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- Tech:NYC Digest: November 8
Tech:NYC Digest: November 8
Tech:NYC Digest: November 8
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
The Tech:NYC team is en route to Puerto Rico for the annual SOMOS conference (more on that tomorrow).
In today’s digest, keeping NYC competitive in the era of hybrid work, the next big redevelopment near the Mets stadium, and a Central Park celebrity finds a new home in the East Village.
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It’s no huge surprise, but nearly all New York City Council incumbents won or were in the lead for their general elections this afternoon. One exception is in the East Bronx, where a Republican is expected to win that district’s seat for the first time in decades. In districts in Harlem and Brooklyn, two Democratic newcomers won in the primaries and ran unopposed yesterday, securing victories. (Gothamist)
One of those newcomers was Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated “Central Park Five.”
Find five takeaways from NYC’s 2023 election results here and six election night takeaways from across the country.
And here’s a full list of New York election results by race.
An $8 billion facelift is in the works for the area surrounding Citi Field in Queens. The Mets’ owner Steve Cohen announced plans yesterday for a major redevelopment on the 50 acres of asphalt surrounding the park. (NBC New York)
The project, deemed Metropolitan Park, is expected to include 20 acres of public park space, five acres of athletic fields and playgrounds, a Hard Rock Hotel, and other entertainment venues. The deal also includes a new public transit station.
Here’s one hyper-local story we can’t help but follow: A famous New York personality just moved from a dwelling with a gorgeous Central Park view to the East Village: Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl, who garnered the public’s attention in February after escaping from the Central Park Zoo, was just spotted on a perch in the east side’s sculpture garden on Monday. (New York Times)
In other reading:
Will Licensing E-Bikes Make Sidewalks Safer? (Curbed)
New Yorkers and New Jerseyans weigh in on their favorite ‘unexpected art’ around NYC (Time Out)
The Best New NYC Burrito is Big and Beefy and Waiting in Windsor Terrace (Grub Street)
NYC is still not exactly settled on any post-pandemic hybrid work consensus. We’ve been following the city’s RTO data since week one of the pandemic, and the only thing we know for sure: neither New York nor the nation is anywhere near full office occupancy.
Some businesses are aggressively pushing for workers to return to the office, while others seem satisfied with the hybrid or completely remote models they stood up in the last three years.
The latest stats: Kastle Systems, which collects data from badge swipes at Manhattan commercial office buildings, found that just under half of New York employees were in the office the week of Nov. 1, falling behind a few major metros.
New York’s most recent return to office rate was 48.9%, a rate that has plateaued over the last few months.
NYC is, however, outpacing the nation’s second biggest city, Los Angeles, which recorded 48.2% office occupancy during the same period.
At an event hosted by the Center for an Urban Future this morning, our own president Julie Samuels spoke about how to keep the city competitive in the age of hybrid work. She joined economic development and business leaders to discuss the policymaking goals that best keep NYC’s economy strong in this new normal.
One way to keep jobs flowing into the city? Think long-term, and plan for the next generation of talent: In tech, “people talk about Stanford. They talk about MIT. But they don't really talk about any single institution in New York,” Samuels said. “We have really amazing post-secondary institutions here. And we don't do a good job, frankly, of telling the story of what that looks like as a whole.”
WFH Fridays: It’s well covered that that Friday is the least popular day to come into the office. So why not frame the work week around that?
“When you think about, let's say Midtown East, a lot of those businesses are five day week businesses and their economics are based on Monday through Friday. What if your economics are based on Monday through Thursday?” Samuels said at today’s panel. “Thinking about [how to approach] Fridays is going to be half the battle of the remote work situation.”
Out bottom line: We’re optimistic about New York’s future.
“People come here because they want to be a part of it. An amazing thing about New York is we know how to do big things here. It’s hard, it’s so hard, but we do them,” Samuels said. “As messy as it is along the way, I feel quite optimistic about New York.”
In other reading:
4 unmet needs that cause you to procrastinate (Fast Company)
The skills your employees need to work effectively with AI (Harvard Business Review)
Here’s the Forbes 2023 Future of Work 50 List (Forbes)
November 14 – 15: In-person: 2023 Urban Tech Summit, with NYC chief climate officer Rit Aggarwala, Kelvin CEO Marshall Cox, Brooklyn Navy Yard CEO Lindsay Greene, Near Space Labs CEO Rema Matevosyan, and others. Hosted by Cornell Tech. Register here.
November 15: Virtual: State of Fundraising Briefing, with AlleyCorp general partner Marshall Porter, Stellation Capital managing partner Peter Boyce II, Carta head head VC and accelerator business development Ryan O’Conor, and Tech:NYC president Julie Samuels. Hosted by Tech:NYC. Register here.
November 20: In-person: Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg speaker series, featuring Rho co-founder and CEO Everett Cook. Hosted by Tech:NYC, Bloomberg, and Cornell Tech. Register here.
December 8: In-person: Nonprofit TechCon, with BetaNYC executive director Noel Hidalgo, Queens Deputy Borough President Ebony Young, and others. Hosted by City & State. Use code TECH23 for 50% off tickets here.
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