Pierre Zarzour writes:
Please be reminded that I will be out of the office from Friday, December 18th through Monday, December 28th. During my absence, please contact Ms. Jillian Rothenberg at 212-986-0001 x 181 or jrothenberg@akam.com.
In case of an emergency, please call my mobile at 917-519-4679.
The New York Times reports:
This season’s inclement weather affected farmers’ markets as much as their crops, and customers lost early on never really came back. Just ask Michael Hurwitz, director of greenmarkets for the Council on the Environment of New York City.
“God, this was a tough year,” Mr. Hurwitz said. Market problems snowballed from the spring, when less produce than usual was available because of rain, cool weather and late planting on vendors’ farms. “That impacted customers coming back to market,” he said. “Spring is not for making money; it’s for getting customers in. Fall is for making money — and less people all season came to the markets.”
Those all-important weekends, including the two biggest market weekends of the season in mid-October, were rainy, and that meant fewer shoppers, Mr. Hurwitz said. At the largest market, in Union Square, business was off by as much as 40 percent this season. The economic crisis compounded the low turnout, though on the bright side, he said, it generally kept vendors from raising prices.
But farmers like John Glebocki had little choice. Mr. Glebocki is an Orange County farmer who sells his produce exclusively at 22 farmers’ markets, most of them in the New York City system. He figures he lost nearly 50 percent of his 80 acres of mixed vegetables, but he has faith in his customers. “People understand it’s a low production year,” he said, “and if we have to tack on another quarter a pound.”
Simply Grid announced today that it has launched a food cart electrification pilot in New York City’s Union Square. This is the first example of a mobile food vendor on New York City’s public streets using grid electricity rather than a noisy, polluting generator. Citywide, more than 3,000 mobile food carts create the equivalent pollution emissions of approximately 10,000 cars. This pilot, launched in conjunction with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Con Edison, the NYC Department of Transportation, and Closed Loop Advisors, will last for up to a year and abate up to 9 metric tons of CO2.
Simply Grid’s technology allows lot owners and municipalities to provide grid electricity to mobile food vendors which makes them cleaner, quieter, and more profitable. Electricity is made available to these vendors via outlets in industry standard electricity pedestals which have been customized with proprietary metering controllers. The controllers connect wirelessly to Simply Grid’s cloud-based platform which manages customer accounts, metering, and billing. The system allows vendors to initiate service with their mobile phones and connect to the electric grid with cables they already use with their generators. Grid electricity is a significantly cheaper energy source for food vendors, and it also eliminates the pollution and noise associated with running a generator.
Later this year, Capital One will open a new banking concept in New York City’s Union Square with a large café, operated by Peet’s Coffee, and an upstairs lounge that will function as a communal work space, complete with free Wi-Fi.
Not unlike the Apple Store, the bank will serve customers with mobile tellers, who will have iPads on which they will handle transactions, rather than the standard glass window setup.
The bank already operates a number of Capital One 360 Cafés, where customers are invited to enjoy coffee while they learn about ways to manage their finances, but the upcoming location takes a page from the rising popularity of communal office spaces, which are increasingly common in New York City.
The basement of the café at 853 Broadway will be used as a classroom. Customers can take courses on mortgage financing and other topics.
The elevated café concept is expected to expand beyond Union Square; the bank is reportedly already looking to open a location in the SoHo neighborhood, but a deal has not yet been made.
The Times has an article about the arcane and contradictory rules governing what can and can’t be sold in the Union Square farmer’s market. Bottom line: it’s a mess.
Walk through Union Square to learn more about spending your summer down the shore. The New Jersey Tourism Board has opened a promotional office, complete with sand, just south of Union Square on Broadway.
UNION SQUARE—Starting today, sandwich shop Num Pang is serving snow cones. Choose from Lime Lemongrass topped with Lychee and Pineapple Ginger topped with Toasted Coconut.
12th St. West of University