The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER CURBING GRIDLOCK ◄ P.8
27-3 2018
THE BOSS IN THE MIRROR WORKFORCE After hitting the mid-century mark, legions of East Siders, West Siders, downtowners, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen residents are mustering the courage, and cash, to go into business for themselves BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
Sarah Carroll (right), pictured here at the unveiling of a new marker in the DUMBO Historic District in Brooklyn, is Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pick to lead the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Carroll has served on the LPC staff for over two decades. Photo: NYC LPC, via Flickr
PRESERVATIONIST TAPPED AS NEW LANDMARKS CHAIR NEIGHBORHOODS Sarah Carroll, career LPC staffer, is mayor’s choice to lead agency BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
In a move that has soothed the concerns of some activists concerned with the direction of the city’s historic preservation efforts, Mayor Bill de Blasio has tapped the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s top staffer to serve as the agency’s next chair. Sarah Carroll, who has served as the LPC’s executive director for the last four years, is the administration’s nominee to lead the 11-member commission. If approved by the City Council, Carroll would succeed Meenakshi Srinivasan, who resigned earlier this year
amid a controversy over a set of proposed changes to agency rules that critics claimed would weaken public input in the landmarks process. The mayor’s nomination of Carroll — a career LPC staffer and preservationist — has quelled anxieties long held by some preservation advocates who felt the commission had been too permissive in allowing demolitions, alterations and new construction in historic districts under Srinivasan’s leadership. Carroll described herself as “a preservationist by training, profession and temperament” in Council testimony, explaining that she hopes to work to make the agency more open and transparent and expand community outreach as chair.
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The Upper West Side boasts more entrepreneurs among the over-50 set than any other neighborhood in the city — and the Upper East Side is a close second, a new research report found. But when it comes to becoming one’s own boss at the age of 60 and up, the UES takes the lead — and the UWS trails ever so slightly, according to data from the Center for an Urban Future. The boomer generation is reinventing the workplace. The phenomenon is called “encore entrepreneurship.” And its growth, from the Battery to central Harlem has been turbo-charged, the think tank determined. In the past decade, the ranks of selfemployed Manhattan residents 50 and over soared 19 percent, to 72,996 from 61,159, researchers found, while those aged 60-plus shot up 32 percent, to 41,190 from 31,152. Bottom line: Nearly one out of every three borough residents north of five decades, or 30.3 percent, is now working for themselves, and the selfemployment rate downtown stands at 40 percent, the data shows. Fueling the surge in business activity among 50-, 60- and 70-somethings is the graying of the city’s population — the 50-plus census has leaped over 10 percent since 2010 — along with ever-increasing lifespans and the accompanying need for older New Yorkers to develop new income streams. Other factors include the lingering
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“Willing and ready learners”: social media event at the Senior Planet Exploration Center in Chelsea. Photo: Ashad Hajela
Ask most New Yorkers to picture an entrepreneur, and they imagine a 20- or 30-something in jeans and sneakers. But the face of entrepreneurship across New York City is changing.” Center for an Urban Future report fallout from the layoffs of the Great Recession, the tough odds seniors face in the job market, persistent age discrimination in the workplace, the rise of the gig economy, the fall of both start-up costs and barriers to entry due to advances in technology — and even the relative ease of setting up limited liability companies. “Folks in their 50s and 60s who’ve spent 30-plus years in larger companies are now leveraging their professional experience in the workforce,” said Eli Dvorkin, managing editor of the research institute. “They’ve got a lot to offer. And they’re trying to go it alone.” Many first-time business builders reinvent themselves as independent
consultants or freelancers, deploying the intimate knowledge of their industries they developed as employees to provide similar services to customers, he said. But others venture into largely unchartered waters, Dvorkin said. Like the ex-corporate lawyer who created an LLC for a nutritional dog-treat venture, Kalo Karma. Or the former advertising executive who started a food-manufacturing business and produces vegan tempeh, an artisanal meat substitute consisting of organic grains and fermented beans. “Many encore entrepreneurs are not getting traditional bank financing for their businesses – so they’re bootstrapping companies, forming LLCs, getting business cards printed, putting up their own money, and in really large numbers, they’re setting out on their own,” Dvorkin added.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat and holiday candles Friday Sep. 28, 6:25 pm Shemini Atzeret eve. Sunday Sep. 30, 6:22 pm Simchat Torah eve. Monday Oct. 1, after 7:18 pm from a pre existing flame For more information visit: www.chabaduppereastside.com
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