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Watch: NYC Mayoral Candidate Shaun Donovan Touts ‘Deep Experience’ in Leading Through Crisis
By Lynda Lopez, WCBS Newsradio 880
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — In a little over seven months, New Yorkers will head to the polls to elect their next mayor who will face a myriad of challenges, including overseeing the city’s pandemic recovery.
Shaun Donovan announced his candidacy for mayor in February 2020, just before the lockdowns that hurt an otherwise booming economy, revealing an underbelly of inequities in prosperity, health care and housing.
Donovan served as secretary for Housing and Urban Development and as the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama administration. Prior to that, he served as commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
For the latest WCBS 880 Weekly Rewind, Donovan tells anchor Lynda Lopez that it’s that experience which makes him the best candidate to lead the city through its next chapter.
“No one in this race has the deep experience that I do in leading through crisis,” Donovan said. “I’ve been called on again and again in this city, and across the country, to lead through crisis, but I also have the biggest, boldest ideas for the future of this city and I have the experience to actually turn those ideas into reality — working on the city level, at the neighborhood level, but also at the national level. So I really do think in this moment of crisis, where we’ve lost so many New Yorkers, we need a mayor, whether through housing and hurricanes and so many other crises, who’s actually led, who’s actually shown that we can build back, but build back better, build back a city that actually works for everyone.”
Speaking to his experience within the Obama administration, Donovan said he was called on to lead in the “midst of the worst housing crisis of our lifetime,” as well as the recovery effort post-Sandy.
“When he asked me to lead the $4 trillion federal budget just three weeks later, Ebola hit, and so one of the things that I bring is that no one else in this race has sat side by side with Dr. (Anthony) Fauci in the situation room, has helped develop vaccines, has helped make sure that we’re actually getting everyone vaccinated, that we’re bringing a city back whether it’s after a pandemic, or after a hurricane, or a housing crisis,” Donovan said, adding that he also understands the importance of partnering with community organizations to bring about change after working in the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn 30 years ago.
“We need everybody at the table if we’re going to really beat the crises that we’re facing right now,” he said.
During the conversation, Donovan was also critical of the vaccine rollout in the city.
“It’s been a failure,” he said bluntly. “When our essential workers, Black and Brown New Yorkers who have been on the frontlines, whether keeping our subways running, as the heroes in our hospitals, our nurses and doctors, aren’t able to get vaccines quickly enough, then something’s not working.”
Lopez also asked Donovan how the city can be more affordable for New Yorkers.
We posed this question to several mayoral candidates amid a startling report from Street Easy that shows essential workers cannot afford 96% of the listings on its site, with their average salary of $56,000.
Donovan explained his idea of “15-minute neighborhoods.”
“Within 15 minutes of your front door, every New Yorker should have not just a great school for your kids and a job that sustains your family, you should have transportation that gets you around the city quickly, you should access to the health care that you need — whether it’s to get a COVID test or to get a vaccine or to get the pre-natal care, the mental health care that’s so critical at this time… but we should also have access to fresh food, to parks, to all of the things that contribute to the underlying health disparities that have led to such disproportionate impacts of COVID around our city,” Donovan said. “All of those things and more are what every New Yorker should have within 15 minutes of their front door and that’s how I’m proposing that we plan our city going forward.”
The mayoral candidate was also asked about whether he believes Gov. Andrew Cuomo should step down amid dual scandals involving sexual harassment allegations and COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
“Enough is enough,” Donovan said. “We’ve heard from too many brave, courageous women, women I believe, that sexual harassment is real in the governor’s mansion, in the executive office building, in Albany, and now is the time for the governor to step down. If he won’t, then we need to move forward with an impeachment process, but enough is enough. I’ve been deeply moved and angered by the stories that I’ve heard and I believe them and it’s time for him to resign.”
Hear comprehensive analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
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880 Weekly Rewind: Self-Defense Tactics for Asian Americans, Border Crisis Heats Up, Cuomo Accused Again as Investigations Advance
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Asian Americans are pleading for safety as hate crimes against them spike. WCBS anchor Lynda Lopez talks to Asian American Federation Deputy Director Joo Han about how they are promoting self-defense techniques.
Plus, the influx of migrants at the U.S. Southern Border reaches the highest level in 20 years amid a change in policy from the Biden Administration.
