Latest news with #Winograd
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Missouri legislative panel hears recommendations for state substance abuse care
The Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, as pictured September 26, 2023 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). Lawmakers heard suggestions Monday for addressing the behavioral health needs of Missourians struggling with substance abuse. Missouri's Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Task Force is comprised of state senators and representatives, and the task force chose professor Rachel Winograd to represent its recommendations before the House Health and Mental Health Committee. Winograd researches addiction science and works to develop solutions to substance abuse at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Changes to the state's drug supply inspired the task force's recommendations. Winograd said even though opioid deaths are decreasing and deaths from stimulants have plateaued, new street drugs like Xylazine (a veterinary sedative commonly known as 'tranq') complicate efforts to combat substance abuse. 'Across my last two years of sitting with the substance abuse task force, I reviewed our recommendations, which were plentiful,' Winograd said. 'I did my best to cluster them in five key domains.' Winograd said funding for substance abuse prevention needs to increase or at least stay at its current level. Medicaid, she said, has been crucial in caring for people with addictions without tapping into state funds. Most state funding for substance abuse treatment comes from sales tax on cannabis and tobacco, as well as settlement funds received from tobacco companies that compensate for smoking-related medical costs. Rep. Becky Laubinger, R-Park Hills, pointed out how the state has some of the lowest tobacco sales taxes in the nation. The tax rate per one pack of cigarettes in Missouri is 17 cents. The task force found that the biggest gaps in funding are basic needs like recovery housing. 'I've been really humbled,' Winograd said, 'by how little it matters if you provide really effective evidence-based treatment service if no one can get there.' She described transportation as an issue of 'equifinality,' or how different experiences can lead to similar outcomes. In rural areas, she said, treatment centers might be too far away. In urban areas, public transportation and infrastructure might be subpar. Some current solutions to the issue are state-provided bus passes and funds for ride-booking services from care providers, but Winograd said she doubts these solutions are the most efficient way. Housing is another basic need that effects how those struggling with substances get the help they need. 'What good is fabulous, gold-standard care if then I go back to living on the streets,' Winograd said. 'The way we work as humans operating in society is that my first priority is going to be finding housing. Then I'll deal with my sobriety.' She recommended flexible strategies as a solution, such as outpatient treatment combined with sober living and recovery housing. Overdose response makes up a large part of crisis care for substance abuse. Winograd praised the state's push for behavioral health crisis centers, which she compared to urgent care facilities. However, she also recommended that those centers be required to provide medical treatment for people struggling with opioid addiction. Another task force proposal was ambulance transport to non-hospital settings, such as behavioral health centers. 'Especially after an opioid overdose or a stimulant overamping event, often the hospital is not necessarily the best place for somebody to go,' Winograd said. 'They don't get the right care, it's not what they want, it's not what they need. They kind of get spun and churned back out to the streets.' Behavioral health care centers can provide more comfortable or personalized care for such cases, she said. The task force also recommended helping people navigate recovery programs, legalizing needle exchanges and expanding drug-checking services. Overdoses are a 'huge killer' of people who have been formerly incarcerated, Winograd said. She recommended drug courts and diversion programs in communities to help in lowering incarceration rates. She also suggested increasing resources to treat people with addictions while they are incarcerated. The task force also recommended judicial treatment courts, which offer care as an alternative to incarceration. Winograd said the task force wants to make sure use of life-saving tools isn't discouraged. 'There's a real culture in specific drug courts of success and motivation,' Winograd said. 'I'm looking forward to learning more about drug courts and also making sure they are as evidence-based and effective as possible, specifically ensuring that they not only allow, but encourage and support people to stay on medications for addiction treatment.' Other legal recommendations from the task force include evidence-based treatment for the incarcerated, expanding naloxone distribution and increased funding for public defenders. The task force found that community support and infrastructure is crucial for youth prevention of substance abuse. 'All of these things are really about letting a child have a childhood and not be running in the streets unattended and getting into dangerous stuff,' Winograd said. The task force supported funding for youth mentoring and community service liaisons, school-based supports and youth crisis centers. After hearing testimony in the task force, Winograd agreed that current prevention programming is not very effective, and can even be harmful. 'There is a difference between any school assembly talking about 'don't do drugs' and efforts that actually work,' she said. Winograd said targeted messaging to an age-appropriate audience can help adolescents understand what is going on inside their mind so drugs don't seem like the easiest option. This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian. It can be reprinted in print or online.
