CNY Tweets-July 22, 2019

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Some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering various small business, tech, HR, career, and personal tips. SBA @SBAgovThinking about starting a #smallbusiness? We got you covered — http://ow.ly/97dH50v1r8z Rural Development @usdaRDPut these hot summer days to work for you! USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) can do just that by […]

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Utica, Rome other CNY cities tackle zombie-home problem with state grants

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

UTICA — More than 45 communities statewide — including Utica, Rome, Syracuse, and Binghamton — will use a total of $9 million in grant funding to try to reduce the number of “zombie” homes. Zombie homes are vacant or abandoned homes that aren’t maintained during a prolonged foreclosure proceeding, according to the office of New

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UTICA — More than 45 communities statewide — including Utica, Rome, Syracuse, and Binghamton — will use a total of $9 million in grant funding to try to reduce the number of “zombie” homes.

Zombie homes are vacant or abandoned homes that aren’t maintained during a prolonged foreclosure proceeding, according to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James. The attorney general announced the grants during a visit to Utica on July 10.

Besides Utica, Rome, Syracuse, and Binghamton, the cities of Auburn, Elmira, Fulton, Geneva, Ogdensburg, and Oneonta will also receive funding from the program dubbed “Zombies 2.0.”

The funding from “Zombies 2.0” will provide 48 municipalities with the resources needed to address housing vacancy and blight, James contends. The program is a result of the $500 million settlement in 2018 between the attorney general’s office and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The settlement was over the bank’s “deceptive practice and misrepresentations to investors relating to the packaging, marketing, sale, and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) that can lead to financial crisis,” the attorney general said.

“The City of Utica and the attorney general’s office work for the same residents, and we will be vigilant in protecting our residents and their quality of life,” Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri said in a news release issued by the attorney general’s office. “This project and this partnership is an example of that vigilance and it gives us more tools to fight for our residents, our communities, and the beauty of our City and our great state.”

To be eligible, cities, towns, and villages had to have at least 5,000 residents and more than 100 vacant properties individually, or combined in the case of joint applications. Through these funds, these municipalities should be able to improve data collection and analysis to track vacant and abandoned properties.

They’ll also be able to invest in new technology to better collect and analyze data to address the collective impact of vacant properties on neighborhoods. 

The communities will also have the means to create “zombie coordinators” and task forces to coordinate code-enforcement activities and resources. 

In addition, grant recipients can boost capacity of code enforcement and legal departments to enforce relevant laws to hold lienholders accountable or seek remedies to improve housing quality; and connect at-risk homeowners to foreclosure-prevention resources, the release stated.

“Too many communities throughout New York State are blighted by abandoned homes that decrease property values and threaten the safety of our neighborhoods,” James said. “These grants will go a long way in supporting municipalities and ensuring they have the resources they need to combat this nuisance.”

The selected municipalities will use grants ranging between $50,000 and $500,000 each, based on the size of the community, the scale and severity of their zombie problems, and their proposed use of such funds.

Program purpose

The grant awards continue the 2016 Zombie Remediation and Prevention Initiative. The New York attorney general’s office created the program to address housing challenges, “especially vacancy and blight.” It also tracks and monitors vacant, abandoned properties to help cities and towns to clear out zombie properties, the attorney general said.

The creation of the Zombie Remediation and Prevention Initiative coincided with the passage of the New York State Abandoned Property Neighborhood Relief Act of 2016, or what is known as the “Zombie Law,” per the release.

It requires banks and other mortgagees to externally maintain vacant one-to-four family houses during the foreclosure process or face a potential penalty of up to $500 per day per property. Zombie grantees used funds to bolster legal efforts to enforce the Zombie Law by issuing citations to noncompliant mortgagees or in some cases taking mortgagees to court to enforce the law. 

The New York City–based Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) handles the program with funds given by Columbia, Maryland–based nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners, the attorney general’s office said.

LISC issued applications to municipalities based on the number of abandoned residential properties, the proportion of such properties compared to the overall number of residential properties, and its level of general economic distress.

