OFFICIALS FIGHT PRICE GOUGING
Chamber offers help to local businesses during pandemic
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
The Syosset Woodbury Chamber of Commerce has responded to many inquiries from local merchants and business owners in recent weeks as the Coronavirus pandemic has forced so many to close, cut hours and staff and virtually cease operation. Chamber
Syosset Woodbury Chamber members’ ads/announcements can be submitted to info@Syossetchamber.com.
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran was joined by Congresswoman Kathleen Rice and New York State Senator Todd Kaminsky to raise public awareness and condemn of the widespreadprice gouging of COVID-19 Coronavirus related supplies. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo made an emergency disaster declaration on Saturday which, among other things, allows the state to investigate and penalize those price gouging medical and sanitary supplies. To report incidents of price gouging to the New York State Attorney General’s office please call 1-800-697-1220.
President Maureen Nickel, longtime Woodbury resident and owner of BrightStar Home Health Care, offered the following commentary last week in an interview with the Advance & News-Journal about the state of local commerce:
Photo courtesy Nassau County
Assault arrest in Syosset
Nassau County Police arrested a Syosset man for assault after he allegedly injured an officer while trying to flee.
According to police, on March 17 at 8:40 p.m., units responded to Sally Lane in Plainview for reports of a suspicious person in a motor vehicle. Upon arrival, police say they found defendant
Dion Hutchings, 25, lying back in the driver’s seat of a vehicle with a hypodermic needle containing a brown substance in his lap. When attempting to contact the subject, police say they noticed he was highly disoriented and believed he was under the influence of a controlled substance. When police attempted to enter the Hutching’s vehicle, they
say he tried to drive away, causing an officer to sustain injuries to his leg, elbow and shoulder. Officers were able to control the subject and place him into custody.
The officer and the defendant were transported to a local hospital for treatment and evaluation.
“Small businesses are vital to our nation's economy – in every state, in every community, small business owners contribute to making the U.S. the strongest economic system in the world. As the owner of BrightStar Homecare, I am privileged to continue to operate and help our clients through this difficult time by taking care of their health care needs. And the Syosset Woodbury Chamber is equally committed to helping small businesses in any way we can. We are sharing our social media and email resources with our membership by asking them to send us information about their businesses including their ads or any special offers they would like us to publicize to our members and the public at large.”.
“We encourage everyone to visit the Syosset Chamber Facebook page often and support our local businesses. We also encourage everyone to purchase gift cards from these local businesses for use at a future time,” Nickel advises. Meanwhile the U.S. Small Business Association announces assistance to businesses, including guaranteeing a portion of a disaster relief loan, the SBA helps small businesses obtain loans from private banks when they otherwise may be denied funding.
The Chamber of Commerce, as much of the region is currently doing, awaits Federal Government accord and corresponding action to enact new federal legislation and relief.
“This has always been an SBA guideline in response to any types of disaster, but what would be new is the legislation that our federal government is working on right now. I am also following what New York State intends to do,” she said. Chamber board member, Networking & Membership Committee Chairman
Alan I. Goldberg, president of Water Solutions of Long Island and
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Legislator seeks volunteers to help seniors
Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan’s office is looking for volunteers to help seniors in the community. His office needs contact information for any seniors in the community who cannot shop for themselves, and need assistance during this time. If you know a senior who needs help, please call (516) 571-6218.
The legislator is also seeking volunteers who are willing to shop for seniors, such as picking up groceries at the supermarket, medication at the pharmacy, etc... If you can help shop for a senior, please call (516) 571-6218.
‘Town Hall At Home’
The Town of Oyster Bay has created a new online portal for residents to be able to handle most of their Town business remotely. The portal, titled ‘Town Hall at Home,’ provides a onestop shop to information on performing Town business remotely, whether it be paying taxes, filing paperwork, or requesting documents.
“During these difficult and unprecedented times, the Town is encouraging residents to conduct their Town business online when possible,” said Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino. “The ‘Town Hall at Home’ portal will help residents facilitate this business, while still adhering to requested health department practices for social distancing.”
The online portal allows residents to easily find forms, applications, pay their taxes and more. The virtual Town
Hall will also include a live-chat option during regular Town business hours, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., to further assist residents.
“We all share in the responsibility to limit person-to-person contact to help thwart the spread of COVID-19, and this is just one way we can all do our part,” added Supervisor Saladino. “We are all in this together and I ask for your patience as we will continue to modify virtual Town business procedures to help keep our residents safe. This is unchartered territory, but just as we have done in the past, we will get through this with each of us playing an important role.”
