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Bridges Ride and Walk for Autism

Kick Off Event for Supporters

Thursday, July 19, 2012 – 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Hudson Station and Bridges Ride For Autism have joined forces to present an evening of fun and celebration for ALL our loyal supporters.

Please join your fellow supporters and friends for food, drink, entertainment and many other surprises!

Registered riders and walkers will receive this year’s #1 fashion item- our very cool tee shirts!

Governor Cuomo’s Small Business Outreach Initiative

On Wednesday July 11th, the NYS Governor’s office is hosting a Small Business Outreach Initiative event at Monroe College from 6:30pm-9pm. It is recommended that all small businesses that are able, attend this event hosted by Deputy Secretary of Civil Rights and Workforce, Alphonso David.

This event will provide necessary and important information regarding the state requirements to run and operate a business in New York. There will be a presentation from several agencies and then an opportunity to ask agency representatives questions on a one on one basis.

This is a great opportunity for small businesses or potential businesses to get very important information and make contacts with the agencies that oversee important agency processes.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

New York Small Business Outreach Initiative

A road map to business opportunities in New York State

Register today at: smallbusinessRSVP-Bronx@exec.ny.gov or www.NYOpenforSmallBusiness.com

• Spend an hour with small business experts from the Governor’s office and six state agencies, and learn what you need to know to start, grow, or simply function efficiently as a business in New York State.
• Participants will be given the opportunity to meet with agency panelists for individual consultation following the presentation.
• NY State has $100 million available in assistance for small business and offers a range of free hiring, recruitment and training programs.
• Get answers to questions on how to: – License and expand your business. – Protect your personal assets. – Explore tax breaks and development incentives. – Access the services for businesses in each state agency.

Presentations by:

• Empire State Development
• Department of State
• Workers’ Compensation Board
• Department of Labor
• State Liquor Authority
• Department of Taxation and Finance

View the PDF

Help Wanted! Independent Sales Reps to sell advertisement spaces on Print Media.

MenusNY.com, a bronx based business, has taken menu advertising to the next level.

The website, run out of  the Throggsneck section of the Bronx, allows restaurant goers to view or print a menu from their favorite restaurant online.

There are many websites that provide these services free of charge so, you may ask, “what makes MenusNY.com different?”.

On many menu sites, a restaurant menu is usually collected from the internet by automated bots, this automated process allows a site to collect menus and the menu items on the menu at a very cost effective rate. This is great for the website, but ultimately, the menus are incorrect due to outdated information that is perpetuated by the automated process.  Also, If a restaurant owner is not “internet smart” or is just too busy, it is difficult to add the menu on a website to start with, as is the case with many “mom and pop” restaurants.

Another service that differentiates MenusNY.com from other menu sites is the “Co-op Advertising Program”, which is key to the success of MenusNY.com.

The “Co-op Advertising Program” allows local merchants to place a business card sized ad on the printed menu of a local restaurant menu.  MenusNY.com prints 10,000 full color 11″ x 17″ menus for each participating restaurant and the menus are distributed by the restaurant or a third party distribution service, in the local area of the restaurant.  The restaurant will also place the menus inside their establishment for takeout and delivery services.

In addition to being on the printed menu, the local merchant, or sponsor, will also have:

• A profile, with the company logo, contact information and description, on the MenusNY.com website.
• The printed menu available for download with the merchant advertisement.
• The advertisement will appear on the online version of the printed menu.
• The advertisement will appear on any online version of the non participating restaurant menus. You will appear on online menus you haven’t paid for.
• The advertisement on TheBonxMarket.com for 2 months, free of charge.

The goals of MenusNY.com

• To provide local restaurants with a means to improve business productivity by keeping printing costs down.  Restaurants need to have their menus printed, and the better the quality of the menus, the higher the cost.  This cost is ultimately passed on to the customer with higher prices.  Participating local restaurants will have the option to print and distribute menus VERY cost effectively, allowing restaurants to reach much more potential customers while keeping their prices down.

• To provide local merchants and business professionals a means to advertise locally and cost effectively. The problem with advertising your business, your services or your special offers: When consumers receive your advertisement, they will either keep the advertisement for future use or toss it. The majority of advertisements are tossed almost immediately. That is why advertising in print publications is more effective when it has a longer shelf life. The problem with that is higher advertising costs. Advertising with MenusNY.com is the perfect solution to this proble. When consumers are delivered a menu, they will either keep the menu for future use or toss it. The difference is that menus are not tossed out as quickly. Most consumers will want to try a restaurant before they decide they do not want the menu, therefor, the menu has an immediate value to the consumer. Every time the consumer looks at the menu to order or decide what to eat, they will see the advertisement of a local merchant, extending the life of the local merchant advertisement. It is not unusual for consumers  to keep menus of their favorite restaurants for years, only changing them when they are out of date.

Initially, only restaurants in The Bronx will be participating in the “Co-op Advertising Program”.  Plans to expand throughout NYC and the Tri-State area are being considered.

If you own a restaurant in the Bronx and want to know if you qualify for the Co-op Advertising Program, please send an email to info@menusny.com with your name, phone number and restaurant information. If you are not interested in the Co-op Advertising Program, but want your menu to appear on MenusNY.com, please send an email to info@menusny.com.

If you own or manage  a business and want to advertise in a local restaurant menu, please send an email to info@menusny.com with your name, phone number and restaurant information.

Help Wanted

MenusNY.com is also looking for Independent Sales Reps to sell advertisement spaces for the MenusNY.com Co-op Advertising Program.

To be successful in this position, the candidate needs to be a highly motivated, extremely confident, self-starter with a positive attitude. The candidate will meet with customers in a face-to-face environment to sell advertisement spaces, so a professional appearance, professional demeanor and strong communication skills are required.  Multiple positions are available with growth potential for the right candidate. The Independent Sales Rep is a commission only position with residual income potential. You will be working your own hours with the potential to make $75K+ annually. You must have reliable transportation and be at least 18 years of age. Candidates may be subject to a background screening.

