Posted by Paul Adler on Tue, Aug 28, 2012 @ 11:28 AM
Several Rand Realty offices in Rockland ran the annual school supply drive for the "Back to School with Dignity" program. People to People stopped by the local real estate offices on Thursday to pick up the donated school supplies to be distributed,
Picture from Left to Right: Diane Elizabeth Serratore - People to People; Matt Rand - Managing Partner - BHG Rand Realty; Paul Adler VP - Rand Commercial Services; Roberta Bangs - BHG Rand Realty.
As September approaches, one of People to People's main missions is providing thousands of children with the basics that they'll need to start a new school year.
As Rockland County's largest food pantry, People to People's "Back to School with Dignity" program is still going on. Rand Realty began a school supply drive 15 years ago to offer their local Rockland offices as drop off locations for supply donations.
Although the supply drive at Rand Realty has ended, school supplies can still be dropped off at People to People on Monday through Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The program aims to give school supplies to at-risk Rockland students. People to People is in need of the following supply donations:
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compasses
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Eight-tab dividers
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scissors
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book covers
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hi-lighters
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Number 2 pencil cases
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loose leaf paper
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pencils
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white index cards
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marble composition books
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three-subject spiral notebooks
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five-subject spiral notebooks
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1' binders
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graph paper
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dictionaries
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pocket folders
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blue or black pens
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pencil sharpeners
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Broad-tipped markers
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Crayons
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Calculators and Scientific calculators
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Erasers
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Rulers
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Glue sticks
While People to People volunteers are trying to get the school supplies to children, they are also supplying families in Rockland with all kinds of nutritious groceries including meat, poultry, fresh fruits and vegetables each month.
Posted by Paul Adler on Wed, Aug 22, 2012 @ 03:12 PM
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday afternoon in Piermont that New York State is now closer to replacing the current Tappan Zee Bridge with a new, $5.2 billion span.
The governor's announcement came hours after a unanimous vote by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) to officially incorporate the project into the council's plan.
"Today we are one step closer to building a new, safer bridge that will revitalize the Hudson Valley by creating thousands of jobs," Cuomo said at the 1 p.m. gathering in Flywheel Park.
More than 100 residents and local, state and federal lawmakers gathered downtown, overlooking the Tappan Zee Bridge to the north and local marinas.
After a brief speech, Cuomo signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, applying for billions of dollars in TIFIA federal loans to help finance the new span.
"The next step is going to Washington to get funding, so we can build the bridge and make tolls affordable," Cuomo said. "After over a decade of delay caused by political dysfunction, this letter demonstrates that we are making real progress towards constructing a stronger, transit ready bridge."
When asked what financing would be in place should the state be declined federal funds, Cuomo was terse.
"I'm an optimist," he said. "They're going to say yes."
Cuomo noted the importance of mass transit, a component local residents and officials have long been asking for.
"The future of transit isn't people getting into cars and driving," Cuomo said. "It's mass transit. Period."
The new span is slated to house a dedicated bus transit lane during rush hour.
The governor recently blasted the proposed $14 toll hike in 2017 as excessive, but did not cite a specific figure that he would like to see—he only advocated a decrease.
From the New City Patch (8/20/12) Cuomo said the sluggish push to build a new bridge over the past 13 years has been time—and taxpayer money—squandered.
"We decided to waste millions," he said. "We decided to put people through traffic and congestion and pollution. It was a failure of leadership, a failure of government."
NYMTC member and Rockland County executive C. Scott Vanderhoef voted alongside others this morning. Late last week, Vanderhoef and lawmakers from Westchester and Putnam counties announced their decision to vote 'yes.'
Vanderhoef said he is pleased to support the project on the heels of Cuomo's assurances that the new bridge is to include mass transit capabilities.
"The governor should be given great credit for making it transit compatible," Vanderhoef said. "I am very pleased to be supportive."
Vanderhoef also said the federal government should assist New York with the financing of the new bridge connecting Westchester and Rockland.
"This new bridge will be safer for our drivers and built to last, and include a dedicated bus lane on day one," said assemblyman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern. "It will be a major economic driver for communities across the region, creating approximately 45,000 jobs."
Cuomo said the state expects to hear back about federal funding in the coming months.
