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Shemara Wikramanayake
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Executive Voting Director since August 2018 (of Macquarie Bank since August 2018)
Member of Executive Committee since 1 August 2008
Shemara has been Macquarie Group’s Managing Director and CEO since late 2018.
Shemara joined Macquarie in 1987 in Macquarie Capital in Sydney. In her time at Macquarie, Shemara has worked in six countries and across several business lines, establishing and leading Macquarie’s corporate advisory offices in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Malaysia, and the infrastructure funds management business in the US and Canada. Shemara has also served as Chair of the Macquarie Group Foundation.
As Head of Macquarie Asset Management for 10 years before her appointment as CEO, Shemara led a team of 1,600 staff in 24 markets. Macquarie Asset Management grew to become a world-leading manager of infrastructure and real assets and a top 50 global public securities manager.
Shemara sits on the World Bank’s Global Commission on Adaptation and was a founding CEO of the United Nations Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI). She currently leads emerging markets workstreams for CFLI and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and is a member of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance.
Greg Ward
Deputy Managing Director
Head of Banking and Financial Services Group
Member of Executive Committee since 3 March 2005
Greg joined Macquarie when it was publicly listed in 1996 and has over 27 years' experience in finance and financial services.
He was Chief Financial Officer for 14 years before being appointed Deputy Managing Director of Macquarie Group and Chief Executive Officer of its banking subsidiary, Macquarie Bank.
Greg became Head of Banking and Financial Services Group in July 2013 and has driven the growth of Macquarie’s retail financial services business.
Chief Financial Officer and Head of Financial Management Group
Chairman of the Macquarie Group Foundation
Executive Chairman of Macquarie Group in Asia
Alex Harvey is the Head of Financial Management Group and the Chief Financial Officer of Macquarie Group globally. He is also Executive Chairman of Macquarie Group in Asia. The Financial Management Group (FMG) delivers finance, tax, and treasury services to all of Macquarie as well as handling corporate communications and investor relations.
FMG provides strategic analysis and advice to Macquarie’s business and senior management, manages Macquarie’s funding, liquidity, and capital position, and ensures Macquarie continues to meet regulatory and compliance obligations. FMG actively engages with investors, governments, media, and the wider community to maximise their understanding of Macquarie and enables Macquarie to understand the expectations of our key stakeholders.
Before being appointed CFO in 2018, Alex was the Global Head of the Principal Transaction Group in Macquarie Capital and a member of Macquarie Capital’s Management Committee. Alex was the first Chief Executive Officer of Macquarie’s operations in Asia where he was responsible for a business with more than 3,400 staff across 14 locations.
Alex has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry across Australia, Asia, Europe and the US. In January 2022, he became Chairman of Macquarie Group Foundation and is also a Board member of Loreto Kirribilli. Alex holds a Master of Commerce, Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Ben Way
Head of Macquarie Asset Management
Member of Executive Committee since 1 April 2021
Ben is Head of Macquarie Asset Management, a global specialist asset manager, and a member of Macquarie Group’s Executive Committee. Ben leads a team of more than 1,900 people managing over $A735.5 billion1 of assets on behalf of institutional and wholesale clients.
Prior to taking on his current responsibilities in April 2021, Ben was Head of the Global Alternatives division in Macquarie Asset Management and the CEO of Macquarie Group in Asia. Ben has held several other senior positions across Macquarie since joining in 2006.
Ben was previously Chairman and CEO of Taiwan Broadband Communications and a management consultant with Bain & Company. Ben is a member of the Board of Directors of Mothers Choice, a Hong Kong-based organisation whose goal is to see every child in a safe, loving and permanent family.
He is also a Fellow of the 2017 class of the Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
As at 30 September 2021
Stuart Green
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Macquarie Bank Limited
Member of Executive Committee since 1 July 2021
Stuart joined Macquarie Group in 2001 and was appointed Group Treasurer in August 2013, a role he held until July 2021.
On joining Macquarie, Stuart worked in the Corporate & Asset Finance group, responsible for originating asset financing transactions for Macquarie. In 2002, Stuart assumed responsibility for investor relations for Macquarie’s listed airport fund, Macquarie Airports, before moving to become Global Head of Investor Relations for Macquarie’s portfolio of listed funds. In 2008, he was appointed Macquarie Group’s Head of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, responsible for managing the Group’s relationships with investors and analysts, government and the media.
Prior to joining Macquarie, Stuart worked in the UK as a Chartered Accountant in public practice for BDO Binder, where he obtained his professional qualifications, and later in a number of corporate roles as head of finance and corporate strategy.
From 2010 to 2020, Stuart served on the Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) where he was the Treasurer and Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
Stuart is also a member of the Macquarie Group Foundation Committee.
Evie Bruce
Executive Director, Legal and Governance Group
Group General Counsel
Evie is the Group General Counsel and Head of the Legal and Governance Group. Evie is a lawyer with nearly 30 years’ practice and management experience, across ANZ, Asia and the US, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and the financial services sector.
Prior to joining Macquarie, Evie worked for King & Wood Mallesons where she was the Managing Partner for the Australian Mergers & Acquisitions and Banking & Finance practice teams, head of the Financial Services sector and a member of the International Management Committee. She led the law firm’s extensive global engagement with Macquarie’s businesses for a number of years.
Evie holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) and Bachelor of Laws from University of New South Wales and is a member of Corporations Committee of the Law Council of Australia, Law Society of New South Wales, and State Bar of New York. Evie is also on the board of Asia Society Australia and is a member of the Leadership Circle for Action Aid’s Arise Fund.
Michael Silverton
Head of Macquarie Capital
Member of Executive Committee since 1 June 2019
Michael Silverton is Head of Macquarie Capital, a position he has held since 2019. Michael leads a global team that provides advisory, capital markets, investing, development and equities capabilities to clients, with a focus on infrastructure and real assets; technology, software and services; and resources, energy and materials.
In over 25 years with the firm, Michael has built and led businesses across the globe. Since joining Macquarie Group in 1997, Michael has held roles in Sydney, London and Chicago before moving to New York in 2010. Prior to Macquarie Capital, Michael held positions in Macquarie Group’s Central Executive Strategy unit and Risk Management Division. In 2013, he became Head of Macquarie Capital in the Americas, adding oversight of Europe and Asia shortly after.
Michael has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2019.
Nicholas O’Kane
Head of Commodities and Global Markets
Member of Executive Committee since 15 June 2017
Nick joined Macquarie in 1995 and has more than 25 years’ experience in global commodity and financial markets.
Nick was appointed Head of Commodities and Global Markets (CGM) in April 2019 and is responsible for CGM’s global business offering capital and financing, risk management, market access, physical execution and logistics solutions to its diverse client base across Commodities, Financial Markets and Asset Finance. This platform covers more than 30 markets, over 200 products, and is managed 24 hours a day. Nick manages a team of more than 2,000 professionals in over 40 offices around the world.
Nick is also Head of the Commodity Markets and Finance (CMF) division within CGM which offers these services across the energy, metals and agricultural sectors globally.
Prior to this, Nick was appointed Head of the Energy Markets Division in 2007 and under his leadership, Macquarie's energy markets business has expanded through both organic growth and acquisitions to become a significant market participant.
Nick is a founding member and director of the Nick van Gelder Dreamers Foundation.
Nicole Sorbara
Head of Corporate Operations Group
Global Chief Operating Officer
Member of Executive Committee since 1 January 2013
Nicole is Head of Corporate Operations Group (COG) and Global Chief Operating Officer (COO) and has been on the Macquarie Group Executive Committee since 1 January 2013. She leads a global team of 5,000 people across 22 countries covering Digital Transformation & Data, Technology, Market Operations, Human Resources, Business Services, Corporate Strategy & Solutions, and the Macquarie Group Foundation.
Nicole is a Chartered Accountant and has more than 30 years’ experience in accounting and financial services. She joined Macquarie in 1996.
Andrew Cassidy
Head of Risk Management Group
Andrew joined Macquarie in 2004 and became Chief Risk Officer and a member of Macquarie Group’s Executive Committee on 1 January 2022.
Andrew spent over 15 years in Macquarie Capital in various roles, including leadership of Macquarie’s principal investment activity in Asia Pacific. He joined the Risk Management Group in 2019 and has overseen the continued strengthening of Macquarie’s risk framework since then.
The Risk Management Group is the central risk management function within Macquarie overseeing Credit, Prudential, Capital and Markets, Market Risk, Operational Risk, Compliance and Quantitative Applications. It is responsible for independent and objective review and challenge, oversight, monitoring and reporting in relation to Macquarie’s material risks.
The Chief Risk Officer also manages the Internal Audit function jointly with the Board Audit Committee.


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Home > S. Turquety
S. Turquety
Université Pierre et Marie Curie
Contact person by email
Service d’Aerónomie
Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace
First Author Publications:
Turquety, S., et al. (2007), Inventory of boreal fire emissions for North America in 2004: Importance of peat burning and pyroconvective injection, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12S03, doi:10.1029/2006JD007281.
Arnold, S. R., et al. (2015), Biomass burning influence on high-latitude tropospheric ozone and reactive nitrogen in summer, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6047-6068, doi:10.5194/acp-15-6047-2015.
Emmons, L., et al. (2015), The POLARCAT Model Intercomparison Project (POLMIP): overview and evaluation with observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6721-6744, doi:10.5194/acp-15-6721-2015.
Monks, S. A., et al. (2015), Multi-model study of chemical and physical controls on transport of anthropogenic and biomass burning pollution to the Arctic, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 3575-3603, doi:10.5194/acp-15-3575-2015.
