Bronx Chamber of Commerce - A CELEBRATION OF IRISH HERITAGE MONTH AND NETWORKING EVENT

Reserve Your Spot, Click Here

Are you ready to network? Grow your reach and business connections? 

Join the Bronx Chamber of Commerce for an evening of networking and celebrating the Bronx's Irish heritage. The evening features live music, networking, drink specials, Irish fare, and acknowledges the contributions of notable Irish Americans and their influence on Bronx business and economic development.

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT

Rambling House

4292 Katonah Avenue

The Bronx, NY 10470

Registration link above

$25.00 for Members

$30.00 for Non-Members

For the complete Bronx Chamber Events Calendar, featuring educational workshops, networking events and other opportunities hosted by the Chamber, its members, & partners, please visit and bookmark our website events calendar link in your browser - new events are added weekly!

FORWARDING: NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ADVISES NEW YORKERS TO PREPARE FOR MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINS AND POTENTIAL FLASH FLOODS

 

The National Weather Service Has Issued a Flood Watch for New York City

The New York City Emergency Management Department issued a Travel Advisory for heavy rain and flooding tomorrow, Wednesday, March 6, into Thursday, March 7. The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Flood Watch for New York City valid from 1:00 p.m. tomorrow until 6:00 a.m. Thursday. According to the latest forecast, rain begins in the early afternoon tomorrow with periods of moderate to heavy rain through about midnight. Light rain continues overnight with lingering showers possible through Thursday afternoon. A total of 1.5 to 3 inches of rain is expected, the bulk of which is forecast between 3:00 p.m. and midnight. Rainfall rates around 1 inch/hour will be possible, but extreme rates are not expected.

 

Heavy rain may result in widespread minor flooding across the city, particularly in low-lying and poor drainage areas. Flooded roadways could create travel delays and disruptions during the evening commute. A few flood-prone roads may become impassable. Minor flooding of structures and properties will also be possible. The threat for more significant flash flooding remains low and localized at this time. The primary flood threat will end around midnight, but residual flooding will be possible through Thursday morning.

 

No other hazards are expected with this storm as winds will be about 10-15 MPH with temperatures in the low 50s. Winds will be breezy during the day Thursday at 20-25 MPH.

 

“With heavy rain and possible flooding in some low-lying areas heading our way, New Yorkers should plan ahead of tomorrow’s storm in order to remain safe,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “All relevant city agencies have been activated and are prepared to handle whatever comes our way, but we’re asking New Yorkers to do their part, too. The rain will impact tomorrow’s evening commute and disrupt travel, so if you are able to stay off the roads during that time, please do so. If you do have to be out, please remember to take it slow. As a reminder, New Yorkers should sign up for Notify NYC to keep up to date on winter weather and more.”

 

“We have activated the Flash Flood Emergency Plan in anticipation of heavy rain and flooding tomorrow,” said NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol. “Our primary concern is the afternoon and evening, where several hours of moderate to heavy rain will be possible, particularly during the commute. While major impacts are not expected, I want to stress the critical need for all New Yorkers, especially those in low-lying and flood-prone areas, including below-grade living spaces, to take precautions, sign up for emergency notifications via Notify NYC, pay attention to changes in the forecast, and heed official guidance to keep yourselves and your loved ones safe."

 

New York City Emergency Management, in coordination with partners and other city agencies, has activated the comprehensive Flash Flood Emergency Plan and is actively collaborating with the National Weather Service to monitor conditions. As part of this proactive approach, crews from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, New York City Department of Sanitation, and New York City Department of Transportation are already on the ground, inspecting and clearing catch basins in neighborhoods and thoroughfares that are particularly susceptible to flooding. Multiple city agencies have been convened on a Flash Flood Emergency Plan Steering Committee and are not only preparing in advance but also poised to respond swiftly and effectively to emergent situations.

 

NYCEM urges all New Yorkers to prioritize their safety by remaining alert and well-informed, including with real-time updates by subscribing to Notify NYC and listening to news broadcasts for the latest weather information. NYCEM strongly encourages all New Yorkers to take proactive steps to ensure their own safety and support the city’s resilience:

 

·    Allow for extra travel time. New Yorkers are urged to use public transportation.

·    If you must drive, drive slowly. Use major streets or highways for travel whenever possible.

·    If you live in a basement apartment in a flood-prone area, prepare to move to a place higher than the flood waters if experiencing rising waters and/or if you receive a warning from Notify NYC or the National Weather Service.

·    Do not drive into flooded streets or enter flooded subway stations.

·    Six inches of moving water can knock over an adult. Avoid stepping in floodwater if you see it.

·    Check on friends, relatives, and neighbors, especially older adults as well as people with disabilities, access and functional needs, or health conditions. Help them to prepare if needed.

·    Stay informed. Before and during an emergency, the city will send emergency alerts and updates to New Yorkers through various channels, including Notify NYC. Sign up for emergency notifications on the Notify NYC website at nyc.gov/NotifyNYC or call 311. You can also follow @NotifyNYC on social media.

·    New Yorkers should follow the National Weather Service forecast and guidance listed in watches, warnings, and advisories on the National Weather Service website.

