The Wall Street Journal - 02.10.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Wednesday, October 2, 2019 |A10A

minals will provide the city

with $5 million annually, ac-

cording to city officials. New-

ark will get $5 million upfront

as well.

“This money is another ex-

ample of this city using its

own resources to solve our

own problems,” Newark Mayor

Ras Baraka, a Democrat, said

Tuesday.

The city is replacing more

than 18,000 lead service lines,

which connect city-owned wa-

ter mains to the internal

plumbing in homes. City offi-

cials have said lead leaches

into the water from these lead

pipes and not from Newark’s

water source.

Newark already has taken

out a $120 million loan from

Essex County to help pay for

the service-line replacements.

It is estimated that it will take

up to 30 months to replace all

of the service lines.

Last week, the city released

preliminary results showing

about 97% of city-distributed

water filters that were tested

worked properly and reduced

lead levels in the tap water.

When faucets were run for at

least five minutes, 99% of the

filters successfully reduced the

lead levels.

The test included more than

1,700 samples from 300 filters.

2011 with a vow: “If my busi-

ness is going to fail, it’s not

going to be because I didn’t

work hard enough.”

While he envisioned sell-

ing $10,000 bikes, sponsor-

ing race teams and sailing

the world in a yacht, the

neighborhood demanded

something simpler—a used

bike and repair shop.

Mr. Greco adjusted and

now earns enough to have

part-time help join him on

weekends.

H

e’s proud of his busi-

ness and has come to

appreciate the seven-

day routine. He lives in the

upstairs apartment. After a

day in the shop, he typically

takes a martial-arts class be-

fore heading back to HQ for

dinner and a shower.

“It’s kind of nice having a

regular schedule,” Mr. Greco

says. “I know what I’m doing

tomorrow, and I know what

I’m doing the next day, and I

know what I’m doing the

next day.”

He tried closing one day a

week, but that didn’t suit him.

“On my days off, all I’m doing

is sitting two floors up in my

underwear, so I might as well

be down here,” he says.

Every winter, when busi-

ness is slow, Mr. Greco

closes for two weeks to

travel with his girlfriend.

“Instantly I feel regret,”

he says. “I’m going to the

airport. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

Regret. Dread!” It takes a

few days to start enjoying

the time off.

Where does he see things

in five years? “I hope they’re

more or less the same, re-

ally,” he says.

For some, the seven-day

routine can feel restrictive.

Dawn Kelly plans to open

locations of the Nourish

Spot Inc., her healthy foods

and fresh juice bar, in air-

ports across the country.

For 18 months after her

2017 launch, she woke at 4

a.m. to hit the wholesale

produce market for ingredi-

ents before opening her shop

and working there all day.

“But I realize I can’t be

standing in there every day

if I want to grow the busi-

ness,” Ms. Kelly says.

She kept the morning rou-

tine, but hired full-time help

to take the afternoon shift.

Now, she spends those hours

at home on her laptop, mar-

keting and networking, before

returning to close the store.

“Some days it’s exhilarat-

ing, some days it’s challeng-

ing. I’m 56 years old,” Ms.

Kelly says. “Let’s be realis-

tic.”

M

r. Di Palo, mean-

while, says his 80-

hour workweek

doesn’t feel taxing.

“I haven’t worked a day in

my life,” he says. “I’m behind

the counter serving custom-

ers.”

He and his siblings simply

are following the routine es-

tablished by their grandpar-

another election. New Yorkers

are set to go to the polls on April

28 for a presidential primary.

Republican State Commit-

tee Chairman Nick Langworthy

said he would like to see Mr.

GREATER NEW YORK

biotechnology company Innate

Immunotherapeutics Ltd. told

him of a failed drug trial.

“Iwasdevastatedbythe

news,” said Mr. Collins, 69

years old, who had been on the

company’s board. He said he

called his son and tipped him

off while in an emotional state.

“I understood that I had a

duty not to disclose certain con-

fidential information,” Mr. Col-

lins told U.S. District Judge Ver-

non Broderick. He said he lied

to federal agents who asked

about the call.