Hudman, R. C., et al. (2009), North American influence on tropospheric ozone and the effects of recent emission reductions: Constraints from ICARTT observations, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D07302, doi:10.1029/2008JD010126.
Hudman, R. C., et al. (2008), Biogenic versus anthropogenic sources of CO in the United States, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L04801, doi:10.1029/2007GL032393.
Hudman, R. C., et al. (2007), Surface and lightning sources of nitrogen oxides over the United States: Magnitudes, chemical evolution, and outflow, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12S05, doi:10.1029/2006JD007912.
Liang, Q., et al. (2007), Summertime influence of Asian pollution in the free troposphere over North America, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12S11, doi:10.1029/2006JD007919.
Singh, H., et al. (2007), Reactive nitrogen distribution and partitioning in the North American troposphere and lowermost stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12S04, doi:10.1029/2006JD007664.
Cooper, O. R., et al. (2006), Large upper tropospheric ozone enhancements above midlatitude North America during summer: In situ evidence from the IONS and MOZAIC ozone measurement network, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D24S05, doi:10.1029/2006JD007306.
Heald, C. L., et al. (2006), Concentrations and sources of organic carbon aerosols in the free troposphere over North America, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D23S47, doi:10.1029/2006JD007705.
Millet, D., et al. (2006), Formaldehyde distribution over North America: Implications for satellite retrievals of formaldehyde columns and isoprene emission, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D24S02, doi:10.1029/2005JD006853.
Morris, G. A., et al. (2006), Alaskan and Canadian forest fires exacerbate ozone pollution over Houston, Texas, on 19 and 20 July 2004, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D24S03, doi:10.1029/2006JD007090.
Zhang, L., et al. (2006), Ozone-CO correlations determined by the TES satellite instrument in continental outflow regions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L18804, doi:10.1029/2006GL026399.
Page Last Updated: May 15, 2020


Coyotes unexpectedly attacked a human in 2009. Scientists now know why
In 2009, 19-year-old folksinger Taylor Mitchell was attacked by a pack of coyotes while hiking in Canada’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park. She was about to start the popular Skyline Trail when climbers in the area saw the animals approaching for no reason.
Bystanders called 911 and Mitchell was flown to a Halifax hospital, but died of her injuries 12 hours later.
This was the first-ever documentary in North America of a coyote attack resulting in human adult death (in 1981, 3-year-old Kelly Keene was killed by a coyote on her family’s property), raising questions about whether it’s not safe anymore with these furry ones mammals to coexist.
“We didn’t have good answers,” Stan Gehrt, a professor at Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources and leader of the Urban Coyote Research Project, said in a statement.
But after a multi-year investigation into the incident, Gehrt seems to have finally provided some insight into the situation.
According to an article published last month in the Journal of Applied Ecology, he along with a group of wildlife researchers found that coyotes in the region of Mitchell’s attack had adopted an unusual dietary change. Rather than relying on smaller mammals such as rodents, birds and snakes for food, they appear to hunt moose for their meals as extreme climatic conditions force the former to move away.
Therefore, the team thinks it’s possible these coyotes have learned to attack larger mammals like humans and are therefore more vulnerable to killing humans.
“We describe these animals expanding their niche to essentially rely on moose. And we also take a step forward and say that not only do they scavenge, they actually kill moose when they could. It’s hard for them to do, but because they had very little or nothing else to eat, that was their prey,” Gehrt said. “And that creates conflict with people you don’t normally see.”
Stan is associated with a captive coyote being tagged and fitted with a tracking device.
Stan Gehrt
Coyote Forensics
Before and after the 2009 tragedy, Gehrt’s project also noted a few dozen less severe human coyote incidents in the park. He and his colleagues even equipped them with GPS trackers so they could document the animals’ movements and better understand why they behaved in such surprisingly vicious ways.
“We’ve told communities and cities that the relative risk that coyotes pose is pretty low, and even if you have a conflict where a person gets bitten, it’s pretty low,” he said. “The death was tragic and completely off the charts. I was shocked by it – just absolutely shocked.”
To arrive at their conclusions – that coyotes feasted on large elk in Cape Breton National Park – the team first collected whiskers from both the coyotes implicated in Mitchell’s death and those associated with other minor incidents between 2011 and 2013 connected. They then collected fur from a wide range of potential coyote prey such as shrews, red-backed voles, snowshoe hares, moose, and even humans – for humans, they collected hair from local barber shops.
Seth Newsome, a professor of biology at the University of New Mexico and corresponding author of the study, performed an analysis of specific carbon and nitrogen isotopes in all of the samples.
Finally, Newsome confirmed that moose made up on average between one-half and two-thirds of the animals’ diet, according to the press release, followed by snowshoe hares, small mammals and deer. The researchers also analyzed the coyote feces, which further confirmed the isotopic findings.
This is how it looks like putting on one of the GPS collar types in this study.
Urban Coyote Research Project
Interestingly, they also found few examples of people eating humans Foodand debunks all claims that the coyotes’ attraction to human food may have been a factor in Mitchell’s attack.
“These coyotes do what coyotes do, which is if their first or second choice of prey isn’t available, they’ll explore and experiment and change their search range,” Gehrt said. “They are adaptable and that is the key to their success.”
Using these movement devices, the team tested whether coyotes in the park were only familiar with humans. However, patterns showed that the animals largely avoided areas of the park frequented by humans. Instead, they preferred to roam around at night.
“The lines of evidence suggest that this was a resource-poor area with really extreme environments that forced these very adaptable animals to stretch out their behavior,” Gehrt said. Or as the paper puts it, “Our results suggest that extreme, unprovoked, predatory attacks by coyotes on humans are likely to be fairly rare and associated with unique ecological traits.”
Our ancestors may have evolved to walk upright in trees rather than on the ground, a new study suggests
Strikes and tensions as row over funding threatens to derail Cop15 talks | Cop15
Experimental shock absorbing material can stop projectiles traveling over 3,000 MPH
Spontaneous baby movements are important for the development of a coordinated sensorimotor system
Onderzoekers waarschuwen tegen summer waters: vuil verdwijnt, maar …


DESTINATION: TOKYO To the East, a classical crescendo
From the Los Angeles Times
DESTINATION: TOKYO
To the East, a classical crescendo
By Mark Swed
Times Staff Writer
Yoshikazu Mera stands less than 5 feet tall, barely a head higher than the closed lid of the piano next to him. His face appears ensnared in eternal boyhood. His hair is cut in a cuddly Beatle mop. He is wearing a white shirt with puffy sleeves and shoulders, billowing gold lamé pants, platform shoes and a dramatic cape. He is the Hello Kitty of countertenors, men who sing in a woman's range.
Mera, 34, is giving a recital in Tokyo Opera City's airy 1,600-seat auditorium, a shoebox-shaped space with a soaring pyramidal, cantilevered ceiling. The wood on the walls feels freshly cut, and the acoustics are lovely. I am surrounded by Mera's fan base of teenage girls and middle-aged women (and the boyfriends and husbands they've dragged along), and nothing makes sense.
Mera's singing is stunning. He brings a heart-rending purity of tone, graceful agility, perfect diction and an acute sense of the Baroque style to well-known Bach and Handel arias that open the recital. But once he slips into orange vinyl pants and a tight red-striped shirt, he exchanges wholesomeness for raunchiness. He delivers a Satie cabaret song with a transvestite's gusto. He later impersonates Marlene Dietrich.
I've come to Tokyo for its classical music. That is, for its Western classical music. There is more of it here than in any other city in the world. Not only is more going on here than in London or Berlin, but one of the great attractions of over-the-top Tokyo is that it makes everything feel different.
Although the typical Tokyo classical concert may be a lot more conventional than was Mera's recital, confusion is nevertheless as much a way of life as is order, and social conformity doesn't seem to interfere with unflappable Tokyoites' acceptance of ostentatious individuality. In the end, a gaudy gender- and genre-bending countertenor fits right in.
Tokyo is chock-full of concert halls and, better yet, concert halls full of listeners. I saw barely an empty seat in a week of concert-going during my trip here in November. Where other musical capitals consider themselves lucky to have two or three important large venues for concerts and opera, Tokyo and its outskirts boast 10, plus many more medium- and smaller-sized halls. The city is also home to about a dozen symphony orchestras.
Tokyo is a regular touring destination for Europe's and America's most celebrated orchestras, opera companies and soloists. The Berlin and Vienna philharmonics make annual visits. Next month, the Kirov brings its production of Wagner's four-opera "Ring" from St. Petersburg, Russia, with Valery Gergiev conducting. This same production will be in Orange County in the fall and at Lincoln Center after that. But what is a very big deal for Costa Mesa or even New York is business as usual in Tokyo.
My week in Tokyo was chosen to fit my schedule. I figured there would be plenty to hear whenever I visited, and there was. On consecutive days in Suntory Hall, one of the city's most prestigious venues, I caught the Czech Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the latter two bands being Germany's best.
Traveling to Tokyo for Western classical music is, of course, a peculiar enterprise, to the extent that it robs a visitor of opportunities to experience Japanese culture. On my way to suburban Kawasaki to hear a provincial concert performance of "Carmen" by the Tokyo Symphony that featured local singers, I walked longingly past the Kabuki-za Theater. But at least I had the comfort of knowing that classical music in Tokyo inspires its own Kabuki-like devotion that makes concert-going here unique.