WCBS reporter Steve Burns reports on the latest scandals involving New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who refuses to answer questions while two investigations into his alleged sexual harassment and assault proceed.
Hear comprehensive analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
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WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast: ‘Shark Tank’ Star Kevin O’Leary Boasts of ‘Digital 2.0 America’ in Growing Out of Pandemic
In Best Of, Entertainment, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, Technology, The World, Top News, videosBy Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Kevin O’Leary, the self-made entrepreneur turned TV “Shark,” brought his straight-shooting, no-frills flare to the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast with Joe Connolly, presented by The First National Bank of Long Island, in sharing how to grow one’s business again.
O’Leary, who was nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful” by co-star Barbara Corcoran in season one of ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank,” praised business owners for their grit and resilience during the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic that has levied a burden on the economy over the past year and shut down major industries, namely restaurants and hospitality companies.
“The great thing about the American entrepreneur is they don’t let failure stop them,” he said. “The majority of them try again and learn from their mistakes.”
O’Leary emphasized a changed economy, telling Connolly owners must pursue a digital “transformation” to survive the pandemic.
“You’ve got to realize that you have to do a digital pivot,” he explained.
Mr. Wonderful said only 36 of the 56 companies he had been invested in are still in business a year into the pandemic, noting many of his still-standing “Shark Tank’ companies shifted to using Shopify for their e-commerce platform and incorporated high-quality photography and video to connect and find new customers.
“They really engaged people for the first time in ways they’ve never done before because they were forced to – everybody was working remotely,” said O’Leary.
“Retail is really challenged because if you’re just (in a) 1,200 square-foot space in a mall and the traffic’s dropped 20 percent, I don’t think that’s going to work out for anybody because consumer preferences have dramatically changed in the last year towards online retail,” he noted.
He suggested direct-to-consumer sales will help businesses to cut and manage costs, grow their gross margins, and build for the future.
O’Leary does not anticipate remote work habits will be broken. He’s actually betting on it to stay by shrinking his real estate portfolio from 31 percent to 8 percent over the next three years while the market adjusts to the post-pandemic economy.
“I haven’t had a cold or been sick since March 7th of last year and I’m starting to like it,” he said, adding, “I don’t think I’m getting in an elevator in New York going up to the 78th floor with 60 people ever again – not in December. I’m not going into a packed restaurant. That may just be me; I’m a germaphobe, but I’ve talked to lots of other people that have the same concerns.”
Kathy Wylde, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for New York City, cited the “burnout” some employees feel by working from home where many feel they are always at work. She believes employers and employees want to return when it’s safe to do so. Mr. Wonderful disagrees with her assessment.
Photo Credit: ABC. “They have no interest in coming back to headquarters – not now, not ever,” O’Leary said of his workers. “In fact, if you try and force them, they’re going to find a job somewhere else where they get that flexibility.”
The O’Leary Financial Group founder told the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast that he hears most of his 10,000 employees enjoy working from home to take care of children and elderly parents while avoiding rough commutes in major metropolitan cities like New York.
Employers in professional services find productivity is up and they have a widened talent pool across the country and world.
The “Shark Tank” investor said he has made informed business decisions by listening to others he encounters while working remotely, himself, from his Miami Beach dream house where he joined Connolly virtually from his home studio.
One example of this is when he struck up a conversation with the nurse who administered his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine recently. She explained that at 24 years old she was uncomfortable with the lack of data around the vaccine and fertility.
“I had obviously heard of anti-vaxxers before, but I always thought they were the lunatic fringe – the 10 percent that thought the government was injecting them with a chip or something,” O’Leary said.
“I’m under the impression now, or at least in terms of my investment philosophy, that we’re going to get to a place pretty soon in the next 6 weeks, maybe 8 weeks, where we will have vaccinated two-thirds of the country and we’re going to hit a brick wall. The other third isn’t going to take it,” he believes, thus he’s downsizing his physical footprint, beefing investment in the digital space, and encouraging restaurateurs to re-think their indoor and outdoor dining areas while improving their digital ordering systems for takeout and delivery.
O’Leary sold his first business, renamed The Learning Company from SoftKey Software Products, to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999. Now, he owns O’Leary Financial Group, which is a conglomerate of brands that includes investment firm O’Leary Funds. He also serves as chairman of O’Shares ETFs. Kevin, a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, owns O’Leary Fine Wines. Mr. Wonderful is also heavily invested in financial literacy firm Beanstox, Inc., which is geared towards young people in their 20s and 30s who are more interested in business and investing because of the pandemic.
