There are always stories of some industries that seem to be resilient even during tough economic conditions. Healthcare, of course, always seems to have fewer qualified nurses and other specilty workers than the realistically Education is another area where jobs are usually easy to come by, especially in administration, where state data is showing that 3 out of 5 school district superintendents plan to retire in the next five years.
What isn’t so obvious, however, is the lack of qualified, long term workers in the professional horticultural field. So misunderstood is the professional horticulture industry, in fact, that many high school guidance e counselors actually discourage students from seeking employment or education in the field. To many, the horticulture industry is seen as being a dead-end, low-income, manual labor grind that , in the northeast, is seasonal – at best.
All the creative aspects of business from marketing to advertising to even licensing also exist in the original "green" industry. Recruiting has been so problematic, however, that two dozen green industry trade organizations have launched a web site to try and change the general opinion of the industry. TheLandLovers.org is a site aimed at raising awareness of the green industry.
The site is targeted at junior and senior high school students who have yet to determine a career path. The site provides readers with a background on the industry and employment opportunities from retail management, plant growing, landscape design and irrigation. Landscape architecture is a growing field within the green industry. With the myriad of environmental and zoning regulations plaguing retail and residential development across the country landscape architects are essential in mitigating runoff, watershed protection as well as pedestrian traffic patterns issues. No longer are landscape architects thought of those who could not choose between dirt or skyscrapers.
Much of the recruitment effort in the horticulture industry and construction trades alike has been getting entry level employees through work visas for foreign workers. Landscape firms compete with the hospitality industry for seasonal workers and the government has reduced the number of workers allowed to come in under more restrictive immigration policies.
The main thrust of the web site is to attract students interested in management supervisory and even business ownership as opposed to entry level. According to Cassie Larson the groups leader of information and education the industry is in dire straits when it comes to finding future leaders. There is a large shortage of workers at all levels of the green industry. With marketing firms promoting gardening as a lifestyle rather than a hobby this will only exasperate the need for qualified workers at all levels. If consumers continue embrace gardening as both a lifestyle and a way to put cheap food on the table they will demand a qualified talent pool to assist them in their gardening activities. As a case in point there is a growing trend in which consumers hire gardeners to design, plant, maintain and harvest fruits and vegetables from their back yard gardens. This is immensely popular in areas of second homes where weekenders like to have fresh produce waiting for them on their door step when they arrive.
The end goal according to Gregg Robertson of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery association is a complete re-branding of the entire horticulture industry. He claims the best way is to market the industry based on the benefits that the industry provides to the public not just the features of a nicer looking rose garden.
At a busy intersection near Dietz stadium on Kingston’s north side sits Utility Platers a defunct metal plating company. The grounds and creek surrounding the white otherwise unassuming building are believed to be polluted with heavy metals from the plating operation. In fact some guests on Kingston Community Radio have offered up the idea that the creek, which runs adjacent to the shuttered operation, often changed colors depending on what was dumped in the creek.
CVS is interested in building a pharmacy on the site in what would be CVS second pharmacy in the city and a total of four pharmacies in the city altogether. Just around the corner form the proposed site is Neko’s the last remaining independent pharmacy in the city. This is what has residents and business owners alike up in arms. They claim the city does not need another pharmacy and anther chain pharmacy in the city would place independent businesses in the area in danger of closing.
In an effort to halt or at least slow down development along that section of the city the city council has proposed a six month moratorium on new construction. In addition opponents want the city to require any new construction in the future to have strict design codes. These architectural codes would force developers to design their buildings to fit in with the overall look of the area. The proposed CVS borders Kingston’s historic stockade area. Opponents of the CVS store do not want a traditional boxy store taking away from the historic neighborhood nearby.
City councilman Jim Hoffay opposes the locating of CVS in that part of the city and is a proponent of the six month moratorium. However he feels that any proposal placed before the city prior to the moratorium should be allowed to go through the review process. This includes the CVS store he does not want in the city. The original moratorium proposed stopping all projects even ones already in the planning process. Since then the council has amended the ban stopping only new projects from coming before the council.