To begin the process, please visit www.oysterbaytown.com, click on the online portal and follow the easy prompts to navigate your Town business needs.
Cluttered?
Nassau County seeks medical supply donations
Nassau County is seeking donations of medical supplies in unopened packages.
Needed items are:
• N95 Surgical Masks in unopened container/boxes
• Eye protection such as goggles and face shields
• Nitrile Gloves in unopened boxes which have not expired
• Disposable medical gowns (paper which are fluid resistant or plastic)
• Shoe cover/booties
• No-Touch thermometers
• Thermometer probe covers
• HEPA filters for Ventilators / Anesthesia Machines
• Antibacterial and disinfecting wipes – typically alcohol or bleach based
• Disinfecting wipes (Clorox/Lysol)
• Hand Sanitizer
Donations will be accepted at a drive up collection point, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. through 3 p.m.
Nassau County Public Safety Parking Lot, Field 3, Park Blvd., Eisenhower Park
Syosset HS students
help in f ight against virus
Two Syosset High School students have created a GoFundMe account to support doctors, nurses and other healthcare heroes so they can effectively treat patients infected with the coronavirus while staying safe themselves.
Uma Kaushik and Eesha Kaushik, daughters of Dr. Neeraj Kaushik, are collecting medical supplies and monetary donations to assist in the fight against the virus.
The girls said, “We attend Syosset High School and are just as shaken as you are about the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the world. This outbreak has hit home and turned our daily lives upside down. While both of us are stuck
at home, working on school work and listening to the news we are alarmed by the fact that our healthcare heroes are fighting this pandemic without adequate supplies like masks, gloves and gowns. We feel the urgent need to provide our healthcare heroes with the right protection to fight this war.”
They are collecting masks, gowns and gloves to protect healthcare heroes.
Donations of items can be dropped off or mailed to LI Gastroenterology Endosopy PC, 2200 Northern Blvd., Suite 212, Greenvale, NY 11548.
Monetary donations can be made at www.gofundme.com (search for “Help Our Healthcare Heroes”).
Place an ad in our Classifieds for reasonable rates and prompt results. Call our office today at 294-8900 for more info.
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If you own a business or have a service to provide, we’ll create professional advertisements to promote it and help you be seen by thousands of local readers! Call 1-516-294-8900 to inquire!
Chamber offers help to local businesses during pandemic
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CardWorks Merchant Services believes that the Coronavirus pandemic impacting New York and Long Island business circles have led to a point where individuals “can instead of working in their business, work on your business.”
“People need to actually pick up the phone. A perfect example is for a new Chamber who just joined the other day, and I left a voicemail, as per normal connections. Given the situation around Coronavirus and working remotely this becomes more of the focus -- the new business spent 45 minutes on the phone with me, doing kind of a 1-to-1 meeting. It was all the regular networking and event information -- What do you do? What interests you in joining the Chamber? How can I help you and how can you help me? Instead of physically going out to meet new people and connect, learn about services and people, now’s a chance to take initiative and pick up your phone,” Goldberg commented.
Despite shutdowns and social distancing required in response to the pandemic, Goldberg continues to hold virtual and teleconference meetings about the 2020 Syosset Street Fair, which maintains a date of Sunday, October 4 for its traditional Jackson Avenue stretch filled with activities, decor and vendors in Syosset’s downtown. He advises to take a look at potential clients or someone you have met in a meeting prior to now, and see ways of speaking with them that can develop as time and priorities have shifted to some degree.
Goldberg finds that taking a few minutes to call someone he’s otherwise not in touch with weekly has become “the new gain.”
“It is less of a cold-call now. It has become more and more important to ‘scroll’ contacts or through the rolodex and just pick up your phone. Maybe there’s a need now that four months ago, there wasn’t. You can revisit ‘potentials’ and if nothing else the basics of asking if there may be ways, business to business to help each other, or if there are other
ideas they are working on -- it may help you, it may help the other guy or both, Goldberg noted.
Re-evaluation of social media is a not a new, but a renewed focus area for regional companies.He says with many people at reduced capacity and new needs emerging in the market, this represents an opportune time to get smarter, faster and more efficient while upskilling yourself or the company as a whole, “with multiple things you know you should have implemented but now you’re forced to do them because you can’t do things the way you had been doing them.”
“All you’ve got is time at this point. We wake up and sometimes the day is thrown off, as you can’t hop in the car and have meetings with three clients anymore. You need to look at your laptop or phone and check on old emails, see who you have not touched base with in some time. The last time you spoke to them may have been six months ago, and for many reasons you had not followed up with them since. Let’s see where they are at and if there is a new opportunity for you,” he advised.
