Latest news with #DanielTaylor
CBS News
24-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
OneLIC's comprehensive rezoning plan divides Queens community
Some say new Long Island City development proposal doesn't go far enough Some say new Long Island City development proposal doesn't go far enough Some say new Long Island City development proposal doesn't go far enough When Daniel Taylor was a kid, he spent countless hours at a Queensbridge, Queens playground that no longer exists. "We literally almost lived in this park. I learned how to ride a bike, skate, everything," he said. Taylor likes what he hears about a development plan called OneLIC, which pledges to bring parks and better infrastructure to Long Island City. "This recent rezoning, I notice they are speaking about this space," he said. What OneLIC's redevelopment entails Council Member Julie Won says she's working with the Department of City Planning to deliver expanded waterfront access as part of OneLIC. In addition, she aims to convert DOT storage areas beneath the Queensboro Bridge into community spaces. "This is not the old warehouse industrial area of Long Island City like it used to be," she said. In rezoning for new construction, the DCP promises schools, sewers, and more than 4,000 units of affordable housing. Hundreds attended a joint Community Board 1 and 2 hearing at LaGuardia Community College on Wednesday, where supporters expressed eagerness for new housing as part of a more vibrant and livable Long Island City. "The OneLIC rezoning presents a rare opportunity for our community to receive much-needed investments in public space and arts and culture," MoMa PS1 director Connie Butler said. Some question the comprehensive plan But others insist OneLIC isn't what it seems. "I think, when it comes to who wins with this plan, only the developers win," Lashawn "Suga Ray" Marston said. Members of the Western Queens Community Land Trust say the touted neighborhood improvements are not guaranteed. "A lot of us are starting to feel like those are just talking points and empty promises," Jenny Dubnau said. "This doesn't really seem to be a true comprehensive plan." They fear the proposal will greenlight more luxury towers with rent caps falling short of true affordability. "Market-rate housing makes it harder for everybody to live here, even if they do throw a few affordability crumbs," Memo Salazar said. Won says negotiations with DCP will continue. She expects to secure meaningful benefits for the community. Otherwise, she says, she will withhold her stamp of approval. "Until those needs are met, this project cannot move forward," she said. The public review process is expected to continue until the fall before a City Council vote. You can email Elle with Queens story ideas by CLICKING HERE.
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
It's a disaster if savers are falling out of love with their pensions, says JEFF PRESTRIDGE. Here's one way to stop the rot...
Consumer trust in the pensions industry is on the wane, according to the latest results of an annual survey conducted by pensions administrator Trafalgar House and published last week. No surprises there, I say. Indeed, I'm amazed trust could fall any lower. Currently, the industry's love of jargon makes most pension documents impenetrable to all bar actuaries and astrophysicists. As Trafalgar's Daniel Taylor says: 'People tend not to trust what they don't fully understand – and, for many, pensions remain a distant and complex concept.' Spot on. Constant Government meddling doesn't engender trust either. In recent years, changes to the rules governing contributions, tax relief and inherited pensions have made these retirement vehicles as baffling as solving the Rubik's Cube. And given the parlous state of the country's finances, I wouldn't be surprised if Rachel from Accounts added to this complexity in her Autumn Budget on October 30 with a clampdown on the right to access tax-free cash. A 'right old bugger's muddle' as my late mother would have said. Providers and administrators (the Trafalgars of this parish) don't help matters either by taking an age to act on customers' instructions and on occasion making a right mess of things. One big current spanner in the works is the inordinate amount of time it takes many people to transfer their pensions, maybe to get a better deal (lower charges), or to consolidate an array of plans built over a lifetime of work into one convenient pot. It's an issue I wrote about two months ago – and I return to it today on the back of a campaign just launched by newish provider PensionBee which calls for the introduction of a ten-day pension switching guarantee, underpinned by supporting legislation. Those in breach of such a guarantee, it adds, should face financial penalties for non-compliance. Such a switching guarantee has existed in the current account market (seven days rather than ten) for the past 11 years – and has enabled 11 million people to switch banks without experiencing tortuous and disruptive delays. It