City mayor Jim Sottile supports CVS coming into the city and claims the original intent of the ban was only to stop CVS. Hoffay claims that is not true and offers up his support of the amended ban as proof. The ban was adopted by a unanimous vote of the council. Hoffay also feels leaving the original ban as written would have made the ban difficult to pass.
Eve with the altered ban in place there is still opposition to any building ban along Washington Avenue. Their rationale is based on their opinion that there is no other place to build a store like CVS on Washington Avenue and the fact that there I currently no other proposed commercial activity of any kind under consideration in the area.
The corner of Washington Avenue and Schwenk Drive was also home to Kingston Dialysis which has also closed. Sottile is pleased that the CVS project can move ahead and looks forward to seeing the site cleaned up and commerce return to what he deems a decaying corner.
Real estate has always been a great conversation piece. But lately, it seems almost impossible to chat with someone without the topic coming up. Don’t believe me? At your next dinner party, see how long it takes for someone to start talking about the market.
With most of the discussion these days seemingly centered on mortgages, home sales and prices, it seems one fundamental real estate principle has gotten lost in the shuffle. Regardless of market conditions, the path to the "American Dream" will always involve homeownership. That’s because it’s a dream based on more than just investment potential and economic gains. It also involves sharing your life with a significant other or having a place to raise your family. It includes finding a time and place to relax and enjoy life’s special moments when you’re not working hard to get ahead.
Yet, somehow during the recent real estate boom we lost sight of the personal, social and emotional benefits that accompany homeownership and got caught up solely in the monetary gains buying and selling houses offered instead. Don’t get me wrong. I think it is great that people can amass personal wealth through real estate investments. And over the long-haul, real estate continues to be a sound financial decision. But it is short-sighted to look at one’s own personal residence as only an investment.
Purchasing a home is always a worthwhile choice when you factor in the many positive life benefits that go with it. Much of our nation’s culture is centered on the home. Therefore, it’s no coincidence that many of life’s milestones involve a home purchase. A new couple buys a condo to begin their life together. A single mom purchases a starter home to have a little more room to raise her family. Retirees buy that vacation property they always wanted to enjoy their golden years.
Owning a home offers so much more than just investment potential. A home gives a sense of self-worth and accomplishment. A home provides shelter. A home offers stability and security. A home offers a nurturing environment for children to grow. A home serves as a place to gather with family and friends. A home provides a feeling of belonging within the community. A home creates memories.
Homeownership isn’t just a good thing for the individual either. Putting people in houses creates a stronger community as well. According to findings published by the National Association of Realtors, communities with higher homeownership had better educational performance, lower crime rates, more household participation in civic affairs and better household health.
Still, while financial advantages shouldn’t be the first and only thing we consider when we think about owning a home, it would be foolish to discount these benefits altogether. The opportunity to take advantage of tax deductions for mortgage interest and property taxes or the ability to benefit from the capital gains exclusion on the sale of a home up to $500,000 are just two examples of how owning a home provides real financial rewards.
Yet, the true benefit these financial dividends offer isn’t a bigger number on your bank statement. It’s the improved quality of life the additional money can provide. Whether that means having more to spend on necessities like food, utilities or healthcare or being fortunate enough to afford a new car, a vacation or a college education for your kids.
How many of us would evaluate our mutual funds, stocks and other investments on their ability to provide personal, social and emotion rewards? Then why judge the value of homeownership solely on investment potential? Remember, in addition to being a smart long-term financial decision, owning a home also pays big emotional dividends.
James M. Weichert is president and founder of Weichert, Realtors®, one of the nation’s largest privately held real estate companies, with nearly 18,000 sales associates in over 500 company-owned and franchised sales offices in key markets throughout the U.S.
Phil Goldstein, managing partner of Goldstein, Lieberman and Company, LLC, believes we are in the midst of a 1970’s style recession and says companies do not need to panic, but rather tighten their belts to survive the bumpy ride. As such, his accounting and business planning firm has created the REACT Task Force, an acronym for Recession-Expert Accounting Consultant Team. The REACT team is comprised of four leading partners in the firm; Goldstein, the firm’s senior partner Pincus Lieberman, John Boykas and Benjamin Mills.