The Long Island BNI Networking group that Goldberg normally participates in planned moving to the Zoom virtual meeting format. “It is certainly a move to virtual meetings that we may have to consider at the Chamber, using Zoom or any environment to log in for meetings,” he said.
Goldberg is also Networking Committee Chair for the Plainview-Old Bethpage Chamber of Commerce and beginning with the Wednesday April 15 P.O.B. Membership meeting, their meetings and events will be held via Zoom. POB Chamber President Andrew Lamkin, principal of Andrew Lamkin P.C. law firm, notes that the featured speaker for April’s meeting is Beth Granger, social media consultant and an expert in digital media.
“We have to adapt, at least in the short-run. This is not a good time for people who have just started a business or are thinking about starting up
On March 18, Nassau County Legislator Arnold Drucker (center) sent out an 'Economic Impact Survey' to Syosset Woodbury Chamber members for their needs and requests for assistance during the COVID-19 outbreak. Here, Legislator Drucker is pictured with Syosset Woodbury Chamber of Commerce President Maureen Nickel and another Chamber member and community leader in trying times -- Pastor Rebecca Sheridan of Faith Lutheran Church in Syosset.
businesses. But with existing businesses, a big part of all the intent behind the Chamber and gatherings is the networking aspect, and the difference now can be following up 1-to-1 without physically meeting each other in any location,” Goldberg noted.
One resourceful connection is Syosset resident and tech consultant Wendy Weiss of TechTime, who has had to stop meeting clients 1-on-1 for their tutorials on learning about new devices. The shift to remote sessions came naturally and several clients learned to adapt to Zoom, GoToMeeting or Facetime quick-
ly through her assistance.
“As you know I meet with individuals and conduct classes teaching the modern world of technology. With video conferencing tools, like Zoom, it’s allowing individuals to meet with me and work together productively "faceto-face" when meeting in-person isn't possible. This makes meeting remotely much more human, which is essential in order to help my clients feel and stay connected,” Weiss commented for the Advance and News-Journal.
All Syosset Woodbury Chamber
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Chamber offers help to local businesses during pandemic
activities for March and April, at least as of now, have been put on hold. Area businesses have hired cleaning crews to sanitize locations, disinfect and wipe down all door knobs, desk phones, tablets, and countertops -- according to Goldberg, “up to every two hours.”
Restaurants in the New York suburbs are among the hardest hit, without the steady traffic of reservations and less demand for take-out than a city restaurant normally has, pre COVID-19. Chamber members now offering takeout and delivery deals include George White restaurant, Mara’s Southern Kitchen and Hurricane Grill & Wings -- bar drinks and cocktails remain available to-go as long as they’re part of a food order.
Goldberg recently stopped by a local catering place that normally has food items for sale and lunches for customers ready-to-go, but operations can’t continue as normal: people are not stopping in hungry for a meal. Orders are not coming through as they often would because the caterer routinely serves for Long Island school events, meetings and corporations.
“As Alice Cooper (heavy rock band) sang ‘Schools out for summer, Schools out forever’ but you can’t cater to schools or events when they aren’t operating. Every restaurant and coffeehouse is taking a beating -- nobody can go out and sit somewhere,” he said.
Another Chamber board member, longtime Syosset resident Amanda Johnson of Balloons by Amanda, is taking the approach to let clients know “postpone and don’t cancel” any important celebrations and occasions; as of March 24 Balloons by Amanda was offering a new “Hands-Free Delivery” service given the social distancing and precautions during efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We are currently offering Hands Free Delivery of Spirit Sticks and Bouquets...We text you before we arrive. We install the display and/or drop your
bagged bouquet at your front door. Next, we send you a picture when we are off property -- you enjoy your balloons!!!” Johnson posted on her website. She has also added a “COVID-19 and Your Party: What you need to Know” section on the site to advise clients. Goldberg says all the party and event planners as well as travel agencies are getting hard-hit because groups of people are not permitted to congregate, and engagements booked for spring are mostly cancelled already.
Several businesses are in survival mode and looking at the big picture as of late March, given uncertainty with shutdowns and “essential-business only” policies for operation.
“For myself I am getting hammered with my businesses as I am having an inability to install water coolers that I have had deals signed for. For example to put one in for a Manhattan office last Thursday, we went to verify for delivery and we were told the company would be closed for an indeterminate amount of time. Now I have nothing to do with the product for them because their office is closed….until whenever. With the (credit) Cardworks business, my entire revenue is based on people doing business. All my restaurant clients are hammered this month and my retail people are shuttered -- people also can’t fulfill their orders because they can’t get any suppliers. There are certain products that local vitamin stores can’t get now including zinc lozenges and things with elderberry -- anything for the immune system,” Goldberg said.
