Friday, December 23, 2011

MCC Member Success Stories

How do we like to celebrate the holidays at MCC? By celebrating the sucess of our members! Here are some success stories of our members from the past few months. Let us know if you have grown your business, won an award or received some great press! We hope you relax and enjoy the holidays and look forward to a successful 2012 for all!

MCC Corporate Members Anchin, Block & Anchin, LLP, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants of New York City, Friedman LLP and Rothstein Kass were named as Crain’s Best Places to Work 2011 Top 50 Companies.

Raj Thakkar, the Founder & CEO of Charter School Business Management Inc. (CSBM), pioneer of financial empowerment and fiscal accountability of charter schools, was selected as the Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s New York district. CSBM has set up the financial infrastructure for new schools around the country, as well as prevented numerous financial disasters, ultimately ensuring that thousands of economically disadvantaged students continue to receive a top-notch education.

EcoLogic Solutions just won the contract from all 25 Whole Foods stores in the northeast. They also were awarded “sole source” provider of green cleaning and maintenance chemicals for Con Edison for two years. EcoLogic Solutions became “B Corporation” certified early this year and are the only certified institutional chemical company in the organization. EcoLogic now has sales and operations in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Michigan, Detroit, Chicago, New England, NYC/metro and DC. They have also received press from Greenwich Times, NY Times and Edible Brooklyn/Edible Manhattan. They expect to double revenue this year.

Integrated Printing has launched a new website (
http://integratedpg.com/) that won a national award from Graphic Design USA. Founder and President Maralyn Dolan is an MCC Board member.

City Council Woman Jessica Lappin has been chosen by The Aspen Institute, a renowned international think tank, as a Rodel Fellow. The program is focused on transcending political partisanship and focusing attention on over-arching questions of leadership and governance. Alumni include Congresswomen Gabby Giffords and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Members of her fellowship class include Attorney General Beau Biden, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, and other elected officials from across the country.

As of December 7, 2011, for the first time in over four decades, ferry service is operating at historic Hoboken Ferry Terminal. This marks the completion of a massive $120 million, 9-year renewal of the NJ Transit Ferry Terminal. Leni Schwendinger Light Projects designed the interior and exterior illumination.

Debra Dunier of Living Home by Debra has published “EcoChi Designing the Human Experience” in hardcover. You can see more about her book at
www.ecochi.com. Debra has been covered by MSN.Com Living.

The Department of Energy announced last Thursday, that NYCLHVCC (NYC Lower Hudson Valley Clean Communities) along with 15 other organizations won awards for the Clean Cities' community readiness and planning for plug-in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure stations program. NYCLHVCC will focus on projects that will address infrastructure deployment plans for light duty vehicles in New York City, focusing primarily on parking lots located in both the central business district and key residential neighborhoods. MCC Board Member Colleen Molter of QED National spoke at Negotiating Pay & Promotions. This panel discussion was held by The United Women and Business Foundation on October 6th at NYU.

Ramon Ray’s (smallbiztechnology.com) 2011 Small Business Influencer Awards was covered by the San Francisco Chronicle. The 100 finalists of the 2011 Small Business Influencer initiative were honored in New York City on September 13, 2011 at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway. Out of 520 applicants, the finalists, called "Champions," were chosen by community voting as well as a panel of small-business judges. MCC President Nancy Ploeger was honored at the Ceremony.

Signature Tours, Inc. have received the 2011 Concierge Choice Award for Private Tour Service. The award was accepted by Mary Beth Stone, Signature Tours’ Director of Sales at a dinner hosted by the concierge association in the Pierre Hotel on September 26, 2011. The awards are given annually in recognition of New York City institutions, businesses and representatives that create superior experiences for hotel guests. Signature Tours has been in business since 1992 and provides custom-created, privately-escorted tours of New York City in virtually every language to both leisure and business visitors.

MCC Board Member Ann Kayman of The New York Grant Company spoke at The Future of Energy in America and Scotland: The Challenges of Today and Tomorrow on October 31st at SUNY Global Center. Ann joined other senior energy figures in this day-long conference.

