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AUGUST 2011
BITS & BYTES
Brain As 25th anniversary.
PAGE 6
COACHS CORNER
Sweat or blood.
PAGE 5
MONTHLY UPDATE
Brooklyn Goes Pink starting Oct. 1.
PAGE 2
www.brooklynbiztrends.com
Special to Business Trends
Ridgewood Savings Bank celebrated its 90th anniversary with a reception held at its main office. In addition,
cakes were delivered to all the banks branches for customers and employees to enjoy. Pictured in the front row,
from left, are Peter M. Boger, trustee, president and COO; Rudolph J. Stutzmann, trustee emeriti; Lydon Sleep-
er, chief of staff for Councilperson Elizabeth Crowley; William C. McGarry, trustee, chairman and CEO; Melva
Miller, director of economic development, Office of the Queens Borough President; Mary A. Ledermann, trustee;
Donald E. Henn, trustee emeriti; and Donald Sullivan, trustee emeriti. In the back row are trustees Henry A.
Braun, Robert W. Donohue, Margaret Mary Fitzpatrick, James J. Dixon and Michael A. Agnes.
Happy 90th birthday!
P u b l i s h e d b y E l a u wi t Me d i a
By TIM RONALDSON
Business Trends
New York isnt free.
A recent study, Freedom in
the 50 States, ranked New York
dead last in overall freedom based
on measurements of fiscal policy,
regulatory policy, economic free-
dom and personal freedom. Its
partner-at-the-hip, New Jersey,
was ranked one spot above at No.
49.
New York is by far the least
free state in the Union, reads the
study, written by William P. Ruger
and Jason Sorens, and conducted
by the Mercatus Center at George
Mason University. It has also ex-
perienced the most interstate em-
igration of any state over the last
decade. New York has by far the
highest taxes in the country. Prop-
erty, selective sales, individual in-
come and corporate-income taxes
are particularly high.
The study which can be found
in its entirety online at
http://mercatus.org/freedom-50-
states-2011 comprehensively
ranks the states on public policies
that affect individual freedoms in
the economic, social and political
spheres, updating its initial re-
lease in 2009. The studys ap-
proach to measuring freedom in-
cludes three unique areas: It
measures social and personal
freedoms such as peaceable citi-
zens rights to educate their own
children, to own and carry
firearms and to be free for unrea-
sonable search and seizure; it in-
corporates more than 150 distinct
public policies; and it carefully
measures fiscal policies in a way
that reflects the true cost of gov-
ernment to the citizen.
We explicitly ground our con-
ception of freedom on an individ-
ual-rights framework, the study
reads. In our view, individuals
should be allowed to dispose of
their lives, liberties and proper-
ties as they see fit, so long as they
do not infringe on the rights of
others.
...And recent poll
finds that New
York definitely
isnt free
please see FREEDOM, page 10
Freedom
isnt
free...
By TIM RONALDSON
Business Trends
We are all Brooklyn.
So says the slogan of The Art of Brooklyn,
a first-time festival of film, music and art, set
to take place at St. Francis College this
month. The event, spawned from brain-
storming sessions with folks at the college
and Park Slope Films, has a noble goal in
mind to unite the different Brooklyns
that exist, from those who were born and
raised in the borough to the immigrants,
transplants and newcomers.
Its a New York City festival, but we want-
ed our focus to be on Brooklyn, said Antho-
ny DeVito, an actor and writer who is serv-
ing as one of the co-directors of the festival,
along with Jason Cusato and Al Acceturra of
Park Slope Films.
The festival, to be held Aug. 20-27, came
about through St. Francis Colleges interest
in hosting film screenings at its newly-reno-
vated theater, DeVito said.
As he and the other directors ran with the
project, though, it quickly grew organically
as more people got excited about it and saw
its full potential. Instead of a generic screen-
ing of local films, the festival will showcase
and highlight city artists from various medi-
ums.
It kind of snowballed from everyone
brainstorming and getting excited, DeVito
said. We thought we could have something
here that could be something interesting that
people could get excited about.