Posted by Paul Adler on Thu, Aug 09, 2012 @ 05:45 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact:Paul Adler
Vice President | Associate Broker
845-770-1205
Paul.adler@randcommercial.com PINCHUS "PINNY" MOROZOW JOINS RAND COMMERCIAL SERVICESNew City, N.Y. – Rand Commercial Services (RCS), an independent and leading commercial real estate brokerage in the Hudson Valley, announced today the addition of Pinchus "Pinny" Morozow to their sales team in the
New City office.
Pinny specializes in multifamily and project developments with a strong background in residential and commercial construction.
“We are so pleased to have Pinny as an addition to our Rand Commercial Services team,” said Paul Adler, Vice President of Rand Commercial Services. “His breadth of experience and enthusiasm make him a great asset to the company.”
As a resident of Rockland County, NY Pinny specializes in all areas of Rockland County, Westchester & Orange County.
Pinny Morozow can be reached at
pinny.morozow@randcommercial.com About Rand Commercial Services: Rand Commercial Services (RCS) is an independent, full-service commercial real estate brokerage that serves the Greater New York area. The firm specializes in repositioning and redeveloping properties to improve their returns in addition to assisting clients with more conventional sales and leasing. RCS has nearly 30 agents in Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties, and also serves New York City, northern New Jersey and Connecticut. The company’s Web site is
www.randcommercial.com.
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Posted by Paul Adler on Mon, Feb 27, 2012 @ 04:04 PM
With the "recovery" moving forward (slowly), folks are getting back into prudent investing. Prudence demands that investors diversify their portfolios (cash, stocks, bonds, gov't T-Bills, & real estate). Real Estate is a staple that belongs in your investment portfolio.
As a commercial real estate professional with Rand Commercial Services, I would be foolish not to encourage people to take a serious look at moving out of their rental properties, and buying a home while prices & financing are at historic lows. House prices are expected to rise slightly in 2012, but bargains are still abundant. Contact a licensed broker - using a broker will actually save your time & money.
Ask your broker about distressed inventory in your neighborhood. Nobody would be a better owner/investor or landlord than you - WHY? Because you already have a vested interest in making that property work!
Remember-the rental market is hot, and if you own a desirable property purchased at a low price; renting it out could provide a very profitiable return on your investment.
When the "for sale" market heats ups, sell on the upswing, don't wait for the top of the market; you'll get burned. Use the money to pay for college or reduce debt. On the commercial front, the "recovery" is lagging behind the residential comeback. 2012 will be a very interesting transitional period for commercial markets.
More to come about: retail, office, industrial and multi-family real estate investments next time. The face of Commercial Real Estate in Rockland is Changing.
Posted by Paul Adler on Tue, Feb 07, 2012 @ 10:09 AM
YONKERS -– Numerous business groups across the Hudson Valley region and the state offered praise and support for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s $132.5-billion state budget, which includes significant increases in infrastructure spending to stimulate the economy, while at the same time closing a $2-billion deficit without raising taxes or fees.
However, officials with the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (pending name change approval by the National Association of Realtors from the existing Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors) are hopeful that the governor will withdraw or the State Legislature will reject or modify a proposal that would extend real estate broker and salesperson license terms from two to four years. In addition, fees would be increased from $150 to $300 for real estate brokers and from $50 to $100 for real estate salespersons. The act would go into effect on April 1, 2013.
Other key provisions of the proposal include: doubling the continuing education requirements to 45 hours in the four-year renewal period, including six hours of fair housing and/or discrimination course training.
Renewals scheduled prior to the April 1, 2013 effective date would have two years to complete the standard 22.5 hours of continuing education training. Any renewals on or after April 15, 2015, will increase to the 45-hour requirement, according to the New York State Association of Realtors.
Richard Haggerty, chief executive officer of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, said the governor’s proposal would have a large impact on the HGAR School of Real Estate and other Realtor Board real estate schools across the state. In a communiqué to officials with the New York State Association of Realtors, Haggerty said that this licensing policy change, if enacted, would also adversely impact consumers.
“We have spent several years raising the education bar for the real estate profession, much to our credit. We successfully shortened the education cycle to two years, so that real estate licensees stayed more current on the laws and regulations that affect their profession. We raised the number of licensing hours for the sales course from 45 to 75 hours,” he said. “We included three hours of fair housing training in every 22.5-hour continuing education cycle. I can’t help but feel that with this change we are surrendering some of these hard fought gains, which will ultimately have a negative impact on the consumer.”