As a businessman who’s often out at meetings with prospective customers and partners or stopping by his regular clients, Goldberg has cut down on his route, with attention to new protocols at several places. He says many times he’s learning about how people need to use protective gloves and other materials in retail stores and other service companies, however less often with masks to cover their faces.
“From what I have seen there were social distancing precautions in prac-
tice, including at our local banks, hardware stores, markets and offices. A lot of businesses are reducing their hours and instead of banks staying open until 5 or 6 p.m. they now stay open up to 3 p.m.,” Goldberg said.
Syosset Woodbury Chamber members are connecting to offer “Member to Member” services during the Coronavirus pandemic’s impacts on the New York region. One Chamber member business, All-Dry USA, is promoting its specialization in deep-cleaning and medical grade decontamination. Often at Syosset Woodbury Chamber meetings and networking events, All-Dry USA is represented by business development and territory manager Sarah Miller.
Goldberg noted how many companies are branching out, adapting to rough times and the need for new services, and -- in a hurry -- people are getting involved with services and goods that have not been their primary business. Miller noted the same in announcing how All Dry USA has been working tirelessly to keep first responders and the communities they serve safe.
“Fire/police/EMS ambulances have a high risk for the spread of COVID-19 during this global crisis, but they also serve as a place for safety/sanctuary when you’re worrisome & on your way to a hospital for treatment. We make
sure to use an Environmental Protection Agency-registered Steramist solution to completely decontaminate all surfaces outside & within each emergency service vehicle, to ensure the health and safety of those operating them, as well as the patients being transported within them!” Miller posted online this week.
On March 18, Syosset Woodbury Chamber members were emailed a “COVID-19 Economic Impact Survey” by Nassau County Legislator Arnold Drucker. Nickel explains this as a way information on businesses requiring assistance can be tracked and forwarded to the appropriate government agencies.
“The survey asks small business owners specific questions as to how they are business has been impacted during this critical time. There is also information from Nassau County Executive Laura Curran entitled, “tips for small businesses“ that all small business owners should review.”
“And most importantly as a Chamber, as a community, we pray that this entire health crisis and the severe impact it has had on our businesses will be temporary and we will soon return to a life of normalcy enjoying all that our Syosset Woodbury community has to offer,” she said.
Town Board meeting
In light of current emergency restrictions and conditions, the meeting of the Oyster Bay Town Board scheduled for Tuesday, March 31, at 7:00 p.m. has been changed to Tuesday, March 31, at 10:00 a.m.
In accordance with an Executive Order signed by New York State
Governor Andrew Cuomo the March 31st Town Board meeting will be held remotely by conference call or similar service, and the public will have the ability to view or listen to such proceeding, and such proceeding shall be recorded and later transcribed.
March 27, 2020
“Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away” Landmark
Exhibit Offers Unexpected Lessons for Today
BY KAREN RUBIN
Nothing puts into perspective our discomfort over the “sacrifice” we have to make because of the coronavirus than a visit to exhibit, “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” At the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. The museum is presently closed to the public but there are excellent materials on line, and hopefully the landmark exhibit, the most comprehensive Holocaust exhibition about Auschwitz ever presented in North America, which has already been extended until August 30, 2020 will open soon for New Yorkers to experience before the exhibit travels.
One of the many benefits of travel is that it affords new perspective and understanding that we can apply to our own lives, and travel through history even more so.
I compare our confinement – with telecom, internet, video links to family, friends and the world, and home delivery, with a chance to get out in fresh air for a walk or bikeride (keeping 6-foot separation) to Anne Frank’s miserable, isolated, frightening imprisonment. We are “confined” but not in hiding from soldiers, police or government officials. Our fear is of catching a virus, albeit a potentially deadly one, but not being shot on sight or sent to a death camp, never to see loved ones again.
They say this pandemic is
In a case of suitcases and personal objects, you realize that families packed with anticipation of being resettled; 200,000 children were immediately taken off the freight trains upon arrival Auschwitz and sent to gas chambers with their mothers. “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away.” at Museum of Jewish Heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
“unimaginable” (except it wasn’t, you only had to look back at the 1918-19 Spanish flu, or January 2020 in China), but the Holocaust was indeed “unimaginable,” “incomprehensible” in its scale of human cruelty. That, I realized, was the secret weapon. There are so many lessons that the Auschwitz exhibit has to share, but most chilling of all in light of renewed anti-Semitism, big-
otry, xenophobia, “Not long ago. Not far away.” Indeed, the most chilling realization of all: it took a mere 10 years between Hitler’s election to power and the Final Solution. Out of 1200 artifacts, photos, video testimonies from survivors, it comes down to one: a tiny, well-worn leather child’s shoe, the sock still hanging out of it. Was it taken off in anticipation the child was just going to a
shower, never to return to collect it? or was the child ferociously pulled out of the shoe and sock?