DeVito, Cusato and Acceturra were all
born and raised in Brooklyn, and they real-
ized that divisions have formed within the
massive borough to create different versions
We are all Brooklyn
Art festival at St. Francis College hopes to unite the different Brooklyns
please see FESTIVAL, page 4
Brooklyn Goes Pink starting
Saturday, Oct. 1
The American Cancer Society,
Brooklyn Regional Office announced
that the 2011 Brooklyn Goes Pink
Campaign will kick off on Saturday,
Oct. 1 and continue throughout the
month of October, when businesses
across Brooklyn will host benefit
events and promotions in support of
American Cancer Societys Making
Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.
Funds raised through Making Strides
Against Breast Cancer support
women and men in the borough fight-
ing breast cancer, as well as breast
cancer research.
Brooklyn businesses are invited to
help those affected by breast cancer by
going pink this coming October and
donating proceeds to their local Amer-
ican Cancer Society. Businesses may
create unique fundraisers or promo-
tions, or consider one of these ideas:
n Donate a percentage of sales dur-
ing Brooklyn Goes Pink month
n Donate a percentage of sales of a
particular item
n Sell pink ribbon donation cards
provided by the American Cancer So-
ciety
nHold a raffle for a special item or a
gift certificate
Brooklyn restaurants and lounges
are invited to participate in Be An Epi-
CUREan, a special promotion across
the NY metropolitan area in which a
portion of the sale of a special pink
menu item is donated to Making
Strides Against Breast Cancer.
The American Cancer Society will
provide a window cling and cus-
tomized supporter sign for all partici-
pating businesses, include participat-
ing companies in a press release pro-
moting Brooklyn Goes Pink and Be an
EpiCurean and list businesses on the
event Web site and on a prominent
banner at the walk.
For more information on how your
business can go pink and Making
Strides Against Breast Cancer, contact
Tamara Ehlin at (718) 622-2492 ext. 5115
or visit the Web site
makingstrides.acsevents.org/brooklyn.
Immigrants are powerful,
market review shows
The release of the Brooklyn Cham-
ber of Commerces Spring 2011 Brook-
lyn Labor Market Review shows immi-
grant entrepreneurs are a powerful
component of the Brooklyn economy,
leading with their representation in
certain sectors. In fact, Brooklyn cur-
rently outpaces New York City as a
whole in the areas of immigrant work-
ers, with 50 percent of the workforce
comprising immigrants versus 44 per-
cent city-wide. Self-employed immi-
grant incorporated individuals in
Brooklyn outpace NYC at 50 percent
versus 46 percent.
Data compiled by the Fiscal Policy
Institute, which conducted the analy-
sis and prepared the report for the
Chamber, shows the five industries
where immigrant incorporated, self-
employed businesses dominate the
total market share:
nGrocery stores (87 percent)
n Taxi and limousine services (81
percent)
n Child day care services (77 per-
cent)
nPhysician offices (67 percent)
n Restaurants or other food service
(69 percent)
The industries represent a mix of
high and low wage income areas. The
largest number of immigrants in a de-
tailed industry is construction (2,200),
followed by restaurants and food serv-
ices and physicians offices.
St. Francis students
to learn Apple apps
St. Francis College Information
Technology professor Esther Klein
has begun teaching students to pro-
gram applications for the Apple iPad,
iPhone and iPod touch. This is a skill
that is very much in demand, said
Klein, who earned her doctorate in
computer science. To my knowledge,
we are the only college in Brooklyn
with a course that teaches students to
program apps.
Because students come to the class
with different levels of programming
experience, Klein starts the course
with a very basic introduction to Ob-
jective-C, the programming language
Apple uses for its apps.
Over the course of a semester, the
students first work on an assigned
project that gets them acquainted with
the motion, gestures, user controls
and general interface needed to build
an app.
They also dissect existing apps and
look at theories on development and
practical issues like saving user data.
From there, the students are set free to
design an app of their own. They use a
virtual simulator on an Apple desktop
that mimics how the app will look. Ul-
timately, they test it on their own de-
vices.