Other real estate-related proposals in the governor’s proposed 2012-2013 budget included the elimination of the STAR tax benefit for those taxpayers who have outstanding state tax debts. The plan also featured two proposals to assist homeowners and tenants—the creation of a Foreclosure Relief Unit to provide counseling and mediation services to homeowners and a Tenant Protection Unit to provide stricter enforcement of New York State’s rent laws.
In his budget message delivered on Jan, 17 in Albany and the next day at a presentation in Yonkers, Gov. Cuomo revealed his $132.5-billion budget, which includes the $15-billion New York Works infrastructure fund, will feature $917 million in accelerated federal transportation aid and $247 million in additional state funding from the highway bridge dedicated trust fund. The struggling construction industry in New York State can expect a major shot in the arm with approximately $1.16 billion in added state transportation capital spending in 2012-2013 if the governor’s budget is adopted as is.
To close the deficit, the governor has proposed a 4.5% reduction in planned state operations funding for a savings of $1.3 billion and a $756-million reduction in projected aid to localities.
Governor Cuomo said, “This budget demonstrates fiscal discipline and proposes real reforms that puts students ahead of the education bureaucracy and leverages major investment to spur private sector growth. By coming together in the same bipartisan manner we did last year, we will continue our work to build a New New York.”
Focus on Infrastructure
The New York Works infrastructure fund program will accelerate capital investment, building upon core transportation funding, to provide a total New York State Department of Transportation capital program of nearly $4.5 billion in 2012-13, including highways, bridges, rail, aviation, non-MTA transit, and DOT facilities financing. The MTA’s capital program will receive $770 million in new state support over a multi-year period to help fund the MTA’s $22.2-billion 2010-14 capital program. The governor’s proposed budget includes $250 million from the General Fund to offset the impact of the MTA payroll tax reform signed into law by Gov. Cuomo a month ago.
Gov, Cuomo explained that the New York Works Fund will be seeded with $1.3 billion in state funding ($723 million in new capital and $600 million from accelerated existing capital): $1.7 billion from the federal government, which involves a combination of new and accelerated federal aid); authority financing that would include $5 billion for the construction of a new Tappan Zee Bridge, $3.23 billion in existing capital accelerated from NYSERDA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and $770 million to complete the MTA capital plan; and $3 billion from the private sector.
The governor intends to tap the New York Works Fund to finance the improvement of more than 100 bridges, the repair of 2,000 miles of roads, the upgrade 90 municipal water systems, the improvement of 48 state parks and historic sites and the repair of 114 flood control projects statewide.
Other key economic development initiatives that were part of the governor’s proposed budget include: the redevelopment of the existing Aqueduct Racetrack and Racino by building a new 3.2-million square-foot convention center along with 1,000 hotel rooms and added gaming space. In exchange for some state approvals, gaming giant Genting Group will finance the $4-billion venture with no state funding necessary.
With the development of the convention center in Queens, the governor is proposing to revitalize the existing Javits Center in Manhattan by redeveloping the 18-acre property similar to the Battery Park City complex on the West Side.
He also proposed that a constitutional amendment be introduced to legalize casino gaming in New York State and a second round of Regional Economic Development Awards.
Business Groups Express Support
Reaction from the transportation and business sectors on the governor’s budget has been positive.
Ross J. Pepe, president of The Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, Inc. of Tarrytown, said the additional funding for highway and public works projects are coming at the right time, when the economy is ailing and crews are out of work.
“Gov. Cuomo’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012-13 beginning April 1 is clearly aimed at solving many of the problems we as New Yorkers now face,” Pepe said. “There are high unemployment levels in many sectors of the economy and a very demonstrable need to bring our transportation infrastructure up to par with neighboring states. Transit and transportation safety and reliability are essentials if we hope to grow our economy in New York.”
After attending the budget presentation in Yonkers, The Business Council of Westchester released a statement of support for the governor’s proposals. The $25 billion in infrastructure and economic development projects that leverage public/private partnerships will jumpstart our economy and generate revenue for the state. These proposals prove, once again, that the Governor understands the importance of the business community in New York. He has set out an ambitious plan for 2012 and we look forward to helping him achieve these goals.”
William Mooney, president of the Westchester County Association, stated, “We are pleased that The Executive Budget introduced by Governor Cuomo today continues along the fiscally responsible path initiated last year. We are hopeful that the policies put in place will launch major job creating projects here in Westchester and across the state. We agree with Governor Cuomo that it takes a strong private sector to ensure a secure future for New York State.”
