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| DATE | 2020-11-10 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Collapse of downtown
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wsj.com
NYC Financial District Has a Bit of a Small-Town Feel
Anne Kadet
8-9 minutes
In recent months, Devon Fernandes, who tends the security desk at a big
office tower in Manhattan’s Financial District, has spent some time on
the job becoming an expert on holistic medicine and the origins of Covid-19.
At a nearby office tower on State Street, desk attendant Eric Bethea is
on a nonfiction kick, reading through several thick volumes covering
Black history in Colonial America.
And a few blocks away, security guard Edward Franco has been researching
the latest developments in Mayan history and astronomy. “I’m not
supposed to be on my phone, but it’s a really slow time,” he says.
The number of Manhattan office workers who have returned to work is
still stuck at 10%, according to a survey released in late October by
the Partnership for New York City. And that means long, slow days for
the Financial District’s blue-collar workers who never stopped coming in.
Only 10% of Manhattan office workers have returned to work, according to
a survey released at the end of October by the Partnership for New York
City.
Security desk attendant Orlando Sanchez says his days once passed in a
flash. He complained about too many people. “Now it’s, ‘Where are the
people?’ ” he says. “I need the people. That’s what makes it New York.”
Everyone has a favorite way to kill time. Mr. Sanchez turned political
junkie after spending days watching CNN. Newsstand owners are
binge-watching Bollywood movies, along with the news back home in India.
“Everything is a mess there too,” says Bharat Mukhtiyar.
Napping has become another popular Financial District pastime. I spotted
one Wall Street newsstand man snoring in his kiosk and a
hotel-reservations clerk snoozing at his desk. Levi Rabiyev, who owns 11
Broadway Barber Shop, admits his styling chair looks inviting, “But only
customers are allowed to nap.”
Mr. Rabiyev says he spends just two hours of his 12-hour day giving
haircuts. To stay awake, he watches James Bond movies and has upped his
coffee consumption from one to three cups a day. No, he’s not happy
about the free time: “What’s there to like if you’re not making money?”
Levi Rabiyev, owner and barber at Broadway Barber Shop in Manhattan,
says he spends two hours of his 12-hour shift giving haircuts.
Photo: Bess Adler for The Wall Street Journal
Some try to be productive. Kadasia Walker, who works the security desk
at a 21-story office tower in lower Manhattan is doing homework for her
college classes. Pearl Street bartender Nickeisha Hayden is developing
her side business as a party decorator and planner. A recent pastime:
Watching YouTube videos on how to make balloon garlands.
“I’ve gotten pretty good at it!” she says.
Newsstand owner Harssad Patel says he spent the first half of the
pandemic at home, watching cricket.
Now that he’s back at work?
“I watch the cricket, too!”
The Downtown Alliance, a local business group, says that according to
the New York State Department of Labor, the Financial District had
307,000 workers employed by 10,062 businesses before the pandemic struck
New York City in March.
While it’s not quite desolate, the Financial District feels oddly hushed
these days. It’s startling what you don’t see: taxis, flier guys,
executive hordes colliding with delivery workers. You can walk up the
middle of the street without dodging a car. It has the pleasantly
laid-back feel of a small, Midwestern city.
A construction worker takes a break in lower Manhattan. Amid the
pandemic, fewer employees are working in New York City offices, making
some areas largely working-class enclaves.
Photo: Bess Adler for The Wall Street Journal
Adding to the Midwestern vibe, lower Manhattan is now a largely
working-class enclave. “We used to have a good mix of CEOs, people in
the news, hotshots and blue collar, hard-working people,” says Dave
Ockrim, who manages a Yankee Doodle Dandy’s food truck at the corner of
Water Street and Old Slip. “Now it’s all construction guys, people who
are doing office cleanings, deliveries, the security personnel in the
buildings.”
The lull has its upsides. Mr. Ockrim no longer has to park his car the
night before to save a spot for the truck. He gets bigger tips from
customers because everyone has more time to chat.
But he misses the crowds. “White, black, brown, tall, short, you deal
with everyone in the food-truck industry,” he says. “It’s fun when it’s
busy!”
The days aren’t dragging for every business, of course. Damodar
Parajuli, manager of Wall Street Wine Merchants, says sales are only
35-40% off last fall’s numbers—mini-liquor bottles are still flying off
the shelves.
As if on cue, a sharp-dressed executive swooped in and bought four tiny
bottles of vodka, which he slipped into his suit pockets.
“They have stressful jobs,” Mr. Parajuli says.
At William Barthman Jeweler next door to the New York Stock Exchange,
store director Caitlin Hausser is enjoying a record sales year. “The
demand for luxury items is super, super high because no one has anything
else to do with their money,” she says.
Caitlin Hausser, store director at William Barthman Jeweler, says the
lower Manhattan shop is enjoying a record sales year.
Photo: Bess Adler for The Wall Street Journal
While there’s little foot traffic, she’s busy on her phone all day
selling high-end watches—which can’t be purchased online—to her clients
via text and FaceTime.
Others say business is so bad they question whether to come in at all.
Newsstand and coffee cart owners say they’re typically doing $50 to $60
in sales and pocketing $20 a day in profits.
Isakaye Yusupov, owner of Best Shoe Repair & Shine, says business is
down 95%. To kill time, he walks around posting fliers for his store,
watches television and dabbles in busy work.
“What to do! Clean the machine all the time,” he says, referring to his
shop’s leather grinder. “Bring family shoes from home to fix! What to do!”
And some have given up entirely. I caught another shoe-repair guy, who
declined to give his name, stopping into his tiny shop to pick up the
bills before returning home. He had no plans to reopen any time soon.
“I don’t come because no people in Manhattan,” he said. “People need to
stop working from home and come to the city!”
Write to Anne Kadet at Anne.Kadet-at-wsj.com
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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