Monthly Update
Business Trends is published monthly by Elauwit Media,
LLC, 66 Willow Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10305
HOW TO REACH US
347-682-4867 fax: 866-745-9380
WHOM TO ASK FOR
Janet Warren Dugo, Publisher
ON THE WEB
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advertising: ads@brooklynbiztrends.com
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Business Trends welcomes suggestions and comments from
readers including any information about errors that may call
for a correction to be printed. Send your comments to
news@brooklynbiztrends.com, or call 347-682-4867.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Business Trends is mailed each month to the business and
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paper, but are not currently on our mailing list, you can request
to be added to the mailing list by emailing your name, title,
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NEWS IDEAS
Business Trends has limited resources to send photographers to
events, so the best way to seek coverage is by sending your
news release and photos to the editor at the below address, or
via email to news@brooklynbiztrends.com.
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of Brooklyn in different areas. In
addition, outsiders perception of
Brooklyn is often skewed and lim-
ited in scope.
So while the festival is for all
New York City artists and resi-
dents, there is a Brooklyn-first
feel to it, DeVito said. One night
will feature film screenings from
people who were born and raised
in Brooklyn, hoping to compare
and contrast the sensibilities and
point of view of people who were
born and raised here to people
who uprooted their lives and
moved here.
The three directors have a
background in film two running
Park Slope Films and the other
acting in some of their movies
but they wanted to expand the
scope of the festival to include
other art forms, an aspect of the
festival about which they are ex-
ceptionally excited. The broad
reach could lead to more opportu-
nities in the future, too, such as a
week featuring live music of un-
signed Brooklyn bands, for exam-
ple.
The festival will showcase the
work of the artists involved to
both broaden the horizons of the
attendees and to give the artists
work a big stage on which to
shine.
Its really about exposure and
opportunity for people, DeVito
said.
The reason people enter festi-
vals is that they want to get their
work seen, but ultimately, the goal
is to get a distribution deal. Its a
way for peoples work to have a
life beyond their friends and their
own community.
Ever since the festival went
from idea to actuality, the direc-
tors have been hard at work or-
ganizing, planning, executing
and promoting. Because of the
relatively short turn-around, De-
Vito said the organizers didnt
have the time to go the traditional
route of artist submissions,
which are normally done months
in advance. Instead, they reached
out directly to people they had
worked with and people who they
knew to submit their work. Once
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Art festival
FESTIVAL
Continued from page 1
Want to attend?
The Art of Brooklyn festival will
be held Aug. 20-27 at the St.
Francis College Theatre. Daily
passes are $12 online or $15 at
the door. Senior citizens are
admitted to all shows free, and
students can purchase discount-
ed tickets for $5. For more
information, including the
schedule of events, visit
www.theartofbrooklyn.com.
please see FESTIVAL, page 5
Visit us online at www.brooklynbiztrends.com
By BILLY SPARKLE
Recently I saw this quote on the
back of someones T-shirt: The
more you sweat in practice, the
less you bleed in battle.
While the concepts of battle
and fighting dont tend to exist
in the World of Creation where
my clients and I conduct our af-
fairs, I do realize that many who
read this column may still be op-
erating in the World of Competi-
tion. That said, I thought this
quote might speak to you. It cer-
tainly spoke to me strongly
enough to build an article around
it.
Heres how I hear this
quote
Theres a certain amount of
creative activity that will result
in the manifestations we desire.
Being engaged in that creative ac-
tivity will induce a certain
amount of sweat. If we neglect to
engage in that creative activity,
then there will come a time by
when we had expected (or hoped)
that our desires would be ful-
filled. And once that time has ar-
rived (The Arrival Date), we will
experience some variety of pain.
That pain is the blood. It may
take the form of tears. It may take
the form of resentment. It may
take the form of regret, despair
or discouragement. But whatever
the form the pain shows up in,
make no mistake - it will bleed
you dry.
It will bleed you of your pas-
sion. It will bleed you of your joy.
It will bleed you of your creativi-
ty and your sense of self-worth.
Ultimately, it will bleed you of
your life.
Now theres a different form of
pain that I prefer to experience.
That pain is called sweat. When
were engaged in the creative ac-
tivity that supports our desires,
we will sweat. If we are exercis-
ing, we will literally sweat. If we
are building a business, we will
be exerting what we call sweat eq-
uity. If I am exerting myself by
actively supporting my desires
through creative acting, speaking
and thinking, Ill be sweating out
the fulfillment of my desires drip
by drip.
