2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)
Matt Hancock, UK Minister of Health announcing discovery of stronger faster infecting new strain today.
A new strain of coronavirus has been identified in southern England as tougher restrictions were imposed in London, The Independent of Dublin newspaper reported today in an article by Public Affairs Editor Matt Hughes, reprinted herewith as a public service:
The British capital and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will face Tier 3 restrictions from Wednesday following “very sharp, exponential rises” in cases.
London set to move to strictest tier of restrictions
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs the number of cases involving the new variant was “increasing rapidly”.
Initial analysis suggests that this variant is growing faster than the existing variants, he said.
“We’ve currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the south of England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas,” he said in the House of Commons.
The Health Secretary said there was nothing to suggest the variant was more likely to cause serious disease and he suggested the vaccine should still be effective.
“But it shows we’ve got to be vigilant and follow the rules and everyone needs to take personal responsibility not to spread this virus,” he said.
Mr Hancock said it was necessary to move London from Tier 2 to Tier 3 to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed.
“Over the last week we have seen very sharp, exponential rises in the virus across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire,” he said.
“We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out.
“In some parts of these areas the doubling time is around every seven days.”
Hospitals across the capital, Essex and Kent were already “under pressure”, he warned.
“We know that this doubling of cases will be mirrored in hospital admissions and it only takes a few doublings for the NHS to be overwhelmed.”
WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation, December 13, 2020:
Friday, in federal court in Brooklyn, Ingris Coronado pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging her with defrauding her former employer, Southern Queens Park Association (SQPA), a government-funded, Queens-based not-for-profit that provides educational and other social services to young adults.
Friday’s plea took place before United States District Judge William F. Kuntz, II.
When sentenced, Coronado faces up to 20 years in prison, as well as forfeiture and a fine of up to $250,000 for submitting false invoices and cashing checks issued in the names of other individuals.
Since at least 2014, Coronado worked as a Project Manager for SQPA, which received millions of dollars annually in New York City government funding. According to court filings and facts presented during the plea proceeding, between August 2014 and September 2018, Coronado engaged in a scheme to steal money from SQPA.
Specifically, in her role as the supervisor of an after-school program run by SQPA, Coronado repeatedly falsified time sheets, collected checks issued in the names of more than ten of her supervisees and deposited those checks into her own bank account.
On multiple occasions, Coronado also created false invoices for vendors for SQPA and deposited the resulting payment checks into her personal account. As a result of her fraudulent conduct, Coronado stole tens of thousands of dollars from SQPA.
“For years, Coronado deceived her employer and abused her position at a not-for-profit organization by stealing funds that were meant to benefit members of the community,” stated Acting United States Attorney DuCharme. “Today’s guilty plea makes clear that individuals who engage in fraud to satisfy their own greed at the expense of the community they are supposed to be serving will be brought to justice.”
“Coronado stole money directly from a city-funded, not-for-profit program established to provide services to young adults. Today she’s admitted to her criminal activity and faces a significant jail sentence as a result of her behavior. Let this be a message to others who are currently scamming the system—there are consequences for your actions,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.
“This defendant falsified timesheets and vendor invoices and pocketed checks issued to employees and vendors, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars – stealing taxpayer funds meant to help residents of southern Queens who rely on this nonprofit’s programming. DOI is committed to investigating these damaging crimes that attack our City’s charitable organizations and diminish the impact of the City’s funding of their programs. We are proud to have partnered with the office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to hold this defendant accountable for her conduct,” stated DOI Commissioner Garnett.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorney Nathan Reilly is in charge of the prosecution.