Shoes take on special significance at the “Auschwitz: Not so long ago. Not far away.”
As you first walk in, there is a single red shoe in a glass case that perversely sparks an image of the ruby slippers in “Wizard of Oz.” set against a grey-toned wall-mural sized photo of piles of shoes. Further on as you walk through the threefloors of exhibits, there is the pair of hardened leather clog-looking shoes in a case with a prison uniform so rough and raw they would irritate, then infect and swell the feet, a death sentence for the hapless prisoner.
Another display case in the “Selection” section contains shiny leather boots, much like those that the prisoners would see Mengele wearing as they were forced out of the freight cars minutes after being unloaded at Auschwitz, beneath the sign that said. ‘Work Sets You Free.” He was the doctor who selected out twin children for his medical experiments. The rest of the children200,000 of them – were immediately sent to the gas chamber along with their mother, aunt, sister, grandmother or friendly stranger who had accompanied them on their journey. The tiny leather shoe with the sock still in it is the only evidence this child existed at all, his life extinguished.
800,000 more Jews were imme-
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GOING PLACES, NEAR & FAR....
“Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away” Landmark Exhibit
Continued from page D1
diately sent to their deaths in the gas chambers, 2000 at a time, their bodies thrown into crematoria that worked 24/7 to keep up with the industrial-scale exterminations, their ashes thrown into a river.
Out of the 1.1 million “deported” to Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi death camps, only 200,000 were “selected” not for immediate death but to become slave labor in the concentration camp. They too were immediately marched into showers, their hair shaved, their arms painfully tattooed, their bodies stripped of any dignity or humanness. Few lived more than a month or two under the atrocious conditions – dying of starvation, disease, overwork, beatings or simply shot on the spot. Some became so infirm, they settled into their fate, and welcomed being carried by stretcher to end their daily terror and
pain. Others, packed six to a wooden plank in the barracks, would wake up to find a dead person next to them.
This exhibit, which focuses down to one “tiny dot” on a map that was the largest killing camp in the Nazi’s network – makes it as personal as is possible. You walk in their shoes. But you also see the faces, the horrors, the personal objects, the testimonials of survivors, the drawings and photos, an actual freight car and an actual barracks, even so, it is still hard to comprehend.
Indeed, the incomprehensibility of the horror was key to its success – along with secrecy and deception. People could not imagine the level of brutality, cruelty, savageness. So they packed up what they could in suitcases expecting to be resettled to places free of anti-Semitism, where they could work and live out their lives. Several
An original German-made Model 2 freight train car of the type used for the deportation of Jews to the ghettos and extermination camps in occupied Poland stands outside the Museum of Jewish Heritage © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
resisters gave their lives to smuggle the truth out in the hopes of getting help from the outer world. We see their stories, too.
“Auschwitz” isn’t just a look back with graphic evidence to plant a marker in the history books that others are working so hard to erase. It is a look at now, a look at where the trajectory of dehumanization and bigotry can lead. That is what is embodied in the phrase. “Never Again.”
Produced by the international exhibition firm Musealia and the AuschwitzBirkenau State Museum in Poland, the groundbreaking exhibition is the largest ever on Auschwitz with more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs from more than 20 international museums and institutions, on view for the first time in North America.
See more extensive coverage and photos : Groundbreaking Exhibit
at Museum of Jewish Heritage Transports to “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away” Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, 36 Battery Place, New York City, 646-437-4202, mjhnyc.org.
2020 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karenrubin & travelwritersmagazine.com/ TravelFeaturesSyndicate/ Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar. wordpress.com & moralcompasstravel. info. Send comments or questions to FamTravLtr@aol.com. Tweet @ TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook. com/NewsPhotoFeatures
One of the exhibits “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away.” at Museum of Jewish Heritage is part of an original barrack for prisoners from the Auschwitz III-Monowitz camp © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
WRITER’S CORNER
On Great Eats: Steakhouses
BY LOU THEODORE
Steakhouses? A recommendation? I can close out this article right now with my answer: stay away from steakhouses. Period! They are a group of restaurants not to be frequented. Despite my above recommendation, many of you will still want some comments and analyses. So here goes with a baker’s dozen, although it hurts to say anything positive about this class of restaurant today. In earlier times, nearly ¾ of a century ago, Italian restaurants had the best steaks; however, I can’t remember ordering a steak at any
Italian restaurant in recent years.