Ive noticed that the pain I feel
in my muscles after a good work
out is preferable to the pain I
would feel if I were to get hurt be-
cause I was performing certain
activities that those muscles
werent strong enough to per-
form. I also notice that the pain I
feel when I put in a solid days
work is preferable to the pain I
would feel from atrophying my
speaking and thinking muscles
because I wasnt fully engaged in
my business.
I find that the pain I experi-
ence as Im sweating out my de-
sires is a thousand times more
pleasurable to the pain I experi-
ence when those desires go unful-
filled for weeks, months or some-
times years. And there is what I
would call the transformational
key that the pain actually gets
converted to pleasure by virtue of
what the pain is in service of. If
the sweat is in service of my
dreams, then I experience it as
pleasure, signifying that I am en-
gaged in the creative activity that
will manifest my desires.
I once read a quote by Mo-
hammed Ali that said, I hated
every minute of the training. But
I told myself, Suffer now and live
the rest of your life as a champi-
on. And so we get a glimpse into
the thinking of one of the great-
est prize-fighters the world has
ever known. Suffer now. Live the
rest of your life as a champion. I
believe that Alis suffering was
also converted to pleasure by real-
izing during his training that the
sweat was being given in service
of his dream to be the greatest
prize-fighter the world has ever
known.
So what prize are you fighting
for? What is your sweat being of-
fered in service of ? Are you will-
ing to suffer now so you can live
the rest of your life as a champi-
on? Sweat or blood. The choice is
yours. I trust youll choose wisely.
Coach Billy works with highly com-
mitted men & women to produce un-
precedented results in their busi-
nesses and their lives. Learn more at
www.billysparkle.com or contact
Billy directly via e-mail at
billy@billysparkle.com.
AUGUST 2011 BUSINESS TRENDS 5
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Sweat or blood
COACHS CORNER
they started the process, word
spread quickly and they began to
receive calls from others who
wanted to be involved.
People are so hungry to get ex-
posure that once the word gets
out there, it spreads quickly, De-
Vito said.
The work didnt only revolve
around receiving art submis-
sions.
Because it was a completely
new festival, they had to give it a
name, they had to create a hook
for the press, they had to set up
ticketing and a Web site, and
make sure that the filmmakers
could get their films to them in
the correct format.
I knew it would be a lot of
work, but I wasnt sure of the
specifics until we started doing
it, he said. Everything you do,
you realize there are 10 more
things to do. We had to start from
zero.
With the support of St. Francis
College, Brooklyn Borough Hall
and other groups, the directors
were able to put together what
they hope will be a successful fes-
tival. DeVito is hoping to have a
good turnout each night to St.
Francis 300-seat theater, which
could help spawn future festivals
of its kind.
Weve seen the changes in
Brooklyn. Its a creative hotspot
now, he said. Because of that,
we felt like there are Brooklyns
that dont jive with each other. We
wanted to unite these worlds so
that everyones views could be
seen.
Art festival
FESTIVAL
Continued from page 4
By BILL DUBOVSKY
Situation
Its been 25 years since Brain
A, the first pc-based MS-DOS
virus was introduced to the
world on a 5 inch floppy disk.
It spread from one machine to
another when people tried to ille-
gally copy the disk directly or
over a modem. Hackers today
are no longer precocious ama-
teurs vying for bragging rights
but are professional criminal en-
terprises trying to steal from
your bank account and credit
cards. Journalist Misha Glenny
has estimated that as much as 15
percent of global GDP may go to
organized crime cyber thieves
who treat hacking as global busi-
ness, hiring programmers and
digitally moving from one part
of the world to another, so they
are difficult to catch and prose-
cute. We read of the recent hack-
ing of large companies like
SONY, but little is mentioned
about the hackers new target
small businesses with lax securi-
ty. According to the Wall Street
Journal, Visa Inc. estimates
that about 95 percent of the cred-
it card data breaches it discovers
are on its smallest business cus-
tomers.
What is it?
Malware is malicious and un-
wanted software including com-
puter viruses, worms, Trojan
horses, spyware, keyloggers,
rootkits, adware and others.
