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View From Here: Bandits, Dangers and Opportunities

David Mark Greaves — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:33:19 +0000

The marauding packs of corporate bandits are at it again, robbing the common citizenry, causing pain and death with utter abandon and no remorse. First they came for the homes, using mortgages as gambling chips, extracting bonuses and fees for every toss of the dice and with the homeowner left to account for the value after the game is done.

And here they are at it again, these economic parasites, now guised as a “health insurance industry”, have placed themselves between the citizenry and basic health care like common toll road warlords commanding “pay us or die.” A single-payer plan, such as those typical in the rest of the industrial world, would be like the sheriff coming to town and the townsfolk paying him, or her, for protection.

From the chemical industry’s insistence there are acceptable limits and no ill effects, the pharmaceutical industry that produces illness sustainers that must be purchased for a lifetime, because cures are business killers, but that’s not how capitalism rolls. They saw what the Salk vaccine did to the iron lung industry, and they are not going to make that mistake again. The only thing that can stop them is a massive campaign that takes the battle for “single payer” to the streets in a roar of public defiance. And don’t let them tell you that “It’s a done deal” – “Too big to fight against” – “Too powerful.” That’s the Bloomberg Bamboozle and we can’t let it work again.

There is a new reality taking hold of the world and it is both grim news and opens a world of possibilities for the young people of Bedford-Stuyvesant. An argument can be made that we are living in the beginning waves of the Future Shock world that Alvin Toffler warned about in his 1970 book of the same name and if that is so, then all of the change in the last few decades has finally caught up with us and the unemployment rate will not be improved by the once-useful measures of the past. The grim news for our children is that the jobs they are being trained for are dying and the education they’re receiving to enable them to survive and prosper in the economic environment of the future, is not up to the national, much less international, standards that are being set and exceeded around the world.

The resurgence in jobs will not be coming from big growth in middle-sized or large companies, but rather big growth from individual income-producing activities, businesses of 1-10 people. Here is where the world of possibilities lies, as a part of these many micro-businesses powering the economic resurgence by the power and redundancy of a parallel-processing system, as opposed to “Too big to fail” industries and institutions whose time is inevitably coming to a close.

In the online book, Unbounding the Future: the Nanotechnology Revolution, The Foresight Institute, a think tank and public interest organization focused on transformative future technologies, says “The trend for advanced technologies seems to be leading away from centralization. Will nanotechnology counter or accelerate this trend? By reducing the cost of equipment, by reducing the need for large numbers of people to work on one product, and bringing greater ability to produce the customized goods that people want, nanotechnology will probably continue the twentieth century trend toward decentralization. The results, though, will be disruptive to existing businesses.

There’s been a respite from future shock in the last three decades; people have had a chance to catch their breath. When nanotechnology arrives, will future shock arrive with it?”

Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to that world. Companies simply do not need the people they have let go. Software is now performing many of those jobs and the workforce has to remake itself and be able to re-imagine what it wants to be and this is just the beginning.

According to Foresight, this is what our children will need: “These human skills that people carry with them will continue to be valued; managing complexity, providing creativity, customizing things for other people, helping people deal with problems, providing old services in new contexts, teaching, entertaining and making decisions. A reasonable guess would be that many of the service and information industries of the twentieth century will continue to evolve and exist in a world with nanotechnology. What is harder to imagine would be what new industries will come into being once we have new capabilities and lower costs.” And harder still to imagine that the Department of Education is preparing our children to thrive in that world, however it may look, and for that, we really have no clue. As Foresight says, “Today, it’s as hard to predict what new industries will be invented as it would have been for the creators of the ENIAC computer to have predicted cheap, handheld game computers for children.”

