Health programs run by city agencies have some of the highest employee vacancy rates of all programs as of January, according to a new report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
The report, released Wednesday, details the progress made by various city agencies in filling staffing gaps from the pandemic. It shows that health care programs run by the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had a 9.3% average vacancy rate for fiscal year 2024 as of January. Health programs fall behind only environmental protection programs run by various agencies, which had an overall vacancy rate of 11.5%, and transportation services initiatives at 10%. Historically, health programs have had an 8.6% average vacancy rate each fiscal year.
By contrast, the report shows that the health department’s vacancy rates have improved from fiscal year 2023 to 2024. The department experienced a 9.3% rate for FY24 to date as of January, a four percentage point improvement over FY23’s rate of 13%.
The department’s employee count stands at 5,355 as of January, about 175 individuals lower than prior to the pandemic. However, there are some signs of progress: the report shows that the agency has 139 more employees in FY24 than in FY23.
Patrick Gallahue, a representative for the health department, said it has worked to reduce vacancies and turnovers by making recruitment materials available in 13 languages and working through colleges and universities and elected officials to fill positions. The department’s turnover rate dropped to just under 8% in FY24, he said, a 4 percentage point improvement over FY23. Gallahue did not comment on health initiatives having the third-highest vacancy rate of all city-run programs.
The city’s total government workforce headcount stood at 284,000 in January, an 11% increase over the year before. If that count holds through the end of the fiscal year in June, DiNapoli said, the workforce is expected to increase year-over-year for the first time since the pandemic, signaling efforts to fill positions are working.
City officials filed plans to adjust a proposed life sciences development in Kips Bay last week, attempting to leverage potential rules under the mayor’s City of Yes plan before it goes up for a vote later this month.
The New York City Economic Development Corp. filed an application last week to advance the development of its proposed life sciences development at 455 First Ave, a project known as Innovation East. The building would serve as a commercial life sciences space, providing an incubator for start-ups and expanded lab space for growing companies, zoning documents show.
Innovation East has been in the works for a while. But as Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes for Economic Opportunity proposal is set to advance to the City Council for a vote later this month, the EDC submitted a new application in the hopes that it could leverage potential zoning rules that would allow it to build a space "necessary to accommodate the programmatic needs of a laboratory building." The regulations have yet to get the Council's approval.
The EDC requested a special permit under the mayor’s City of Yes plan that would allow it to modify the dimensions of the 13-story building, which it expects to stand at a maximum of 270 feet tall. The changes would create a wider floor plan that to accommodate medical research, documents show.
These changes could happen under the current zoning laws that are already in place, said Casey Berkovitz, a spokesman for the Department of City Planning. But the EDC is filing plans under new rules that could come to fruition if City of Yes for Economic Opportunity as the projects are advancing at the same time – getting a jumpstart on regulations that the city says will boost life sciences development in the five boroughs.
Currently, 455 First Ave. is occupied by the city Health Department’s old Public Health Laboratory, the application says. The laboratory is moving to a site adjacent to Harlem Hospital to make space for a modernized, 440,000 square-foot medical research facility that will become Innovation East. The city announced in 2022 that it would partner with Taconic and DivcoWest on the project.
The proposed development is designed to accommodate life sciences businesses at different growth stages, and developers are planning to build incubation space for life sciences start-ups, graduation space for developing companies, dedicated research space and an anchor for the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, according to the application. It will also include programming space on the first floor for meetings and presentations.
Innovation East is one of a handful of developments that make up a cluster of planned life sciences buildings in Kips Bay, including the $1.6 billion Science Park and Research Campus. The initiatives, which are led by the EDC, are a part of the city’s $1 billion LifeSci NYC initiative to grow the number of biomedical research firms and pharmaceutical companies doing business in the city.
Adrien Lesser, a spokeswoman for the EDC, said that New York City is “poised to become the global leader in the life sciences industry” with such developments.
The City of Yes for Economic Opportunity proposal is expected to go before the City Council for a vote later this month. Although the plan is not yet finalized, Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer said in response to a question from Crain’s at a press briefing Tuesday that getting projects in the pipeline will help kickstart growth in the city’s life sciences industry. “There is really no time to waste,” she said.
First promised 20 years ago, a Downtown Brooklyn park commemorating the borough’s abolitionist history is finally open. City officials on Wednesday cut the ribbon on the 1.15-acre Abolitionist Place, located at 225 Duffield Street. Designed by landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Jones, the park offers a playground, a water play feature, a central lawn, a paved [...]
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A Manhattan Community Board 5 official nominated to replace the chairman elected in a boardroom brawl two months ago has left the influential Midtown neighborhood group.
Craig Slutzkin departed yesterday, effective immediately, after he wasn’t reappointed for another term by Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. Levine acted after Slutzkin, as a member of another board, supported a resolution challenging a Department of Education policy allowing transgender girls to play on female sports teams.
His exit could pave the way for the re-election next month of Chairman Samir Lavingia, 29, who was elected CB5 chairman in a close vote in March and is campaign coordinator at Open New York, a Silicon Valley-backed housing-development advocacy group with a lobbying arm.
CB5’s nominating committee opposes the ouster of Slutzkin, who had been the board’s second vice chair and was voted by the full board to run an emergency meeting last month after Lavingia’s contentious election.