For more safety tips, visit NYC.gov/SevereWeather. New Yorkers are encouraged to sign up for Notify NYC, the city’s free emergency notification system, to stay informed about the latest weather updates and other emergencies. Notify NYC is available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language. To learn more about the Notify NYC program or to sign up, New Yorkers can visit the Notify NYC website, call 311, or download the free Notify NYC app for your Android or Apple device. You can now text to 692-692, using the code NOTIFYNYC, NOTIFYNYCESP (Spanish), and NOTIFYFRE (French) to be instantly enrolled to receive the highest priority, verified alerts across all the five boroughs. 

Attorney General James Sues Large-Scale Predatory Lending Operation Targeting Small Businesses

 

AG James Sues Over 30 Lenders, Including Yellowstone Capital and Delta Bridge, for Collecting Billions of Dollars Through Illegal, Fraudulent Loans

New York Attorney General Letitia James today filed a lawsuit against a major operation of over 30 companies and individuals for exploiting small businesses through fraudulent loans at sky-high interest rates disguised as merchant cash advances. The companies and individuals sued by Attorney General James include Yellowstone Capital and its founder David Glass, Delta Bridge Funding, and several other individuals who negotiated and serviced the illegal loans. Through this lawsuit, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is seeking at least $1.4 billion in interest and fraudulent fees that were collected from small businesses, and a court order for the companies to stop their illegal activities. Before filing the lawsuit, Attorney General James reached settlements with five individuals involved with the Yellowstone operation, which included $3.37 million for impacted small businesses and a ban from the merchant case advance industry.

“Small businesses are the foundation of our economy, and they face severe challenges without also having predatory lenders taking advantage of them,” said Attorney General James. “Yellowstone Capital, Delta Bridge, and the other companies pretended to offer a helping hand, but instead provided only illegal, ultra-high-interest loans. Numerous small business owners struggled because of the outrageous loans issued by Yellowstone Capital and other predatory lenders. My office will not allow any scheme to harm small businesses, their owners or employees, or the millions of New Yorkers who rely on them each and every day.”

Attorney General James alleges that Yellowstone Capital and the other businesses operated this fraudulent operation through a string of different company names, and therefore each is part of the same predatory lending scheme. Starting in 2009, Yellowstone, under company founder David Glass’s direction, worked under dozens of different company aliases, including Fundry, Green Capital Funding, High Speed Capital, and Capital Advance Services. In 2021, as it faced investigations by OAG and other government agencies, Yellowstone purportedly ceased operations. But as the OAG investigation uncovered, Yellowstone simply rebranded itself as Delta Bridge, also known as Cloudfund, and continued to issue and collect on the same fraudulent, illegal loans through the same personnel that supervised and operated the Yellowstone scheme.  

The merchant cash advances issued by Yellowstone, Delta Bridge, and their affiliates are a form of short-term, high-interest funding for small businesses. Merchant cash advances have grown in popularity in recent years, particularly for businesses that cannot get small business loans from traditional banks. The perpetrators of this scheme provided contracts that fraudulently described each transaction as a purchase of a portion of a merchant’s future revenues, with flexible payment amounts and open-ended terms. In reality, the predatory lenders collected payments at fixed daily amounts, which they debited directly from merchants’ bank accounts over short repayment terms, such as 60 or 90 days. The lenders falsely promised to “reconcile” merchants’ daily payments to ensure they never rose above an agreed-upon percentage of the borrowers’ receipts, but the lenders used numerous fraudulent measures to ensure borrowers almost never qualified for payment refunds. As a result, the transactions were actually short-term loans with ultra-high interest rates of up to 820% per year.

Impacted small businesses include the City Bakery, a Manhattan eatery in Union Square, which was forced to close in 2019, largely as a result of its skyrocketing debts to Yellowstone. Before closing, the bakery, which employed 30-50 full-time staffers, had to pay more than $2,000 per day to Yellowstone due to the fraudulent, predatory loans.

Yellowstone and Delta Bridge also exploited the New York courts by fraudulently obtaining judgments against the merchants, enabling the lenders to harm them even further. The companies filed papers in court falsely describing each transaction as a purchase of a portion of a merchant’s future revenues. For years, Yellowstone also filed so-called “confessions of judgment” in New York courts against their borrowers – even those located outside of New York state – which allowed the lenders to immediately obtain court judgments that they used to seize money from borrowers’ bank accounts.  

The OAG lawsuit seeks $1.4 billion for the impacted small businesses, including the return of all interest and fraudulent fees collected by the lenders and amounts illegally obtained through fraudulent court papers. The OAG lawsuit further seeks a court order barring Yellowstone, Delta Bridge, their affiliates, and the named officials from each company from continuing their scheme in the future, as well as a lifetime industry ban for Yellowstone founder David Glass.

Attorney General James has taken major actions to support New York’s small businesses. Last month, Attorney General James secured a historic court judgment of more than $77 million against Richmond Capital Group, Ram Capital Funding, and Viceroy Capital Funding (the Richmond companies) and their principals who were harming small businesses through high-interest loans and undisclosed fees following a September 2023 court judgment against three merchant cash advance companies. In April 2023, Attorney General James shut down two websites that impersonated the New York State Department of State and significantly overcharged aspiring small business owners and users for services provided for free from state government. Also in April 2023, Attorney General James released a guide to help businesses adopt effective data security measures to better protect New Yorkers’ personal information.