"We’ve been doing it for our clients for a while now," Goldstein said. "Sometimes for us, down times are good because when business isn’t good is when you need someone to help guide you through rough waters. We really enjoy sitting down with our clients and helping them." REACT appraises six categories of a business’ operations; Products and Services, Marketing and Sales, People, Culture, Systems and Processes and Finance. Within those six categories are a total of 62 subcategories and within those 62 are hundreds more specific issues. All this is looked at comprehensively, business by business. "We take apart a company from a financial standpoint and put it together in a more profitable way. We find business strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities specific to the industry’s geographic area," Goldstein said. He likened a recession to a "virus."
"A recession is almost like a viral infection. Most people don’t have knowledge to solve, but we do." Goldstein explained, adding that one rule of recession economics is ‘cash is king.’ Inventories take longer to move which reduces income. Bills from customers take longer to get paid which also reduces income.In turn the business needs to find ways to decrease costs or increase profits. Some common methods are cutting payroll through layoffs or hours reduction, making operations more efficient and renegotiating contracts with vendors. Goldstein said one way you cannot make more money during a recession is by raising prices, because people have less money to spend. Instead you must focus on internal costs. Ben Mills said that every business and industry is different, and that a philosophy and plan directed at one company may be of zero relevance to another.
"We are proactive and have to figure out what’s not working. It’s not one size fits all, every industry is different," Mills said. Goldstein said that a representative of the governor’s office recently visited the office asking for information and expertise, because the firm handles such a wide range of industries. Goldstein and Lieberman deal with sectors including manufacturing, distribution, real estate, retail, construction and others. He said his firm’s clients were not surprised by the economic conditions.
"Thanks to Goldstein and Lieberman’s foresight and rapid communication, our clients had workable recession-contingency plans for years prior to the current downturn. Now there’s a recovery program underway that means there will be daily challenges as well as opportunities," he explained. "If you have a company that’s feeling the recession, it pays to REACT quickly. There’s still time to do critical recession-planning to stay on course in today’s changing business environment…I don’t think our clients were feeling any effects this time last year, today they are starting to feel the effects," said Goldstein. Philosophizing about the recession, Goldstein opined that "real estate was overbuilt. I think the commercial market will see effects too, but not as deep as residential. We look at it as a buy opportunity. It’s a 1970’s style recession. We see unemployment going to 8-9 percent and the stock market will stay down for a number of years." When asked about the "D" word, Mills noted that, "we are looking at nowhere near the numbers of the Great Depression. And our clients are ahead of the curve." Goldstein said that "before the Great Depression of the 1930’s, any economic downturn was called a depression. The term recession was created in the 1930’s to differentiate between that and smaller downturns as happened in 1910 and 1913." A depression is defined as any economic downturn where real GDP declines by more than 10 percent. A December 12-14 Gallup poll cited by UPI newswire said that 35 percent of the public sees a depression as "very likely" and only 25 percent believe there is little or no chance of a depression. During the recession of November 1973 to March 1975, which Goldstein sees as comparable to the current situation, GDP declined by 4.9 percent. The Great Depression of the 1930’s consisted of two major downturns and a period of recovery in between. Between August 1929 and March 1933 the nation’s GDP plummeted 33 percent and then again between May 1937 and June 1938 it crashed 18.2 percent. The country did not see boom times until the end of World War II. Since then the worst downturn was the aforementioned 1970’s recession. Goldstein supports the government’s efforts to bail out major banks and industries and prop up credit markets with easy liquidity.
"The worst mistake the federal government can make is to sit on the sidelines and not do anything. It has to do with the psychology of the American public," he said.
In his opinion the economy is largely psychological, and if Americans maintain faith in the system, the storms of recession will blow over.
Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center is the first children’s hospital in New York State to provide pediatric specialists with an additional resource in diagnosing complex conditions The Isabel system is a massive web-based medical database. As a tool it allows physicians to interact in real-time providing immediate reference materials based on a patient’s symptoms and clinical issues.