Due to the illegal tip, his

son, Cameron Collins, and oth-

ers avoided more than

$768,000 in losses, prosecu-

tors said.

The former congressman

said he regretted his actions

and apologized to his wife, son

and constituents.

His resignation throws into

question his upstate congressio-

nal seat, which spans eight

counties between the suburbs of

Buffalo and Rochester. In 2016,

voters supported President

Trump over Hillary Clinton by

the widest margin of any con-

gressional district in the state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said

Tuesday that he would call a

special election to replace the

former congressman “sooner

rather than later,” but state law

prevents him from scheduling a

vote on the Nov. 5 general elec-

tion. The Democratic governor

said he would like to schedule

the contest on the same day as

Cuomo call an election imme-

diately. “This is a dark red Re-

publican seat that is now

without a voice,” he said.

Under state law, leaders of

party committees in the district

choose candidates in special

elections. Some Republicans

have said they intend to run for

the seat, including state Sens.

Robert Ortt of Niagara County

and Chris Jacobs of Erie County,

as well as Beth Parlato, an at-

torney from Genesee County.

Nate McMurray, a Democrat

who challenged Mr. Collins

last year, has continued to

campaign for the seat. “A long

Western New York nightmare

is over today,” he said.

In the most recent indict-

ment, prosecutors charged Mr.

Collins with eight criminal

counts, two of which he

pleaded guilty to on Tuesday.

“By virtue of his office,

Christopher Collins helped write

the laws of this country, but he

acted as if the law did not apply

to him,” Manhattan U.S. Attor-

ney Geoffrey Berman said.

Judge Broderick set Mr.

Collins’s sentencing for Jan. 17.

He faces up to five years in

prison on each count.

Cameron Collins and Ste-

phen Zarsky, Mr. Collins’s co-

defendants in the case, are ex-

pected to appear in court

Thursday and plead guilty. A

lawyer for Mr. Zarsky declined

to comment. A lawyer for Cam-

eron Collins didn’t respond to

a request for comment.

Christopher Collins, the
newly resigned upstate New
York congressman, pleaded
guilty Tuesday to conspiracy
to commit securities fraud and
lying to the FBI, ending his
federal insider-trading case.
Seated at the defense table
of a federal courtroom in Man-
hattan, Mr. Collins, a Republi-
can, said that on June 22,
2017, the chief executive of

BYCORINNERAMEY
ANDJIMMYVIELKIND

Ex-New York Congressman Pleads Guilty

Christopher Collins

admits committing

crimes related to

insider trading

A federal judge temporarily

blocked New York City restric-

tions on strip clubs and adult-

entertainment establishments,

a win for such businesses that

have argued their operations

were protected by constitu-

tional rights to free speech.

The ruling came in a long-

running legal dispute that has

pitted adult bookstores and

gentlemen’s clubs against city

zoning regulations that limit

where and how such businesses

can open and expand. The city

has argued it has a right to reg-

ulate such establishments,

which it says can lead to crime

and quality-of-life problems.

Putting a zoning amend-

ment on hold during a fuller

examination of the case won’t

hurt the city, U.S. District

Judge William Pauley III said

Monday. Free-speech protec-

tions apply to adult clubs and

bookstores, he said. “Nude

dancing and erotic materials

nevertheless fall within the

ambit of the First Amend-

ment’s free speech guaran-

tees,” Judge Pauley wrote.

The plaintiffs in the case,

first filed in 2002, include the

operators of the strip clubs

Platinum Dolls and Satin Dolls.

“This ruling, as the Court

reiterated, says nothing about

whether the adult-only busi-

nesses will succeed on the

merits of their claims,” a New

York City Law Department

spokesman said. He noted that

the state’s highest court ruled

for the city in a similar chal-

lenge and upheld the zoning

regulations at stake. The rules

haven't been enforced since

2002 due to various legal chal-

lenges, a city official said.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs

didn’t respond to requests for

comment.