“We all determined that no one on our entire community board is more qualified than Craig to serve as the chair,” the panel said in a letter to Levine dated yesterday. “The failure to reappoint Craig compels the nominating committee to endorse a candidate other than the one that we believe is best.”
A second letter to Levine today, signed by 26 of CB5’s 50 members, described Slutzkin as an “invaluable asset” and said “failing to re-appoint such a respected, reliable, and experienced person as him to our Community Board is unprecedented and outrageous.”
Levine had no immediate comment on either letter.
However, Assembly member Tony Simone said he was pleased that Slutzkin was pushed out, describing Slutzkin’s March vote on the Community Education Council for District 2 as transphobic. The controversial measure was in front of the council that covers Midtown, most of Lower Manhattan, and the Upper East Side.
“Slutzkin’s decision to vote for a hateful and prejudiced resolution like #248 renders him unfit to serve on a Community Board,” Simone said in a statement Wednesday.
Invited to speak at last night’s CB5 executive-committee meeting, Slutzkin said “I have nothing to say,” and walked out of the room with board secretary Mary Brosnahan, who also left CB5. Neither replied to requests for comment.
CB5 is the most important of the city’s many community boards, with a district reaching between Eighth and Lexington avenues and from 14th to 59th streets. The 50-member group gives Midtown residents a seat at the table when city or state authorities are tackling big issues, such as the redevelopment of the Penn Station district or the rezoning of East Midtown. CB5’s recommendations aren’t binding, but they are often sought by developers seeking to build in the area and closely watched by elected officials.
The exits of Slutzkin and Brosnahan are the latest in a wave of departures that began in February with the resignation of CB5’s chair of 15 years, Vikki Barbero, a former administrator at the Fashion Institute of Technology. In March her successor, residential real estate broker Nick Athanail, left and so did the longtime head of the board’s powerful land use committee, Layla Law-Gisiko. Departed officials criticized the four Open New York members on CB5 for creating a divisive environment and for not disclosing their affiliation before joining the volunteer board.
Community board members are nominated by City Council members and appointed by borough presidents to two-year terms. Some Open New York members see the boards as beholden to NIMBYs reflexively opposed to housing development. In a January message on Slack shared with Crain’s, Lavingia urged Open New York members to get involved on CB5.
“We are taking it on by the horns,” he wrote.
Four of the CB5’s six officer positions are vacant and are to be filled at a meeting next month in which Lavingia stands for re-election. Meanwhile, the board has been restocked and 12 new voting members will join the monthly meeting Thursday, Lavingia said last night. One member asked how many of the newcomers belong to or work for Open New York; Lavingia said he didn’t know.
Now that Slutzkin is out of the picture, a person familiar with the matter said the nominating committee will meet over the next two days to try to find a second candidate by Thursday’s meeting.
“It’s back to square one,” the person said.
Lavingia told Crain’s it would be healthy for CB5 if another contender emerges for the chairman’s role and there is a contested election. He added: “No matter who is on our board, our focus remains the same. We will continue to represent the people of our district and tackle the issues they face every day.”
JetBlue Airways took hits in all three segments of the latest airline rankings from J.D. Power.
After back-to-back years of the Queens-based airline ranking No. 1 for customer satisfaction in first and business class, Delta Air Lines overtook the throne in this year's rankings, which were released this morning. JetBlue now sits second in that segment, followed by United Airlines.
JetBlue ranked No. 2 in the premium economy category last year but did not crack the top three this time around. Delta held onto the top position in that category, followed by Alaska Airlines and American Airlines. JetBlue holds the No. 4 slot.
JetBlue also fell out of the top three for economy and basic economy satisfaction. Southwest Airlines and Delta continued to lead that category, with Allegiant Air overtaking the No. 3 slot. Alaska sits at No. 4, followed by JetBlue.
J.D. Power surveys North American passengers about airline staff; digital tools; ease of travel; level of trust; on-board experience; pre- and post-flight experience; as well as value for price paid. It was fielded from March 2023 through March 2024
It’s a slight change from last year’s survey criteria of aircraft, baggage, boarding check-in, cost and fees, flight crew, in-flight services and reservation.
The consumer-research firm said ease of travel and trust were more important to passengers than price, despite rising fares that accompanied the recovery of travel after the COVID-19 pandemic. “While things like value for price paid are important, it is more important to passengers just to have a seamless flight,” the firm said.
Here are the full 2024 rankings:
Best in First and Business Class
1. Delta Airlines
2. JetBlue Airways
3. United Airlines
4. Alaska Airlines
5. American Airlines
6. Air Canada
Best in Premium Economy
1. Delta Airlines
2. Alaska Airlines
3. American Airlines
4. JetBlue Airways
5. WestJet
6. United Airlines
7. Air Canada
Best in Economy/Basic Economy
1. Southwest Airlines
2. Delta Airlines
3. Allegiant Air
4. JetBlue Airways
5. American Airlines
6. WestJet
7. United Airlines
8. Air Canada
9. Spirit Airlines
10. Frontier Airlines
John Pletz of Crain's Chicago Business contributed.
A confetti-shooting, 65-foot-long hot dog now sits in the heart of Times Square. Created by artists Jen Carton and Paul Outlaw, the animatronic sausage sculpture “Hot Dog in the City” seeks to celebrate the American hot dog while delving into the interconnected themes of consumption, capitalism, class, and culture within the context of the iconic [...]
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