Crain's New York Business

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TRANSPORTATION Port Authority makes progress while navigating challenges PAGE 5

NEW OPPORTUNITY

EMS firm carves out niche offering workplace Covid screening PAGE 3

CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

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JULY 27, 2020

CORONAVIRUS ALERT A WORKER wipes down a counter in the lobby of 3 World Trade Center.

MTA faces ‘fiscal tsunami’ without federal aid Washington lawmakers are debating the next virus relief package BY BRIAN PASCUS

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See WORK on page 38

See MTA on page 2

SILVERSTEIN PROPERTIES /WTC CAMPUS

still does not mean the city’s offices will ever return to their pre-pandemic levels. “The truth is we are seeing a very cautious return of the workforce,” said Ken Fisher, a partner at major Manhattan landlord Fisher Brothers. “However, we continue to hear that tenants are looking forward to returning to the office and to their normal routines.”

“fiscal tsunami” has swept over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, its leaders said Wednesday, draining the agency of $200 million each week and creating a $16 billion budget crater through the next four years. Only a Washington bailout can fill the gap, the leaders said. A plunge in fares, tolls and subsidies, and increased Covid-19related expenses, are responsible for the gap, MTA Chairman Patrick Foye said Wednesday during a board meeting. “We are in the midst of a oncein-100-years fiscal tsunami, which has left our infrastructure intact but AMOUNT the has demolished MTA is losing fully 40% of our every week due to the revenues,” Foye pandemic said. The MTA’s financial situation is increasingly precarious due in part to its inability to get federal funding from Washington. The authority has requested $3.9 billion in federal funding to maintain operations through the end of the year and “prevent systemwide calamity.” Congress and the White House are debating a relief package that would ostensibly include federal aid to states and municipalities. It is

MIND THE GAP

$200M

BACK TO WORK What it’s really like in the office now BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

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ew Yorkers may say they’re eager to return to their offices, but landlords say few of them are rushing back to work. When they do return, what will

they find? From temperature checks to limits on the

NEWSPAPER

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numbers of people in elevators, the roughly dozen landlords and building designers Crain’s spoke with for this article have come up with myriad ways to make offices safer. They’re finding that those workers who have returned are cooperating with them on curbing the continued spread of the coronavirus by embracing these protocols. Employees are also staggering work hours with colleagues and often driving to and from the office. But all of this collaboration

© 2020 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

OUT OF OFFICE

10 EATERIES THAT OPENED DURING THE PANDEMIC PAGE 39

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