In the early 1990s, then-

Mayor Rudy Giuliani cracked

down on adult businesses.

In 1994, the City Council

imposed a year-long ban on

new adult stores and prohib-

ited existing establishments

from expanding.

The following year, the coun-

cil established more stringent

zoning regulations. Strip clubs,

adult video and bookstores had

to be at least 500 feet from a

church, school or residential

district, and at least 500 feet

from another adult shop, ac-

cording to the ordinance.

Judge Pauley wrote that the

regulations were a “throwback

to a bygone era” and noted

that the city had changed dra-

matically since they were writ-

ten. He set a conference in the

case for later this month.

BYKATIEHONAN

ANDCORINNERAMEY

Constraints

Blocked

For Adult

Businesses

METRO MONEY|By Anne Kadet

Seven-Day Shopkeepers Can’t Slow Down

Think
you’re due for
a day off? Sal
Di Palo, one of
three siblings
running Di
Palo’s Fine Foods in Man-
hattan, has been working at
the family’s Grand Street
storefront every day, seven
days a week, since 1974.
“I get four days off a
year,” Mr. Di Palo says. “New
Year’s, Easter, Thanksgiving
and Christmas. You know
why I’m off those days?
We’re closed.”
Many New York City shop-
keepers work seven days a
week. The bodega man, the
wash-and-fold lady, the cafe
owner—they pretty much
liveintheirstores.
The seven-day shopkeeper
is perhaps most often found
among the city’s newest
businesses.
When Maria Ho-Burge
opened her neighborhood sa-
lon, PrimpNYC , in Manhat-
tan’s Seaport District in
April, she hired a front-desk
receptionist along with a
team of stylists. The atten-
dant was soon gone.
“It was too much over-
head,” she says.
She considered closing the
salon one day a week, but
not after crunching the num-
bers.
“I can’t afford to miss that
revenue,” she says. “The rent
is so expensive.”
Ms. Ho-Burge is in the sa-
lon nearly all day, every day,
to greet customers, book ap-
pointments and answer
phones while tending to
marketing, operations and
the retail shop.
“I started getting mi-
graines,” she says. “I was
running myself too hard.”
Her solution: Excedrin,
more water and an early
bedtime.
“What sustains me is I
love this business,” she says.
“I love when women come in
and feel beautiful when they
leave.”
In some cases, the seven-
day lifestyle is the product
of necessity and preference.
Gerard Greco opened
Brooklyn Bike Peddler in

ents, who launched the Little

Italy store in 1925.

“This is our home. This is

where we live,” he says. “I go

home to Brooklyn to sleep.”

Mr. Di Palo’s niece, who

helps run the family wine

store and the new cafe

around the corner, doesn’t

want to continue the tradi-

tion.

“I try to take a day off,

just because you get burnt

out if you don’t,” Caitlin Di

Palo says.

“I don’t know how they do

it,” she adds of the older

generation. “I tell them take

a day off. There’s no need for

them to be always here.”

“We feel we support each

other,” her uncle responds.

“We’re like a triangle. We

help each other through the

day.”

Mr.DiPalovowstokeep

working seven days a week.

“As long as I physically can.

Until I take the dirt nap!”

[email protected]

Gerard Greco opened Brooklyn Bike Peddler in 2011. He works every day, but takes two weeks off in the winter when business slows.

LAUREN CROTHERS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The city has distributed about

38,000 water filters.

The new test results came

after a smaller round of test-

ing in August concluded that

two out of three filters tested

had failed to reduce lead suffi-

ciently.

The U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency advised city

and state officials to urge resi-

dents to use bottled water fol-

lowing those first test results.

Newark has reached a $
million lease deal with the
Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey, giving the
city a cash boost it plans to
use to address its crisis with
lead-contaminated drinking
water.
The 30-year amended
agreement covering rent at
Newark’s marine and air ter-

BYJOSEPHDEAVILA

Newark to Tap Port Authority Lease Funds for Lead Crisis

Christopher Collins has resigned.

MARY ALTAFFER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

NY