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Community members respond to two-way street proposal for Downtown Grand Junction WesternSlopeNow
ROSLYN ESTATES, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Some Long Island residents are angry that street lights on one of Nassau County’s busiest roadways have been out for more than a year.
They’ve been trying to untangle red tape to figure out who’s responsible for maintaining street lights on Northern Boulevard, CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported Friday.
READ MORE: Exclusive: MTA Safety Chief Patrick Warren Says They're Putting Out More Security, Requesting More NYPD Officers In Response To Riders' Crime ConcernsStreet lights shine on busy Northern Boulevard through much of Nassau County. But there’s sudden darkness on the road in Roslyn Estates.
“It’s absolutely a safety issue. I mean, it’s dark,” said Annmarie Cerrone, president of the Strathmore Village Civic Association.
The burning question: Who’s responsible for changing burned out lightbulbs?
“We are just getting a runaround from everybody,” said Cerrone.
“How many government workers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” said Rich Bentley from the Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations. “It takes a year and it’s still not done.”
“I have never run into this bad of a government quagmire,” Bentley said.
After countless calls and emails, civic leaders say no one has taken responsibility.
State Route 25A winds through multiple jurisdictions.
Mayors CBS2 spoke with said they’ve never been responsible for the bulbs.
The New York State Department of Transportation said their policy requires local governments to maintain street lights, leaving this one stretch in Roslyn Estates in a stalemate.
READ MORE: Big Brother In The Back Seat? Interior Cameras In Rideshare Vehicles Prompt Privacy QuestionsVillage officials said they’ve never done it and won’t until the DOT tells them when the legal obligation was transferred to villages.
“I think it’s shameful. Why don’t they just rectify the problem and work out the red tape later on?” said Cerrone.
In Flower Hill, the village next door, local officials changed three bulbs “in the interest of public safety.” It cost $1,500.
“It’s going to be an issue anywhere there is a state road,” said North Hempstead Council Member Veronica Lurvey.
Who is responsible? Lurvey dug deep and believes the confusion dates back decades to Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO).
“It seems to me that whatever the predecessor electric authority was, when they got rid of their street lighting program, there was some confusion at that point,” Lurvey said.
“It’s horrible. It’s showing that our 18 levels of government are just not working together and the system is not working,” said Bentley.
Stephen Canzoneri, a state DOT spokesperson, sent CBS2 the following statement:
Local municipalities are responsible for maintaining lighting along state highways unless NYSDOT determined the lighting was necessary on that highway when it was built, such at the Long Island Expressway and state parkways. Impacted municipalities have been maintaining and energizing this lighting since it was installed. We look forward to continuing conversations with the village to assist in resolving this issue.
Roslyn Estates village officials declined our request for comment.
MORE NEWS: Restaurants Along Arthur Avenue In Bronx Little Italy Open For Outdoor Dining With No TrafficResidents said maintaining street lights is one of the most basic responsibilities of local government. They want a definitive ruling from the state so it doesn’t take a year of red tape to change a lightbulb.
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by Sharon Maeda
“Daydreaming isn’t allowed in the fast lane. So Bob Shimabukuro has mostly lived life on side streets, taking a detour now and again to help other people along the way.”
That’s how former Seattle Times columnist Jerry Large captured the essence of Bob in 1994. To that I would add: Renaissance Man. In addition to being a writer and a consummate family man, Bob was also an artist, chef, community activist/leader, feminist, furniture designer/woodworker, Hawai’i-style philosopher, and so much more.
You may not have known Bob, but you’ve likely read his byline and Hawai’i-style talk story, or read multiple tributes in local media since his passing. Although he never returned to live in his beloved Hawai’i after graduating from Portland’s Reed College in 1967, you could never take him out of the Islands. He was a quiet Hawaiian with proud Okinawan roots. He came from a large family of modest means, but all seven siblings got scholarships to the prestigious Punahou, a private, K-12 college prep school where another smart student also attended on scholarship: Barack Obama.
On April 18, Bob’s family hosted a virtual remembrance for “family and close friends.” Last I looked, over 200 people registered! As I viewed the Zoom gallery pages, I recognized prominent community activists, writers from journalists to novelists, artists, friends, former colleagues, and business and political leaders. Together, they represented the many facets of Bob’s life.
The event was very Bob: Hawaiian music, tropical virtual backgrounds, and aloha shirts were prominent. Family members, including Bob’s son, Zenwa, sang and played the ukulele; they also read their own poetry and shared stories from friends.
