Crains New York - May 27, 2013 - (Page 10)

OPINION Bike share’s promise, pitfalls A lmost a year later than planned, bike share has arrived in New York City. Eagerly awaited by some, dreaded or even hated by others, Citi Bike launches on Memorial Day with racks of blue bicycles available for rent in select neighborhoods. Like many other Bloomberg administration pilot projects, bike share is probably here to stay. With some taps on the brakes and greasing of chains, it can turn out as well as the once-controversial workplace smoking ban, pedestrian plazas and hybrid taxis. Bike share has succeeded in Paris, London, Barcelona, Washington, D.C., and other cities, but New York will be its biggest test. Like bicycling itself, implementing it will require balance—in this case, between public policy and public relations. The question is whether the Department of Transportation is up to the task. The agency has near total control over streets and sidewalks, and for good reason: Its engineers and planners are trained to design and manage complex transportation networks. But the department must not dismiss the impassioned voices of its constituents, be they frail seniors bewildered by blue blurs whipping by or militant cyclists riding fixed-gear wheels with neither brakes nor respect for the rules of the road. Already, complaints are rolling in about enormous bikeshare racks in front of apartment buildings and businesses. Maybe that’s as it should be: New Yorkers are an expressive CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL IS IT TIME FOR ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHELDON SILVER TO GO? Yes. Time and again, the speaker has protected the Assembly’s criminals. That’s outrageous. bloomberg news No. Mr. Silver admitted his mistakes and forced out alleged serial sex-harasser Vito Lopez. That’s leadership. Date of poll: May 20 436 votes 84% 16% FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS: Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say. 10 | Crain’s New York Business | May 27, 2013 lot. But bike share has too much potential to let it be hijacked by discord. The program promises to make the city more convenient and navigable for residents and visitors. Gripes should be made and heard with the goal of improving bike share, not defeating it. Some racks might need relocation—in fact, the Fire Department is already looking into that. But city officials will have to tell residents that they are not entitled to permanently open curb space in front of their homes. And then make the case that bike share deserves a chance. Besides, if some racks prove to be unworkable, it’s easy enough to move them. Transportation officials pledge to monitor their impact. There need be no rush to judgment. Hysterical arguments that a bike rack might compel an ambulance to pull up a few yards farther away are not convincing: first, because the space being used for racks might otherwise be occupied by delivery and service trucks, and second, because if we were so concerned about getting people to hospitals 10 seconds faster, we would not allow them to live in walk-ups. It’s hard to imagine New York without walk-ups. Soon we may feel the same way about bike share. Don’t let the program be hijacked by discord COMMENTS All’s well re hotels WHY UNION SHOPS ARE BEST FOR JOBS It’s unusual that a business newspaper would rely on Marxist economic theory on pricing in its editorial bashing a Hotel Trades Council initiative (“Pay for tuition, not bad bagels,” May 20). In reality, hotel pricing is based primarily on supply and demand, not labor costs. Which is why a night at a nonunion budget hotel in SoHo will run you $450, but $350 at a fullservice midtown union hotel. Meanwhile, employees at the union hotel earn middle-class wages, pay taxes and have free health insurance, while those at the budget hotel likely rely on government programs like food stamps and Medicaid to get by. New York is facing the disappearance of stable, middle-class jobs. According to a report by the corporatefunded Partnership for New York City, recent “job growth is primarily in high-wage and low-wage categories.” But New York, unlike almost every other city, has a hospitality industry that provides tens of thousands of middle-class jobs. Hotel developers still manage to turn a nice profit: We’ve got one of the largest hotel pipelines in the world to prove it. Special permits in midtown east—while making sure world-class office space and hotels are developed— would also help ensure that New York’s hospitality jobs remain middle-class. —josh gold Director of political and strategic affairs Hotel Trades Council SICK-PAY BILL IS NOT ‘WEAK’ Greg David’s analysis (“Sick days, wage bills: council’s foot in door,” May 13) of the paid-sickdays bill that passed the City Council May 8 is wrong