While viruses can reproduce
themselves and may or may not
be malevolent, other types of
malware can take over your com-
puter and send copies of every-
thing that is input from your
keyboard (keyloggers) to cyber
thieves who then sell, or use the
data to steal your identity, your
credit card information, or your
customers data, to quickly
empty bank accounts or drive
charges to credit cards.
What you need
Education and a solid and con-
sistent security plan for your
business.
Where to get it
Hacking and malware can
come from opening email, email
attachments, downloads from
questionable websites, and from
spoofing and phishing where
hackers get your username and
passwords by social engineering
earning your trust to get the in-
formation or figuring out default
usernames and running a pro-
gram to try common passwords.
You can also be infected by mali-
cious code on a CD/DVD backup
or even flash drives.
How hard is it to get?
Its easy. Many breaches are
due to lax security procedures
and a feeling youre too small for
this to happen to you. If youre a
business user and you dont have
an up-to-date firewall and an-
tivirus software on your serv-
er/computer, you havent insti-
tuted security procedures that
your staff follow, you dont regu-
larly back up and store off net-
work or have someone responsi-
ble for security, then you are at
risk.
Prevention
To minimize your risk, keep
all software up-to-date, dont
open documents that are empty
or come from unknown senders.
All employees should be trained
as to security procedures includ-
ing phishing and spoofing, and
you should have IT and telecom
consultants available to you for
emergencies. Except for tradi-
tional analog POTS lines, mobile
and VoIP phones can be hacked
(think News Corp.). If possi-
ble, shut down servers or dis-
connect from the Internet or
modems during non-business
hours. Using cloud-based appli-
cations instead of on-premises
servers may also reduce your
risk by having the host responsi-
ble for 24/7 security. You can ac-
cess Microsofts website to run a
free scan of your Windows oper-
ating system as long as you have
your 20-digit registration num-
EDITORIAL 6 BUSINESS TRENDS AUGUST 2011
DAN McDONOUGH, JR. Co-Chairman & Chief Executive
RUSSELL CANN Co-Chairman & Chief Financial Officer
MICHAEL LaCOUNT, Ph.D. Vice Chairman
www.elauwit.com
Too much to do
Pressing issues demand Congress time
T
he public is quick to jump on members of Congress for
doing nothing when it comes to important issues con-
fronting the country. The public needs to keep things in
perspective. These folks have busy schedules.
Take, for example, Congress-
man Anthony Weiner, who sent
lewd photos and explicit text
messages from his Twitter ac-
count.
And lets not forget: Idaho
Sen. Larry Craig and his misad-
ventures in an airport mens
room; another New York Congressman, Chris Lee, and his
shirtless photo; former Congressman Mark Foley and his inter-
est in pages (and we dont mean the contents of a book); John
Edwards and his mistress (although that might have taken up
his time after he left Congress); and, well, you get the picture.
The list could go on and on.
How, as reasonable American citizens, can we expect these
folks to address the federal budget, economy, Social Security,
taxes and more when they have all of these other things going
on in their lives?
And thats just Congress. Governors have to walk the Ap-
palachian Trail, fly in helicopters to a kids baseball game and,
well, entertain housekeepers.
We humble regular people should recognize the super-human
skills and abilities these individuals must possess to just
squeeze all of these activities into a 24-hour day. Were lucky
to make it home after work, walk the dog and catch part of a
baseball game. After that, were beat and ready to go to sleep.
So the next time youre ready to lament government inaction,
stop yourself and consider this: Could you run a government
and still find time to shoot a hunting partner in the face? Didnt
think so.
in our opinion
JANET WARREN DUGO
Publisher
Directors
STEVE COPPOLA RICHARD GRADO ROBERT CUTRONA LAWRENCE RAMPULLA
ALAN BAUER
STEVE MILLER
ED LYNES
General Manager & Editor
Executive Vice President
Vice President of Sales
Telecom tech tip of the month
Will the fax machine go the way of TELEX and the Telegram? Many
new businesses no longer have fax numbers on their business cards
or Websites. I have kept track of my fax usage since January and
most of the faxes and only one was business oriented. A Verizon line
that is used for fax will run about $37.05 per month if you dont call
out on it. Thats about $445 per year for a service you may no
longer need! Do you need a dedicated fax line? If you do about 75
faxes per month there are services that will allow you to have a sep-
arate fax number by sending and receiving faxes via email PDF
attachments for under $10.