“I would like to thank Attorney General Letitia James and the staff of LISC for allowing the City of Rome to continue its work in combating blight and holding absentee banks and landlords liable for abandoned property,” Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo said in the release. “The second round of funding will allow us to continue strengthening our codes enforcement, hold absentee landlords and banks accountable for neglected property, assist in controlling blight and ultimately transforming neighborhoods.”

New York farmers plant corn on nearly 2 percent more acres in 2019 than last year

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New York state farmers have planted corn for all purposes on 1.12 million acres this year, up almost 2 percent from 1.10 million acres in 2018, the USDA recently reported. However, the state’s corn growers expect to harvest 590,000 acres of grain corn in 2019, down 8.5 percent from 645,000 acres last year. Corn planted

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Empire State manufacturing index bounces back in July

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After a steep decline in June, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index rebounded 13 points to climb to 4.3 and emerge from negative territory in July. The general business-conditions index had plummeted 26 points to -8.6 in June, representing its “largest monthly decline on record.” The July reading of 4.3, based on firms

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After a steep decline in June, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index rebounded 13 points to climb to 4.3 and emerge from negative territory in July.

The general business-conditions index had plummeted 26 points to -8.6 in June, representing its “largest monthly decline on record.”

The July reading of 4.3, based on firms responding to the survey, indicates “business activity rebounded modestly in New York,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its July 15 report. That beat economists’ expectations of an index number of 0.5, according to Econoday, a company that tracks economic reports.

A positive index reading indicates expansion or growth in manufacturing activity, while a negative number points to a decline in the sector.

The survey found 30 percent of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 26 percent said that conditions had worsened, the New York Fed said.

Survey details

The new-orders index rose, but it remained negative at -1.5. The shipments index moved slightly lower to 7.2, “pointing to a small increase in shipments,” the New York Fed said.

Unfilled orders declined for a second straight month. Delivery times were “somewhat longer,” and inventories fell.

After falling below zero last month, the index for number of employees slid further, dropping 6 points to -9.6, “pointing to a decline in employment levels.” The average-workweek index, at 3.8, signaled somewhat longer workweeks.

The prices-paid index edged down 2 points to 25.5, suggesting a slightly slower pace of input price increases than last month. The prices-received index was little changed at 5.8, pointing to ongoing modest selling price increases.

Indexes assessing the six-month outlook were “generally somewhat higher” than they were last month.

The index for future business conditions increased 5 points to 30.8, and the index for future new orders also moved higher. Firms expected increases in employment levels but no change in the average workweek in the months ahead.

After posting a “substantial” decline last month, the capital-expenditures index rose 9 points to 19.0, and the technology-spending index inched up to 14.6.

The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.

New Baskin-Robbins store formally opens near Horseheads

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HORSEHEADS — Baskin-Robbins, which says it’s the world’s largest chain of specialty ice-cream shops, on July 12 unveiled a “Moments” concept store near Horseheads. The new restaurant, located at 3317 Chambers Road in the town of Big Flats, is the first of its kind in New York state. Baskin-Robbins says the “Moments” store concept is

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RE/MAX Masters settles into new DeWitt office

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

DeWITT — RE/MAX Masters, a local franchise of the international real-estate company RE/MAX, has a new home. After 27 years, the local brokerage in June moved to a new office at 5788 Widewaters Pkwy in DeWitt from its long-time location at 108 Buchmans Close Circle in the town of Manlius. RE/MAX Masters says it now

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Cazenovia College appoints Dannible’s Gardiner as board of trustees chair

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CAZENOVIA — Cazenovia College announced recently that Kenneth C. Gardiner, partner at Dannible & McKee, LLP, has assumed the role of chair of the college’s board of trustees. He joined the board in 2016 and has served on the finance and investment committees. Gardiner, has worked in accounting for more than 35 years. He is

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Upstate Cord Blood Bank to receive donations via Crouse

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SYRACUSE — Crouse Health will give parents who deliver babies at the Syracuse hospital the chance to voluntarily donate the blood from their baby’s umbilical cord to the cord-blood bank at Upstate Medical University. The Upstate Cord Blood Bank operates at Upstate’s Community campus at 4900 Broad Road in Onondaga. The new partnership will “potentially”

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The Upstate Cord Blood Bank operates at Upstate’s Community campus at 4900 Broad Road in Onondaga.