If you feel you are the right candidate for this job, please send an email to info@menusny.com with your name, phone number and/or Resume.

Microloans helping Bronx businesses take it to the max

Juan Perez

By ANIKA ANAND  (NY Daily News)

His credit score isn’t very good, he’s trying to refinance his home and he’s looking for a full-time job. But thanks to a microloan, Freddy Blanco just built a new website for his firm, JusDesign.

About six years ago, the Bronx graphic artist found out about Project Enterprise – a nonprofit that provides modest loans and business training to entrepreneurs and small business owners.

“A lot of people have lost their home, lost their job, so their credit has suffered in so many different ways,” said Blanco, who has received $5,500 in loans. “Going through a microloan gives you the helping hand to get back on your feet and hopefully…get your credit going again.”

Microloans are small amounts of money loaned to high-risk clients usually shunned by larger banks. Since the 2008 economic crisis, they’ve become increasingly popular in the Bronx.

But lenders and their clients say that not enough Bronxites know about these resources.

Project Enterprise has made 825 loans to business owners since it was founded in 1997. The non-profit – funded by a mix of private and corporate donations, and government grants -usually lends $500 to $12,000 with a 12 percent interest rate. But borrowers only pay interest on the loan amount they have in hand.

“Sometimes entrepreneurs get overlooked, and those are the folks we want to give a voice to,” said Catherine Barnett, director of Project Enterprise.

The microloans from SoBRO’s (South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation) Credit Inc.’s program help small business owners with storefronts operating for at least a year.

The financial crisis dealt a double whammy to “mom and pop” stores trying to get traditional bank loans, noted Garrett Lucien, who runs the Credit Inc. program.

Large banks toughened lending standards, and business owners got behind on their bills.

So in 2010, Lucien revamped Credit Inc. The program began to make $1,000 to $20,000 loans with a 6-to-8 percent interest rate, on average, to Bronx businesses.

Juan Perez, who owns Bronx Auto Care, near the Cross Bronx Expressway, got a $15,000 loan from SoBRO that he put toward a new painting booth.

“I don’t like borrowing money from banks because I’m always turned down,” Perez said. “So I was overwhelmed when SoBro said, ‘Yes, it’s gonna come through.’ ”

Credit Inc. put Perez through a financial literacy class.

“It’s my hope that this is the only time I’m going to ask them for help,” said Perez.

Monet’s garden replanted in the Bronx

A visitor walks on a replica of French painter Claude Monet’s Japanese footbridge at the “Monet’s Garden” exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden. AFP Photo/Emmanuel Dunand

Past a walkway cutting through roses and delphiniums, visitors see a small bridge arching over some water lilies.

Not in France, but in the Bronx, at an extraordinary five-monthexhibit recreating Monet’s gardens at Giverny in this down-at-heel New York borough.

The American take on Claude Monet’s garden has already attracted over 100,000 visitors since it opened at the New York Botanical Garden in May. Hardly a detail is missing from the original. The winding central walkway, the iron door that seems to have been aged by time.

At the beginning of the walk through the garden, in large Victorian-style greenhouses, visitors find a reproduction of the exterior of Monet’s house at Giverny, replete with its signature green shutters.

The entrance is covered in vines and along the walkway the visitor is greeted by an abundance of roses, carnations, delphiniums and irises — the flowers immortalized in works by the impressionist painter (1840-1926), who loved gardens so much that he composed them like works of art.

A little farther, the water garden has been reconstituted, smaller than the original, but with the same Japanese bridge, bamboo and weeping willows.

“The gardens were a constant in his life,” said Paul Tucker, curator of the garden and four other Monet-related exhibits, and also an author of five books on the master French painter.

“He tended to them lovingly and with plenty of money and with hired hands,” said Tucker. “He was fabulously rich at the turn of the century.”

In this exhibit, visitors can also admire an outdoor pool, where there are several varieties of water lilies — Monet’s favorite flowers, immortalized in the series of eponymous paintings.

Inside the garden’s impressive library, two of the master’s paintings are on display, one of which, entitled “Iris,” on loan from a Swiss private collector, is being shown for the first time in the United States.

Accompanying the two paintings is a large wooden palette that Monet used to create his timeless masterpieces, bearing colorful smears of paint left by the artist.

“I like to think of it as the metaphorical extension of the artist’s hand and eye,” said Tucker. “It’s a very intimate object, an object of great practical importance, but something that is truly united to the body of the artist.”

Several documents are also on display, including photos from the original garden in all four seasons, lists of the plants, receipts and letters.

Visitors also see photos of the artist himself at Giverny, with his long beard and famous straw hat.

But perhaps the most extraordinary things about the exhibit are the plants and flowers themselves, which will change with the seasons.

“We’ve been working on (the exhibit) for about three years,” Karen Daubmann, director of exhibitions and seasonal displays at the New York Botanical Garden, told AFP.

Designers worked closely with local archivists and the Foundation Claude Monet, which oversees the original garden residence at Giverny.

With the exception of the larger flora — the weeping willows and Japanese maple — most of the plants and flowers, chosen carefully for their hues, were planted there as seeds.

For the lilies, Daubmann handed the reins to French nursery Latour-Marliac, where Monet went himself in the last century.

“The flowers change almost every day,” Daubmann said, “Every morning, there is something that needs to come out, or that needs to come in. We want it to look perfect for every visitor, so we change plants all the time.”

In total, some 150 varieties of seasonal and perennial plants will be represented, all of which were once used to create the master’s famous garden.

The exhibit ends October 21.