Bob did much of his talking with the printed word. He was a community journalist — listener, writer, and editor — and he was passionate about equity and inclusion long before they became buzz words. But no matter how serious the topic, Bob found the humor and irony. He wrote, for example, about his Reed days in the International Examiner: “The early months in Portland I felt like an immigrant, because I really was from a different country as far as everyone else (including the Reed students) was concerned and I felt the anti-immigrant, anti-Black, anti-Indigenous attitudes of Portland.” He went on to say, “AJAs (Americans of Japanese Ancestry) often said (derisively) about the Okinawans in Hawai‘i, ‘the difference between a Japanese and an Okinawan is that the Okinawans aren’t afraid to make an ass of themselves.’ Given my initial impressions at Reed, I decided I could take that as a compliment and survive very well. As a Reed student. As an Okinawan.”
Bob worked long hours to tell stories, fight for justice, and creatively share his talents. He was editor of the Pacific Citizen (PC), the national paper of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in Los Angeles; he was then editor and a longtime columnist at both the International Examiner and The Advocate, a monthly newsletter by Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA). Bob had a signature “straight talk” style; he jumped from one thought to another, leaving readers unsure of a connection until the end of the article.
That style, you might say, reflected his life and career, too. In 1976, Bob opened Tanuki, a Japanese restaurant in Portland. He designed the space and long wooden counter and stools — and was the chef. The artist Chisao Hata’s son, Jon Cawthorne, worked in the kitchen at age 16 and somehow learned woodworking. “He taught me how to make a box and I’ve kept [it] ever since,” said Jon, who is now Dean of the Wayne State Library System in Detroit.
My path first crossed Bob’s in the early 1980s. I couldn’t find affordable housing or a “real” neighborhood in Los Angeles, so I jumped at the chance to rent a friend’s Spanish stucco apartment near St. Elmo’s Village, a Black-led artist community. Bob and I became housemates out of economic necessity. He said our balcony was so much nicer than his roof back home. With such a large family in a small house, climbing out on the roof was his only quiet space.
His culinary skills also grew from his upbringing. While Bob was certainly a great chef, I could not believe how many ways he could slice, dice, and flavor cabbage and carrots. It turns out it had more to do with his modest family budget when he was a child than Okinawan cuisine.
Bob’s then girlfriend, Alice Ito, flew down from San Francisco to help him move into our place. I later learned that she wanted to make sure I was clear on the fact that she was Bob’s girlfriend. I became a witness to their growing relationship. After spending a weekend with Alice, Bob said incredulously, “I think she loves me.” Having been around men who couldn’t express their feelings, I quickly said, “But how do YOU feel?” He broke out in the largest smile I had ever seen.
By 1987, we both had resigned our high-stress media jobs and were headed home to Portland and Seattle. Less than a mile out, cars were honking and pedestrians were waving their arms at us. We forgot to lock the back of the U-Haul. At the corner of La Brea and Venice (think Rainier and MLK), my laundry bag spilled all over the street. As I pulled the truck over, Bob went through the intersection picking up my clothes, from red lingerie to dirty sweats! I was totally mortified, but Bob just laughed.
Soon after, Bob and Alice got engaged and he permanently left Portland for Seattle. They were an unlikely pair: she the impeccably dressed, always prepared professional and Stanford grad from Bellevue, he the talented, creative dreamer in baggy jeans, T-shirt, and zoris — a Reed “counterculture” grad from Honolulu. Bob lovingly designed and crafted Alice a chair that was sized for her, allowing her feet to touch the floor.
In 1988, Bob and Alice and his brother Sam and his partner, Bruce McDonald, were married a week apart. Sam was suffering from the late stages of AIDS and the family was comforted that he and Bruce formalized their commitment. It was bittersweet for Bob. In childhood, Sam was the healthy one and brought school assignments home for Bob when asthma kept him home.
Shortly after Sam passed away, Bob started the Asian Pacific AIDS Council, having learned that there were no support systems or HIV/AIDS advocacy groups for the API community. It was first housed at People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) and later transitioned to the International Community Health Services (ICHS). At Bob’s tribute, Norma Timbang told the group about “Bob Magic.” He was able to secure donations to keep their fledgling efforts afloat. When she was turned down as a member of a larger AIDS awareness committee because “Asians don’t have an AIDS problem,” Bob managed to get her appointed.
Bob was always a staunch activist for civil rights and justice. He didn’t stand in front with a bullhorn. He stood quietly near the back of rallies, took notes, and used his pen to bring home the point. From redress for Japanese Americans to Social Security, Black Lives Matter to immigration reform, he was always writing.
He wrote numerous times about redress for Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II, for example. He was asked: why redress and reparations for Japanese Americans and not for Blacks? His answer: Because it clearly wasn’t enough, but it was available. Bob learned that the ACLU won a lawsuit and received compensation for 1,250 mostly white anti-Vietnam War demonstrators at the rate of about $2,500 each for the three days they spent in jail. He calculated the equivalent to be over $1.35 million for each Japanese American incarcerated for about three years. The actual compensation, offered as part of the Civil Liberties Act in 1988, ended up as a token $20,000. By the same calculations, Bob reasoned that reparations for descendants of slaves would be in the billions of dollars each.