Lights on the horizon are the young people we’ve seen operating Web-based businesses, and the small shops springing up around the area that are pretty well-described by Foresight as examples of what is to be expected. “We’ve also seen the resurgence of small, but highly diverse stores: gourmet food shops, specialty ethnic shops, tea and coffee purveyors, organic and health food stores, bakeries, yogurt shops, gourmet ice cream stores, convenience stores offering twenty-four-hour access, shops selling packaged food plus snacks. These stores epitomize something fundamental: At some point, what we want is not a standard good at an ever-cheaper price, but special things customized to meet our own individual tastes or needs.”

Whether these are the best of times or the worst of times is yet to be determined, but one thing we know for sure, they will be the times we make them.

GOVERNOR PATERSON SIGNS GREEN JOBS/GREEN NEW YORK BILL

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:58:19 +0000

Program to Assist Low-Income and Unemployed Train for Green Collar Jobs

New Website – GreenCareersNY.com – to Match Job Seekers with Green Training Opportunities

This week, Governor David A. Paterson signed the Green Jobs/Green New York Act, establishing a program that will create green jobs and stimulate investment in weatherization and energy efficiency improvements for residential and commercial buildings. Governor Paterson held the signing ceremony at the New York State Weatherization Directors Association training center in North Syracuse, where New Yorkers are being trained to weatherize and retrofit homes.

“The workforce training that this bill supports will prepare New Yorkers to find jobs in the 21st century clean energy economy that we are building here in New York. I am proud to sign into law the Green Jobs/Green New York Act, so we can help New Yorkers secure jobs that help working families and businesses cut their energy bills while reducing greenhouse gas pollution,” said Governor Paterson. “I have laid out a New Economy jobs plan that will help to put New Yorkers back to work through innovation and technology, and have set a goal to meet 45 percent of our electricity needs through energy efficiency and renewables by 2015. The Green Jobs/Green New York Act is an important tool in achieving these energy and economic goals.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said: “Thanks to the Green Jobs/Green New York legislation, homeowners, small business owners, and not-for-profit agencies are encouraged to undertake the energy efficiency projects that will reduce utility bills as well as greenhouse gas emissions. As homes and facilities are retrofitted, and green jobs are created, this program will become a much-need boost for struggling local economies throughout New York State.”

Senator Darrel J. Aubertine, Chair of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, said: “I want to thank the Governor for signing this important legislation here today. This truly is a win-win for New York State which will enable homeowners and small businesses to save money on their energy bills all while creating jobs and putting thousands of New Yorkers back to work. This legislation directs these loans to be spread across the state based on need and here in Upstate New York, where keeping the heat in is a top priority each winter, this program will create jobs and save consumers on their monthly energy bills.”

Governor Paterson also announced that $7 million from the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) has been awarded to 11 counties and New York City to launch the new Green Jobs Corps programs. This funding will allow local departments of social services to provide job skills training and subsidized employment opportunities in “green industries” for public assistance recipients and low-income individuals. Participants in the Green Jobs Corps program will develop occupational skills that will enable them to get jobs in addition to supporting their ability to remain employed and advance in their careers.

To help connect job seekers with the opportunities being announced today, Governor Paterson also announced the launch of a new web site to assist those seeking to enter the new green job sector. The site – www.greencareersny.com – is designed to make it easy for individuals, businesses and workforce professionals to find the State’s local training programs and green job opportunities.

The Green Jobs/Green New York Act (A.8901/S.5888 and chapter amendment A.9031/S.6032) directs the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to establish revolving loan and green jobs training programs to retrofit homes to conserve energy. Loans will be capped at $13,000 for residential and $26,000 for commercial properties. The program will target middleclass homeowners and small businesses that will pay back the loan out of what they save on their energy bills. The job training component will focus on new entrants to the workforce and displaced workers. The training programs and any education and enrollment efforts will be subjected to a competitive procurement process available to community based-organizations.

To fund the weatherization loan program and establish the statewide green jobs training program, NYSERDA will use a portion of $112 million from the auction of carbon emission credits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The seed money from the RGGI fund will be used to leverage private investment, which will move us toward a goal of retrofitting one million homes over the next five years.