The new partnership will “potentially” increase cord-blood donations that will be available for public use, Crouse Health said in a news release.

“We are pleased to welcome Crouse Health parents to participate in donating their child’s umbilical cord blood to the Upstate Cord Blood Center at Upstate Medical University,” Dr. Matthew Elkins, medical director of the Upstate Cord Blood Bank, said in the Crouse release.

Cord-blood donation is “completely safe” for mother and baby; labor and delivery is not affected, Crouse Health said. No blood is taken from a newborn. It is only removed from the umbilical cord after birth. The designation of Upstate Cord Blood Bank as a public blood bank is “important” in that there is no cost to donate and donated cord blood is available to anyone who needs it.

Thousands of critically ill patients with blood diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma are in urgent need of life-saving transplants. Umbilical cord blood, which is typically discarded as medical waste, is “rich” with the blood-forming cells that can give blood-cancer patients hope for a cure, the hospital added.

The process

Once donated, Upstate stores the cord blood in the bank, making it available to transplant centers in the U.S. and throughout the world for patients in need. The cord blood units will be listed on national and international registries in order to be matched to the patients who need them.

Any units collected that are not suitable for transplantation will be made available to researchers, both at Upstate Medical University and around the country, Crouse Health said.

Deciding whether to donate cord blood is “best done” during the early months of pregnancy.

The expectant parents complete various forms and submit them directly to the cord-blood bank no more than 30 days prior to delivery. Once reviewed and approved, the bank notifies Crouse’s labor and delivery unit, which reviews the potential donation with the mother before actual delivery. Once the blood is removed from the umbilical cord, the donation is then packaged and transported to Upstate’s 20,000-square-foot facility that features a processing laboratory and cryogenic storage containers, the release explained.

Growing Watertown firm offers digital ads on its vehicles

Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

WATERTOWN — Runningboards Marketing is a young Watertown–based marketing firm that offers clients the chance to advertise on a digital screen on the sides of its trucks. The message could be an advertisement for a commercial product or service, a political ad, or a Happy Birthday message, the company says. Richard (Calvin) McNeely, III, president

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WATERTOWN — Runningboards Marketing is a young Watertown–based marketing firm that offers clients the chance to advertise on a digital screen on the sides of its trucks.

The message could be an advertisement for a commercial product or service, a political ad, or a Happy Birthday message, the company says.

Richard (Calvin) McNeely, III, president and majority owner of Runningboards Marketing, which was launched in early 2018, says it didn’t take long to figure out that the new company had franchise potential. The firm is now selling franchises and seeking buyers.

Runningboards Marketing is headquartered at 19138 U.S. Route 11 in Watertown, but has its eye on adding a Syracuse location.

“We do plan on having a local address in Syracuse in the near future,” says McNeely, noting that the company already has a truck operating in Syracuse. He spoke with CNYBJ on July 16.

Runningboards Marketing currently has 15 employees. McNeely says he hopes to hire another six people before the end of 2019. He declined to disclose any revenue information for his company.

Company origin

McNeely retired in September 2016 from Hi-Lite Airfield Services, LLC in Adams Center — a company he had founded.

More than a year later, McNeely was surfing the internet in November 2017 working to promote another business in which he was an investor. And he noticed a truck that really caught his eye.

“I had never seen one of these trucks before, and I knew right then and there I had to do it,” he says.

That truck was similar to the type that Runningboards Marketing now uses.

McNeely, who is 58, also knew that he wanted Zachariah (Zach) Yelle, who is 23, to serve as his partner in the business venture and be the firm’s VP.

McNeely knew Yelle from church, where the young man was responsible for sound and lights. Yelle had also handled some video work for McNeely along the St. Lawrence River.

He described Yelle as a “whiz” at technology who has a background in marketing, social media, videography, and graphic design.

“He’s got the skill set I lacked to make this a perfect business,” McNeely notes.

In early 2018, as the pair decided to move forward with their business idea, they had a company in the Midwest custom build a truck for Runningboards Marketing.

The firm now refers to the truck as a digital advertising vehicle, or DAV (pronounced Dave) for short.