Bob didn’t like public speaking, but the publication of his book required many readings. One of his proudest moments was when he and his daughter, Mira, jointly read from their work at Elliott Bay Books in February 2017. To a standing room-only crowd, Mira presented her new book, Relocating Authority: Japanese Americans Writing to Redress Mass Incarceration, while Bob reintroduced Born in Seattle: The Campaign for Japanese American Redress, chronicling the first movement for Japanese American redress for incarceration during WWII.
A few days before he passed, Bob and Norma Timbang were on the phone talking about anti-Asian violence. Finding dark humor, Bob said, “Hey, I got white people telling me they are sorry.”
I once visited Bob’s Pioneer Square woodworking studio under the Viaduct. Bob was working on a commissioned dining table, slowly hand-sanding the top surface in a meditative fashion. It reminded me of Mr. Miyagi’s “wax on … wax off” scene in Karate Kid.
Bob transitioned to making wood boxes with interlocking joints — no nails. At the tribute, Chisao Hata shared a photo of the box he made for her out of padauk African hardwood to honor her Black children. When I was about to become a HUD spokesperson, Bob made me a podium foot stool. Of all the short people in the Clinton Administration, I’m sure I had the classiest footstool.
Bob was also the lead builder of the replica of a family unit in the WWII concentration camps at the Wing Luke Museum. I happened to see similar exhibits at both the Japanese American National Museum in LA and at the Smithsonian in D.C., and to this day, I still think the Wing’s was the most authentic exhibit. Bob made sure of that.
It was ironic that sawdust, toxic printer ink, and the stressful pace of publication deadlines and restaurant ownership were all triggers for asthma attacks. It was like Bob was thumbing his nose at his lifelong medical condition.
But whether woodworking or writing, Bob always did what Portland civil rights attorney Peggy Nagae called “guarding the truth.”
Sili Savusa, a White Center community activist, also told a story at his tribute. She said she would often speak to local officials about her concerns, but felt she was not heard and was often frustrated. Bob was the diarist for the community and encouraged her. Now the executive director of the White Center Community Development Association, Savusa said, “Bob inspired me to be a better dreamer.”
Bob would be embarrassed with all these well-deserved accolades. His daughter Mira, ended the virtual tribute with a comment about how Bob always struggled for oxygen, but always found the air to act on his motto: “We have a lot to do.”
We can’t all be renaissance people with a myriad of talents. But a fitting tribute to Bob would be to continue to lift up our voices — to continue to fight for justice, always with a sense of humility and humor, whether up front or on the side streets, like Bob.
In addition to Alice and Zenwa, Mira and her partner, Wayne Au, and son, Mako, Bob left behind his sisters Toki and Ann, brothers Ned and Roy, sister-cousin Irene and their families. He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Tom and Sam.
Donations in Bob’s memory can be made to API Chaya or the International Examiner.
Sharon Maeda is the Emerald’s Planning Director and had a 40+ year friendship with Bob Shimabukuro in LA and Seattle. This was a very difficult tribute for her to write; there are so many more stories to tell. His partner, Alice Ito, was her Spectra Communications business partner.
📸 Featured Image: The Shimabukuro Family, 1950 Bob is front left. Photo courtesy of The Shimabukuro Family.
Before you move on to the next story … Please consider that the article you just read was made possible by the generous financial support of donors and sponsors. The Emerald is a BIPOC-led nonprofit news outlet with the mission of offering a wider lens of our region’s most diverse, least affluent, and woefully under-reported communities. Please consider making a one-time gift or, better yet, joining our Rainmaker Family by becoming a monthly donor. Your support will help provide fair pay for our journalists and enable them to continue writing the important stories that offer relevant news, information, and analysis. Support the Emerald!
Sen. Elizabeth Warren in January praised Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, as a “tenacious” Wall Street regulator. Now, after a turbulent first two weeks on the job for Gensler, Warren and her allies are sending a new message: Do better, Gary.
The honeymoon between Gensler and his long-time champions on the left came to a stunning end in recent days after he rattled progressives by naming a veteran corporate defense lawyer, Alex Oh, to lead the agency’s policing of financial wrongdoing. In a twist, Oh abruptly resigned less than a week later after a federal judge reprimanded her and others defending ExxonMobil Corp. in a lawsuit brought by Indonesian villagers.
The episode has left Gensler at odds with key allies who for years have held him up as an ideal regulator. The former Goldman Sachs partner-turned-Wall Street watchdog infuriated bankers when he served in the Obama administration by curbing trading activities that had fueled the 2008 global financial crisis.
The incident also underscores the increasingly assertive approach that progressives are taking to influence hiring in the Biden administration, even if it means challenging their friends. Charting the direction of the SEC is a big deal for progressive lawmakers and activists because the independent agency has sweeping powers to regulate corporate America and limit the clout of big business.