The Green Jobs bill will allow the State to increase its existing and successful weatherization efforts that are already underway. The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) will eventually administer $394 million in funds under American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). By the end of this month, $190 million in 64 contracts, representing every county in New York, will be executed as part of the WAP program. Under WAP, a minimum of 45,000 residential units will be weatherized in New York State.

Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, Chair of the Assembly Energy Committee, said: “The goal of the Green Jobs/Green New York Program is three fold. It is designed to create jobs, lower energy costs for households, not-for-profits and small businesses and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is exactly the type of innovative initiative President Obama envisions when he talks about creating green jobs and the new clean energy economy. A successful program here in New York will establish us as a national leader in tackling the tough challenges of climate change and employment opportunities in the 21st Century.”

The Turning Point

Kimberlee Currans-Leto — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:53:45 +0000

The morning of September 21, 2009 dawned just like any other day in the Capital Region with thick fog and subtle fall colors quietly peeping. For many it was business as usual, off to work or school, caught up in the usual traffic going toward downtown. Still while the subtle suggestion of autumn remained heavy, almost uncertain of complete transformation, there was a buzz and a hope of knowing something special was about to happen. Many eagerly waited along Albany-Shaker Road and later Route 4 for the arrival of President Barrack Obama and his visit to Hudson Valley Community College. His visit not only marks an opportunity for Troy to be in the national spotlight, it also marks the first time a sitting president has visited the Collar city since the Eisenhower administration. Many Trojans would agree much has changed, that we indeed have come full circle.
In its heyday, Troy was a hub of commerce, a beacon of culture and activity due to its pinnacle position along the Hudson River and proximity to the end of the Erie Canal. But hard times have beaten down this pre-industrial beauty. Out of many upstate towns, Troy is one of the oldest and yet due to economic downturn starting 30 years ago, one of the least respected. But I say, many are wrong to underestimate Troy’s potential to rise from the ashes. It is the best-hidden secret in the area. Obama’s visit marks a turning point, a cusp at which the Collar City can shine again, gain the attention such a diverse and historically rich city deserves. I believe Obama’s visit is just the first of many magnificent opportunities for the outside to see what’s going on in upstate New York but mostly in Troy. The Capital Region may be small but we are gaining notoriety and prestige by signaling to the world, this where you want to be if you want to be an active participant for changing and rebuilding America. It can happen one village, one community at a time.
Many have asked me in recent days, ‘why do you think Obama chose Troy or Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC)?’ Is it the proximity to the city and his appearance on Letterman or his expected meeting at the United Nations, or do you think there are other reasons, strategically? Honestly, he chose Troy and specifically HVCC because I believe he sees the work we doing here as an active role model for how he thinks all communities should be working to reinvent themselves. Honestly I believe he chose HVCC because it is an excellent place to receive a top rate education without going into a tremendous amount of debt. I believe he values education as he values health care for every American and he sees community colleges are playing a significant role in re-establishing a value for education in this country. Here in Troy, he introduced his plan that by 2020 America will once again have the highest rate of college graduates and he believes many of those educations will begin at community colleges.
I never went to a community college but I took a different path from the average experience. I went to Mills College in Oakland, CA; it is the oldest woman’s college west of the Rocky Mountains but I can still remember people questioning my choice. But that is the beauty of this country; we have a choice. We have the opportunity to tap into and explore our potential and aptitude toward a skill, a talent, which leads to a mind spring of innovation and creativity. College promotes flexible, critical thinking where ideas can be researched. Places of higher learning like HVCC embody the values needed for such paths to grow because it makes education accessible. Community college gives students more options toward a brighter future and this in turn influences the entire community. I never realized the importance of community college because I had my mind set on an ‘ivy league’ level education but I also received the scholarship money. Not everyone else is in the same position. I never realized how many people would not be where they are today without the benefit of community college education. Personal story: Dr. Lauren Reager, a dermatologist in Santa Monica, CA saved my life when at fifteen years old I was diagnosed with lupus. I am alive because of him. At the time in the late 1980s not only was there not a test for lupus, not many doctors had experience with the disease. I am extremely fortunate he began his studies at a community college because that is where he gained the knowledge and the tools to see past the typical set of classical illnesses. I explore this need for accessible education because of people like him that have broken down barriers and opened doors to education mainly due to their value for research and investigation that began at the community college level.