about the scope and effectiveness of the bill as well as about its goals. The bill will give five days of paid sick time to nearly a million workers who don’t currently have any when they or a family member is sick. Just as important, no city worker will lose a job for taking up to five days off to deal with a personal or family illness. It is unclear why Mr. David characterized this huge victory for workers in New York City as “weak.” It protects a substantial number of workers and includes a robust administrative remedy, making it even stronger than several of the sick-leave bills that have passed in other localities. While our organization, as one of the advocates behind this victory, would prefer that the law provide paid sick days for every worker, a democratic legislative process entails compromise and listening to opponents, which advocates, the bill sponsor and the speaker did. —sherry leiwant Co-founder and co-president A Better Balance CRAIN’S WELCOMES SUBMISSIONS to its opinion pages. Send letters to letters@crainsnewyork.com. Send columns of 475 words or fewer to opinion@crainsnewyork.com. Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number. CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS editor in chief Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan EDITORIAL editor Glenn Coleman managing editor Jeremy Smerd deputy managing editors Valerie Block, Erik Ipsen assistant managing editor Erik Engquist senior producer, news Elisabeth Butler Cordova news producer Amanda Fung contributing editor Elaine Pofeldt columnists Greg David, Steve Hindy, Alair Townsend crain’s health pulse editor Barbara Benson senior reporters Theresa Agovino, Aaron Elstein, Lisa Fickenscher, Matthew Flamm reporters Chris Bragg, Matt Chaban, Daniel Geiger, Andrew J. Hawkins, Annie Karni, Adrianne Pasquarelli web reporters/producers Ken M. Christensen, Nazish Dholakia art director Steven Krupinski deputy art director Carolyn McClain staff photographer Buck Ennis copy desk chief Steve Noveck copy editor Thaddeus Rutkowski data editor Suzanne Panara assistant data editor Emily Laermer researcher Eva Saviano intern Ali Elkin ONLINE AND INTERACTIVE SERVICES senior web developer, interactive Chris O’Donnell ADVERTISING, MARKETING AND PRODUCTION director of sales and marketing Nancy Adler senior account managers Irene Bar-Am, David Harkey, Jill Bottomley Kunkes, Courtney McCombs, Suzanne Wilson director of custom content Trish Henry sales coordinator Lauren Black newsletter product manager Alexis Sinclair credit Todd J. Masura (313-446-6097) director of audience & content partnership development Michael O’Connor senior marketing manager Catherine Schutten director of conferences & events Courtney Williams reprint sales manager Lauren Melesio production and pre-press director Simone Pryce advertising production manager Suzanne Fleischman Wies TO SUBSCRIBE: For print and digital subscriptions or customer service, e-mail customerservice@crainsnewyork.com or call 877-824-9379 (in the U.S. and Canada) or 313-446-0450 (all other locations). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years, for print subscriptions with digital access. www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe TO ADVERTISE: Contact Nancy Adler at nadler@crainsnewyork.com or call 212-210-0278. www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise FOR INFORMATION ON OUR EVENTS: Contact Courtney Williams at cwilliams@crainsnewyork.com or 212-210-0257. www.crainsnewyork.com/events TO CONTACT THE NEWSROOM: 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4036 editorial phone: 212.210.0277 fax 212.210.0799 Entire contents ©copyright 2013 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. ®CityBusiness is a registered trademark of MCP Inc., used under license agreement. CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS chairman Keith E. Crain president Rance Crain treasurer Mary Kay Crain Cindi Crain executive vp, operations William Morrow senior vp, group publisher Gloria Scoby vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis chief information officer Paul Dalpiaz founder G.D. Crain Jr. (1885-1973) chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. (1911-1996) secretary Merrilee Crain (1942-2012) http://www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe http://www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise http://www.crainsnewyork.com/events http://www.crainsnewyork.com/poll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - May 27, 2013

In the Boroughs
In the Markets
Small Business
The Insider
Business People
Opinion
Alair Townsend
Greg David
Steve Hindy
Report: Largest Companies
The List
Classifieds
For the Record
Real Estate Deals
New York, New York
Source Lunch
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - May 27, 2013