"The SEC enforcement division has failed for a generation to aggressively enforce our securities law,” Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement. "Gary Gensler now has a chance for a redo and to make clear with his selection that he intends to break from the division's troubled history, and I very much hope he takes it.”
With trust strained, Gensler will face fierce scrutiny and a greater likelihood of criticism from the left as he tries to execute what was going to be a highly contentious agenda anyway, including forcing companies to disclose the risks they face from climate change and writing rules for cryptocurrency.
"Gary Gensler was perceived by a lot of people as achieving the sweet spot of having worked on Wall Street but also having a proven track record of holding big corporations accountable," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which along with other groups had urged Gensler to remove Oh before she resigned. "That's why it was so surprising that his instinct was to appoint someone as the main enforcement person who had no track record of holding big corporations accountable and literally had just come off representing big corporations like ExxonMobil."
Progressives are eager to see the SEC step up to challenge business because they’re not confident that Democrats in Congress will be able to do that.
“There’s a general belief the SEC is a way the executive branch — without getting Joe Manchin’s approval — can make progress on reining in corporate misbehavior,” said Revolving Door Project Executive Director Jeff Hauser, who led efforts to press Gensler to replace Oh. “A ton of the progressive agenda can be summarized as making corporate America follow the rules.”
During the Obama years, Warren hounded then-SEC Chair Mary Jo White — another veteran defense lawyer and also Oh’s onetime boss from her time as a prosecutor — for failing to protect investors, going so far as calling for White to be fired.
"The public relies on the SEC to act as the cop on the beat for an honest marketplace — issuing rules that ensure that investors can make informed decisions and holding rule breakers accountable for their actions," Warren wrote to White in 2015. "When the SEC falls down on the job, the impact is felt throughout the economy as it touches every American family."
For now, Democrats in Congress are holding their fire, at least publicly, even as Gensler’s hiring decision rattled progressives on Capitol Hill. Instead, outside groups aligned with Warren are taking an aggressive approach to pressure the new SEC chief, whom they previously lauded.
On Tuesday, the day before Oh's unexpected resignation, advocacy groups Demand Progress, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Revolving Door Project wrote to Gensler to say they were "surprised and disappointed" by his decision to recruit her and that she should be withdrawn from the post.
The groups homed in on her two decades of work at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where she represented Fortune 100 companies facing government investigations. Her tenure at the firm followed three and a half years as a federal prosecutor in New York, where she worked under White, then a U.S. attorney.
The following afternoon, the SEC announced her resignation, with Oh citing a "development" in one of her cases. The case turned out to be a class action lawsuit that Indonesian villagers filed against ExxonMobil — Oh's client — seeking to hold the oil giant liable for killing and torture by the Indonesian military during civil unrest between 1999 and 2001. The company had hired soldiers to guard natural gas facilities.
The apparent "development" was a move by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth on Monday to admonish Oh and others defending ExxonMobil, following complaints about their conduct.
The judge acted after lawyers for the villagers told the court that ExxonMobil's defense team had characterized them as "agitated, disrespectful and unhinged."
In February, lawyers suing ExxonMobil also accused a company witness of "simply parroting non-responsive defense scripts" during a deposition and of being "a mouth-piece for defense counsel."
"It is evident that this was a calculated strategy, prepared in advance of the deposition and then aggressively implemented," the lawyers suing ExxonMobil said in their complaint to the court, adding that the defense responded to pushback with repeated threats to seek penalties and fees against the plaintiffs.
The defense team countered that the ExxonMobil witness answered “more than 300 substantive questions, but used the prepared notes to respond to only forty-five questions,” court records show.
Paul, Weiss Chair Brad Karp defended Oh in a statement: “Alex is a person of the utmost integrity and a consummate professional, with a strong ethical code.” Karp said that otherwise the firm "cannot comment on this matter because it involves a ruling in an ongoing litigation."
The revelation has stirred concern among Gensler's allies about how Oh was vetted and when the SEC learned about any complaints regarding her conduct. A spokesperson for Gensler declined to comment for this story, including on Oh's vetting process.
Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher, who served with Gensler on Biden's transition review team, said the alleged conduct "does appear to be particularly egregious" but that it was hard to know for sure, with certain information about the case unavailable to the public.
It's unclear if Oh would have resigned if she had not already been the target of advocacy groups calling out Gensler directly. The groups have become more vocal in recent years as Warren pushed the mantra that "personnel is policy" — a campaign that often requires taking on fellow Democrats.
"The progressive advocacy machinery is fast, loud and now successful," said Isaac Boltansky, policy research director for Compass Point Research & Trading, who served on the bank bailout oversight panel that Warren chaired after the 2008 financial crisis.