America faces issues of accessibility where there is a clear disparity, a divide. While it is seen in health care, it creates obstacles everywhere else. Clearly after hearing his speech in Troy, he has a master plan because he knows community colleges hold the key and make futures possible where private institutions remain unattainable for many working class families. The tuition is just too high and the lack of scholarship money is too low because too many families come from the same circumstances. Much like health care, the financial aid system needs repair. Obama discussed ditching the middle man, the bank and suggests government lending directly to the student and that these channels must be reopened again. Current credit markets must improve.
While many have fallen on hard times, others have slacked off and let consumption and material things cloud their judgment. Obama realizes this is true of many lawmakers. There has been a lack of accountability with regard to understanding what is happening at the community level, what is happening in our neighborhoods. He points out that Troy could be in any American region: the South and the Mid-west. It has an any town USA quality where stories are similar and patience is wearing thin with regard to lack of jobs. And not just JOBS but high-paying jobs that can feed families and turn areas once hit by poverty into places of great prosperity. For upstate New York, this visit is a clear turning point because it represents years if not decades of hard work and gambling on innovative ideas and breakthroughs like nanotechnology and green, renewable energy products. There is debate over rather or not investment should have been routed upstate rather than the city and other down state areas. For many years, there has been resentment on the part of upstaters feeling more money should have been invested into improving the area and creating more jobs because such down trodden areas promote poverty, welfare, gangs and drugs.
Still the President could have gone to Troy, MI. He could have gone to any other similar town but instead he chose Troy, NY and HVCC for a valid reason. Upstate is on the cusp of greatness. Obama alluded to the fact that like many cities, Troy does not stand alone in the challenge of rebuilding a better America but also such a mission begins at the roots. Every individual, every block, every community has a voice and participatory role in the reinvention of America. That is the message Obama aimed to present while in Troy but also he wants a return to what Troy used to be. Troy was a leader of industry, a place where creativity and innovation married to bring inventions to every household. Many men today would not have collars on their shirts, if it were not for the city of Troy. It is that simple. Obama seeks to harness that feeling of possibility, the seeking of new and better ways of doing simple things. He thinks this is how inventions are created and new products introduced to the market place and he is right.
There must be the ‘can do’ attitude that so many from Troy’s hey day possessed, the feeling that anything is possible and that we are definitely at a turning point in our evolution as Americans. It is thought that such a focus upon the basics will allow for social advancement where voices are heard and change is not a foreign concept. We will be a culture without fear and this will spawn further invention but also artistic movements and folklore. The message here is bring the value for innovation, research and clear communication back to the people because this will drive the costs of doing business down. Small business should be on the rise and encouraged.
Troy is an accurate role model of how everything that is happening in this country is interconnected but also how change is possible. That breakthroughs taking place in research at HVCC has a direct impact upon the world, but this also drives enthusiasm. It becomes contagious but also drives sustained growth and shared prosperity, which builds American competitive advantage. Continued innovation helps all sectors of industry because it creates an open and free market. Obama suggests in this speech that one action correlates with another or that if we value education, this too will influence how health care is reformed and implemented. This all plays an active role in restoring American back to the status of global leader.
I can just hear the critics now. Many will think it is just too utopian, that it could not possibly work. Conservatives will say you cannot cut out the middleman and that banks are the backbone of commerce but so many forget! It is really just so simple and common sense. Obama’s visit to the Capital Region represents to me that he has not forgotten. He has not forgotten! There is a challenging road ahead but clearly there is something special happening in Troy that also remains non-partisan. The community actively puts into reality Obama’s vision for the future. He wants the world to see the difference between potential of ‘what if we apply this great idea’ to the active participation of actually getting it done. In this way, other cities can also return from the ashes.
Kimberlee Currans-Leto lives and works as a freelance writer in North Troy, NY. Originally born in Texas and raised in Europe and California, she adopted that ‘New York Sate of Mind’ when she moved upstate with her husband. Her professional background varies from working on movie sets in Hollywood to saving people’s homes from foreclosure. She considers herself a ‘foodie’ and finds the best therapy in baking chocolate chip cookies or organizing a huge dinner party. You can contact her at leto.press@gmail.com.