1. Blackstone, Melville. Overpriced. Mashed and creamed spinach good. Highly recommended in the literature. It’s all yours.
2. Bryant & Cooper, Roslyn. Overpriced. Try the hamburger with onions or the lamb chops. Not for me.
3. Burton and Doyle, Great Neck. One of many along steakhouse row on Northern Blvd. Decent, perhaps.
4. Butcher’s Bar & Grill, Williston Park. Celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary there. Everybody loved it, except yours truly (who was not paying). Not for me, ever again. Really
disappointing.
5. Capital Grille, Garden City. Grossly overpriced. Formal, decent service. Excellent steak ($69, ouch) the one time I ate there.
6. Frank’s Steakhouse, Jericho. A bit expensive. One of our son’s favorite. Not for me, although the least expensive of the “overpriced” group.
7. Jake’s Steakhouse, East Meadow. There during restaurant week. Decent.
8. Majors, East Meadow. A poor man’s steakhouse. Casual, comfortable, and decent service. My friend’s favorite haunt but I’ve yet to have a good steak there.
9. Morton’s, Great Neck. A bit
WRITER’S CORNER
expensive. Formal. I’ve only gone there during Restaurant Week ($29 for 3 courses). The drinks are hellaciously expensive and a major rip-off – stay clear of the bar!
10. Outback, Merrick. Another poor man’s steakhouse. If you go, order the lamb chops, not a steak.
11. Rothmann’s, East Norwich. Expensive. Formal. A favorite of one of my friends. Not for me.
12. Peter Luger’s, Great Neck. Very expensive; salad ($20, ouch) and steak for two ($115, ouch). Poor service. Not for me – it’s all yours!
13. Ruth Chris, Garden City. I’ve never had a good steak here. Definitely a good one to avoid.
I apologize if I’ve missed a few. But, you get the picture. My recommendation is that you stay clear of these restaurants.
I know. Many of you complain that much of my stuff are put-downs without offering any alternatives or solutions. So here goes. If not a steak, is there another option? I have come to really enjoy hamburgers. What could be better than a hamburger with fried onions on a crusty roll? Add some ketchup, french fries and a sour Jewish pickle and you’re in business. My favorite burger spots? Wendys, (Dave’s Single) and Shake Shack. You might also think about meatballs with spaghetti (actually, linguine for me) in Rao’s marinara sauce, from a jar, (I prefer Mary’s rich tomato sauce) and grated cheese. Finally, you might think about (as I usually do) an Angus ribeye from a supermarket and putting it on your own grill at home. All of these suggestions carry another feature. There is no tipping! Today, good service requires a 20% tip. I go for 25% if happy with the service. Thus, 2 - $15 glasses of wine (I no longer drink) doesn’t cost $30 – they cost $40. A $200 food bill costs $260 with tip and tax. Bottom line: you make the call, but there appears to be some merit to frequenting “fast food” restaurants (next Great Eats article later this year) and eating in.
I hope this helps those of you who requested this article. Let me know what you think.
Note: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or publisher.
Visit the author at: www. theodorenewsletter.com or Basketball Coaching 101 (Facebook)
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With a Spouse, Taking Your Social Security Early Might Be Better
BY TOM MARGENAU
I’m sure you’ve seen websites, or received mailers from financial planners, that entice you with come-on’s like this: “Learn the secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits.” Or, “You may be losing tens of thousands of dollars if you don’t know this Social Security secret.”
If you open the website, or attend the seminar, here is the “secret” you will learn: delay taking your Social Security benefits until age 70. And the theory is that you will live long enough to make up for the money you lose by not starting your benefits sooner.
That’s probably good advice for lots of people. But there are still millions of senior citizens who, for a variety of reasons, choose to take their benefits earlier. For example, both my wife and I started our Social Security benefits at age 62. We were perfectly content doing that. We know that if we live until a ripe old age, we might end up coming out on the short end of the Social Security stick. But we don’t care. We’ve been having too much fun for the past decade spending our reduced Social Security checks.
Besides the “eat, drink and be merry” types like me and my wife, there is another group of people who should seriously think about starting benefits earlier rather than later. And that is retirees who have a spouse potentially eligible for benefits on their record. Today’s questions and answers illustrate what I am talking about.