Hauser, who led efforts to fight Oh's appointment, believes he made an impact. He founded the Revolving Door Project in 2015 and has more recently emerged as one of the most prominent public voices on the left trying to influence Biden's selection of political appointees.
Hauser said of Oh: "I don't think she is the first lawyer to be overzealous on behalf of a corporate client to then get a big government job. I think Revolving Door Project and our allies are what is different now than in the past when this would be just an annoyance she handled."
Not all of Gensler's allies are rushing to criticize him.
Barbara Roper, the Consumer Federation of America's director of investor protection, said she planned to judge him based on his full team.
Roper praised Gensler's decision to hire former AFL-CIO official Heather Slavkin Corzo as his policy director, calling it unprecedented for someone from the advocacy community to be named to such a high role. Roper said Gensler was also under "enormous pressure" to appoint a diverse senior team — a goal she said was worth pursuing. Oh was the first woman of color to serve as the agency's enforcement director.
"I've known Gary for 20 years," Roper said. "I know he's serious about doing a good job as SEC chair. He will get past this. I'm sure he will learn from these events and move forward accordingly."
The Broomfield Police Department is one of 34 law enforcement agencies working together to combat illegal street racing.
The street racing working group was established in response to an increase in illegal street racing around Colorado, according to a news release from Colorado State Patrol, which noted the group has been meeting to work on methods to help stop the issue.
Sixteen Denver metro agencies teamed up April 18 to combat street racers. More than 280 citations were issued and four arrests were made during the join operation, according to the release.
Broomfield police issued 55 summonses in Broomfield for a variety of things including modified exhausts, driving under suspension and expired registration. Of the 55 summonses, 10 were directly related to street racing, the police department stated on social media.
“Street racing is a dangerous activity that puts lives at risk,” the state patrol release states. “Drivers who engage in street racing can quickly lose control and injure or kill themselves or other innocent roadways users.”
The release added additional criminal activities are often tied to street racing, which increases the level of danger, including reports of shots being fired in recent events.
“Those who choose to take part in street racing can be subject to serious penalties for crimes such as reckless driving, reckless endangerment, engaging in a speed contest, aiding in a speed contest or obstructing a highway incident to a speed contest,” the release states. “These charges often carry enough points to lead to a loss of your driving privileges, fines, and possible jail time.”
Drivers who experience vehicles racing around them or feel there is a risk involved are advised to separate away from the racing vehicles. If there is an immediate risk, call 911. Incidents can also be reported to Colorado State Patrol by dialing *CSP, or *277. Reports can also be made at reportstreetracing.com. Private property owners can contact local law enforcement to initiate a trespass order if illegal meets are held at their place of business.
Agencies involved in the street racing working group:
Due to restrictions related on the ongoing pandemic, Cherokee Street’s annual Cinco de Mayo festival has once again been canceled. In its place, Cinco de Mayo STL, the foundation that spearheads the event, has partnered with local events website Do314 on Taco de Oro – The Cherokee Street Taco Bracket, which opens for voting tomorrow, Saturday, May 1.
The monthlong competition highlights eight of the street’s taquerias and other restaurants’ selection of their own best taco. Diners are invited to travel the “Taco Walk-o-Fame,” where they can sample each restaurant’s offering and then vote on their top pick in brackets like Best of Al Pastor and The Steak Out. Votes will be cast online through the Do314 website; QR codes that link directly to the voting site will be posted at each participating restaurant. At the end of the month, the competition’s winner will be presented with the Golden Taco trophy (the Spanish phrase "de oro" translates to "of gold.")
Seven of the eight participating restaurants – Sueno Latino, La Manganita, Taqueria El Bronco, Don Carlos Restaurant, La Vallesana, Taqueria Hectorito (located inside Supermercado El Torito), and The Taco and Ice Cream Joint – are located in the same two blocks on Cherokee Street between Oregon and Iowa avenues. The eighth, Kalbi Taco Shack, is situated just a few blocks east, at Cherokee and Indiana avenues.
“Certain folks on Cherokee Street have been dreaming of a taco competition for many years,” said Emily Thenhaus, executive director of the Cherokee Street Community Improvement District. “The street’s annual Cinco de Mayo festival is both a big celebration of our community and also a huge revenue source for so many of our businesses. Taco de Oro seemed like the perfect way to spread out the crowds and still encourage folks to support the businesses and not just do so altruistically, but also to taste some of the best tacos the region has,” Thenhaus continued.
The competition is also an opportunity for taco fans to try some of the newer arrivals to Cherokee’s taco scene, such as La Manganita, “so there’s something for everyone to try and get acquainted with,” Thenhaus explained. The organizers hope the competition will continue on after this year, with the Golden Taco trophy traveling back and forth between winning businesses.