The DAV was built on a Ford Transit chassis with three independent high-resolution LED screens, per the firm’s website. McNeely and Yelle picked up the truck in late April 2018. They drove it back to Watertown and eventually started showing it to local businesses.

“And when we showed the truck, we put an image up on the truck of the people we’re visiting before we visit them,” says McNeely.

They’d pull a logo, a picture, or another visual off a company’s website and put it on the truck. Their effort started attracting clients for subscription advertising, including a car dealership, a bank, an insurance company, and a realtor. The company’s website lists clients that include Jefferson Community College and Watertown Savings Bank.

“It was probably about two months into it [June 2018] when we realized we had something special,” McNeely noted. “We might have something to franchise here.”

Franchising

McNeely then spoke to a friend in North Carolina, who retired to become an independent franchise consultant. After some research, McNeely’s contact told him he couldn’t find any similar company operating among 4,000 franchises operating in the U.S.

“So, he introduced me to the franchise world … consultants, attorneys, brokers,” McNeely recalls.

McNeely and Yelle then started researching how they would build their own trucks. They also knew they’d need computer software and pursued those options as well.

As of this past April, Runningboards Marketing is approved to sell franchises in 35 states and Washington, D.C.

The firm has DAVs in Watertown, Syracuse, and Nashville, Tennessee, but has yet to sell any franchises, according to McNeely, but the company is in conversations with about 20 prospects.

Runningboards’ website includes its requirements for purchasing a franchise, including startup costs between $70,500 and $255,000; net-worth requirements of $50,000 in liquid capital and a net worth of $150,000; and a royalty of the greater of 6 percent of gross revenue per month or $500 per month.

Knowing that they may have to host potential franchisees at some point, the business partners then pursued a place to operate and were able to secure a 10,000-square-foot facility in Watertown that had once functioned as a car dealership. They moved in last December.

Jamestown Community College connected Runningboards Marketing with Keyes Information Technology in Watertown for software development, which the company calls RBM Velocity. It keeps track of client times and schedules, when the ads play, and generates reports for the clients as well.

Utica Zoo, Utica Coffee Roasting Co. partner on lion conservation

Small Business, Subscriber Only

UTICA — The Utica Zoo is working with Utica Coffee Roasting Co. to support conservation efforts for African lions. The Utica Zoo used its annual member-appreciation night and annual meeting to announce the collaboration on Lion’s Roast coffee. Lion’s Roast, described as a “limited edition” coffee, is a single-source coffee from Tanzania, which boasts the

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UTICA — The Utica Zoo is working with Utica Coffee Roasting Co. to support conservation efforts for African lions.

The Utica Zoo used its annual member-appreciation night and annual meeting to announce the collaboration on Lion’s Roast coffee.

Lion’s Roast, described as a “limited edition” coffee, is a single-source coffee from Tanzania, which boasts the largest concentration of wild lions in Africa.

The Tanzania Iyula coffee “offers notes of nectarine and citrus, with a bright and sweet flavor and aroma,” the Utica Zoo said in a release.

The zoo said it will donate proceeds from the sale of the coffee to the Lion Recovery Fund. The coffee is available at the Utica Zoo gift shop, Utica Coffee cafés in Utica and Clinton, and Chanatry’s Hometown Market, per the release.

The Lion Recovery Fund supports organizations across Africa to double the number of African lions in the wild by 2050. By supporting these various organizations, Lion Recovery Fund helps to protect wildlife, habitats, and local African communities. The Utica Zoo said it has chosen to support the Lion Recovery Fund to “ensure a future for Africa’s lions.”

“Supporting a cause such as the Lion Recovery Fund was an easy decision to make,” said Mark Simon, marketing coordinator for the Utica Zoo, said in the release. “The world has lost half of the population of lions in Africa over the last 25 years, so supporting an effort to double that population over the next 30 years was something we all felt passionately about. Working with the team at Utica Coffee has been a great experience; their expertise and knowledge of coffee has also allowed us to collaboratively bring a product to market that we think the community will truly enjoy. Pairing a high quality product with a high quality cause is a recipe for success.”

The San Francisco, California–based Wildlife Conservation Network and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation are the founding partners of the Lion Recovery Fund, according to its website.

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