Q: I am 66. I plan to delay starting my Social Security until I’m 70. My full retirement age benefit is $2,600. If I wait until 70, I’d get $3,432. My wife is 62. She wants to file for her Social Security now. She’s due a much smaller benefit. It would be about $787 if she files now. I say she should wait until I am 70 and she is 66 and then file on my record, because if she files for reduced benefits now, that reduction would carry over to the spousal benefits she will eventually be due on my record. So, who is right?
A: I think your wife is right. Let’s compare the two options. We’ll take yours first. In your scenario, no one would get anything until you turn 70 and sign up for Social Security. At that point, you would get $3,432. Then your 66-year-old wife would sign up for her full retirement benefit, which should be about $1,050. At the same time, she would file for spousal benefits on your record and get an additional $250 for a total of $1,300. (A spousal benefit is always based on your full retirement age rate, not your augmented age-70 rate.) So, your wife will get her retirement benefit supplemented to 50% of your $2,600 rate, or $1,300. In other words, in the option you think is best, neither of you would get any benefits until you are 70 years old, at which point you would start getting $4,732 per month in combined benefits.
Now let’s look at what your wife wants to do. She wants to start taking her reduced retirement benefits now. So, she would get $787 per month for the next four years. That’s $37,776 you guys would forfeit if you do nothing until your 70th birthday. And what happens then? Well, you would get your $3,432 monthly check. And then your wife can claim some extra spousal benefits on your record. You are right that she will suffer a bit of a reduction in her spousal benefits because she took early retirement on her own record. But it’s not as much as you think. Here is roughly how they will figure out what she is due. They will take her full retirement rate, or $1,050, and subtract that from one-half of your full retirement rate, or $1,300. The difference, $250, will be added to her reduced retirement benefit. So, her combined retirement and spousal benefits will be $1,037 (as compared with the $1,300 she’d get in your preferred option). In other words, your total combined benefits would be $4,469, not all that much less than the $4,732 in your option.
So, if you guys go with your choice, you’d get an extra $263 per month from age 70 on. But you would have given up the $37,776 in reduced retirement benefits your wife would have been due starting at age 62. It would take you about 144 months to make up that money you would have lost by not letting your wife file now. I think you guys better talk about that.
And one more thought: You should know that even if your wife takes reduced retirement benefits, that decision will have no effect on what she gets as your widow. Assuming you are both over age 66 when you die, she will keep getting her own benefit, and it will be supplemented up to your full age-70 rate. In other words, your wife’s spousal rate is based on your full retirement benefit. But her widows rate is based on your augmented age-70 benefit.
Q: I will be 62 next month Even though I’m not working, I have no desire to sign up for my own Social Security now. My full retirement benefit is projected to be $2,750. I’m thinking of waiting until I am 66 before I file. My wife is 69, and she is getting $550 per month in her own Social Security. Can she get anything on my record now?
A: No, she can’t. A woman who is currently married to her husband can’t get any spousal benefits until her husband applies for his own Social Security. (It’s different for a divorced woman. She can get benefits even if her ex hasn’t filed for retirement.) Because of those spousal benefits you guys are giving up, you might want to think about filing for Social Security now. If you did, you’d get 75% of your full retirement age rate, or $2,062. And your wife would get her retirement benefit supplemented up to 50% of your full retirement age rate, or $1,375. In other words, she would get her own $550, and she’d get $825 on your record for a total of
$1,375 per month.
So if you wait another four years until you are 66, you will be losing out on $2,887 per month you are not getting now. (That’s your $2,062 benefit plus your wife’s spousal share of $825.) That’s $138,576 you will lose by waiting another four years to file.
If you wait until age 66, you will get your full retirement age rate of $2,750. And your wife will get the same spousal rate she’d be due now, or an extra $825. So all you gain by waiting is the difference between your 100% full retirement age rate and your 75% reduced retire-
ment rate -- or 25%. That’s about $688 per month. It would take you about 200 months to get back what you lose by not filing now.
Here is something else to consider: If you take reduced benefits, that reduction will carry over to any widows benefits your wife might be due after you die. But since you are seven years younger than she is, that might not be something to worry about.
If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has the answer. Contact him at thomas.margenau@comcast.net. .
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“It’s easy for people to have hours -- and perhaps days -- go by as if they’re not mentally there at all. ... You just sat in an hour-long meeting, but what happened is a total blur. “ If this has ever happened to you, you are not alone. Your brain is on information overload, and it’s warning you by daydreaming, turning off or tuning out without intention. Joseph McCormack, author of “Noise: Living and Leading When Nobody Can Focus” and founder and managing director of The Brief Lab, enlightens all levels of business leaders about the overcommunication and miscommunication taking place in today’s organizations.