Several area bars are getting in on the action as well by way of a margarita promotion. The first 100 people to cast their votes will receive a coupon for a free margarita at several of the participating restaurants as well as Cherokee Street bars like Yaquis, The B-Side, The Fortune Teller Bar and The Whiskey Ring.
Sustainability-focused funds attracted record inflows during the first quarter, pushing global assets under management in ESG funds to nearly $2 trillion, according to a report from Morningstar released Friday.
The rise underscores the momentum behind ESG investing, or when environmental, social and governance factors are considered. Assets in these types of funds first topped $1 trillion in the second quarter of 2020.
Global sustainable funds attracted a record $185.3 billion during the first quarter of 2021, up 17% quarter over quarter. Overall, assets in ESG funds jumped 17.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
"2021 began where 2020 left off with record demand for sustainable investment options across the globe," noted Hortense Bioy, global director of sustainability research at Morningstar.
Europe accounted for over 79% of total fund flows, although other regions are allocating more and more to ESG funds.
In the U.S., sustainability-focused funds attracted nearly $21.5 billion in net inflows, a new record. The figure more than doubled year over year, up from $10.4 billion during the first quarter of 2020, and was roughly five times larger than 2019's first quarter flows.
According to Morningstar, the five funds that attracted the most inflows in the first quarter were: iShares Global Clean Energy ETF, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA, First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge GreenEnergy, iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE and iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM.
| Fund name | Ticker | Q1 inflows in billions |
| iShares Global Clean Energy | ICLN | $1.98 |
| iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA | ESGU | $1.33 |
| First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge GreenEnergy | QCLN | $1.00 |
| iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE | ESGD | $0.87 |
| iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM | ESGE | $0.82 |
ESG investing was already gaining momentum before the pandemic hit. But it's since accelerated driven by a number of factors, including Covid's disproportionate toll on minorities, social unrest that's swept the U.S., as well as devastating wildfires and deadly winter storms.
"Over the past year, a broad consensus on the need to address climate risk in investment portfolios has emerged," Morningstar said in a recent report. "More investors see the green transition to a low-carbon economy as an investment opportunity. Asset managers are therefore rapidly developing new risk-management solutions, launching innovative products, and retooling existing ones to help investors decarbonise their portfolios and invest in green solutions," the firm added.
"ESG" is an umbrella term that can contain a host of different investing strategies, which is partly why it has faced criticism. Opponents cite a lack of transparency.
For the "E" specifically, Morningstar said there were 400 climate-aware funds at the end of 2020. The firm said these can be sub-divided into five categories: low carbon, climate conscious, green bond, climate solutions and clean energy/tech.
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Twitter stock is taking a hit as Wall Street digests the company’s first-quarter earnings report. Analysts say the market was disappointed by the company’s second-quarter outlook and signs of weakness in user growth.
Twitter stock (ticker: TWTR) was down about 13% to $56.72 late Friday morning. The S&P 500 index had fallen 0.6%.
BofA Securities analyst Justin Post wrote Friday that Twitter’s first-quarter revenue was in line with expectations, though U.S. brand advertising was slow in January and February. He noted that user growth was a tick lower than expected.
Post called the company’s second-quarter outlook confusing, arguing that the call should have been higher given that management pointed to a recovery in spending by brands in March. The company said revenue is likely to be between $980 million and $1.08 billion, while the consensus view on Wall Street has been that the figure should be $1.06 billion.
Wedbush analyst Ygal Arounian wrote in a note on Friday that he thinks Wall Street will focus on the slowdown in user growth, noting that investors are increasingly focused on whether users remain engaged with apps such as Twitter now that the pandemic is receding in the U.S.
“Twitter’s digital advertising peers all saw significant beats on revenue with guidance ahead of 2Q expectations, meaning Twitter, so far, has participated somewhat less in the digital advertising market rebound,” Arounian added.
In a note titled “This Birdie Finds Turbulence Out of Thin Air,” MKM Partners analyst Rohit Kulkarni called it a mixed quarter for Twitter. He said advertising revenue growth seemed to lag behind peers like Pinterest (PINS) and Snap (SNAP), which reported earlier in April. He too noted that Twitter’s user growth was softer than expected.
“While yesterday’s results do not inspire confidence in management’s ability to hold a steady cadence in fundamentals, we think Twitter remains a solid ‘re-opening play’ with live sports and events over the summer,” Kulkarni wrote.
Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein is also looking ahead to the return of live events, saying their suspension has been weighing on revenue growth.
“While the market reacted to weaker 2Q outlook, following upbeat investor day, we are more upbeat on product cadence and expect Brand strength,” in the second half of 2021, Helftstein wrote.
At least for now, investors seem less optimistic.
Write to Connor Smith at connor.smith@barrons.com
CASPER, Wyo. (PRESS RELEASE) - Starting Tuesday, May 4, motorists can expect traffic delays on East 2nd Street from Landmark Drive east to the Studio City Center entrance. Crews will be milling the street, replacing concrete, and overlaying the street with new asphalt. Motorists can expect lane restrictions throughout the project as well as occasional closures of the intersection of Landmark Drive and Second Street.