Brain As 25th birthday
BITS & BYTES
please see BITS, page 7
A full day
Whats your favorite or least
favorite political activity of
all time? You can visit
www.brooklynbiztrends.com
to share your thoughts
and opinions.
ber. While Mac OSX, iPad and
Linux do not seem to be as at risk
at this time, keep your iTunes
software up-to-date.
Recovery
Some malware can be safely re-
moved by using an anti-virus pro-
gram. You may have to re-install
your software from scratch from
an uninfected CD/DVD (dont use
flash drives). If you have off-site
server backups you may restore
an uninfected recent version
from them. There are other meth-
ods of restoration for Microsoft
users that are beyond the scope of
this article and probably should
be done by IT professionals.
Bottom-line
Be vigilant about the safety of
your network by training all staff
who even touch a computer,
change passwords on a regular
schedule, keep daily off-site back-
ups and all software up-to-date.
When purchasing on-line use
Pay-Pal or credit cards in place of
debit cards. All businesses should
have IT and telecom consultants
that they can call when they have
emergencies. On a global level,
governments need to work togeth-
er, with uniform laws, in uncover-
ing the responsible hacker gangs,
aggressively freezing their assets
and prosecuting immediately.
More information
For truly amazing TED Talks
on this subject click on: Mikko
Hypponen: Fighting viruses, de-
fending the net. (17:32) A com-
puter security expert tells us how
we can stop these new viruses
from threatening the Internet
(www.ted.com/talks/mikko_hyppo-
nen_fighting_viruses_defending_th
e_net.html).
And Misha Glenny: investi-
gates global crime networks.
(19:30) Journalist Misha Glenny
spent several years in a coura-
geous investigation of organized
crime networks worldwide.
From the Russian mafia, to
giant drug cartels, his sources in-
clude not just intelligence and
law enforcement officials but
criminal insiders
(www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/mish
a_glenny_investigates_global_crim
e_networks.html)
Bill Dubovsky has a proven track
record of business success spanning
over 30 years in helping hundreds of
organizations improve their prof-
itability. He founded Comtel Informa-
tion Services, a telecommunications
services brokerage. He may be
reached at bill@comtelinfo.com or
at 800-213-4884.
AUGUST 2011 BUSINESS TRENDS 7
Guillermo Correa, Independent Distributor
(347) 409-9170
Control de Peso Soluciones de Salud Nutricin Externa
Email: poma01@msn.com
www.puraganancia.com/T-uno
www.bajelibras.com/T-uno
Salud y Negocios
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Brain As 25th birthday
BITS
Continued from page 6
Signature Bank
capital up
to $1.24B
Signature Bank announced the
completion of its public offering
of 4,715,000 shares of common
stock at $56.25 per share, includ-
ing 615,000 shares sold pursuant
to the underwriters exercise of
their overallotment option. The
net proceeds to Signature Bank
from the offering were approxi-
mately $253.2 million, after deduc-
tion of the underwriting discount
and estimated offering expenses.
This offering increases the banks
capital to more than $1.24 billion.
Proceeds from this offering
will be used to continue the
banks growth in serving its
niche market of privately-owned
businesses in the metro-New York
area.
RESUME WRITING
HELP AT BROOKLYNS
BUSINESS LIBRARY
EVERY TUESDAY
Time: 6:00 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
Location: Business Library, 280
Cadman Plaza W. at Tillary St.
For information, call 718-623-7000
BNI PROSPERITY
EVERY TUESDAY
Time: 7:00 a.m. 8:30 a.m.
Location: Floridian Diner, 2301 Flat-
bush Ave.
For information, call 718-981-8600
BNI MONEY MAKERS
EVERY WEDNESDAY
Time: 7:00 a.m. 8:30 a.m.
Location: Bridgeview Diner, 9011 3rd
Avenue
For information, call 718-981-8600
BNI BOTTOM LINE
EVERY WEDNESDAY
Time: 7:00 a.m. 8:30 a.m.