New York Post
26-04-2025
- Business
- New York Post
How bakeries are transforming Bryant Park
Few New York public spaces have seen such monumental turn-arounds quite like Bryant Park. What was once a Midtown Manhattan wasteland given over to derelicts and drug addicts has become one of the city's most desirable commercial and entertainment destinations. In the early aughts, bi-annual fashion weeks helped lure the cultural crowd — and newer arrivals like an annual summer film series and winter gift market now keep them there. And then there are bakeries — lots of them — more than half-a-dozen that have popped up in and around Bryant Park, most notably along a stretch of West 40th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. 12 Competition is a 'good thing,' says Lou Ramirez, owner of Heritage Grand Bakery, one of more than one-half dozed pastry and baked good shops that have set up shop in and around Bryant Park. Tamara Beckwith The success of these businesses reflects both the larger reinvention of Bryant Park and the commercial and retail evolution of Manhattan itself. 'West 40th Street has became a bakery product niche the way there are other [centralised retail] niches in New York,' said Dan Pisark, vice president for retail and amenities at Bryant Park Corporation (BPC). Advertisement Groupings of businesses selling similar products to similar customers may seem counterintuitive from a profit perspective, but they're actually a tried-and-true retail strategy, said Tyler Winograd, retail and consumer experiences studio director at architecture and design giant Gensler. Yet while neither commercial clusters nor bakeries are unique to Bryant Park, the concept 'sort of hits you [here] in the face,' Winograd said. 12 Bryant Park has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround over the past few decades and lures some 12 million visitors each year. Devry Becker Jones/ CC That 'hit' stems from a roster of both longstanding and newer-to-the-neighborhood bakeries that mask Midtown's often urban landscape. West 40th's six key pastry shops include Heritage Grand Bakery, Lady M Cake Boutique, Blue Bottle Coffee, Le Pain Quotidien, Danish bakery Ole and Steen and French patisserie Angelina Paris. There's also Breads Bakery and Wafels and Dinges inside Bryant Park; the Starbucks around the corner on Sixth Avenue; and the five bakery-oriented kiosks in the park's annual Winter Village. Advertisement 12 Mike Guillen/NY Post Design While the concentration of these businesses may appear random, 'if they're clustering there, it's because there's a need,' said Matthew Chmielecki, senior vice president at commercial real estate firm CBRE. Food is an industry that favors critical mass, Chmielecki explains, with each individual business benefiting from like-minded neighbors and customers. A pre-existing bakery, for instance, demonstrates a viable consumer base, suggesting fewer risks for area newcomers. Why not 'create an even more expensive market, if you will, with the same offerings or similar offerings where the people are?' said Winograd. 'It starts to feel like the sort of rising tide lifts all boats phenomenon.' 12 A tray of croissants from Angelina Paris, which is located just off of Bryant Park on adjoining Sixth Avenue. Tamara Beckwith Advertisement Factors, both intentional and circumstantial, explain West 40th's dramatic bakery ecosystem. There's Bryant Park's prime Midtown location, with its steady flow of businesspeople and tourists — roughly 12 million annual visitors, per BPC. Consistent foot traffic, in turn, has encouraged bakeries to embrace their neighbors as opportunity, rather than competition, and meet customer demands, which have shifted — but did not necessarily wane — since the pandemic. '40th Street has sort of taken its orders from Bryant Park,' explained Dan Biederman, BPC's executive director. 'There were many vacancies on 40th Street 10 years ago, 15 years ago.' As the park developed, these vacancies created an opportunity for new retail and therefore, a new identity for the once-neglected green space. 12 A range of ready-to-enjoy baked goods at Heritage Grand Bakery. Tamara Beckwith In 1992, the BPC embarked on a comprehensive plan for Bryant Park, a 10-acre patch long known as 'Needle Park' due to a reputation for high crime and drug traffic. According to BPC history, the nonprofit's seven-year master plan included some $10 million toward grounds maintenance, public-serving programming and other 'lifestyle' endeavors that helped reduce crime by 92%. Long gone are dealers and vagrants, replaced by folks attending those park summer movie nights or winter ice skating sessions. Advertisement Such varied-yet-consistent sources of foot traffic are much of what attracted Anthony Battaglia, CEO of Angelina Paris, to 1050 Sixth Ave. at the corner with West 40th Street. Prior to the pandemic, roughly 10,000 people passed by the spot each week, said Battaglia, a reliable customer base that gave him the confidence to open Angelina in November of 2020, despite the uncertainty of the COVID crisis. 12 Bryant Park in 1982 before its multi-million conversion and when it was known as 'Needle Park,' owing to its large number of drug addicts and dealers. Bryant Park Corporation 'We have a strong story to sell, and we didn't find, back then, something similar to our [French patisserie] concept,' said Battaglia, who previously worked at posh French chain Maison Kayser, which shuttered its West 40th Street location during the pandemic. With his background in food service, Battaglia knew that Angelina could differentiate itself from competitors as well as complement high-end neighboring retailers, such as Whole Foods. There was also West 40th's relatively optimal rent prices. Although precise numbers for West 40th Street's 'bakery row' are difficult to pinpoint, a 2025 CBRE first quarter report noted average asking rents on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 42nd Street hovered around $615 per square foot, compared to nearly $700 per square foot along Manhattan's main retail corridors. 