How to Survive a Double Whammy? Keep the Faith

David Mark Greaves — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:20:04 +0000

P.G. Wodehouse once wrote, “You can’t make an omelet unless you break a few eggs,”   and in order to get to a sound economy, we first have to go through transformative times. “We needed to get here,” said Zane Tankel, owner of 34 Applebee’s on the East Coast, including the one we were sitting in at Restoration Plaza, on Harriet Ross Tubman Avenue, aka Fulton Street, the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, where all the workers called him Zane. “I’m a student of the economy,” said the Wharton School of Business graduate. Toxic mortgages are only Phase 1, according to Tankel. “Phase 2 will be when the good mortgages begin to respond to rising unemployment”, which he predicts will be about 11%-12% nationally.
“And we needed to get here,” says Tankel, speaking of a consumption-driven system that had become unsustainable. “The consumer in America had too much choice” with the only difference between products being brand names, contends Tankel. But with brand names clamoring for attention, retailers were forced to carry large inventories, across too many brands and “inventory is money sitting in a box”, he says.
Tankel’s comments were born out in a just-released report by the NFIB survey on small businesses. “Small business owners continued to liquidate inventories. A net negative
27 percent of all owners reported gains in inventory stocks (more firms cut stocks than added to them, seasonally adjusted), unchanged from April and May which posted record lows. Inventories have been reduced at a record pace, continuing 25 months of negative readings in a row. It is hard to believe there is anything left on the shelves.”
For those looking for a quick turnaround, quick being a year, there will only be disappointment he says. “An upturn is always triggered by the consumer, but with the high unemployment, there’s no one to buy. Retail sales are still struggling.” Tankel says that “this system will be going through a resetting process” as a new reality takes hold.
“For retailers, that means closing unprofitable stores, stocking less and hiring fewer stock clerks.” This, in turn, cascades down through all of the industries and job descriptions that are interconnected in varying degrees. Whether it’s fewer truckloads, fewer dockworkers or fewer patrons at the highway diner, there will “simply be less of everything” and we’re gong to have to ride it out.
As Tankel says, “All of these changes are happening underneath”, and that’s the problem the Obama Administration is working with. “I know some of the real players, Obama’s right-hand people” who are tasked with managing the economy, he says. “Most of the Geithner team projections dealt with the most optimistic turnaround in the economy. “We’re going to have to do another trillion in” as a stimulus, he says. “I said about a year ago that we’re not coming out of this soon.”
And of course, mixed in with all of this, is that across all businesses, particularly small businesses that hold the bulk of the national hiring, there is the increased use of technology as a means of production, consolidate professions and job slots into computer programs and longer nights.
Tankel insists he is not a “doomsayer” but an optimist who is also a realist. “In a best-case scenario, we’ll bump along on the bottom like we are now for maybe another year or so.”
That Zane is an optimist cannot be denied, because he is putting his money on the table, opening three restaurants at the very moment the nation is going through this economic storm. “It helps to be a little crazy,” he says by way of explanation. “I’m by nature a risk-taker,” not a surprising statement from someone who has climbed Mt. Everest on an expedition without Sherpas, they call it traveling light.   “I’m not driven by money but by excellence. This is an opportunity to get some great sites at strategic pricing. We’re going to Jamaica Avenue in Queens where the rents a year ago were literally double what they are now. So if I can get in at half-price, I have to do it. If unemployment goes to 15%, that means 85% are working. I like those odds. That’s how I do it and that’s what I tell our people. Right now with unemployment at 9.5%, that means 90.5% percent of people are working. We can’t be down or depressed about that. Ninety percent of the people we need to put in our restaurants can come there. “It’s all about the attitude. Maybe if you see me driving a delivery truck in a few years, you’ll know I guessed wrong.”