Location: Juniors Famous Restau-
rant, 386 Flatbush Ave
For information, call 718-981-8600
BNI BROWNSTONE
BUSINESS
CONNECTIONS
EVERY THURSDAY
Time: 7:00 a.m. 8:30 a.m.
Location: Juniors Famous Restau-
rant, 386 Flatbush Ave
For information, call 718-981-8600
BNI NET INCOME
EVERY THURSDAY
Time: 7:00 a.m. 8:30 a.m.
Location: The Arch Diner, 1866
Ralph Ave
For information, call 718-981-8600
SCORE BUSINESS
ASSISTANCE FOR
ENTREPRENEURS
MONDAY- FRIDAY
Time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10
a.m. 2 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday 1
p.m. 3 p.m.
Location: Business Library, 280
Cadman Plaza W. at Tillary St.
For information, call 718-623-7000
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
TOASTMASTERS
FIRST/THIRD THURSDAYS
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Location: Historic Plymouth Church
For information, call 718-797-2246
GREENPOINT
CO-WORKING
JELLY/FREE
CO-WORKING DAY
SECOND WEDNESDAY
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: 240 N. Henry St.
For information, call 347-844-9208
SEMINAR: 10 STEPS
TO STARTING YOUR
OWN BUSINESS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5
Time: 10:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m.
Location: NYC Bus. Solutions Ctr., 9
Bond St., 5th Fl.
For information, call 718-875-3400
Ext. 7
5-BOROUGH CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE
NETWORKING NIGHT
MONDAY, AUGUST 8
Time: 5:00 7:00 p.m.
Followed by ballgame
Location: MCU Park, 1904 Surf Ave.
For information, call 718-875-1000
Ext. 148
SEMINAR: HOW TO
SELL TO GOVERNMENT
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9
Time: 10:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m.
Location: NYC Bus. Solutions Ctr.,
110 William St., NYC
For information, call 212-618-8845
BROOKLYN BUSINESS
BASE BUSINESS
EXCHANGE
BREAKFAST
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10
Time: 7:45 a.m.
Location: Downtown Brooklyn
For information, call 212-937-7911
TRADE BROOKLYN,
BROOKLYN CYCLONES
NETWORKING
AT THE BALLPARK
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17
Time: 5:00 7:00 p.m.
Followed by ballgame
Location: MCU Park, 1904 Surf Ave.
For information, call 347.464.0777
BROOKLYN
BUSINESS BASE
ENTREPRENEURIAL
EVENING
NETWORKING EVENT
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24
Time: 7:00 9:00 p.m.
Location: Boerum Hill area
For information, call 212-937-7911
8 BUSINESS TRENDS AUGUST 2011
The New York State Small Business Development Center is partially funded by the U.S.Small Business Administration. The support
given by the U.S. Small Business Administration through such funding does not constitute an expressed or implied endorsement of
the cosponsors` or participants` opinions, products, or services. Services are extended to the public on a non-discriminatory basis.
NOW OPEN!
Brooklyn Office
Sovereign Bank Building
9512 Third Avenue
For information or appointment
718-982-2560
www.csi.cuny.edu/SBDC
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According to the study, New
York ranks 50th in the nation for
fiscal policy, 40th for regulatory
policy, 50th for economic freedom
and 48th for personal freedom. Its
poor performance is rivaled by
New Jersey, but other states in
the region such as Pennsylvania
(31st), Delaware (39th) and Mary-
land (43rd) also performed poor-
ly overall.
Taken alone, these numbers
and rankings dont mean much,
but delve deeper and one can find
a legitimate reason why state leg-
islators should pay attention.
Two of the most intriguing
findings of our statistical analy-
sis are that Americans are voting
with their feet and moving to
states with more economic and
personal freedom, and that eco-
nomic freedom correlates with in-
come growth, the study reads.
Those states that rank low on
the freedom list are more likely to
lose, and not gain, new residents,
which could drastically affect the
future economy for a state that is
already in financial trouble.
The study found that New
Yorks spending on public wel-
fare, hospitals, electric power,
transit, employee retirement and
other expenses are well above na-
tional norms. Alaska is the only
state with more government debt
as a percentage of the economy.