“During paving, the contractor will need to close the intersection—which will mean that vehicles will be unable to turn onto 2nd from Landmark and vice versa” stated Casper Engineering Technician Andrew Colling. “We anticipate that closure to be only for one day. However, the eastern most entrance to Home Depot and Craves could be closed for up to 10 days for concrete work and paving,” continued Colling. The anticipated completion date of the project is June 4th.
The $142,482.50 project was awarded to Installation and Service Company (ISCO). The project is being funded by Optional One Cent funds.
Questions can be directed to the Casper engineering division at (307) 235-8341.
Copyright 2021 Wyoming News Now. All rights reserved.
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RADARDEPOK.COM – Perempuan cantik kelahiran 1996 ini merupakan owner dari rumah makan bergaya masakan Korea. Sudah memiliki hobi berbisnis sejak kecil, membawanya mau belajar untuk menjadi sukses. Dari awalnya hanya bermodalkan tempat makan beratap tenda dibilangan Jakarta Timur.
Laporan: Daffa Andarifka Syaifullah
Menuju Ruko Aster C, Jalan Boulevard Grand Depok City (GDC), Kelurahan Tirtajaya, Kecamatan Sukmajaya, ada sebuah rumah makan dengan tenda hitam tersusun beberapa meja yang ramai didatangi pengunjung. Ya, itu Oseyo Street Food.
Berbagai jenis makanan Korea tersedia disana yang bisa dipesan para pelanggan. Seperti barbeque dengan variasi berdua dan berempat, side dish jajangmyeon, ramyeon, serta tteopokki.
Disitu, tiga orang pegawai tengah sibuk. Mobilitasnya kesana kemari menghampiri kemudian meninggalkan meja pelanggan. Rupanya mereka sedang melayani pesanan. Tetapi, terlihat seorang perempuan sedang duduk di meja registrasi, dia adalah Desita Rahmah Putri, Owner dari Oseyo Street Food. Dia memantau sudut demi sudut bisnis yang telah dirintisnya pada 2019.
Oseyo, susunan satu kata berisi lima huruf sangat berarti bagi Desita. Biasanya, di negeri gingseng, para pedagang kaki lima pastinya meneriakan satu kata untuk menarik pembeli.
Kata itu ialah Oseyo. Dan jika ditilik dari bahasa korea, Oseyo memiliki makna ‘silahkan datang’. “Per hari itu bisa sampai 10-30 meja terisi oleh pelanggan. Kami buka setiap hari Selasa sampai Minggu,” kata Desita.
Dua tahun merintis bisnis dari 0. Membuat Desita selalu optimis melangkah maju. Membuka cabang restoran dianggap sebagai salah satu strategi memperluas bisnis yang dijalankan. Apalagi jika restoran menunjukkan perkembangan yang pesat serta punya potensi keuntungan yang tinggi.
Berawal dari sistem All You Can Eat, saat ini dia punya beberapa cabang tersebar di sejumlah kota, diantaranya Jakarta Timur sebagai cabang pertamanya, dilanjut di Kota Depok, kemudian Bekasi, dan juga Bandung.
“Jadi Oseyo ini emang dibuat untuk mereka yang setidaknya merasakan sekali dalam hidupnya makan ala barbeque. Harganya pun kami sesuaikan dengan mereka yang pendapatannya pas pasan. Untuk cabang totalnya ada lima. Di Jakarta satu, Depok ada satu, Bekasi dua, dan Bandung satu,” ungkapnya.
Siapa sangka, bisnisnya itu bisa membantu para pencari kerja untuk mencari nafkah. Menciptakan lapangan pekerjaan baru. Setidaknya, sekitar 25 orang karyawan ‘dinafkahinya’.
Namun, dari lima cabang tersebut. Tidak semuanya aktif. Sekarang, hanya tiga saja yang masih aktif. Sementara dua lainnya sedang ditutup sampai waktu yang belum bisa ditentukan.
“Bulan lalu, omzet yang didapat masih diangka Rp100 juta karena baru dua cabang yang aktif beroperasi. Satu cabang baru saja buka hasil kemitraan. Sisanya kan lagi di renovasi dan baru saja grand opening,” tutupnya. (bersambung)
Editor : Fahmi Akbar
By David Pendered
The task of retooling the 10th Street Bridge into a multi-modal route over the Downtown Connector is taking an important step forward. The process of acquiring land for the project is beginning.
The 10th Street Bridge in Atlanta is to be retooled into a multi-modal route ove the Downtown Connector. Atlanta is starting the process of acquiring land for the construction process. Credit: Midtown Alliance
The Atlanta City Council is considering a proposal to authorize city officials to acquire rights of way necessary for construction. No opposition to the paper is expected. Final passage of the enabling legislation could occur as early as the council’s meeting May 17.