12 The concentration of bakeries may appear random, 'if they're clustering there, it's because there's a need,' said Matthew Chmielecki, senior vice president at commercial real estate firm CBRE. CBRE Price considerations were part of the reason Lou Ramirez, a managing partner at Heritage Grand Bakery, branched out on his own after working for years at Bryant Park-area bakeries like Maison Kayser and Le Pain Quotidien. Although Maison Kayser later folded its West 40th Street location, Ramirez's Heritage Grand ultimately leased that same space — which makes sense. Locations that have previously held bakeries come ready-made with the ideal physical layouts — commercial kitchens, ample display cases, regulated ventilation systems — needed by similar tenants. 12 Blue Bottle Coffee, yet another pastry spot on West 40th Street along Bryant Park. Tamara Beckwith This is why so many bakeries can crop up so quickly in and around Bryant Park: The facilities are already in place, said Winograd. Advertisement 'Businesses are always looking for any way that it can be favorable to . . . lowering their barrier to entry,' Winograd added. 'One of the big ways they do that is look for spaces that were previously aligned with their business.' Unlike Heritage Grand, Angelina moved into what was, at the time, a new building and had to build out everything from scratch — a process that proved time-intensive and costly. Angelina's landlord, Garden Homes (via its New York affiliate Skyline Developers), wasn't necessarily looking for a bakery tenant, said Battaglia. But building owners like what bakeries have to offer. 12 Groupings of businesses selling similar products to similar customers may seem counterintuitive, but they're actually a tried-and-true retail strategy, said Tyler Winograd, retail and consumer experiences studio director at architecture and design giant Gensler. Gensler At the bare minimum, a bakery smells good, said Biederman. But more importantly, they incentivize employees to shop and dine right where they work — which helps lure lucrative office tenants above, explains Jonathan Resnick, president of Heritage's landlord Jack Resnick and Sons. At the landlord's request, Heritage Grand offered the building's upstairs tenants a 10% discount on its products to help keep them from ever leaving. Advertisement Ground-floor amenities have become increasingly valuable in a post-pandemic world to entice workers back to their offices in traditional central business districts like Bryant Park. But the neighborhood's character is changing, Battaglia says. Despite anchor towers by the likes of Salesforce and Bank of America, companies such as global banking giant HSBC have moved to newer business districts, like Hudson Yards. Meanwhile, employees at remaining neighboring offices tend to follow hybrid or remote schedules, reducing their foot traffic. 12 Danish pastry chain Ole & Steen is an example of the global bakery brands that have set up shop in Bryant Park. Tamara Beckwith Businesses like Angelina have responded to these trends by opening new branches in the residential neighborhoods where hybrid workers now spend much of their time. Last year, for instance, Angelina debuted a site on the Upper West Side; the new location now records higher spending per customer numbers than its Midtown counterpart. Changes in customer habits are just one aspect of Bryant Park's ongoing commercial development. The al fresco restaurant Bryant Park Grill, for instance, has operated from behind the New York Public Library since 1995. Despite helping to herald Bryant Park's rebirth, the Grill was unable to renew its lease and will shutter this spring, replaced by a new restaurant from celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Advertisement 12 Bakeries conform to New York City's current 'hybrid' work set-ups; simple snack foods are ideal for taking Zooms or using laptops will sitting in the sun in Bryant Park. Tamara Beckwith Five years after the arrival of COVID, the city's commercial retail industry has mostly recovered — with rents surpassing $100 per square foot in key retail corridors, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. But keeping these figures rising requires foresight and planning, as Central Business Districts — such as Bryant Park and the Financial District — evolve into what Winograd refers to as Central Lifestyles Districts. With more flexible, hybrid work models, 'people [now] look at their days wholly differently,' Winograd says. They want full-service, lifestyle-oriented neighborhoods — and bakeries are an ideal fit for this model. Cheap and quick, they offer WiFi-friendly space for meetings or Zooms, or meals and snacks for those who prefer to work outdoors in places like Bryant Park itself. Such shifts, in turn, continue to transform office hubs like Bryant Park into mixed-use neighborhoods with retailers targeting — and meeting — '24/7' customer demands. Advertisement 12 Despite the large number of bakeries already in and around Bryant Park, Heritage Grand-owner Lou Ramirez says he would happily open another. Tamara Beckwith Which is why, despite the already crowded market, business owners like Ramirez would jump at the chance to open even more bakeries on West 40th Street. Because for now, at least, he says, 'competition is a good thing.'