For personal freedoms, the
study ranks New Yorks gun laws
as extremely restrictive, and
cigarette taxes are the highest in
the country. Drivers are highly
regulated and homeschool regula-
tions are excessive, too.
While the state has the strictest
health-insurance community-rat-
ing regulations in the country,
which have wiped out the indi-
vidual market, mandated cover-
ages were cut back substantial-
ly in 2007-2008.
Freedom, properly under-
stood, can be threatened as much
by the weakness of the state as by
overbearing state intervention,
the study reads. Individuals are
less free the more they have rea-
son to fear private assaults and
depredations, and a useful gov-
ernment punishes private aggres-
sion vigorously.
The study made three specific
policy recommendations to help
New York become freer. If there is
any good news on the horizon, its
that the state has already checked
one recommendation off its list:
n Legalize same-sex partner-
ships.
n Cut spending, privatize tran-
sit systems, and cut taxes across
the board.
n Reduce the burdensome test-
ing, notification and record-keep-
ing requirements of homeschool-
ers.
In essence, what this study at-
tempts to measure is the extent to
which state and local public poli-
cies conform to this ideal regime
of maximum, equal individual
freedoms, the study reads. For
us, the fundamental problem with
state intervention in consensual
acts is that it violates persons
rights. To paraphrase (philoso-
pher Robert) Nozick, in a free so-
ciety, government permits and
protects both capitalist and non-
capitalistic acts between consent-
ing adults.
10 BUSINESS TRENDS AUGUST 2011
Office (718) 698-8244 info@apbsecurity.com
2047 Victory Blvd Staten Island, NY 10314
Carmen Chvez, Independent Distributor
(718) 494-4134
Weight Control Health Solutions Outer Nutrition
Email: poma01@msn.com
www.loseweightnow.com/T-uno
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Health and Business
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Freedom isnt free,
and New York isnt free
FREEDOM
Continued from page 1
- BSAG establishes relationships with prominent community leaders, members and institutions, constantly seeking new
partners and affiliations to promote the arts for members and the public.
- BSAG also works with local schools and other institutions to bring the work of budding artists to the attention of the public.
- BSAG will exhibit in any reasonable venue. Corporations, public institutions, and others -- if you are interested in providing
exhibit space, let us know!
Creating opportunities for artists and art lovers of all ages
JOlN BSAG NOW! ARTlST or SPPORTER
www.bsagarts.org
CURRENT ARTIST MEMBERS
Gerard Barbot
Beryl Brenner
Michael Brenner
Arlene Finger
Jerome Frank
Vladimir Ginzburg
Anastacia Goodin
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - Arthur Melnick
Brooklyn Streetcar Artists' Group
Our roots are in Brooklyn our outlook is universal
1360 Ocean Parkway, Suite 6L Brooklyn, NY 11230
bsag.artists@live.com 718-314-0226
ARTISTS
AFFILIATIONS
ART LOVERS
- BSAG works to provide cultural enrichment to all areas within reach, with no cost to the public wherever possible.
Renie Morris
Linda Murad
Harriet Piltch
Morris Rabinowitz
Richard Resnick
Jessica Schulman
Bill Storoniak
Takashi Yamada
Eli Horowitz
Ellen Hoyt
Holly Koffler
Victoria Lapin
Barbara Listenik
Edwin Lopez
Anthony Marra
Deborah Matlack
Takeshi Yam
ada
Holly Koffler
Bill Storoniak
Deborah M
atlack
Barbara Listenik
- BSAGs artists are of varying ages and levels of achievement, all with great talent. Members have exhibited world wide.
- BSAG displays and promotes members work with as little expense as possible to the artist. Modest annual dues entitle
members to display at no cost where possible and minimal cost only where necessary.
- BSAGs Web site is aimed at promoting the individual artist as well as the organization. The Web site includes a pass-
word-accessible members-only page, providing leads, opportunities and updates.
- BSAG works with artists in all mediums, including performing artists, and often features entertainment at events.
Visit our BrookIyn Branches:
7123 3rd Avenue / 718.491.4800 8724 4th Avenue / 718.836.4500
7826 5th Avenue / 718.238.9868 399 AtIantic Avenue / 718.522.7005
For more Iocations, pIease caII us 1.800.721.9516