According to Dr. Robert Weiss, Director of Pediatric Nephrology at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, "As a major tertiary care academic medical center, our staff is regularly presented with complex diagnostic cases. The Isabel system complements the knowledge and experience of our physicians to provide the most accurate and fastest diagnoses at the point of care. Also, as part of our mission to train new pediatricians, Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center is dedicated to using the most sophisticated tools to educate trainees.
For example:
A school age child presents to the emergency department with a complaint of: 1) abdominal pain, 2) swollen and painful ankles and knees 3) rash on the buttocks and backs of thighs. With his or her clinical experience, a doctor would immediately recognize Henoch-Schoenlein Purpura (HSP). However, a medical student or inexperienced pediatric resident would need to look up the dozens of conditions that could cause each of these findings, eventually, piecing together the diagnosis. Entering these three descriptions, via Isabel’s "natural language," the diagnosis would be made within seconds, plus the trainee would be directed to websites that provide more detailed information about this condition, such as PubMed or UpToDate. The latter services are not focused on how to make the diagnosis, but provide extensive ical information, once you know the diagnosis. The system is easy to access.
"One has to logon to the Westchester Medical Center portal, available at any of the several desktop computers in each nursing station, and then click ‘Isabel,’" says Dr. Weiss. "The same process can occur from home, or anywhere else a physician has access to the Internet." This ease should eliminate most misdiagnosis as well as delayed diagnosis." Isabel’s medical knowledge library contains 11,000 potential diagnoses, 4,200 drug suggestions and 100,000 articles from medical journals. Isabel enables physicians to scan dozens of potential diagnoses and treatments with just a few clicks. Nearly two dozen published research studies have shown Isabel to be fast, easy to use and 95% accurate in suggesting diagnoses. In addition, the system has been validated by more than 35,000 healthcare providers worldwide in live clinical settings.
With hundreds of clinical and surgical specialists in every medical field, Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center is dedicated to the health and well-being of children.
According to a hosppital spokesman: "The Center treats more than 30,000 patients each year from pediatric trauma and intensive care, to cancer and heart disease and complex gastrointestinal disorders including liver transplantation, this clinical expertise is provided in a state of-the-art building that was designed from the point of view of children and their families, not just from the perspective of doctors and nurses." Their concept of "family centered care" which means involving parents, siblings, and other family members in a child's treatment has become a cornerstone of their caring approach.
Actually the Isabel system was founded out of a family need. When Doctor Jason Maude's young daughter was seiously ill and nearly died because her physicians could not diagnosis her condition, out necesicity both he and Dr. Joseph Britto, M.D. founded Isabel Healthcare Inc. a year laer. The company is named after Dr. Maude’s daughter. Now the Isabel system is in use at the country's leading hospitals.
He received a long ovation, he told stories of his youth and then he got to business. The question on the palate of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, guest speaker at the Rockland Business Association’s December membership meeting - what will the federal government do to help during what everyone is calling the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression?
First Schumer acknowledged that this situation is “different.” He said, “We always have recessions, that is part of a free market system. But what has exacerbated the problem is for the first time since the Great Depression we have a financial crisis [at the same time]. Banks don’t want to lend. We’re in a serious problem. We’re in a significant recession and if the financial crisis does not improve it will get a lot worse.” He also said that in his opinion federal bailouts of big banks and industries “have to be done.”
Schumer said Americans can expect a fiscal stimulus package totaling $500-700 billion early in Barack Obama’s first term as President. Schumer said it would be a five point plan, and that assuming there will be a recovery the Congress and the President would then focus on reducing the federal deficit. He noted that during the 199 0’s the government had gone from running $700 billion deficits to a $300 billion surplus. The five points of the President Obama stimulus plan would be infrastructure, green jobs and alternative energy development, direct lending to small business, federal assistance to states and local governments for paying Medicaid, and another round of stimulus checks to taxpayers and tax breaks.
