Crains New York - February 4, 2013 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S REMEMBERING ED KOCH NEW YORK BUSINESS ® WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM FEBRUARY 4-10, 2013 PRICE: $3.00 newscom VOL. XXIX, NO. 5 THE INSIDER Mayor grew into a friend of business BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS AND CHRIS BRAGG resorts world casino new york city EYE-POPPING revenue, not just carpet, makes Resorts World stand out. Ed Koch was not a businessman. But it could be argued that no mayor has done more for business in New York City. He inherited a city that had been saved from bankruptcy by the state but was still mired in debt and hemorrhaging jobs and people. Mr. Koch slashed the budget and landed federal loans, eventually paying them off early. He implemented responsible budgeting practices now common to the city’s fiscal management, reassuring the business community. “At the time, there was a real question about See THE INSIDER on Page 6 Betting on tourists Aqueduct racino to launch aggressive bid for city visitors as rivals ready plans to lure gamblers upstate BY LISA FICKENSCHER Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to attract some of the city’s 52 million tourists to economically hard-hit regions by building three casinos upstate is about to face stiff competition well before a shovel breaks ground. Resorts World Casino is on the verge of launching an aggressive strategy to lure tourists to its Queens location at the Aqueduct Raceway. The 15-month-old racino is adjacent to a horse-racing track and is already popular with locals. More than 10 million people visited in its first full calendar year. Resorts World generated $638 million in revenue in 2012, of which $435 million went to state coffers—contributing more in taxes than any other casino in the country. Only a fraction of the visitors, however, were from out of town, according to the casino, which is owned by a Malaysian-based gambling conglomerate, Genting Group. But that could change soon. In the next 90 days, the company will launch a free daily bus service from midtown Manhattan that could deliver more than a half-million visitors annually to the racino’s doorstep. The bright red buses, the signature color of Resorts World and symbolic of good fortune in Chinese culture, will run every 30 minutes for 18 hours a day, making just two or three stops before heading through the QueensMidtown Tunnel. See BETTING on Page 24 NEWSPAPER REPORT HEALTH CARE The road to Obamacare begins in med school PAGE 13 THE LIST: Top executive recruiters PAGE 16 CITY HALL DAYS: Ms. Townsend with her boss in the 1980s ALAIR TOWNSEND You did good, Mr. Mayor Ed Koch used to say that he gave the city back its spirit.Now,with crime low,years of balanced budgets behind us, an economy bristling with the energy of young tech entrepreneurs and the city a magnet for more than 50 million tourists annually, the dark days of the 1970s and early 1980s seem like distant memories. New York was reviled then, held up as the poster city for profligacy and weird ways,a place many were afraid to visit or to send their children to college or to work. It was a city in steep decline, with few ready to posit that it could be turned around. Ed Koch had few doubts, and he put his enormous energy, intellect and force of will to making it happen. He balanced the budget one See GOOD on Page 2 http://WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - February 4, 2013

THE INSIDER
ALAIR TOWNSEND
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
GREG DAVID
DIGITAL NY
SMALL BUSINESS
REPORT: HEALTH CARE
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - February 4, 2013