June Klein of Technology & Marketing Ventures Inc was profiled in
www.webgovernments.com Blogs. June Klein, together with her husband, Mr. Klein, would like to transform the situation, which as a result will benefit the small business owners. The Kleins foresee a marketplace where the consumer and the vendor would get the opportunity to connect with each other and also through a bidding process they would settle on the assessment of the reduction of the equipment. Comments have included: “June Klein, this is a remarkable effort to get Americans back to work.” From Sofia Smith

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of those lost on September 11, 2001, MCC Community Benefit Fund Grant Recipient Young People's Chorus of New York City and Artistic Director/Founder Francisco J. Núñez are taking part in the worldwide 9/11 memorials with performances in concerts and fundraisers throughout New York City. Venues included St. Paul’s Chapel, the Columbus Circle Entrance, Trinity Church, St. Patrick's Cathedral. In addition, Núñez, a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship recipient was featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer as ABC's Person of the Week. On November 2nd at The White House First Lady Michelle Obama presented a 2011 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award to YPC chorister Stephan Douglas-Allen and YPC Artistic Director and Founder Francisco J. Núñez, on behalf of YPC. This award is the nation's highest honor for youth organizations, and YPC is one of only 12 countrywide to be recognized from more than 470 nominees and 50 finalists.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

New York City Ranks in Top 10 in 7 out of 9 Categories for U.S. Green City Index

The U.S. and Canada Green City Index, a research project conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored by Siemens, measures and rates the environmental performance of 27 cities in the U.S. and Canada. The cities selected were chosen to objectively represent a group of the most populous metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada.  The list began with the largest cities from the top 20 U.S. combined statistical areas, and top five Canadian census metropolitan areas. Upon the advice of an expert panel, Miami and Phoenix were also included based on their populations and growth rates. This panel of global experts in urban environmental sustainability also advised the EIU in developing the methodology for the project.

With 8.4 million residents, New York City is by far the largest city in the Index, ranking third overall. It is the top ranking city in land use, transport and environmental governance, and ranked third in the CO2 and air categories. In particular, New York has the highest population density and percentage of workers commuting by public transport, bicycle, or by foot, while also performing well on several air and water indicators.

While the city’s high rankings stem in part from its large population, which produce favorable per capita scores, New York also fares well in comparison to other large cities in the Index. Measured against these cities, New York ranks first in every category except for waste and energy. Additionally, New York has one of the highest percentages of green space.

Here is a snapshot of the results:


Category
Rank
Points
Overall
3
N/A
CO2
3
89.4
Energy
22
53.8
Land use
1
93
Buildings
7
68.7
Transport
1
76.6
Water
3
88.8
Waste
16
53.1
Air
3
89.2
Environmental governance
1
100


Several green initiatives contributed to New York’s high ranking in the Index. In the category of CO2, New York’s Long-Term Plan to Reduce Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions mandates a 30% greenhouse gas reduction for municipal facilities and operations by 2017 from 2006 levels. Around 50% of the reductions will come from efficiencies in buildings, 32% from improved power generation and 18% from transportation.

In the category of land use, The Million Trees Program, created in 2007, aims to plant 1 million trees by 2017. Additionally, in 2010, New York created the Green Property Certification Program to do for brownfields what Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) has done for green buildings.

In the category of buildings, in December 2009, New York approved the Greener, Greater Buildings laws, the most comprehensive set of efficiency regulations in the U.S., which aim to reduce energy costs by $700 million annually by 2030.

In the category of transport, Green Light for Midtown, a pilot project launched in May 2009 that has now been made permanent, created expanded pedestrian plazas in
Herald Square
and Times Square. Overall, the program produced a 63% reduction in injuries to motorists, a 35% reduction in pedestrian injuries and a 7% improvement in taxi speeds. New York has also doubled the number of bicycle lanes in the city in the last three years and met its goal of building 200 miles of bicycle lanes ahead of schedule in 2009.

In the category of water, as of 2010, the Department of Environmental Protection had installed over 278,000 automated meters and expects to install a total of 834,000 by January 2012. As a result of metering and water conservation promotion, New York’s water consumption rate is now at its lowest in 50 years.

In the category of air, New York has sought to mandate the use of cleaner taxis and offer tax breaks to fuel-efficient taxis. While courts have blocked the city from introducing these measures thus far, in anticipation of future requirements, almost 25% of the city’s 13,200 yellow cabs have converted to hybrid or clean diesel vehicles, giving New York the largest fleet of clean vehicle taxis in the country. Additionally, in 2010, New York unveiled a comprehensive agreement that will cut harmful pollution from the Port of New York and New Jersey by launching a $28 million truck replacement program.

In the category of environmental governance, New York tops the Index along with Washington and Denver. There is strong support from the top; the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is a driving force behind the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. Furthermore, New York’s environmental strategy, international commitments and customized environmental awareness campaigns are all considered among the best in the Index.

You can learn more about New York’s results and the initiatives mentioned above by reading the full report on the Siemens website: http://www.siemens.com/entry/cc/en/greencityindex.htm.

This article was provided by MCC Silver Partner Siemens.