Schumer spoke about each of the stimulus proposals. He said that by relieving local and state governments of their Medicaid burdens, it will also free up more money for them to tackle other local challenges. The infrastructure issue has been on American’s minds since the Hurricane Katrina calamity and the collapse of the highway bridge in Minnesota. Schumer said hundreds of billions will be poured into fixing America's roads, bridges, sewers and other key infrastructure items. He noted that for every infrastructure job created by the government another two or three are created by the economic activity that results.
He said several projects in the Hudson Valley region could qualify, especially those “shovel ready.” When asked by a questioner from the audience whether the Tappan Zee Bridge project could be a possible recipient Schumer said that officials would be wiser to look for funding from next year’s transportation bill. As far as green investment goes, he noted that California, the most populous and productive state20in the union, uses less energy per capita than almost any other state. That is because in the late 1970’s then Governor Jerry Browne put in special requirements for energy efficiency. Schumer hopes that efforts during Obama’s tenure reap similar dividends.
Schumer said he believes it is necessary for the federal government to provide direct lending to small business similar to what is currently offered by the Small Business Administration, but on a larger scale. He said “I think for a period of time, while banks are bad, the federal government should do direct lending at very low interest rates to small businesses.” In all Schumer said he believed the stimulus plan would be “a real shot in the arm for the economy” and said he did not believe Obama would raise taxes because “it doesn’t make sense to raise anybody’s taxes during a recession.”
Prior to Schumer’s speech, Rockland Business Association President and CEO Al Samuels thanked non-profit Jawonio for providing table centerpieces for the luncheon, which took place at the Hilton in Pearl River. He noted that the centerpieces were hand crafted by clients in Jawonio’s business skills program and could be purchased for $20 to support their cause. Active International and Good Samaritan Hospital sponsored the event. Executive Director of Good Samaritan Hospital Michael Schnieders thanked the RBA for helping20them in their mission to create a cardiovascular institute at the hospital. He noted that since the cardiovascular institute opened almost two years ago over 500 open heart surgeries had taken place.
A New York-based doctor is working on the means to expand the internet revolution into the realm of healthcare service. Dr. Lou Cornacchia, CEO of the new web-based medical system Doctations (www.doctations.com), says he is after an entirely new method to healthcare service in the United States, run through the internet. He told the Hudson Valley Business Journal that not only is the current system of communication and service woefully inefficient but in fact “it is not a system. It is a tangle of happenstance.”
“Doctations is really about creating a health care system. Doctors and patients can talk to each other online. There is a lot here that improves process and communication. It’s a win-win for patients and doctors,” said Cornacchia, noting his feeling that an internet healthcare renaissance can be similar to the one in travel, which over a period of three years saw masses of travel agencies replaced by do-it-yourself electronic websites like Travelocity. “Ultimately it will be driven by patients and doctors getting the idea that healthcare can be internet based,” he said.
Doctations lets patients upload, analyze and manage their medical information, request prescription refills, schedule appointments and communicate securely with their doctors. Patients can also use a webcam to send telecommunications to doctors. By using Doctations a docto r’s practice becomes a web-based integrated community where colleagues and patients have immediate access to key information regarding their health, Cornacchia said.
“The goal of the system is to reduce the doctor’s workload, and at same time the work I’ve done in the doctor’s office becomes automatically available to patients,” Cornacchia explained. “That can be used by patients to transmit lists to other doctors, or in an emergency give ER doctor medical status.” Cornacchia noted that the security lengths taken to protect data on the internet far exceed HIPPA requirements. “For some people who still have security fears, in truth every thing is on line anyway. There is just no way for health care industry to move forward without using the internet. Both Obama and Biden have said we have to move into internet based health care in the near future.”
The doctor said he’s been working on the new system for nearly a decade and has been discussing matters with doctors, patients and legal experts. Through this process he became aware of just how inefficient the current system is. He said that doctors spend up to 30 to 40% of their time managing business affairs in their office. He hopes this system will cut that in half.
“The world will be a better place if we spend more time caring for each other and less time focusing on finances,” Cornacchia said. The system can be perused at the aforementioned website but will not be operating commercially until January 1, 2009.