Carl, a manager, was leaving and stopped at the table and Tankel asked about his daughter. After Carl left Zane said, “He’s a single father, I saw him shopping at Atlantic Terminal with his daughter and we had lunch.” Actually, Carl was only one of a succession of hellos and hugs as employees stopped by and were greeted by name. Zane takes pride in knowing the names of almost 4,000 employees. “I work at it and I know how important it is to them,” said Zane, noting that as he said to them at the initial training sessions with employees, “I know if you’re happy, the guest will be happy. I know if you’re unhappy, the guest will be unhappy.”
Helping with morale is the prospect of a career with the company, moving from server into management.    Doshia King (See sidebar) is the young woman from Bed-Stuy to go into our management program.
Asked about Applebee’s reputation for giving formerly incarcerated people a fair chance at being hired, Zane says he’s had good experiences “and that’s why I continue to reach out. Do we win every time? No.”
We suggested that most people see “formerly incarcerated” on a resume and it’s the kiss of death. “We don’t do it that way. People are able to pay a price and move on. When we opened this restaurant, more than half were formerly incarcerated.”
What is most surprising about that is the level of competition faced in the initial hiring. “We interviewed several thousand people for what wound up to be seventy jobs,” and as he told them at that first meeting, they had not just been hired, but rather selected. He reminded them that they were special.
We asked Zane why he came into Bedford-Stuyvesant with unemployment so high.
“There has always been a high unemployment rate in Bed Stuy, we knew that coming in. we weren’t strangers here. I spent more time in Bed-Stuy than any site we had. Most people were running from Bed-Stuy. I would come here at all hours and watch the traffic flows and the people and found that most folks were pretty nice. 99% of the people are families just want what every other people do. And you don’t turn your back on a neighborhood because of a bad 1%.   We felt this could be a paradigm for Bed-Stuy. I tell people if they want to see a really well run restaurant, go to Bed-Stuy.
“Look, there’s about 150,000 people in Bed-Stuy, and if 50% are unemployed that mean 75,000 are employed. That’s more than enough for us. We can only seat 200.
I did not do this philanthropically on the one hand, but on the other hand I thought it was good give and take. Service a community, make money, without ripping people off.
Zane acknowledged that business has fallen off with the construction going on and a shroud-like netting over the entrance. “Look, when this Restoration Plaza gets finished, it’s going to be so “out of sight, it’s going to be worth the wait. It’s going to be over the top. We wanted to have a jazz combo on the terrace, but we’ll do it next year. Nothing comes without sacrifice so we’re sacrificing now. We just have to grin and bear it.”

Sidebar:

On A Career Path- Doshia King

Doshia attended Ebenezer Preparatory School and Boys and Girls High School during the Mickens era. She says, “Frank Mickens was the most incredible educator I’ve ever come in contact with. He always wanted not only his students to succeed but the Black and Hispanic community. He was a father figure to a lot of people.” She attended Medgar Evers College for 2 years then got her Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management from New York College of Technology where she had the opportunity to intern at Disney World to complete her degree. “I got hired in 2006 and started as a server for about three months, then moved to bartending for about a year-and-a-half. Then I became a Neighborhood Expert, someone who trains new people and then moved on to supervisor.” She then moved to the “back of the house,” where she cooked, broiled and prepared food for the plate. After 8 weeks in the MIT, (Managers-in-Training), Doshia is an official manager in Astoria. And will be the service manager of a restaurant opening in the Bronx. “I’ve been with the company for 3 ½ years and I guess my progression has been fast. I want to be a general manager of a store and eventually perhaps an area manager in years to come.”
Asked what she liked most about the company, Doshia replied, “They appreciate the work you do.”