Moreover, concert-hall-hopping is an excellent way to do the town. Tokyo is a collection of districts. Shinjuku is where you go for "Blade Runner" lights and action and a Manhattan's worth of skyscrapers. Shibuya-ku is where the young shop in delightfully spectacular hordes. The Ginza is for the well-off — designer clothes, fabulous sushi, geishas. Traditional Ueno drips culture and, in spring, cherry blossoms. Ikebukuro is for shopping without the glitz. And in Harajuku, outlandish fashion is on parade.
But because Tokyo developed chaotically, every district has something (actually, an overwhelming lot) of everything. There is great food around Shibuya-ku. You can purchase cheap CDs in the Ginza. Each part of town has its music, its concert halls.
And what a satisfying experience it is to hear music in Tokyo. Say what you will about the controlled Japanese, one thing they control with an impressive vengeance is coughing during performances. Theater seats tend to be very firm, with little padding and high wood backs, which encourage attentiveness. Audience appreciation is so exceptional that I find it a moving experience just to sit in a Tokyo theater.
But concert-going is also a huge challenge in this massive city, and it begins with finding out what's on. There is no way to do it save living in Tokyo, spending time at concerts and reading Japanese. Only about half the concert-hall websites offer an English-language version; of those, some don't list upcoming events more than a month or two ahead. The same is true of the Tokyo orchestra websites. For smaller venues, forget it.
That leaves three English-language dailies — the Daily Yomiuri, the Japan Times and the International Herald Tribune — which publish weekly or monthly arts listings on Wednesdays or Thursdays, and the free English-language weekly magazine Metropolis. Even then, the listings are highly selective, barely scraping the surface.
I know that because a monthly guide distributed at concerts and available in record stores is the size of a small telephone book. But because it's written in Japanese and it's for the following month, it is of little use to the tourist. More helpful — and also handed out at concerts — are the colorful fliers for events happening in the next several days and weeks. Many of them contain just enough English to make it possible to figure out what is going on, especially if you know your Opus and Köchel numbers and can recognize conductors and soloists by their photographs. You always leave a Tokyo concert hall with more than you came in with.
Tokyo's Carnegie
THE obvious place for a visiting concertgoer to start is Suntory Hall, which is considered Tokyo's Carnegie. It stages something in both its big and small halls nearly every day, the schedule for which can be found on its easily navigable English-language website (see box) with listings up to three months in advance. (Each year, Suntory also puts out a full year's schedule in English that you can pick up at the hall.)
Several Tokyo orchestras have regular series in Suntory (as they do in other halls), but the venue's reputation rests on the many stellar international ensembles and soloists it attracts, plus its acoustics. It was built 20 years ago with excellent acoustics designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, which inspired L.A.'s Walt Disney Concert Hall, another Toyota masterpiece.
Like most concert halls in Tokyo, Suntory feels like a refuge. In his "Tokyo: A View of the City," author Donald Richie explains the strong Japanese sense of public and private. The Tokyo street, he writes, is "the ultimate in unrestrained display." The home, on the other hand, enjoys sacrosanct privacy, which begins with taking off one's shoes as a gesture that denotes leaving public space for the private.
Although shoes stay on at concerts, the venues, like homes, are frequently constructed away from the street and requiring the concertgoer to walk through a warren of passageways to find the entrance. When you leave, Mozart or Mahler still in your ear, this gracious distance shields you from being thrust immediately into startling traffic.
Suntory is part of Ark Hills, a large complex that also includes the luxury ANA Hotel, plus shops, restaurants, residences and business towers. It's not especially handsome, but the amenities are exactly what are needed. If you must, you can grab a sandwich from Subway or a latte from Starbucks. Much better is an inexpensive curry at the counter of funky FISH or surprisingly sophisticated sushi at Kaitenzushi UOKI. Just up the street is Koots Green Tea, with its Starbucks-like green tea concoctions and elegant desserts.
The other not uncharacteristic but still remarkable aspect of Suntory is that the hall is commercial — it belongs to the beverage empire. (Yes, that's Suntory Scotch that pays Bill Murray's character $2 million to tout its products in the film "Lost in Translation.") Suntory Hall, its director, Takeshi Hara, told me, "is not a sideline of the company, it is a part of the company." Although when asked whether the hall was expected to make money, he smiled and said that would be very difficult.
Suntory isn't the only big business promoting music in Tokyo. The Bunkamura — which contains the large Orchard Hall, along with a small theater for drama (Cocoon), a cinema and a museum — is an annex of the massive Tokyu department store in the heart of bustling Shibuya-ku. In Bunkamura, you can also hit the outstanding art bookstore NADIFF, which also carries a hip collection of CDs.
Around the corner from Bunkamura is a six-story Tower Records — said to be the world's largest record store. Its classical fifth floor is legendary. Or at least it used to be when Japan's economy was thriving and before Tower began its own economic downturn. It's still impressive by American standards, but neither it nor the Shinjuku Tower branch (once my favorite record store anywhere) is what it was.
Still, the Japanese are fanatical collectors, and Tokyo record stores are treasure chests, particularly of historic reissues. The most impressive I came across was Soft 3, part of the Ishimaru Denki electronics megastore in Akihabara (Tokyo's so-called Electric City). It has several floors of classical CDs, including many classic live performances.
The mood in Soft 3 is one of quiet reverence, as though CDs are not so much objects of desire as historic cultural documents deserving deep respect. Such feeling for the past is one of the distinctive aspects of classical music in Tokyo. This is a spectacular city of the moment. Earthquakes, wars and a profound Buddhist/Shintoist appreciation for the transience of all things separate Tokyo from a physical record of its history. Buildings come and go, and no one seems to care. New is generally thought better than old. What is preserved is culture.
It is for this reason, and the economic bubble of the '70s and '80s, that Tokyo now has so many new or newish concert halls filled mainly with old music. This is particularly striking at Tokyo Opera City, on the outskirts of Shinjuku.
The main hall there is named after Toru Takemitsu, the great Modernist composer who led the way in merging East with West and who died in 1996. Takemitsu was a beloved figure in Japan and an effective champion of new music.
Now he has become an institution, but no one has come along to take his place. Standard repertory is the standard almost everywhere. New music does, however, find its way into the programming of some Japanese orchestras.
If the new music scene in Tokyo isn't as vibrant as that of, say, the visual arts scene, it does exist. Terry Riley happened to be in Tokyo my first night here, performing in the chapel of the wonderful Jiyu-Gakuen Myonichi-kan, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as a girls' school. This only surviving Wright structure in Tokyo is now an arts center.
A gleefully appreciative audience of young people spilled out of the hall and practically hung from the rafters. Riley performed his personal blend of Minimalism, raga and jazz on the piano, then was joined by Bay Area guitarist David Tanenbaum and, finally, by some Japanese musicians.
Curiously, this is one of the oldest concert venues in the city, although it felt utterly modern in spirit. And it helped put Tokyo's more museum-like classical concerts in perspective.
Outstanding sound
THE Tokyo Symphony's "Carmen" was not noteworthy, but the acoustics in MUZA, the modest new Kawasaki hall (a 15-minute train ride from the Ginza), are another Toyota marvel, with sound that felt as though it floated effortlessly on a cushion of air. Thanks to modern technology, anything in this hall is a pleasure to hear.
Part of the draw for this "Carmen" is that Tokyo has yet to develop into an operatic capital. The city has a high-tech opera house, the New National Theatre next to Tokyo Opera City (which is not an opera house — go figure), and several companies devoted to Japanese opera, including Nihon Opera Kyokai. But nothing of international stature.
Still, the Japanese do have an innate sense of theater and know how to make even something as nonvisual as an organ recital theatrical. A free lunchtime concert in the large hall of Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space in Ikebukuro turned out to be a four-organ recital. That's because this theater has the only four-in-one organ in the world. Like one of those four-color ballpoint pens, it houses Renaissance, Baroque, French Romantic and modern instruments in one casing, which revolves.
On my last evening in Tokyo, I heard the Bavarian Radio Orchestra play Tchaikovsky's B-Flat Piano Concerto at Suntory. I have no idea how many times I've heard this hoariest of war horses.
My hotel, the Park Hotel Tokyo, was a 10-minute subway ride or an enjoyable two-mile walk from Suntory. I chose it because it provided a remarkable amount of luxury at an average of less than $200 a night and the convenience of being in Shiodome. This new development of skyscrapers is adjacent to the Ginza and next to the Shimbashi station, which allows easy access by train or subway to anywhere in Tokyo.
It was late afternoon, and I walked. On my way, I stopped in at the magnificent Zojo-ji Temple and listened in awe to a chanting priest. I took the elevator to the top of Tokyo Tower, an Eiffel Tower imitation, to watch the sun set over the city; Mt. Fuji was barely discernible in the misty distance.
All this made overly familiar Tchaikovsky feel somehow foreign again. The pianist was Yefim Bronfman, and he had played with wild, riveting virtuosity. I can't remember having been as energized by this concerto in a very long time. I wasn't alone. It was a great performance that drove the crowd crazy.
Was this a case of the old becoming new again? Or an example of a concerto that, like countertenor Yoshikazu Mera, has found the secret of everlasting youth in Tokyo's confusion? It doesn't matter. In the sometimes stilted world of classical music, confusion is a vital sign of life.
BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX
Tokyo's musical repertoire
From LAX, nonstop service to Tokyo is offered on JAL, Singapore, American, ANA, Northwest, Varig and Korean. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $980 until Dec. 28, then drop to $680 until March.
To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 81 (country code for Japan), 3 (the city code for Tokyo) and the local number.
