WCBJ
WESTCHESTER COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
YOUR only SOURCE FOR regional BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com
June 4, 2012 | VOL. 48, No. 23
Bob Rozycki
platinum mile in transition BY PATRICK GALLAGHER pgallagher@westfairinc.com
W
here corporate giants once reigned, vacancies now line the Platinum Mile, fueling plans by the town of Harrison to overhaul zoning requirements that would allow for mixed office, retail and residential developments along Westchester Avenue as early as 2013. Harrison officials and consultants working with the town are in the process of revising the town’s comprehensive plan to include chapters specifying development rules for the downtown and Platinum Mile districts. Preliminary revisions call for limited retail, restaurant and residential development to be allowed in targeted areas, beginning with the properties located in the teardrop Platinum, page 6
Entrance to 3 Gannett Drive, which would be in the new zoning district.
Businesses, Albany battle over state wage hike BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com
S
upport for increasing New York’s minimum wage has grown among business advocacy groups and business owners and executives statewide in the closing weeks of a legislative session in Albany where a wage-hike bill, lacking strong public support from the governor, could die in the Senate. Historically unpopular in the business
community, the latest proposed wage hike still is strongly opposed by several business and trade lobbying groups in Albany, among them the Business Council of New York State, the state office of the National Federation of Independent Business, Unshackle Upstate and New York Farm Bureau. In Westchester County, the wage hike has not been a high-priority issue for the two largest business groups here, The
Business Council of Westchester and Westchester County Association. Neither has taken a position on the bill passed by the Democrat-controlled Assembly in May, which would raise the state’s minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2013. The minimum wage in future years would be pegged to the annual inflation rate. To become law, the bill also requires passage by the Republican-controlled
out of the office with stephen grisanti • 31
Senate before the legislative session ends June 21. That, however, might not be “in the realm of the possible,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a recent radio interview. “I support the concept of a minimum wage increase,” Cuomo was quoted in the May 21 interview. “The Senate feels quite strongly about their position.” Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos, the Long Island Republican, “has said we Businesses, page 6
CEO pay up 6% • 13