has been an unmitigated success story. The switching guarantee that PensionBee is calling for would only apply to defined-contribution pensions which most private sector workers now pay into. Transfers from defined-benefit pension plans rarely make sense and are now subject to strict regulatory rules to protect consumers. To support the campaign, PensionBee, in conjunction with financial services consultant the Lang Cat, has issued research showing that 27 out of 163 financial advisers have on occasion waited more than a year to effect a transfer on behalf of a client. Reinforcing Trafalgar's point on diminution of trust, four out of every five advisers surveyed said tardy transfers damaged consumer confidence in the pensions industry. Last week, I spoke to retired lawyer Jayne Adams who believes it is high time for a switching guarantee to be introduced. In February last year, Jayne, a 62-year-old retired lawyer from Hurst Green in Surrey, put in train the transfer of an old works pension as part of consolidating an array of pension pots assembled over her working life. She received the transfer documents from the pension scheme administrator and returned them by post (no online option was given). She was then asked to send the same forms on two other occasions. When she queried why, no explanation was given. In April, she was asked to complete yet more forms and warned that the scheme's trustees would assess whether she had a 'right to transfer under pension law'. She was also asked to send a copy of her passport, signed (certified) by a solicitor. 'It unsettled me,' says Jayne. 'I was also told the forms had to be completed promptly, otherwise the transfer would not proceed.' The funds from the transfer (a five-figure sum) eventually landed with PensionBee in early June. A request for the return of the certified copy of her passport has not yet been met. 'I'm all for a pension switching guarantee,' says Jayne. 'Of course, pension companies need to check you are not being scammed by moving your fund into the hands of a fraudster. But when you are moving money to a well-established provider, it shouldn't be a lengthy transfer process.' On Friday, Lisa Picardo, chief business officer at PensionBee, told me: 'Lengthy transfer delays are not just inconvenient, they're unacceptable. They undermine trust and cause real stress for consumers who are simply trying to take control of their hard-earned retirement savings.' In the coming months, the company will crank up its campaigning, publishing research into consumer expectations around pension transfers – and launching a consumer petition. It will culminate in an open letter to the Government, supported by like-minded providers, calling for a ten-day switching guarantee. It's a campaign I back and if successful would help restore a little bit of trust in pensions – currently the play toys of actuaries, administrators, and hard-up governments. Given a report last week from the Financial Conduct Authority recommended that people consolidate their pension pots as part of getting their finances in better order, it shouldn't meet with regulatory resistance. Where to hunt for income if Aviva's booted you out A number of readers have expressed their displeasure at Aviva's recent decision to cancel attractive preference shares and return them their capital (plus a bit extra). The shares, rather misleadingly titled 'irredeemable', came in four slugs, and paid annual income ranging from 7.875 per cent to 8.875 per cent. Although retirement income specialists such as London based Chancery Lane Retirement Income Planning called for Aviva to allow retail investors to keep their shares, it fell on deaf ears. Yet not all is lost for these income-hungry investors. There are a select number of investment funds which are currently paying an annual income of 7 per cent plus. They do this by constructing portfolios built around bonds issued by companies, large and small. They include CVC Income & Growth, Invesco Bond Income Plus, M&G Credit Income, New City High Yield and TwentyFour Select Monthly Income. Respectively, their shares are yielding annual dividend income equivalent to 7.91, 7.16, 8.98, 8.2 and 8.7 per cent. Last week, Rhys Davies, manager of £350 million investment trust Invesco Bond Income Plus, gave me an insight into how he is able to deliver such an enticing income, paid quarterly. He does it by investing in 200 bond issues from 150 companies, including building societies. Some issuers are currently a wee bit financially distressed (none more so than Thames Water), but others (Barclays and Lloyds Bank) are mainstream UK companies. Most are UK or European businesses. In the current financial year, the trust's board is confident it can pay shareholders an annual income of 12.25pence a share (the first quarterly divi of 3.0625pence is paid this week). To put this into context, the trust's shares trade at around £1.71. Davies has run the fund for nigh on eleven years and knows the bond markets inside out. Five-year returns total 41 per cent.