Park Hotel Tokyo, Tokyo Shiodome Media Tower, 1-7-1 Higashi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku; 6252-1111, http://www.parkhoteltokyo.com . A luxurious and elegant yet moderately priced hotel in the new high-tower development near the Ginza. Many rooms have a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. Staff is helpful. Try the traditional Japanese breakfast in Hanasansyou, the hotel's excellent Japanese restaurant. The bar offers sumptuous small appetizers, a dazzling view, glorious martinis, sophisticated ambience but only so-so live jazz. Doubles about $200.
Conrad Tokyo, 1-9-1 Higashi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, 6388-8000, http://www.conradhotels.com . A striking new hotel, opened in July, has attracted attention for its dedication to contemporary Japanese art and for its Gordon Ramsay at Conrad Tokyo, the restaurant from London's Michelin-starred celebrity chef. Doubles from about $342.
Kaitenzushi UOKI, 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Ark Mori Building 3F; 5575-3555. Surprisingly good sushi from a conveyor belt makes this a good place for a quick bite before or after a concert in Suntory Hall.
Sushizen, 1-8-1 Higashi Shinbashi, Minatoku, Dentsu Honsha Building, Caletta Shiodome 46F; 3569-0068. With this new Tokyo branch of one of Japan's most celebrated sushi restaurants, there is no longer any need to go to Sapporo for the freshest Hokaido delicacies. Fish is flown in daily, and the new restaurant on the 46th floor of a tower next to the one that houses the Park Hotel has the further advantage of spectacular views of the Imperial Palace.
FISH, 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Ark Mori Building, 3F; 5562-4305. Fast, inexpensive but substantial, spicy Indian-Japanese curry on large, steaming plates is a great bargain in this fancy shopping center across the plaza from Suntory Hall. It is also vegetarian friendly.
Koots Green Tea, 3-1-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku (has other locations as well); 5545-3778 . A green-tea chain that puts Starbucks to shame. Pleasant small plates, with tofu specialties, are especially recommended, as is the delicate green tea cheesecake.
Jiyu-Gakuen Myonichi-kan Auditorium, 2-31-3 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku; 3971-7535, http://www.jiyu.jp/index-e.html .
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, 1-8-1 Nishi Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku; 5391-2111, http://www.geigeki.jp/english .
Suntory Hall, 1-13-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku; 3584-9999, http://www.suntory.co.jp/suntoryhall/english .
Tokyo Opera City, 3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku; 5353-0789, or, for tickets, 5353-9999, http://www.operacity.jp/en/concert .
MUZA Kawasaki Symphony Hall, 1310 Omiya-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City; (do not dial 3 before this number) 44-520-0100, http://www.kawasaki-sym-hall.jp/index_e.shtml .
The Daily Yomiuri, http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy ; the Japan Times, http://www.japantimes.co.jp ; International Herald Tribune, http://www.iht.com/pages/asia/index.php ; and Metropolis, http://www.metropolis.japantoday.com , are widely available in Tokyo.
Japanese-language lessons can be streamed from http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson . They can also be downloaded at http://www.hickorytech.net/nic111 .
Japan National Tourist Organization, (213) 623-1952, www.jnto.go.jp.
by alfayoko2005 | 2005-12-24 16:14 | ジェンダー・セックス
<< 産経新聞の卑劣で幼稚な印象操作... 世界日報（統一教会）：第二次男... >>


Berwick community market celebrates successful first year
John DeCoste · Freelance | Posted: Aug. 12, 2019, 10:42 a.m. | Updated: Aug. 12, 2019, 10:42 a.m. | 4 Min Read
John H. Smith, left, of the Mud Creek Rotary presents Berwick Community Market manager Chris Goddard with a cheque for just over $2,300 as part of the market's first anniversary celebration July 27. The funding will go toward purchasing canopies to allow for outdoor vendor spaces. - John DeCoste
It’s onward and upward for the Berwick community market as it enters its second year of operation.
The market venture began in January 2018 with the formation of the Berwick Community Market Association, administered by a seven-person board of directors.
The first actual Saturday market took place July 28, 2018, meaning that the market held July 27 of this year was celebrated as its first-year anniversary, complete with a special anniversary cake.
Berwick town councillor Rod Reeves (left) assists Berwick Community Market manager Chris Goddard in cutting a cake marking the market's first anniversary July 27. - John DeCoste
“We felt a year-round community market could be viable in Berwick,” says market manager Chris Goddard. “We weren’t really big to begin with, but we thought we had potential. We’ve grown over the past year, and we hope to grow even more.”
Currently, the market features between 20 and 24 vendors on any given Saturday during the summer months.
In terms of customers, Goddard says, “we've been doing reasonably well.” Not surprisingly, numbers “dropped right off during the winter, but they've come back up to 130-140 per week.”
On July 20, the day of Berwick's town-wide yard sale, more than 260 people visited the market. Goddard was hopeful of a similar-sized crowd on July 27, which had been advertised as the first anniversary.
Moving forward, he adds, “We'll see how the rest of the summer goes.”
Della Harris, left, of Cambridge, a vendor at the Berwick Community Market, watches as customer Mary Alward from Halifax models a hat Harris made and had for sale at the market July 27. - John DeCoste
Berwick has had a farmers’ markets in the past, but Goddard says it wasn’t sustainable for a variety of reasons. The current venture is a slightly different model.
“(It) is trying to be a vendor’s market, for the benefit of the vendors, which in turn is good for the community we well,” he says.
The market society has not approached the town for sponsorship, but Goddard says the town is supportive.
“They publicize our markets (on a regular basis), and they promoted our anniversary,” he says.
And there’s community support for the venture as well.
“Our board members are all volunteers, and two of them are also vendors,” Goddard said. “We’re doing it - and we started it - because we feel the community could really use a market like this.”
Shane Gerrits had a booth with fresh vegetables set up at the Berwick Community Market July 27. First held July 28, 2018, the market celebrated its first anniversary July 27. - John DeCoste
The markets are held on Saturday mornings at the Berwick branch of the Royal Canadian Legion on East Main Street, though Goddard says the goal is for the market to someday have its own building.
The society is also hoping to be able to offer more outdoor vendor spaces. A July 27 donation of slightly more than $2,300 from Mud Creek Rotary will purchase large canopies for that purpose.
The market is also making its mark on the community.
“We have a deal with the legion,” Goddard says. In return for the use of the space, “forty per cent of all table fees go to the legion.”
In addition, the market provides funds for community organizations, including the Berwick Food Bank.
Looking to the future, Goddard says he would like to see “more specific kinds of vendors,” possibly including “meat and cheese, and also brewers, vintners and distillers.”
Of course, he added, “the market has to appeal to them. We need to attract vendors as well as customers.”
Anyone can join the market society at a cost of $10 per year. The society charges $10 per week as a table fee. As of July 27, there were 59 vendors who were society members; according to Goddard, there had been three new vendor requests that morning alone.
Updated just now |15 min read


19 January 2023|In Money, SC, Lifestyle|6 Minutes
What’s The Impact Of The Cost Of Living Crisis On Young People?
By Shout Out UK
The cost-of-living crisis has been a priority subject for several months now, but it seems that Britain’s youth are being neglected in the discussions. Under-30s in the UK right now are bearing the brunt of the financial crisis, with lower wages, a lack of financial knowledge and higher expenses to contend with. Young people are disproportionately affected by the cost-of-living crisis, as well as being out of opportunities to gain access to well-paying jobs.
A vicious cycle of poverty
The cost-of-living crisis is making it harder for everyone to meet basic needs, from putting food on the table to paying fuel costs to get to work and keeping homes heated. But it’s more than just people struggling to pay their bills. It’s also limiting young people’s ability to access training and development opportunities, keeping them stuck in poverty due to not being able to apply for higher paying roles. The pressure on young people in the UK right now is putting them at higher risk of unemployment and leading to further stress and anxiety about the situation.
UK households are really feeling the pinch off the back of this financial crisis, which has been worsened by the war in Ukraine and COVID-19, leaving savers worried about the long-term concerns this will have on their financial health in the future. It’s a well-known fact that the earlier we can save for later in life, the more we’re about to make the most of compound interest and increase our financial security. But cost-of-living difficulties are making it challenging for young people to make the most of this for their future selves and dependents. The result is that what is a current issue could impact young people well into later life by preventing them from making wise financial decisions at the right time.
16-24-year-olds make up almost 800,000 of all people in the UK relying on Universal Credit, and the percentage of those depending on this support has increased since the pandemic. Increases in student loan burdens have also risen following the decision to freeze the threshold for repayments rather than have this rise in line with average income. So more young people are repaying at a time when they need the money for basic living needs.
Negatively impacting mental health
The stress that comes from constantly worrying whether you’ll have enough to fund your basic needs and those of your family takes its toll on your mental health — something that young people are noticing more and more. Research by youth charity ERYICA found that people as young as 11 are worried about the effect that rising costs are having on their household.
There’s increasing pressure on young people at the moment, particularly in low-income households already facing barriers to sustainable work and consistent income, which directly correlates to an increase in mental health concerns. Mental health charity, Mind, points out that money problems can lead to certain situations triggering anxiety and panic, sleep problems caused by worrying, and a lack of access to housing, food, water and medications that keep you well, physically and mentally. It can lead to people feeling isolated and lonely, which can further exacerbate mental health issues.
