RECOVERY SERVED: U.S. Open’s return has businesses feeling optimistic
NEW SHEDS IN TOWN: Upgraded scaffolds catch fire at last
PAGE 2
PAGE 3 CRAINSNEWYORK.COM
|
AUGUST 30, 2021
TECHNOLOGY
HARD RESET: IT’S PLAN B FOR LINKNYC Stalled de Blasio tech initiative sees 5G as key to reverse fortunes after renegotiating city agreement BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH
See REBOOT on page 18
BUCK ENNIS
AT THIRD AVENUE AND EAST 16TH STREET on a February morning five years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio called 311. The call marked the first use of LinkNYC, the 10-foot-tall obelisks that on top of offering free digital calls, the mayor said, would blast out “the Wi-Fi network New York City deserves—the biggest and fastest in the world and completely free-of-charge.” New York’s private partner, CityBridge, would replace old pay phones with a modern network of 7,500 kiosks spread throughout the five boroughs, offering free Wi-Fi, phone calls and USB charging ports—all paid for with digital advertising dollars, of which the city would get a cut worth hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade. But almost halfway through the 15-year contract between the city and CityBridge, the vendor fell behind nearly $60 million on payments to the city and had installed fewer than 2,000 kiosks. The majority have gone to wealthy neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn, failing to address disparities in internet access among the city’s richest and poorest neighborhoods. The last new Link went live nearly three years ago. In the coming months, CityBridge will try to revamp the program
NEW GOVERNOR
Hochul will rely on these longtime allies BY BRIAN PASCUS
G
ov. Kathy Hochul has promised big changes to the way the Executive Chamber works. Aside from a more civil and consensus-oriented approach to government, she aims to apply her
NEWSPAPER
VOL. 37, NO. 30
power in Albany through the lens of the local governments where she got her start in politics. Hochul is expected to surround herself with a small band of longtime aides and close loyalists as she takes control of the state government. Here’s a look at some of the
© 2021 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.
close advisers who will help run New York. JEFF LEWIS Lewis can be considered Hochul’s right-hand man. He is the new governor’s chief of staff, a position he held in the office of lieu-
PAGE 23
P001_CN_20210830.indd 1
tenant governor for the past five years. He was also Hochul’s director of external affairs for nearly two years before that. Lewis has known Hochul for a decade. He managed campaign finance operations for
SMALL-BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
HELPING LOCALS REDISCOVER HUDSON APPEAL
GOVERNORKATHYHOCHUL/FLICKR
State’s first female governor pledges more consensus building and less combativeness
See HOCHUL on page 19
ASKED & ANSWERED
Retail broker: tenant’s market will persist PAGE 11
8/27/21 5:50 PM