Posted on 11/14/2021 8:44:12 PM PST by SeekAndFind
New York Governor Kathy Hochul joked with ABC7 New York that she wouldn't sanction Zoom to get people back to work in Manhattan as the latest employment survey found less than a third of workers are back in the office.
"...short of banning Zoom, which I'm not going to do - but it's certainly something on my mind as we want people back downtown," Hochul joked with reporters.
The scary part of which is that, as many have become increasingly aware of in the last two years, when a Democratic leader says they won't do something... it usually means, at some point, they will (remember "two weeks to flatten the curve", vaccine passports are a conspiracy theory, etc...).
The newly elected governor is desperate for workers to return to the borough as the Zoom-boom during the virus pandemic has kept many at home. In return, the local economy languishes as businesses, such as eateries, bars, and other street shops, suffer due to a decline of office workers.
"It is very safe here and we want people to come back. They're missing the vitality, the energy and the innovation that is spurred by the connections of human beings," Hochul said.
Perhaps it's time to stop the incessant and accelerating fearmongering about the virus then?
According to Partnership for New York City, only 28% of Manhattan office workers were back in the city on an average workday in November.
"Of Manhattan's one million office workers, 28% are back. And of those, only 8% are back full time," said Kathryn Wylde, who heads Partnership for New York City.
By Jan. 30, employers expect about half of workers will return to the office on an average weekday, with 57% in the office at least three days a week while 21% remain remote.
The highest average daily workplace attendance is real estate, with 77%, followed by financial services (27%) and law firms (27%).
We have routinely commented on the slow return of workers. Kastle Systems, whose electronic access systems secure thousands of office buildings across NYC, shows an increasing number of workers returned to the office at the beginning of November. Since September, the index has risen nearly fourteen percentage points from 20% to about 34%. Overall, the index remains well below pre-pandemic levels.
Kastle's numbers appear similar to Partnership for New York City's survey data. Even though Hochul joked about banning Zoom, the governor has only one job: get re-elected. And will do so by any means possible as she must revive Manhattan's economy. So don't be surprised if she sanctions companies for not returning workers to office buildings or even goes after Zoom, as one third of companies surveyed said they expect to reduce their city office space requirements in the next five years.
This means remote work is here to stay... and the politicians won't like that at all!
Give us a break already. She has zero authority to ban anything. That she talks about this in such a way, and thinks about doing it, should be considered outrageous.
She would ban it if she could. Fortunately, she can’t. But just think about it in the next election. It tells you the kind of politician she is.
“Ban” is the single most used word in Democrat lexicon.
HOW would she do that? Require all ISPs serving NYS to not allow connections to Zoom? Force all the VPN companies to ban the connections, too?
She is a tyrannical idiot...as are all Dems.
Even before the Biden bucks run out, commercial and residential real estate in NYC will begin to decline in value. New construction will slow as well. Most rational, decent people wish to avoid living and working in Democratic controlled urban areas if possible. The silicon chip has made huge central commercial conglomerates obsolete. Productive, profitable work can be done remotely. Its a new era.
I don’t think remote work is all that. Unless you have evidence showing me that people are as productive working from home as they are in an office setting.
Nothing like doubling down on stupid to have people and companies leave NY.
they can’t tell private companies how to conduct their business.
hell, it’s even a first amendment violation.
dems sure like banning things they don’t like and they can’t control
Who is john gault?
I’m no fan of having an office in my house for my employer, but I’m sure plenty of people would prefer that to the experimental shots - and the employers can get out of expensive leases priced in the before-times.
This scamdemic accelerated the obsolescence of cities by decades; technology isn’t their friend. Cities were already becoming barns for the idle; that will also accelerate as they have to replace their fleeing workers. Soon every city will have a “Little Kabul” and “Little Haiti” section (to add to their growing “Latin Quarter”).
I’m against banning Zoom. Nevertheless, I hate zoom, zoom meetings, zoom conferences, zoom classes, zoom work.
This stupid twit does not understand that pure audio can be used with the lesson emailed to the recipients. Must be a politician.
I’ve heard of one employer requiring a camera installed at the computer of the employee working from home as a condition of employment. That said, it is human nature to be less productive when the boss is not watching. So we will see in a relatively short period of time, most jobs return to offices. Remaining jobs at home will be on a contractual basis, they will pay you by your output so you would have to hustle to earn your pay.
She can’t ban it. She can’t ban VPNs. She can’t issue instructions to ISPs. She would need the legislature and then it would get stopped by federal court under the Commerce Clause at a minimum.
I would guess this is all about plummeting sales tax revenues. People not working in their high-rises, not buying lunch, not buying breakfast bagels, not buying coffee at Starbucks in the city, not getting cocktails after work and not impulse shopping in general since they are living, working, and shopping outside the city.
Whenever a totalitarian leftist freak says they're not going to do something, they certainly are going to.
Also, there is nothing that a leftist in power can do that would spark outrage amongst the leftists who voted her in. Not even stomping on kittens and puppies to death on a live feed. The media will coo and call her "brave".
Ssshhh...next she will propose banning conference calls.
Funny thing, nobody noticed because NY state workers don't actually work.
It’s be funny if lots of workers decided to sit on their butt and steal from Walgreens in packs to prop up their government ‘benefits’...
Biden’s commie thugs are gong to get more of what they’re ‘rewarding’... and their ‘reward’ will be white liberal ‘elites’ will suffer...
I always pitied bank tellers because they are always on film; don’t know how they scratch themselves or pick their noses. I could see the camera being wanted (not necessary) for meetings; I never bothered.
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