Tackling the impact of the cost of living
The pressures caused by the cost-of-living crisis have had a considerable effect on the physical and mental health of young people, increasing financial stress and anxiety over paying for basic needs, as well as impacting the opportunities they have access to. Organisations such as the YMCA offer welfare support and advice for young people to manage their finances correctly and help them gain training for better job prospects.
It’s clear that more needs to be done by the government to support young and vulnerable people. From changing Universal Credit payments to reflect the increase in the cost of living, to making salaries fairer and in line with inflation, as well as offering training and apprenticeships more widely to young people. The barriers faced by young people are getting harder to overcome, especially since some of the risks posed by the crisis are worse for those already marginalised.
Having a safe and warm home, enough food on the table and opportunities to create a better life are things that everyone should have access to. But the cost-of-living crisis is a challenge that all of us will be facing for some time to come, putting stress on organisations and services determined to help people in need. The fact remains, individuals can only do so much. Change needs to come from the top to help people of all ages overcome this difficult time.
Cost of living crisis mental health money Young People
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Shailene Woodley Among Dozens Arrested While Peacefully Protesting Dakota Access Pipeline |
Shailene Woodley Among Dozens Arrested While Peacefully Protesting Dakota Access Pipeline
Kristin Falzon
October 11, 2016Video
Shailene Woodley, star of The Fault in Our Stars and the Divergent series, was arrested Monday morning while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in Sioux County, North Dakota.
Woodley was streaming live on her Facebook page Monday during a peaceful protest at Standing Rock. The protest was in response to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Monday that lifted a temporary injunction on the pipeline, allowing construction to resume.
Appeals Court Refuses to Halt Construction on #DakotaAccessPipeline https://t.co/LtgiZaVjAb #NoDAPL #StandingRock @MarkRuffalo @LeoDiCaprio
— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) 1476123050
back on Standing Rock. last night US district court of appeals denied injunction to halt #DAPL construction. https://t.co/SRYyd7gyXH
— Shailene Woodley (@Shailene Woodley) 1476108323
The actress and environmental activist was trying to head back to her RV to go back to camp, when she noticed it was surrounded by police and a riot vehicle. As she approached her RV, she was stopped by police dressed in riot and military gear. After speaking with them, she was told on camera that she was being arrested for criminal trespassing. A spokesman for the Morton County Sheriff's Department said she was also arrested for engaging in a riot. Her mother was with her at the time.
When she asked why she was being arrested and no one else, and whether it was because people know who she is, the officer who appeared to be in charge said it was because she was identified.
As she was being put in handcuffs, Woodley explained to a person off-camera that she was being arrested for trespassing down by the pipeline where hundreds of others had gathered, but that she left as soon as police arrived and was told to leave.
"It's because I'm well-known, it's because I have 40,000 people watching it," she said.
These Celebrities Take a Stand Against #DakotaAccessPipeline via @EcoWatch https://t.co/ClAbSWpPZA #DakotaPipeline
— The YEARS Project (@The YEARS Project) 1473537665
Twenty-six other protesters were also arrested, according to media reports.
Protesters and members of more than 90 Native American nations and tribes have been encamped on the Missouri River since May fighting against the construction of the 1,170-mile pipeline that would transport 470,000 barrels of crude oil across four states, including sacred sites and burial grounds.
Woodley has been very vocal on social media about her feelings on the Dakota Access Pipeline and has been at the protests on a consistent basis which she recently talked about on Late Night With Seth Meyers along with Bernie Sanders.
Let’s hit our goal of 1,000 shirts and keep it going! Take a stand and show your support for Standing Rock in the fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Share with friends and get your shirt through my bio link or at omaze.com/standingrock #UpToUs #OurRevolution #NoDAPL
A photo posted by Shailene Woodley (@shailenewoodley) on
Sep 27, 2016 at 1:28pm PDT
"It's been remarkable. It's one of the greatest experiences of my life," she said.
"This is the first time that you have this many tribes gathered in one place, standing together united, to stand up for not only their rights, but human rights, and the access to clean water—all they're doing is protecting clean water," she added.
Woodley said while the temporary halt on the pipeline's construction the Obama administration did is "beautiful," it's not a win. A win, she said, is for them to say we're not moving the pipeline to another location, but we're going to stop it, like the Obama Administration did with Keystone XL.
Until then, we're sure to see Woodley out there again as she continues to fight for Native American rights and the Dakota Access Pipeline.


https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2014/07/josh-thomson-to-reevaluate-retirement-after-every-fight-but-says-two-more-fights-for-sure
Josh Thomson to reevaluate retirement after every fight, but says two more for sure
Steven Marrocco
July 25, 2014 10:00 am ET
After a heartbreaking decision loss to Benson Henderson in his most recent fight, Josh Thomson couldn’t find the will to return to the octagon.
These days, the UFC lightweight asks himself whether every fight is his last. And for a little while after Henderson, it was. Losing a title eliminator to Henderson after fighting the bulk of five rounds with a broken thumb was reason enough to walk away.
“The biggest discouragement … was the judges’ decisions,” Thomson, 35, told MMAjunkie Radio. “If anything, even having a performance where you felt like you didn’t feel great, but you felt like you won, and it was ripped from you — man, talk about letting the wind out of the sails.”
Then, the fog lifted. As it turned out, the veteran fighter was suffering not only from a broken heart, but the burnout of a long camp.
“I definitely needed to get home and get some rest,” he said. “I spent some time with friends and family coming back to normal life. I mean, you spend four months basically trapping yourself in a hole, being stuck at your house and the gym, going back and forth. You spend that amount of time, you don’t really feel like doing anything afterward. So I think I spent about a week just at home with my dogs, throwing the ball and dwelling on the situation and what I wanted to do.
“After that, I was able to get out and spend some time with friends and family. Everything started feeling good, and as soon as I got the cast off, I was able to get back into the gym and started training a little bit, and then I found out San Jose was announced for a fight. I was like, you know what, it might be time to get back into camp and give it a try.”
That thought led him to a fight, as Thomson (20-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC) volunteered for Saturday’s UFC on FOX 12 and was booked opposite Michael Johnson. His opponent didn’t hold, as Johnson withdrew due to injury and was replaced by Bobby Green (22-5 MMA, 3-0 UFC), but the date did. The two meet on the FOX-televised main card of the event at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
Thomson still isn’t sure he’s long for the MMA world, but he’s willing to give the sport another try.
“What keeps running through my mind is I did this when there was no money involved, and I felt like I loved it a lot more,” he said. “And I’m doing it now where I make a ton of money, and I still love it, but do I love it as much? When I start asking myself that question, it makes you wonder if your heart is still in it. I never wanted to be one of the guys, like (Evander Holyfield), who stayed in too long.”
At times, Thomson said, he can feel like a “rockstar” when he trains at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif. Then there are days when he can’t find the motivation to get out of bed. Age and time continue to hang over his head.
“Sometimes you tell yourself, I can stop a little early,” he said. “I never told myself that before, and sometimes I try to tell myself, you should rest today; maybe just run or hit pads a little bit and then not go do this or (that). I start thinking, if I can’t make myself do everything I can do to feel prepared, do I love it as much? And I think about it after every fight.
“What changes did you have to make because you’re getting older. Did they work?”
As Thomson points out, he won’t know the answer to that question until the Green fight is over. But he knows that he can’t walk into the fight with anything less than 100 percent focus.
“I look at Bobby Green as a more dangerous fight than Michael Johnson,” he said. “Am I motivated to fight him? I better be. Otherwise, I’m going to end up walking out of that arena with a loss. You think Bobby gives a crap how high I’m ranked? No. He just wants to get the win. So I’ve just got to take the win from him.”
Whether or not he wins, Thomson will ask himself if he’s got the stuff to solider on.
“I don’t know if you can really commit,” he said. “It’s a fight at a time. I feel good enough, I’ve got another two fights in me for sure. I feel like it’s definitely there.”
For more on UFC on FOX 12, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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Big Gay Fiction Fest Episodes
Episode 162 – “Walker Boys,” “Asheville Arcana” & Cover Reveal with Ari McKay
Jeff opens the show discussing the progress he’s made on a Codename: Winger Christmas story.
They guys talk about the Heart2Heart Anthology, which releases on Tuesday, November 13, as well as the Love Your Book Store Challenge, which runs through November 16. Will also previews The Queer Lit Read-a-Thon that takes place December 2-8.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to see a larger image.
Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, including upcoming ones with gay or gay adjacent actors, are discussed. They also focus on Road To Christmas, which features the first gay couple in a supporting role.
Will reviews Cinnamon Spiced Omega by Susi Hawke and Seeking Solace by Ari McKay.
Jeff & Will interview Ari McKay about the two books they’re releasing in November: Seeking Solace and Quenched in Blood. They also discuss Designer Holiday, their new Christmas story that they’re revealing the cover for on the podcast. We also find out what’s next for Herc’s Mercs and more looking into 2019.
Remember, you can listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, YouTube and audio file download.