Technical.ly
08-05-2025
- Science
- Technical.ly
The case for storytelling: Want your region's tech scene to grow? Start with a story, new data says
Author Ursula Le Guin put it best: 'There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.' Decades of brain science demonstrate why: Our world is too complex for our brains to process everything, and exchanging experience in the environment became a survival adaptation. Storytelling didn't evolve from the development of language, one theory holds; instead, humans invented language to advance storytelling. This is so foundational that we overlook it. As author Daniel Taylor put it: 'We live in stories the way fish live in water.' The omission happens everywhere, including in ecosystem-building circles. Entrepreneurs seek professional help with investor relations. Economic development leaders will splash out for a shiny website and yet another strategic report. But storytelling? Well, gosh, that comes later, say some. Marketing can figure it out. This is wrong-headed for one clear reason: Storytelling isn't an output of stuff we do, but an input into why and how we do it. The entrepreneurship boom has changed place-based economic development, and the emerging ' ecosystem stack ' requires a storytelling approach. Storytelling leads narrative change We've always heard that stories matter. Since the 1990s, rigorous research has piled up that it isn't just feel-good, new-age nonsense. 'Information is remembered better and longer, and recalled more readily when presented within the context of a story,' writes researcher Kendall Haven in his 2007 book ' Story Proof.' He cites studies that demonstrate storytelling enhances comprehension, memory and emotional engagement. We know why. When humans listen to a story in an fMRI machine, our brain activity lights up as if we are actively experiencing the story, notes academic Jonathan Gottschall in 2012's ' The Storytelling Animal.' Research shows humans do not engage with story as an observer — but as a participant. Our brain rewards us with dopamine when we find out how the story ends, because we might learn something about survival. It's simple evolution: The reason stories are sticky is because your brain is scanning for tips. And the brain makes no distinction between fiction and nonfiction, as novelist Lisa Cron shows in 2016's ' Story Genius.' When a reader identifies with the character and plot, the information sticks. Stories aren't an escape from reality, as we so often say. Stories are how we learn how to navigate reality. This follows for where we live. Compelling data and hard facts don't shape opinion about places, per new research out of Germany — authentic local stories from real people do. That's why one of Kauffman Foundation's central pillars from its 2019 ecosystem building playbook was storytelling. What does storytelling in this context actually accomplish? Reinforces success changes local opinion, which helps attract and retain others Highlights resources and best practices makes more information more accessible, serving to boost local intellectual capital and contributing to improved economic mobility Challenges gaps and places for improvement bring attention and can drive action Over a million years, humans evolved to respond to genuine, unfiltered and consistent stories from other humans. Why do so many leaders spend so much time and money doing everything else? 'Most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one' A storytelling process is inherently cyclical — publishing should invite feedback which should inform future publishing. uses storytelling as part of our journalism. Journalism comes with an ethical framework, and ultimately our responsibility is to help a community come a bit closer to its truth. Storytelling is an effective tool for journalism but the two are not the same. Likewise, storytelling is not just another word for marketing. Great marketers understand storytelling. But storytelling is a practice just like being data-backed is a practice. It's not a department, it's a worldview. Around the country, there are standout state and regional economic development orgs experimenting with storytelling tactics: The Pittsburgh Innovation District launched a high-end podcast studio for locals to tell their story; has joined in. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce is funding its own standalone startup news site, not unlike how Visit Philadelphia long pioneered a tourism-focused content brand. Likewise, the West Virginia Department of Commerce has branded its Daily304 content strategy. Entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs), individual ecosystem builders and the exploding category of content creators all contribute local stories. This is made possible because the platforms are familiar and the barriers to entry are low: live events, newsletters, websites, social media, podcasts and video. Two other big components of storytelling are often overlooked: What stories are being told, and who is listening. That first one is something a lot of people trick themselves into thinking is easy. As novelist Flannery O'Connor put it: 'Most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.' Media-making is so easy now that many overlook how hard it is to sustain. Storytelling is inherently generous. Help people understand something new about the world, and you get their attention long enough to change minds about something. For good or for bad. Trouble is that a lot of organizations (and people) struggle to tell their own story because it's difficult to reach the distance that's required to tell an effective story. Remember: The primary reason we listen to stories is because we're looking for insight into our own lives. Too often we're too selfish, or at least too close, to let others in. That last part — how to grow, engage and sustain an audience — is at least accepted as challenging. Media-making is so easy now that many overlook how hard it is to sustain. This reminds me of the concept of a community company: Informing and engaging a group of people with integrity earns trust and can have financial reward, but that must be a consequence, not a starting point. Data: Local storytelling drives wider recognition Helpfully, the effects of storytelling are becoming clearer and more measurable, even in the narrow case of tech, startup and innovation ecosystems. Within 5-7 years, regions with a dedicated ecosystem storyteller get on average 58% more follow-on coverage than peer regions without one, according to early results from an ongoing analysis. Ecosystems with storytelling grew twice as big as regions that started off as peers 10 years prior, according to a small subset with available data Storytelling strategies earned ecosystems coverage beyond peer regions conservatively valued at between $500k and $1.5M. Here's how this first phase of the analysis worked. From 50 states and regions of various sizes, paired places that in 