New York City, which is now the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, he was forced to layoff workers. When he started hearing reports about the lack of Personal Protective Equipment or PPE for hospital workers, he worked with his design team through a weekend in mid-March to develop a face shield prototype to protect nurses and doctors against the contagious novel virus.
Bednark was in touch with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene through the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He sent pictures to the Department late Saturday evening and scheduled a meeting at its Long Island City headquarters for first thing the next morning.
“We drove over there Sunday morning, we met with them at 9:45, and at 10 AM, they said ‘let’s go with it.’”
Bednark hired 160 workers and moved into a 5,000 square foot event space in the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to maximize social distancing as advised by health experts to slow the spread of coronavirus. Bednark Studio takes employees’ temperatures when they report to work and it sanitizes the workspace every night.
He orders lunch to be delivered for his workers from local restaurants hit hard by the shutdown of non-essential businesses.
“Like most New Yorkers, we have a real sense of urgency,” Bednark said.
It’s a war-like effort to fight #coronavirus. Michael Bednark tells @JoeConnollybiz how he shifted gears and ramped up production of face shields at the @BklynNavyYard for frontline hospital workers. @wcbs880 #SmallBusinessSpotlight #DifferenceMakers https://t.co/F8Hd9HBsZj pic.twitter.com/8mj0QZ8SYP
— Neil A. Carousso (@NeilACarousso) April 8, 2020
He told Connolly his team is averaging 200,000 face shields a day. By comparison, hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer said its Liverpool, New York factory makes 4,000 face shields a day.
“We welcome anyone to come and start making anything they can, look at what they have around them, what they’re abilities are and figure out a product that they can make,” Bednark said.
Listen to the WCBS Small Business Podcast above to hear how small businesses are producing vital PPE equipment for hospital workers on the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus.
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Coronavirus Relief for Small Businesses on the Way
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Applications for small business loans for payroll and other overhead costs will be made available on Friday.
The New York City small business loan program, which offers zero-interest loans up to $75,000, was made available last week.
WCBS Business Producer Neil A. Carousso spoke with New York City Small Business Services Commissioner Gregg Bishop about forgivable loans through the Small Business Administration, how to apply to the loan programs available, and what business owners should do if the coronavirus pandemic lasts several more months.
You can listen to the interview above.
For more information on the $349 billion in loans available through the SBA, including the time frame for receiving capital from a bank, listen and read this week’s WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast, focusing on small business survival, with WCBS’ Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso.
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Difference Makers: Tri-State Non-Profits Mobilize To Support Those In Need Amid COVID-19 Crisis
By Neil A. Carousso
During this unprecedented time, we continue to share stories of “Difference Makers” in our community. Do you know someone who has gone above and beyond during the coronavirus crisis? Click here to let us know about your local heroes.
HARTFORD, Conn. (WCBS 880) — The coronavirus pandemic has halted life as we know it, and for the most vulnerable population, non-profit organizations in the Tri-State Area are stepping up to serve.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced the formation of a new charity on Wednesday named Connecticut COVID-19 Charity Connection or 4-CT, founded by two Fairfield County residents, Don Kendall and Ted Yang, who run Social Venture Partners – Connecticut, which is a collective of donors and other philanthropic groups.
There are 12-14 non-profits in the state that are now working together as part of 4-CT to provide resources such as housing, food delivery for the elderly, and child care for those in need.
“One of the things we’re also trying to do with 4-CT is not only provide the resources and the strategic investment, but also perhaps provide a funnel for the young people who are at home,” said Lamont, adding that it can offer a minimum wage job for students home from school because of the pandemic.
https://omny.fm/shows/wcbs-880-difference-makers/tri-state-non-profits-support-the-most-vulnerable
Lamont pointed to food banks that are overwhelmed by demand. Volunteers and minimum wage workers are needed to deliver nutritious food to people’s homes while adhering to social distancing guidelines. Most people unable to get food are most vulnerable to contracting coronavirus, especially elderly residents.
There are people who would like to volunteer, but are concerned about their own safety.
“Volunteers who used to serve food at the soup kitchen are now driving,” said David Munshine, of the Munshine Group, based in New Jersey, which specializes in marketing for non-profit organizations.
“Arm In Arm, an organization in Princeton and Trenton, they are delivering to doorsteps,” Munshine told WCBS producer Neil A. Carousso. “They’ve seen a surge in volunteers, who when they go out to get their own groceries, they can drop off a few bags of groceries for people who can’t get out.”
Building Homes for Heroes was established after 9/11 to provide mortgage-free homes to veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is now sending money to vets who are losing wages because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Those who have been traumatized in the past, those who suffer from PTSD, any sort of trauma is a trigger for many of them, unfortunately, and [the coronavirus pandemic] certainly meets that definition,” Munshine said, noting many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
Seventy-eight percent of Americans say they’re living paycheck to paycheck, according to a 2017 report by employment website CareerBuilder.
https://omny.fm/shows/wcbs-880-difference-makers/stamford-mayor-david-martin-is-mobilizing-voluntee
Stamford Mayor David Martin launched “Stamford Together” – a citywide volunteer program to provide support for the emergency response efforts related to the COVID-19 health crisis.
“Senior outreach program: Some of them are alone and they may need help getting their prescription, or getting food from the grocery store, or getting meals delivered or whatever it is that they may have as a special need,” Mayor Martin told WCBS 880 reporter Sean Adams.
One can also distribute meals to school children and those with medical experience are needed to test patients for coronavirus.
“I really am moved by the fact that people are coming forward who want to volunteer, who want to help during this crisis,” Mayor Martin said, emphasizing every precaution will be taken to protect volunteers.
Tri-State Non-Profit Organizations in Need of Volunteers and Resources:
Monmouth Conservation Foundation
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