Here are the things we talk about in this episode:
Heart2Heart: A Charity Anthology, Volume 2 on Amazon
Love Your Bookstore Challenge website
Queer Lit Read-a-thon Announcement on Perpetual Pages YouTube Channel
Queer Lit Read-a-thon on Twitter
Schooled by Jeff Adams on Amazon
A Shoe Addict’s Christmas on Hallmark Channel website
Christmas Made to Order on Hallmark Channel website
A Majestic Christmas on Hallmark Channel website
Noah’s Arc on Logo
Road to Christmas on Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Unwrapped website
Cinnamon Spiced Omega by Susi Hawke on Amazon
Seeking Solace by Ari McKay on Amazon
Big Gay Fiction Podcast on Patreon.com
Big Gay Fiction Podcast patrons on BGFP website
Herc’s Mercs banner at GRL
Ari McKay Interview
Ari McKay: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon
Seeking Solace (Walker Boys #3) by Ari McKay on Amazon
Breaking Bonds (Walker Boys #2) by Ari McKay on Amazon
Striking Sparks (Walker Boys #1) by Ari McKay on Amazon
Lyrical Lines Proofreading and Covers website
Quenched in Blood (Asheville Arcana #3) by Ari McKay on Amazon
Forged in Fire (Asheville Arcana #2) by Ari McKay on Amazon
Out of the Ashes (Asheville Arcana #1) by Ari McKay on Amazon
Tom Clancy on Amazon
Herc’s Mercs series by Ari McKay on Amazon
Santa’s Naughty Helper by Ari McKay on Amazon
Ari McKay on Episode 86 of BGFP on BGFP website
Designer Holiday by Ari McKay Cover Reveal
Ari McKay Interview Transcript
This transcript was made possible by our community on Patreon. You can get information on how to join them at patreon.com/biggayfictionpodcast.
Jeff: Welcome Ari McKay to the podcast. How about we take a moment you two can introduce yourselves?
Ari: Okay. Hi, I’m the Ari half of Ari McKay.
McKay: And, hi, I am the McKay half of Ari McKay.
Jeff: Fantastic. We are thrilled to have you guys back on the podcast. You’ve got two books coming out this month, with both, “Seeking Solace” in the Dreamspun Desires line and “Quenched In Blood” in The Dreamspun Beyond line. So congratulations for that. Tell us first about “Seeking Solace,” which is the new Walker Boys book.
Ari: Okay, this one has been…it was a little different because instead of being a chef, he’s a wannabe chef who is working as a bartender on a cruise ship. And part of the reason for that setting was that I’ve taken a lot of cruises and I enjoy cruising. And so, it was, really kind, of a fun way to use my experiences onboard a cruise ship to, you know, bring a little bit of a realistic touch to the setting.
So, Devin is the Walker in question. And he has been working on the cruise ship for Triton Lines. And he’s a bartender, he gets to meet a lot of people. And because he’s very outgoing, he gets asked to shepherd one of the executives from the cruise line who was coming on board to learn the ins and outs of how the ships actually work rather than the office back half of the business. But what he doesn’t know is that Paul is actually the heir to the entire cruise line. And so it’s kind of the, you know, secret millionaire, you know, sort of thing going on there. And they get very close. And Paul has some issues that he’s working through with a physical disability. And Devin helps him to work through part of his issues, and in the process, they kind of fall in love. So I don’t wanna give away too much of the background.
Will: No, giving away the good stuff that’ll be in my review. Because I’ve read this book, I loved it to pieces. I especially loved the cruise ship setting. It was a lot of fun. Just sort of wonderful and escapist and romantic. I loved it to pieces. Now, most of The Walker Boys books have taken place in Texas, specifically, Buffalo Lick, the small quaint town where barbecue’s king. And actually, Ari, you and I are actually both wearing a very special t-shirt, a t-shirt, as it so happens that actually makes an appearance in “Seeking Solace.” Do you wanna explain that just a little bit?
Ari: Yeah, so when Paul comes on board the ship, he doesn’t really bring any casual clothes with him because he’s, you know, the executive type and he thinks he’s going to be very formal while onboard the ship, and Devin convinces him that that’s not such a good idea. You’re gonna make the patrons kind of nervous if you’re wandering around in a suit. And since Paul doesn’t have anything to wear, Devin loans him some clothing, and one of the items happens to be Devon’s Buffalo Lick Bisons t-shirt that he has from when he was in high school. And he’s carried it with him everywhere. And he allows Paul to wear it and Paul kind of takes it over and ends up with it. As, you know, sometimes happens with couples and trading shirts and things like that.
So, we McKay and I, it was kind of a funny joke about, you know, okay, so the shirt is important. So we actually hired a graphic artist, Diane from Lyrical Lines, to design us an actual logo. We actually own this logo. It’s ours. Buffalo Lick is ours. And so Diane made us a custom logo and we had it put on the shirt. And we had three shirts made and we had one for McKay, one for myself, and one for Will because Will has always loved The Walker Boys so he had to have a shirt.
Will: I love it. It was so amazing to get to see both of you and talk to you when we were at GRL not too long ago.
Ari: Yeah, that was great.
McKay: Yes, I enjoyed it.
Jeff: It was your first GRL, McKay. How was that for you?
McKay: It was an amazing experience. And I would recommend anyone who is a writer or a reader of gay romance to attend at least once because it’s so warm and welcoming. And even though it was my first time, I felt like I instantly belonged because everybody was just so open and welcoming to me. And I just really enjoyed the whole weekend. And I really loved getting to meet some of our readers and meet fellow authors. It was just fantastic.
Jeff: Very cool. What’s coming next or is there a next for The Walker Boys in their journey?
Ari: Actually, yes, there is. This is kind of interesting because I suppose it’s…I don’t know if people know that the Dreamspun Desires line is changing focus a little bit. They’re going for, kind of, lighter stories than, you know, even what we’ve been writing. So, we actually have book four of The Walker Boys almost completed. It’s called “Healing Hearts.” And we have permission from Dreamspinner to move it out into the mainline. So when we finish it and finally get it submitted, The Walker Boys will transition just from the in the Dreamspun Desires line out to the main Dreamspinner, or main Dreamspun Line, which is actually kind of good for us because that means we’re not limited to the 60,000 words, so we can make kind of, you know, longer, little more in-depth stories.
And for, “Healing Hearts,” especially, that’s going to be kind of important because the Walker boy in that one has got a few issues that he needs to work through. So, having the extra…the ability to go much longer if we need to means that we can, you know, give it a little bit more in-depth of a treatment for him about his problems. So, because most of the walkers are kind of happy-go-lucky, not this one.
McKay: And just as a preview, for this book, we are actually going back to the same setting as book two, what was it, “Breaking Bonds?”
Ari: Yes, yes.
McKay: And the chef in training who, kind of, studied under Liam Rocky, he’s going to be one of the leads this time.
Will: Oh, God. Oh, I can’t wait. Hurry, hurry, finish it fast. That’ll be amazing. I can’t wait for that.
McKay: Yeah, I was the one who mostly wrote Rocky and he got vocal, you know. I just loved…he was fun. I loved writing him. And after we finished, “Breaking Bonds,” I was kind of thinking in the back of my mind, he needs his own book. He’s out there. So I’m glad that we are getting to tell his story and let him have a Walker of his own.
Ari: Yes, and he gets the ne’er-do-well. So he’s going to have to whip his Walker boy into shape.
Will: Yeah, can’t wait. Oh, that sounds so good. So amazing. Now, in addition to The Walker Boys that’s releasing this month, you’ll also have another book in your Asheville Archana series. Can you explain, first of all, before we get into the new book itself, can you explain a little bit about the paranormal nature of this particular series?
Ari: Sure. This one is set in Asheville, North Carolina. And it focuses around members of the paranormal community in and around western North Carolina. In this world, we have vampires, we have shapeshifters, we have fairies, demons, and demon hunters. And in the first two books, it followed a series of friends, actually, the three main characters, Julian, Wimzie, and Arden were all friends with benefits.
And in the first two books, Lindsay and Arden found their true love romance. And so now only Julian is left and he’s been left alone. But in the backdrop, they’re also fighting a war against a demon invasion. There have been incursions in each book that they have had to rally members of the paranormal community to fight off these demons. And this book, kind of, culminates that battle. So we’re going to see the end result of all of their efforts in the first two books.
Jeff: Cool. And there’s a third book.
McKay: Julian gets funny.
Jeff: This third one’s called “Quenched in Blood.”
McKay: Yes.
Jeff: So besides dealing with the war, who’s the couple here? And what’s their story?
McKay: Okay, we actually set the seeds for this back in book one. So one of the leads is Julian, and he’s finally going to meet someone. And that someone was actually introduced in the first book, but he never actually appeared on camera. He was a voice in the background. When Wimzie, and Arden, and Eli, and the other cast of book one went out to visit a demon hunter named Micah, they found out that he had a grandson because the grandson called him from inside the house, and Micah was very secretive about this.
Well, they’re going to go back and meet that grandson, who is a demon hunter himself, but he’s untrained, his name’s Thomas. And he is descended from demon hunters on both sides. So he’s very powerful, but he has no idea. His grandfather was so grieved by the loss of his son and daughter-in-law, Thomas’s parents, that he raised Thomas in ignorance of who and what he was. And so, Thomas has no idea that demons and vampires and werewolves exist, and he’s blown away. He has to have a crash course in, you know, what’s going on. And then they’re like, “Oh, hey, by the way, we need you to fight these demons. Yay.” So, Thomas gets thrown in the deep end pretty quick.
Jeff: What was your inspiration behind this one to like…? And did the inspiration come more as the whole series since you were, kind of, arching this entire story over about the war?
McKay: We had a short story, we wrote it for Halloween several years ago, and it was much shorter. And it was published by a company that no longer exists. And we were trying to figure out what to do with the story/novella. And the more we looked at it, the more we realized that we liked the world-building. So we had written the story together. And then I had written a Halloween story individually that we could pull elements of and, kind of, mush together. And that’s what we did. We took the things that we liked from the world-building from both of these stories and started creating this world.