The paper authorizes Atlanta buy property or condemn parcels if owners won’t accept the city’s good-faith offer. Five owners are involved:
The bridge is to open in mid 2024. Construction is set to begin in 2023, according to the schedule posted by Midtown Alliance.
This project map shows the extent of work required to retool the 10th Street Bridge into a multi-modal route. Credit: Atlanta
Midtown Alliance has taken a leadership role in this project, as it did at the 14th Street Bridge over the I-75/I-85 roadway known as the Downtown Connector.
At the 14th Street Bridge, the state’s original plan called for a structure with travel lanes separated by a turn lane. Midtown Alliance became involved and the final result is the multi-modal bridge that exists today.
The 10th Street Bridge is the type of bridge once envisioned at 14th Street. The existing 10th Street Bridge has three travel lanes in each direction, separated by a turn lane. A utilitarian barricade fence on each side is to prevent projectiles from being lobbed onto the highway below.
To remake the 10th Street Bridge, Midtown Alliance hired an engineering firm to design a multi-modal remake. Kimley-Horn is to design a bridge that addresses the aspirations of folks who offered comments during a series of stakeholder meetings. This comment is representative:
Once the 10th Street Bridge is retooled into a multi-modal route, the Downtown Connector will be spanned by four pedestrian-oriented crossings from 5th Street to 17th Street. Credit: Kelly Jordan
The final design is not intended to replicate the garden-like environment built into the 5th Street bridge. But the retooled 10th Street Bridge is to provide safer mobility for the growing volume of traffic crossing it by means other than a vehicles.
For example, the eastern side of the Connector is being filled in with student housing that can serve a few thousand students, who are walking or riding bicycles, scooters or skateboards across the bridge on their commute between school and home.
Even before this supply of housing was erected, Midtown Alliance was seeking a bridge design that would accommodate individuals walking between campus and MARTA’s Midtown Station. The number rises dramatically during events at Tech’s McCamish Pavilion. At the time, estimates called for the bridge to accommodate more than 35,000 travelers a day, according to the Midtown Alliance.
The budget is set at a total of $7.2 million. Sources include:
A man wearing a protective face mask walks by 14 Wall Street in the financial district of New York, U.S., November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Wall Street financiers let out a cautious cheer on Thursday after hearing New York City aims to fully reopen on July 1, craving the meetings and meals of work life before the pandemic, but also loathing the grind of mass transit, packed office elevators and conventional business attire.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday announced his intention to get things back to normal. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who controls reopening decisions, voiced optimism it might happen even before July 1.
If their timelines hold up, some Wall Street workers look forward to frequenting the restaurants, bars, workout studios and entertainment venues that they have missed.
"After more than a year in isolation, I am prepared to have drinks with just about anyone who breathes," said Kai Liekefett, who defends corporations against hedge fund managers pushing for changes as co-chair of law firm Sidley Austin's Shareholder Activism Practice.
"Even activists," he added.
Rob Dicks, head of Accenture’s capital markets talent and organization practice, said: "Video is an evolution ... and is effective, but there are some topics that just need to be covered face-to-face.”
Fund managers, bankers and lawyers who spoke to Reuters joked about a run on reservations at restaurants like Marea or Casa Lever, high-end Italian restaurants in Midtown Manhattan where billionaires and Wall Street bigwigs are often sighted.
At the same time, people expressed concerns about office conditions, whether companies can require employees to get vaccinated, and whether the working-from-home comforts will fly out the window.
The most populous U.S. city, New York was the early epicenter of the pandemic more than a year ago. The mayor said his optimism reflected the progress of a massive drive to get New Yorkers vaccinated.
Financial companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and T. Rowe Price Group Inc (TROW.O) have announced plans to have most employees back in the office by July, while Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and others are considering allowing employees to work in the office three days a week.
Will major financial firms keep workspaces clean, separate and airy?
"A lot of people are really nervous and aren't sure what this will actually mean," said one person at a private equity firm who is not allowed to speak publicly about internal matters.
And what about the dress code? Another person who works at a hedge fund recalled having his first in-person professional meeting since the pandemic. He wore athletic pants – a “business comfortable” attire he is not eager to abandon.
"It was very casual and I went in Lulus," he said, referring to Lululemon-brand trousers.
For others, a year of remote work has created habits so deep that they are here to stay.
Hedge-fund manager David Tawil who co-founded Maglan Capital collected his personal belongings from the office in August. He has not returned and does not plan to, even when things open up.
“I am available to travel into New York City whenever needed, but I haven’t had a need,” Tawil said. “I’ve been handling all my meetings virtually and it’s been great. It’s truly a new life.”
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