The book is filled with interviews, real workplace stories, memorable quotes, warnings and east-to-apply skills to prevent the tuning out of employees and managers who lack clear communication skills. McCormack has discovered that “listening without judging is a gift.” Much like the Tower of Babel, “people hear an opposing view, and their response is not to listen but to disagree ... People tune each other out instantaneously. One word is a trigger to shut someone off.” McCormack concludes, “It takes patience, discipline, and respect from both sides to listen carefully to
Protecting a ‘Techno-Junkie’ Workforce AT WORK
other perspectives without immediately tuning out.”
The workplace and life are filled with noise: “In science, there’s no difference between sound and noise.”
People consume information from emails, smartphone notifications, social media streams, 24-hour connectivity, texting and news feeds. The workforce is facing a shrinking attention span and an overstimulated, overfilled brain.
Here are some reasons people shared for tuning out to others: “It doesn’t really apply to me. I was daydreaming and totally spaced out. I don’t agree at all with the person. I don’t understand at all. I choose to ignore because listening is too painful. I already know everything. I was preoccupied with something much more important.”
People have a knack for making excuses to justify anything, and sadly, most have known or worked with those who think they already know everything.
A Harvard Business Review study showed “multitasking doesn’t exist. People can switch tasks, but the brain cannot process different information sources simultaneously. McCormack says, “A multitasking mind is like having a squirrel in the attic.”
BY LINDSEY NOVAK
Anyone who has watched a squirrel gather twigs to build a nest and collect food immediately sees the squirrel’s rapid scurrying back and forth. Most agree that email is an improvement over the old-fashioned mail system, but “51% of people delete email (within) two seconds of opening it.” One employee told of a new project where management “buried any spark of enthusiasm and acceptance with a fire hose of internal communication. It was a powerful monologue that just fell on deaf ears. And that’s when things went from bad to worse.” McCormack advises managers to tell, not sell. Explain “the what, the why, and the so what.”
When managers can’t communicate effectively through verbal and written explanations, the important information becomes mixed with the garbage. His advice to managers is 1) Make sure all your employees are on board; 2) Give employees an opportunity to have input about what you are presenting; 3) Moderate the amount of information so employees hear the message without getting overwhelmed; and 4) Have steps in place for participants to give feedback. In short, real communication is an exchange of information, not a soliloquy.
McCormack advises people to put their phones away from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. If you’re always busy, escape for a few minutes to experience silence. Technology has taken over the workforce. It’s up to you to limit the communication to only what’s needed.
Email career and life coach: Lindsey@LindseyNovak.com with your
workplace problems and issues. Ms. Novak responds to all emails. For more information, visit www. lindseynovak.com, and for past columns, see www.creators.com/read/ At-Work-Lindsey-Novak.
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Dear Friends,
Message from Congressman Tom Suozzi “Be prepared. Not scared.”
This is an unsettling time in our country and in our communities. When it comes to Coronavirus, we may be in a public health emergency, but that does not mean that we lack the resources or the commonsense to deal with it. It is important to reiterate that we need to be prepared and not scared. Heed the advice of public health experts who agree that the most effective way to “flatten the curve” of the spread of Coronavirus is by practicing “social distancing” to keep our communities healthy.
NYS has closed all non-essential businesses. PLEASE STAY HOME AND STOP THE SPREAD!
Below is some helpful information regarding coronavirus:
How are you infected?
• Coronavirus can spread person-to-person within 6 feet through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
• Because the virus can remain on a surface or object; it can be transmitted by touch; entering the body through mouth, nose or eyes.
Time from infection to symptoms:
• It takes 2 to 14 days for a person to develop symptoms after exposure to the virus.
• The average is about 5 days.
What are the symptoms?
• Fever,
• Dry cough, and
• Shortness of breath.
When you should seek testing:
• If you are exhibiting symptoms
• If you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus
• If you have recently traveled to one of the high-risk countries
If you experience any of the symptoms above you should call your health care provider before seeking treatment in person.
In the meantime we all know that certain precautions are important at this time.
• Wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds;
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth;
• Avoid physical contact like handshakes and hugs, especially if Corinavirus is spreading in your community;
• Stay at home if you are sick;
• Avoid large crowds and
• Minimize travel.
For more information specific to New York, please check the New York State Department of Health website, health.ny.gov. It is important during this national emergency that we unite together as a country, listen and follow the advice of experts and take responsibility for our actions to battle this pandemic.
Be prepared. Not scared.