And from there, we figured out okay, what do we want in each book? What do we want the overall arc to be? And we kind of did some planning in world-building and then we dove in. I mean, things changed as we wrote, of course, but basically, that’s where they came from, these 2 one-off Halloween stories that we wrote one together and one I wrote by myself.
Jeff: That’s very exciting to have the world mash-up like that.
McKay: Yeah. The story that I wrote, I kind of had in the back of my mind the Halloween story that we had written together. And I asked Ari, it’s like, “Okay, if I take elements, do you mind, you know, if I kind of loosely set it in the same universe?” And of course, she said it was fine. And it was not closely tied that you could see it, but it was enough that when the time came, we could mesh them seamlessly. In fact, the character of Wimzie was in my story. So, his romance ended up being a little bit different, but my short story was basically about a wizard named Wimzie who falls in love with a werewolf named Harlan. So, we took that directly.
Ari: So much of our inspiration is just kind of co…I mean, it’s a true collaboration, the way that we write and the way that we develop stories. One of us will get, you know, a bee in our bonnet about something, a TV show or, you know, a movie or something and it’s like, “Ooh, you know, something like that would be really cool.” And then, you know, we end up, like, building on it all together.
So, it’s like, you know, I think most of the paranormal stuff, the original inspiration was yours, McKay. Because I even think the predecessor to the Asheville Archana series, I think the original short story was actually something you had originally proposed. And then like when it comes to, like, “Herc’s Mercs,” that was something that clobbered me over the head one day. And so yeah, like I said, it’s like, we kind of take turns on who…Like, “Oh, who’s got a good idea?” “Okay, let’s do that.”
McKay: Yeah, and I do tend to lean more towards fantasy, paranormal, supernatural. I mean, that is my jam. So, yeah, I didn’t remember that the original story was mine. But now that you said it, I’m like, “Oh, yeah, it was, wasn’t it?” And I’m not surprised because that’s…I really have a strong interest in that genre. And she kind of had to convince me to go with the “Herc’s Mercs,” but hey.
Ari: It took some convincing. It took a lot of convincing. She did not wanna originally write it because that’s not…action-adventure is my wheelhouse. I am a Tom Clancy girl. I love, you know, all the adventure stories. So that’s where I find, you know, I have the strength in coming up with stuff.
Will: Now, for any normal author collaboration, two books in one month would be, like, more than enough. But as we’ve just discovered, you’ve got a Christmas story coming out very soon. What can you tell us about that?
Ari: Yeah, that one is actually it’s almost completed. It’s called “Designer Holiday.” And it’s one that we actually had started, I believe, in January of this year. And we had thought we were gonna write 12 Christmas stories just as kind of a series and that, sort of, didn’t happen.
McKay: No.
Ari: But we got through…the one that we had started, we’ve gone back to, and you know, it’s…I’ll let McKay explain the setting. The characters are Emilio, who is a dance instructor, and his love interest is Rain, who is an interior designer.
McKay: And surprise, surprise, it is set in western North Carolina. Yes, we like that part of the country. So we know it well and we tend to go back there quite a bit for our settings. For inspiration for the town, “Holiday Pines,” I was thinking about the many little tiny towns that exist in the mountains of North Carolina. They’re places like Maggie Valleys, Spruce Pines, Waynesville, Clyde, and things like that. And that’s, kind of, what I had in mind for the town in the story.
And so, it’s a very small town, but their claim to fame is that they are home to the biggest Christmas tree farm in the state. And they are trying to revive tourism in the town by renovating an early 20th-century Art Deco style theater. That’s their local playhouse where all of the local shows and entertainment happens. And so, Rain and Emilio had been high school sweethearts. They grew up in Holiday Pines together, but Rain wanted more, and so he left.
He went to college in Atlanta, and he ended up staying there and starting his own interior design company. And when he was still in college, he broke up with Emilio and broke his heart. Well, now, Rain has been invited back to Holiday Pines to help with the renovation and restoration of the Playhouse. And so he and Emilio are seeing each other again for the first time in 12 years.
Ari: Emilio is happy.
Jeff: I love second chance stories. And we’re very excited because we have the cover reveal for this. We don’t often get to do cover reveals, in fact, you’re the first. And folks can go to our show notes page for this episode and see the cover for this story that’ll be out in early December. Now, you’ve mentioned “Herc’s Mercs” a little bit before and that is one of Will’s very favorite-est things ever.
Will: Oh, yeah.
Jeff: What might be coming up in that universe?
McKay: Well, anyone who was at GRL might have seen our banner. We got a lot of comments on it. I think you got a picture. Yes, that banner was very popular. And for anyone who did not see it, it features three very handsome, buff men in an obvious threesome. So, we had initially thought that that would be the cover for the ninth and final “Herc’s Marcs” book, but the banner got so much positive attention and commentary that we thought…and people were saying when we said, “Oh yeah, that’s gonna be a ‘Herc’s Mercs’ cover,” “Oh, when? When’s it coming out?”
So we decided okay, we need to move that up. So the threesome story with the “Herc’s Mercs” will be the eighth one. That’ll be next and it’s going to feature two characters who have appeared pretty consistently in the series. They’ve been, kind of, background characters, Finn and Morrissey. And the third character is one that got mentioned in “No Pain, No Gain,” the early chapters, Joker. So those are the three main characters who will be featured in “Herc’s Mercs” eight.
Ari: Tentatively, I think we’re calling that “Three to Get Ready.” So that’s just the tentative title, though.
McKay: Oh, yeah.
Jeff: It’s a good title, though.
Ari: Yes.
Jeff: And yeah, that banner did get a lot of traffic. We’ll add a link in the show notes to the picture that Will go with it. Some people could check that out on the Facebook feed.
Will: Now, can we expect that in 2019 hopefully?
Ari: Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Probably mid to…what do you think, mid, McKay?
McKay: I would say so. Like I said, after the response that we got at GRL, we decided to fast-track that. And we do have a couple of things to finish up before we get to that one, but it’s on our shortlist for sure. So probably mid-ish 2019.
Will: Cool. That sounds fantastic. Now, I mean, in addition to the two books that you’re releasing this month, we spent an awful lot of time talking about some of your future projects, is there anything else you want to tease to our audience that might be coming out in 2019?
Ari: Yeah, if, everything goes well, and we’ve gotten pretty positive reaction from the publisher we’ve pitched it to, we should have a romantic thriller series coming out. This will be even…if you’ve read “Herc’s Mercs,” this will be the Mercs books more so. Very much a Tom Clancy, kind of, edge to it with gay romance involved. And I don’t know how much we’re even supposed to say about it. But it would involve an international, sort of, setting. I mean, it’s not…The main place that the people gather on is actually in the Mediterranean, but the action will take place all over the world. Have a very, very diverse cast of characters. So, basically, people from all over. So far, we have, what, one American, I think, and everybody else is from somewhere else. So we’re pretty excited about that.
McKay: Yeah, “Herc’s Mercs” was…there was some traveling outside the country, especially in the third one. But it tended to be pretty U.S.-centric. But this new series is expanding. So it will go well beyond the borders of the U.S. and have, like Ari said, a very global span and a global cast of characters.
Ari: And a lot more intrigue. “Herc’s Mercs” is really mostly bodyguards and stuff like this. This is going to have more of an overarching kind of plot in the background. And “Herc’s Mercs” were mostly novellas. These will be novels, these will be quite a bit longer and get a lot more involved. And ooh, I get to bring out all of my military stuff. That’s fun.
Jeff: Okay, I’m super excited for these because my recent bend towards romantic suspense just…yeah, bring these on.
Will: Those sounds amazing. So, before we leave, I wanna quickly remind everyone that “Seeking Solace” is available now. And, “Quenched in Blood” is coming out in the next couple of days. Where can people keep up with you and all of the books that you are continually writing? Is there someplace online that they can visit you and find out more?
McKay: We have a website, arimckay.com. We have a newsletter. And the link to that is on our website in the sidebar. Actually, in the sidebar of our website, you can find our newsletter, our Facebook, our Amazon link, our Dreamspinner link. So, really, our website is the central landing point, and then you can get everywhere else from there. It has all of our books based on, is it a part of a series, is it standalone, it has a page for our audiobooks. And yeah, so that’s our one-stop-shop, arimckay.com.
Jeff: Fantastic. Well, thank you both so much for coming to tell us all about this good stuff.
Ari: Oh, thank you for having us.
McKay: Yes. Thank you.
Check Out These Other Episodes:
Episode 169 – Book Reviews & 2018 Recap
Episode 152 – Debut Author Alexander C. Eberhart Interview + Movie & Book Reviews
Episode 165 – "Painfully Attractive" with Silvia Violet
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Latinos Don't Care About Winter Olympics; Maybe Ice Soccer Is The Recipe To Bring Them Onboard
By Luis Vidal February 11, 2022
True fact: Latinoamerica has zero medals in the history of the event.
Today everybody in Mexico is on the figure skater Donovan Carrillo's bandwagon. But, let's be honest, Mexicans and Latinos, in general, don't give an F about the Winter Olympics.
One relevant piece of data to support this opinion? As of Feb. 11 of 2022, no Latino has ever won a medal in the event. EVER. No gold, no silver, no bronze. That's a massive region in the world with ZERO accomplishments on ice or snow.
Sure, the governments could help finance and promote some of the disciplines. But at the end of the day, we — you and I — know the lack of interest in winter sports is because most people perceive them as expensive activities or hobbies for rich and annoying folks.
And nothing inspires the masses less than the achievements of people born with a silver spoon.
