The mitigation of east-west traffic congestion is one of the most significant infrastructure issues impacting the livability and the future growth of Long Island. Everybody complains about it. 7Bus is doing something about it.

You can't do business when you're stuck in traffic. If you try to do business when you're stuck in traffic, you could end up in a serious car accident with 6 points on your driver's license. There is no more capacity with the LIRR or their branch parking facilities. The Long Island Expressway is now considered the second most congested road in the US. 7Bus is exactly what Long Island needs if it wants to be competitive with other geographic areas. It's absurd that people traveling to NYC from areas like Pennsylvania can get to NYC faster than people traveling the same distance from Long Island.

7Bus is low cost, luxury transportation between Long Island and NYC, featuring free Wi-fi, personal power outlets, extra leg room, plush leather seats, individual cup holders and fares starting at $7. Generally 7Bus is $3-$5 less than the LIRR and a 70% savings over car costs, tolls, and parking. 7Bus offers amenities that encourage motorcoach travel which will solve traffic congestion issues. Each 7Bus takes 35 cars off the road. The benefits to the environment are significant. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a train gives off 2.5 times and a passenger car 6.4 times more carbon than a bus.


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Few negotiators would argue the value of good listening skills. Listening skills can calm tensions, break stalemates, and help build creative deals. Most people overestimate their ability of this key skill, and lack an accurate understanding of the concept of active listening.

Active listening doesn't mean sitting patiently while your counterpart talks or does it simply entail saying "I understand" and establishing good eye contact. Rather, active listening is a dynamic process and key in any negotiation. Here are some tips to become a skillful active listener.

1. Showing Your Interest: Prove you're listening by using body language or brief verbal replies that show interest and concern. Simple phrases such as "yes," "OK" or "I see" effectively show you are paying attention. This encourages the other person to continue talking and relinquish more control of the situation to the negotiator.
2. Paraphrasing: Tell the other person what you heard them say, either quoting them or summarizing what they said.
3. Emotion Labeling: This means attaching a tentative label to the feelings expressed or implied by other person's words and actions. This shows you are paying attention to the emotional aspects of what other person is conveying. When used effectively, emotion labeling is one of the most powerful skills available to negotiators because it helps identify the issues and feelings driving the other person's behavior.

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Tenant Liability in Commercial Leases
by Patrick McCormick, Esq.

  

This article will address two recent appellate court rulings involving commercial leases and the tenant's liability for certain damages incurred by the landlord. The first, from the Appellate Division, First Department, involves an action by a landlord against a tenant for damages resulting from a flood caused by a rusted gauge on tenant's supplemental HVAC system. The second case is from the Appellate Division, Second Department and involves tenant's liability for post-termination rent.

In 45 Broadway Owner, LLC v. NYSA-ILA Pension Trust Fund, the tenant's predecessor installed a supplemental HVAC system that connected to the building's water risers. The lease provided that the parties' respective insurance policies would each contain an endorsement by which their respective insurance companies would "waive subrogation or permit the insured, prior to any loss, to waive any claim it might have against the other." The lease also provided that "each party releases the other with respect to any claim (including a claim for negligence) which it might otherwise have against the other party for loss, damage or destruction with respect to its property by fire or other casualty . . . occurring during the terms of this lease." In April 2010, in connection with certain work to be performed, the landlord notified the tenants that they were required to shut down any supplemental HVAC systems. During the work, the lobby of the building flooded and it was determined that a rusted and corroded pressure gauge on defendant/tenant's supplemental HVAC system burst, allowing water to flow out. The landlord suffered total damages (exclusive of attorney's fees and costs) of $136,055.22. The landlord's motion for summary judgment was granted and the tenant's cross-motion for summary judgment was denied.

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Emptying out a house sounds easy until it's you who has to do it. Recently, my parents moved permanently to Florida after being snowbirds for many years. What that really meant is that, outside of clothes, they had two of everything and didn't really need (or want) to move anything. It was almost as if they had passed away since very little was actually going with them. I was told that I could take anything that I wanted.

We often hear older adults say "my children can have all this when I'm gone," without realizing that their styles and tastes are very different from ours. For the most part, we really don't have the desire (or storage space) to keep their household belongings. The duty to take care of all that "stuff" can be extremely overwhelming for their heirs. Perhaps they thought they were saving us from emotional or financial stress by not moving to a smaller home or retirement community, or not doing any of this themselves, when in reality it just delayed the inevitability of emptying the home of its contents.

The task of purging the home is much more manageable with helpful hands and a systematic approach. The first thing I learned was don't do it yourself. You need someone else there to help, both physically and emotionally. A technique I found helpful was to separate belongings by their next destination. Scan the home and separate according to the following categories:

Keepsakes -- things which have emotional value to you or another family member;
Resale -- items which have potential monetary value in resale or as scrap;
Donate -- items worthy of donation;
Trash -- items which have no ability to be re-purposed (i.e. everything else).

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