“Basically, we’ve made it so simple that you try and take 100 dollars a week and put it into the markets through indexing,” he told Connolly of Beanstox. “It’s a tool to help people solve a big problem in America: 100 million Americans do not have anything set aside for their retirement.”
Mr. Wonderful knows how to have fun, too. He shows his lighter side to his 401,000 YouTube subscribers. His hobbies include biking, cooking and playing the guitar.
“I don’t work 9 to 5, obviously, and I try and find life balance in doing the things I love to do while I’m working,” O’Leary said in response to a question from WCBS Business Producer Neil A. Carousso, adding, “I work seven days a week, but I don’t work every hour.”
You can see Kevin O’Leary’s routine, his business philosophy, and actionable advice for growing your business again despite the pandemic on the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast with Joe Connolly, presented by The First National Bank of Long Island. Watch the full program above.
About Kevin O’Leary:
Photo Credit: ABC Kevin O’Leary’s success story starts where most entrepreneurs begin: with a big idea and zero cash.
Kevin O’Leary was born to a middle class family in 1954. The combination of Kevin’s mother’s family heritage as merchants and his father’s Irish charisma truly meant that O’Leary was born for business. Kevin learned most of his business intuition from his mother. She taught him key business and financial insights from an early age. These became Kevin’s core philosophies, and the pillars upon which he would one day build his empire.
Kevin’s approach to business went through major changes as a teenager. During his second day on the job at a local ice cream shop, his boss came into the front of the store where Kevin was scooping ice cream. She looked at Kevin and asked him to scrape all the gum between the Mexican tiles on the floor. Kevin refused and he was fired. That was the moment he realized he never wanted to work for someone else again and charted his path into entrepreneurship as a high school student.
As a university student, Kevin’s innate business sense led him along several different paths – including some very unusual, very entrepreneurial ways of making a profit.
Not long after he finished his MBA, Kevin had a meeting that changed his life forever.
He met a man who had a strange idea for a software product – an idea with huge, high-profit potential that Kevin immediately recognized.After years of ups, downs, sacrifices, challenges, and lessons learned — not to mention a critical phone call that nearly cost him everything — the opportunity that Kevin saw eventually turned into a computer software giant that was acquired for more than $4 billion dollars.
After his extraordinary success at the software company, he founded – and a difficult period of obstacles and legal disputes – Kevin eventually found himself on television, quickly becoming a sought-after host and personality on a range of shows – including Discovery’s Project Earth, CBC’s Dragons’ Den, and ABC’s Shark Tank.
Kevin has since launched O’Leary Funds, an investment fund company; O’Leary Fine Wines; and a best-selling book series on financial literacy.
In 2014, Kevin founded O’Leary Financial Group – a group of brands and services that share Kevin’s guiding principles of honesty, directness, convenience, and above all, great value.
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Small Business Spotlight: Chef JJ Johnson Looks to Expand His FIELDTRIP Restaurants Despite Pandemic Toll
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The restaurant and hospitality industry has been among the hardest hit in the pandemic, but one renowned chef is betting on the future.
James Beard award-winning Chef JJ Johnson currently owns three restaurants in New York City. He owns FIELDTRIP – a casual rice bowl eatery with locations in Harlem, Rockefeller Center and Long Island City. It’s named for the rice fields he has visited in India, Ghana, Israel, Singapore and other countries where rice is part of the traditional meal.
“I’m stirring up a different pot right now, trying to get a flavor full for the future, which is really interesting as you grow as a chef, entrepreneur or founder,” Johnson told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
Seeing an opportunity to expand, he is more focused on business operations and marketing, but understands he must maintain quality in his food to succeed in growth.
“It’s hard,” he conceded. “You look at the color, you look at the consistency, that one is darker, that one is lighter… so you do think about that as you roll out more units.”
Chef JJ acknowledged inherent risk. In talking to executives at Shake Shack, he learned they suffered near-insurmountable losses from a failed expansion to Florida, but survived with a healthy bank account. He’s hoping to learn from their mistakes and capitalize on the opportunity he sees to pay lower rent with leases, he estimates, down about 30 percent from last year.