There are other reasons, as Jennifer Lopez (yes, the unique and only J-Lo) and Fred Armisen pointed out in a funny sketch for Saturday Night Live a few years ago.
Is Ice Soccer The Secret To Attract Latinos To The Winter Olympics?
OK, it is evident: Winter Olympics and Latinos are mutually exclusive terms. But it doesn't need to be like this. And that's why, in an effort to bring a solution for all those involved, I proposed the inclusion of ice soccer in the competition. Or ice football, if you prefer.
The biggest pro: soccer is the No. 1 sport in Latinoamerica, and this could expand the market for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), an institution that falls like a fly when sensing the sweet smell of money.
Next, I reckon we have several challenges to make the sport worth the Olympic consideration, starting with the creation of local and international federations able to foresee the basic frame for the activity. The reason behind this is because ice soccer is not an established sport. Gasp!
There have been some efforts, though. In Germany, for example, Stefan Raab created the TV Total Deutscher Eisfußball-Pokal, a seven-a-side soccer game played on an ice rink. The rules were the same as football, while the players were wearing bowling shoes to add an extra layer of excitement. The tournament started in 2009 but was discontinued in 2015.
You also can find online some ice soccer friendly games in Russia.
But despite the lack of continuity in its practice, both cases show ice soccer has potential. I agree finesse and game flow are areas that need to be improved, but at the same time, nobody can deny this is an example of dumb high-quality and ratings-grabber TV. So good that even Latino sport-snobs will end up embracing it.
I know it is a slippery subject, but think about it, IOC.
And maybe one day Latinoamerica will care about the Winter Olympics and it would be able to grab its first medal ever in the event.


In this drone image, snow blankets a neighborhood, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022, in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze Sunday…
In this drone image, snow blankets a neighborhood, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2022, in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze Sunday morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 24 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to several hundred thousand homes and businesses.(John Waller via AP)
At least 49 dead after winter storm, more snow on the way
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The death toll from a Buffalo-area blizzard rose to 27 in western New York, authorities said Monday as the region reeled from one of the worst weather-related disasters in its history. Much of the rest of the United States was hit by ferocious winter conditions.
The dead around Buffalo were found in their cars, homes and in snowbanks. Some died while shoveling snow. The storm that walloped much of the country is now blamed for at least 49 deaths nationwide, with rescue and recovery efforts continuing Monday.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz described the blizzard as “the worst storm probably in our lifetime” and warned there may be more dead. Some people, he noted, were stranded in their cars for more than two days.
“It’s just a horrible situation that we can see sort of the light at the end of the tunnel. But this is not the end yet,” he said Monday.
Scientists said that the warming earth may have contributed to the intensity of the storm. That’s because the atmosphere can carry more water vapor, which acts as fuel, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
The National Weather Service said Monday that up to 9 more inches of snow could fall in some areas through Tuesday.
The blizzard roared through western New York Friday and Saturday, stranding motorists, knocking out power and preventing emergency crews from reaching residents in frigid homes and stuck cars.
With many grocery stores in the Buffalo area closed and driving bans in place, some people pleaded on social media for donations of food and diapers.
Extreme weather stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60% of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.
Some 2,085 domestic and international flights were canceled on Monday as of about noon EDT, according to the tracking site FlightAware. The site said Southwest Airlines had 1,253 cancellations — nearly a third of its scheduled flights and about five times as many as any other major U.S. carrier. An email sent to Southwest was not immediately returned and the Dallas-based airline hadn’t updated its website about the conditions since Saturday.
Based on FlightAware data, airports all across the U.S. were suffering from cancellations and delays, including Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, Baltimore and Chicago.
Relief is coming this week, though, with forecasts calling for temperatures to slowly rise, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“Nothing like what we had last week,” said said adding that the bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — has weakened. It developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in Buffalo was stranded Saturday and she implored people Sunday to respect an ongoing driving ban in the region. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 49.2 inches (1.25 meters) at 10 a.m. Monday. Officials said the airport would be shut through Tuesday morning.
Two people died in their suburban Cheektowaga, New York, homes Friday when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat their medical conditions.
Freezing conditions and power outages had Buffalonians scrambling to get to anywhere with heat amid what Hochul called the longest sustained blizzard conditions ever in the city.
In a nearby home, Shahida Muhammad told WKBW that an outage knocked out power to her 1-year-old son’s ventilator. She and the child’s father manually administered breaths from Friday until Sunday when rescuers saw her desperate social media posts and came to their aid.
Erie County officials said they went to the family’s home Saturday but that no one came to the door. Muhammad said they were there but thankfully her son was doing well despite the ordeal. She described him as “a fighter.”
The storm knocked out power in communities from Maine to Seattle. The mid-Atlantic grid operator had called for its 65 million consumers to conserve energy amid the freeze Saturday.
Storm-related deaths were reported all over the country, from six motorists killed in crashes in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky to a woman who fell through Wisconsin river ice and a deadly Kansas homeless camp fire.
In Jackson, Mississippi, city officials on Christmas Day announced residents must now boil their drinking water due to water lines bursting in the frigid temperatures.
Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University, likened a single weather event to an “at-bat” and the climate as your “batting average.”
“It’s hard to say,” Serreze said. “But are the dice a little bit loaded now? Absolutely.”


YONKERS MAYOR MIKE SPANO TO CUT RIBBON AT WARBURTON GARAGE
Yonkers, NY (February 21, 2013) – Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano will officially announce the completion of the new $14 Million Warburton Garage at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday February 22, 2013. The development was financed as a Public Private Partnership with $3.8 million in tax-exempt bonds, $4.0 million in municipal grants, a $2.7 million taxable mortgage and $3.5 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) equity from Solomon Hess CDE in partnership with Goldman Sachs, Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, Yonkers EDC, Hudson Valley Bank and the National Development Council (NDC).
The Warburton Garage, is one part of a continuing revitalization effort to attract residential and small business investment in downtown Yonkers. The 300 space garage will serve area small businesses as well as tenants of the adjacent iPark commercial, industrial and research complex and visitors to the Yonkers Public Library. The garage will set aside 78 spaces for use by residents of the adjacent Warburton Riverview Apartments, a new workforce housing development financed in part with Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits and City HOME funds.
“The revitalization of downtown Yonkers would not be complete without this newly constructed and efficient parking facility that now will house vehicles of those who choose to live, work and raise a family in Yonkers,” said Mayor Mike Spano. “The Warburton Garage is a symbol of the great change occurring in Yonkers. We give special thanks to the National Development Council, our State delegation, the Yonkers IDA, the Yonkers Planning & Development Department and the City Engineer for making this project a success for the City.”
“Downtown Yonkers is undergoing an exciting revitalization which is taking our City to new heights,” said Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Democratic Conference Leader (D/I/WF – 35th District). “This new parking garage will spur further growth by drawing more people to downtown Yonkers’ great restaurants and businesses, historic Phillipse Manor Hall, the beautiful Hudson riverfront and of course the newly daylighted Saw Mill River at Van Der Donck Park. New York State is proud to be a key partner in Yonkers’ revitalization.”
“This attractive parking garage made it possible to preserve the Philipse Manor Historic District and allow for the adaptive reuse of the Warburton Lofts and the workforce housing on North Broadway,” said Chuck Lesnick, Yonkers City Council President. “It is unfortunate that the County walked away from its $2.5 Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) commitment but I am proud that City stepped forward to both lead the way and then fill the gap.”
A critical component of this comprehensive redevelopment initiative will be a new small business incubator and complementary loan fund. NDC, with the assistance of its affiliate The Grow America Fund, will be establishing a $2 million loan fund to support both existing small businesses and new small businesses drawn to downtown Yonkers by the garage development. The City expects these funds to assist both manufacturing and emerging technology companies and create over 75 new full-time jobs.
“NDC has worked in the City of Yonkers since 1999 assisting the City in structuring over $2.5 Billion in projects” said Robert W. Davenport, President of NDC “The City lacks adequate parking to support and sustain the downtown growth that has resulted from this investment. We are proud to partner with Solomon Hess, Goldman Sachs, and the City of Yonkers to create parking and support continuing revitalization efforts”
The ribbon cuttings will he held at the Warburton Avenue garage entrance, at the crossroads of Warburton Avenue and Dock Street, at 11:30am on February 22, 2013.
About National Development Council
The National Development Council (NDC) is the oldest national non-profit community and economic development organizations in the U.S. It was founded in 1969 with one purpose: increasing the flow of capital for investment, jobs and community development to under served urban and rural areas across the country. Since that time, NDC has worked with thousands of communities in every one of the 50 states and Puerto Rico, providing technical assistance, professional training, investment in affordable housing, small business financing and direct developer services. NDC has been using New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) to support economic and community development since the program’s inception. NDC not only provides tax credit equity to our client communities, but also assists communities in structuring their NMTC deals, finding the necessary additional financing, and developing relationships with other organizations that receive allocations of the tax credits. To date NDC has invested over $587.6 million in 71 projects generating over $1 billion in total investment.
About the New Markets Tax Credit Program
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program was established by Congress in 2000 to encourage the investment of private capital in designated low-income communities in order to create jobs, generate economic activity and improve the quality of services in low-income communities and to low-income persons. The NMTC Program attracts investment capital to low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax return in exchange for making qualified equity investments in specialized financial institutions called Community Development Entities (CDEs). Capital raised by the CDEs is then used to provide below-market financing to qualified businesses in low-income communities. The credit totals 39 percent of the original investment amount and is claimed over a period of seven years.