2010 had similar populations, economies and the same number of verified results in Google News, a decent index of high-quality local, national and industry publishers. Though not all-encompassing, those publishers have had high SEO value and, now, are most likely to inform LLMs and other data sources: They're ideal for economic development leaders intending to raise their ecosystem profile. Of these ecosystems analyzed, six peer-regional pairs had at least a decade from when one added a dedicated news resource for its startup and tech ecosystem (there aren't many anymore). Half are Technically markets, and the other three had a different independent ecosystem news and information provider. Those pairs are of various sizes, parts of the country and including both regions and states: Atlanta/Dallas; Kansas City/Indianapolis; Philadelphia/Phoenix; Pittsburgh/Cleveland; New Jersey/Connecticut and Delaware/Rhode Island. From the very same starting point, the six places with a dedicated news resource earned on average 58% more stories a decade later than their peer region. Consider a few specifics: Even over a decade in which Phoenix's population surged past Philadelphia's, and where more state and federal investment moved in Arizona than Pennsylvania, the storytelling outcome is clear. In 2024, startups in Philadelphia — a core ecosystem — generated nearly 50% more stories from a range of national and local sources, than Phoenix. Even as Indianapolis strung a series of big ecosystem wins, and its population hovers far above the region we paired it with, the storytelling case study is clear. In 2010, both Indianapolis and Kansas City had a similar number of ecosystem stories. In 2024, Kansas City — where Startland News operates — generated 68% more than Indianapolis. Compare Atlanta and Dallas, two big, important fast-growing regional cities. In 2010, they were peers. After a decade of Hypepotamus's reporting, Atlanta had a third more stories in 2024 than Dallas. Delaware presents a compelling small-state story. Both Rhode Island and New Hampshire have more residents and have benefited from Boston tech spillover. In 2010, all had a similar number of coverage of its startup ecosystem. By 2024, Delaware — a satellite ecosystem — had a stunning 85% more than Rhode Island, and almost double New Hampshire. Look at New Jersey and Connecticut, two densely populated states surrounding and supporting New York City's economic engine and a global media headquarters. In 2010, they were virtually indistinguishable as startup ecosystems. In 2011, NJ Tech Weekly got its start. In 2024, New Jersey earned 15% more storytelling than Connecticut. Interestingly, each of these ecosystems have more general business publications, most behind paywalls, subscriptions or required memberships — as is the trend for business news and industry providers. All also have economic development and entrepreneur support organizations that produce more general marketing assets, like newsletters and social media posts. All have thriving local content creators and influencers. Something changes when the storyteller is a professional, and accessible. Want to put a dollar figure to that additional follow-on coverage that ecosystem storytellers brought? Taking together an average of industry assessments, we used a conservative average of $5,000 of value created for a given independent news story — a mix of value for the entrepreneur, their company and the place or ecosystem it is a part of. (Keep in mind that the data set already ignores content marketing that isn't indexed by Google News.) Using this metric, Atlanta last year got $1.5 million in value from Hypepotamus as compared to Dallas, and Kansas City got almost $400,000 from Startland News as compared to Indianapolis. Pittsburgh got $500k over Cleveland and Philly got $1.3 million over Phoenix via Technically. Delaware won more than $300,000 in extra storytelling over its peer base of Rhode Island, and the New Jersey startup ecosystem got more than $115,000 in added storytelling value when compared to Connecticut. These independent storytelling operations all have relatively tiny budgets. The figures above suggest a 5x-10x return on annual value creation. Many factors drive regional growth, but ecosystems that invest in independent storytelling stand out. Using data from Startup Genome, which estimates value by tallying up startup valuations and exits over two-year periods, we can see the difference. Whereas Atlanta and Dallas were once peers in 2010, now Atlanta is far and away the winner: a $54 billion startup ecosystem over one less than $40 billion; Whereas Phoenix's population and overall economy has grown much faster than Philadelphia, when it comes to its tech and startup ecosystem Philadelphia has run away with it: almost triple as big a tech and sciences startup economy Even with population differences between Ohio and western PA, Pittsburgh is far and away the ecosystem winner over Cleveland: by almost 8 times; The data set evaluates Indiana as a state, not Indianapolis as a region, and yet, storytelling-rich Kansas City's ecosystem is effectively the same size as the entire state of Indiana Put it together, and the average storytelling ecosystem is twice as big as the one without storytelling. Investing in storytelling today will win your ecosystem a higher profile, better connections and then a faster-growing startup economy. Storytelling is just a tool of leverage: Once an ecosystem outgrows its few highly connected community leaders, you'll stay stuck in lower gear until there's a tool to distribute ideas more widely. A small event might be 20-30 people. A small ecosystem news story might get 200-300 views; over time that can grow to 2,000 to 3,000. Obviously bigger stories can far outperform that. On social, modest impression numbers can ring even higher. Because of the web's scale, we grade digital reach to a higher standard. But for local ecosystem building, storytelling is an obvious accelerant. We overlook storytelling because it is so ancient. Storytelling is not an output of stuff you do. It's an input in the ecosystem you're building.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Yahoo
Police searching for missing Penrith man
Police are searching for a missing man from Penrith. Daniel Taylor left home for work at 5.30pm on 10 April but his work called at 8pm to say he had not arrived. Since then he has been uncontactable. He left his home yesterday in a grey Volvo V50 – VRM CA05 TBZ. Daniel is described as white and 5ft 11ins tall. He is ball, with a fill, greying beard. Is almost always wearing a black or green cap. He was last seen wearing a bright yellow jacket and yellow trousers. Read more: Lake District: Woman taken to hospital after bike track fall | News and Star Anyone with knowledge of Daniel's whereabouts or who sees him is asked to contact police. You can report online quoting incident number 251 of April 10. You can also phone on 101.