THE HOLIDAY MARKET ON WALLER BEHIND RESTAURANT ROW ON MAMARONECK AVENUE DREW IN CROWDS YESTERDAY AND IT OPENS AGAIN AT 11 AM TODAY SUNDAY AND IS OPEN UNTIL 7. THE STORES ARE UNIQUE AND LOCAL. THERE ARE TERRIFIC GIFT ITEMS AVAILABLE, ELEGANT RESTROOMS AND GREAT RESTAURANTS TO GRAB A BITE TO EAT. WHEN THE CITIZENETREPORTER VISITED SATURDAY I WAS IMPRESSED WITH ABOUT 50 TO 75 PERSONS STOPPING THE HEATED KIOSKS, THE CLOTHING, THE JEWELRY, THE PAINTINGS, RECREATIONAL ITEMS. COME ON DOWN. PLENTY OF PARKING IN THE WALLER LOT. MERCHANTS TOLD ME LAST WEEKEND IT STARTED SLOWLY BECAUSE OF THE RAIN BUT TRAFFIC PICKED UP DURING THE WEEK AND SATURDAY YESTERDAY WAS HIGH TRAFFIC. THE CITY ACTUALLY ORGANIZED THE HOLIDAY MARKET REACHING OUT DIRECTLY TO STORES IN WHITE PLAINS AND WESTCHESTER. MERCHANTS WPCNR SPOKE TO SAID THEY WOULD PARTICIPATE NEXT YEAR AND HOPED THE CITY WOULD STAGE IT AGAIN.THEY SHOULD ALSO CONSIDER MOVING THE FARMERS MARKET FROM COURT STREET TO WALLER. (MUCH EASIER TO PARK!)
WPCNR REALTY REALITYFrom Optimal Spaces. December 12, 2020
December 2020: New York Office, Retail and Industrial Market Report
Office: Manhattan Office rental prices are declining, as sublease space and new construction flood the market with more than 53 Million square feet of available office space. Availability is over 11% which means it is a Tenant Market.
Retail: Manhattan retail prices continue to decline due to leases not being renewed and subleases flooding the market. Retail prices are unlikely to get better until the Covid vaccine and tourism rebounds.
Building Sales: The building sales market is very quiet with the exception of a large long-term leased office building occupied by Amazon at 410 10th Avenue which sold for $952.5 million.
December 7, 2020
Office: Manhattan Office rental prices are declining, as sublease space and new construction flood the market with more than 53 Million square feet of available office space. Availability is over 11% which means it is a Tenant Market.
Retail: Manhattan retail prices continue to decline due to leases not being renewed and subleases flooding the market. Retail prices are unlikely to get better until the Covid vaccine and tourism rebounds.
Building Sales: The building sales market is very quiet with the exception of a large long-term leased office building occupied by Amazon at 410 10th Avenue which sold for $952.5 million.
New York Market Overview
Manhattan Office:
Manhattan office leasing volume in 2020 will be 52% lower than the year before.
3.12 million square feet of sublease space came on the market from April to September boosted sublets’ share of total availability to 23.2% from 22.1%.
A decline in Manhattan’s asking office rent average was relatively small in the second and third quarters this year 3%, partly because landlords took a “wait and see” approach during the second-quarter lockdown. In the third and fourth quarters of 2008, the average asking price dropped by 15.3%.
Although the current downturn has largely been marked by a lack of leasing, downward pressure on pricing could still intensify if more businesses downsize.
Among Manhattan’s 18 submarkets, the Plaza District’s average asking rent was mostly unchanged from April to September, but the other 17 submarkets experienced declines.
A 16.5% drop in the Penn Plaza/Garment district was mostly caused by the removal of the high-priced space at the Farley Post Office development leased to Facebook in August. The 13.7% dip in Hudson Square was primarily driven by low-priced sublet space listed at 1 Hudson Square.
One of the reasons for a steeper price decline in Midtown South was because the area was booming and the price was rising before the pandemic, creating room for the price to come down. But the Midtown market, whose older inventory was losing tenants even before the pandemic, didn’t have as much to lose from asking prices. Midtown has new construction, such as One Vanderbilt and 390 Madison Avenue, along with 1271 Avenue of Americas, which is undergoing a major renovation.
Manhattan’s office availability rate hit a high not seen in a decade.
The amount of available office space rose to 12.9%, the highest since 2004.
The glut of available space persisted even as leasing volume rose. It was up by 57.1% to 1.76 million square feet compared to the month prior. It is still less than a half of what it was a year ago.
The Midtown South market accounted for more than half of Manhattan’s overall lease activity. But even in that submarket, the availability rate rose to a record high of 12.1%, up by nearly 49% from a year ago.
The average asking price is down to $72.26 per square foot, a 10% decline from last year. The sharp decline in price was due because Midtown South has become a popular office location, which has led to a spike in pricing.
In Midtown East, subleases account for 23% of the total office availability and some spaces can be had for more than 50% below asking rents.
With only 10% of Manhattan workers back in their offices, companies are rethinking their footprint, leading to a surge of spaces available for sublease. As of October, more than 16 million square feet of office space was available for sublease.