He said he prefers percentage-based rent and landlords are more receptive to partnering now because many are unable to make mortgage payments without revenue coming in and federal and local moratoriums on evictions. Johnson told Connolly and Carousso that before the shutdown last spring, he was “laughed at” when he suggested a percentage lease in which rent is based on a percentage of sales.
“I think the biggest thing we all learned is, if you have a landlord or you have a partner that’s in it with you through the darkest and brightest times, we all benefit,” Johnson said.
He told WCBS 880 that landlords he talks to are “looking to the new guard of New York City to try to help revive back some of these communities” or even start fresh in a post-pandemic economy.
Chef JJ believes connecting with the community through charitable work and sponsoring local programs is essential for building relationships and a customer base. FIELDTRIP launched initiatives to feed frontline workers in Harlem at the outset of the pandemic.
See ideas on how to turn the restaurant industry around on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above.
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WATCH: NYC Mayoral Candidate Andrew Yang Calls on Cuomo to Step Aside, Lays Out Plans for City’s Recovery
By Lynda Lopez, WCBS Newsradio 880
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Andrew Yang, the leading candidate for mayor of New York City, is concerned local government is handicapped while state lawmakers in Albany investigate the mounting claims of sexual harassment and assault against Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James and the feds are also investigating whether Cuomo intentionally underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
Yang has sent a letter to Cuomo asking him to step aside while the investigations play out and he believes that remains the best path forward.
“We need someone who can do the work of the state and right now that does not seem to be Gov. Cuomo,” Yang said. “I sent a letter asking him to step aside and have the lieutenant governor assume that role pending the conclusion of the investigation, I think that’s the right move, I think that would make everyone feel satisfied that there is someone who is able to lead the state, frankly, not distracted by a continuous drumbeat of accusations and scandals.”
In a wide-ranging interview for the 880 Weekly Rewind, the entrepreneur and former presidential candidate told anchor Lynda Lopez that the governor and his scandals have become a distraction and are getting in the way of the city’s recovery.
“The job of the mayor is to deliver for the people of New York City and in order to deliver for the people of New York City, you need to have a good working relationship with the governor and the legislators in Albany. If you don’t have that, then you can’t deliver at high a level,” Yang said. “I talked to a state legislator last night and he said that obviously everything is focused right now on these proceedings against the governor and a lot of other business. Ordinarily right now they’d be focused on the budget, which is enormously important, but that’s not happening right now. So the interests of the city and the state are aligned in the sense that the city is the economic engine of the state, but we need state legislators to be doing their jobs in order for us to be able to do our jobs so it’s one reason why I think Gov. Cuomo stepping aside is the right thing because we need them focused on the business of the state and that affects the city every day.”
Cuomo on Friday again denied the sexual harassment allegations and insisted that he would not resign, despite growing calls from both political opponents and allies to do so.
The governor said he doesn’t want to let the allegations be a distraction, and will remain focused on the state budget, the state’s recovery, and ramping up vaccination efforts.
With his sights set on Gracie Mansion, Yang is fully focused on jumpstarting the economy and bringing the city back.
“We’re down 60 million tourists and those 60 million tourists supported 300,000 jobs, about half of the jobs we’re missing, so the first order is business is to let everyone know that New York City is open, that we’re welcoming tourists back,” Yang said. “The second thing that everyone can also see around us is we’re missing 82% of commuters and when someone doesn’t come into the office, that’s not just that company, that’s the security guards, the cleaning staff, the food truck operators, the retail storefronts that ordinarily serve those commuters. We need to let companies have the confidence to say to their workers, ‘You need to come back to the office’ because that’s vital for New York City’s recovery.”
Yang said that he’s been talking to CEOs who are desperate to get people back as soon as the vaccine is distributed broadly enough.
But that will require building public confidence that it’s safe to come back and Yang said the best way to accomplish that is by letting people know that everyone around them has been fully vaccinated.
“There are two straightforward possibilities number one is to have an app on your smartphone that’s a vaccine passport,” Yang said. “Israel, which is actually ahead of us on this curve, has actually started distributing bracelets to people where you just have the bracelet and you show the bracelet. It’s like New York City is the biggest VIP section of a club in history where you get the bracelet so you can walk on in. But that’s the kind of measure that we need to adopt and champion for people to feel confident that they’re perfectly safe cause everyone around them has already been vaccinated.”
Neil A. Carousso produces The 880 Weekly Rewind with Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS Newsradio 880. Listen to this week’s full show on the media player above.
