Noho BID works to promote businesses
affected by the coronavirus
BY FANNI FRANKL
The Noho Business Improvement
District (Noho
BID) has been working to
reopen businesses in the Noho area
after many were forced to shut
down during the coronavirus.
Throughout the crisis, they
have sent out emails to businesses
giving tips on how to attract customers
during the coronavirus
such as updating business hours
on their website, advising them to
get into Zoom parties and Zoom
home-bars. Noho BID works to
get the bustling city back on its
feet by giving promotions via
social media to encourage people
to enjoy the city again.
Cordelia Persen, executive
director of the Noho Business
Improvement District, detailed
their responsibilities and how
the coronavirus has affected
businesses.
“We’ve seen restaurants doing
outdoor dining and it’s a big challenge
for the shortage of workers
as well people coming to a stop,”
she said in a phone interview.
“We’ve been sending out emails
PHOTO COURTESY O The doors are now open at Showfields retail concept store in Noho. F SHOWFIELDS
to these businesses sending out
the right info and done zoom
calls with the idea to get them to
share ideas with each other and
help them prepare.”
They have also made it their
responsibility to communicate
with people on the street about
their preferences. Along with this,
Noho BID made it their goal to
clean and “keep the street looking
good to make it a pleasant place to
shop,” according to Persen.
Showfi elds, a four-story retail
concept store in Noho, is already
open to the public. Showfi elds
works to merge physical and
online shopping by allowing customers
to buy products in store
on an iPad, with the option of
having orders delivered to their
homes within 1-2 days.
“We are excited to welcome
back customers to our store,”
said Tal Zvi Nathanel, chief executive
offi cer and co-founder of
Showfi elds. “While our physical
doors have been closed over the
past few months, we have been
busy offering new innovations
online and curating a new season
in-store of the most interesting
emerging and established artists
and brands.”
To give customers safer ways to
shop, they’ve provided a number
of initiatives including connections
with the Magic Wand
app, curbside pick-up, private
appointments and live video art
curations.
“In the end there is just a new
baseline of requirements for a
new way to operate and I believe
that every business will need
to fi gure out how to adapt to a
socially distanced world, but the
opportunity is always to try to
create magic,” Nathanel said in
an email.
Showfields is also offering
sanitizing stations on every fl oor,
contactless checkout, curbside
pickup-up, limited capacity, and
social-distancing markers in their
store.
Noho BID has already started
to promote businesses that
opened during phase four of the
coronavirus reopening process
which started on Monday in New
York City.
Noho’s art galleries and outdoor
museums should be open
soon, although some businesses
have announced they will wait
longer. The Phase 4 reopening
kept indoor museums in New
York City off-limits for the time
being.
Personal assistant charged with murder
in slaying of Manhattan tech executive
BY ROSE ADAMS
Police took a Brooklyn man into
custody on Friday for allegedly tasing,
stabbing, and dismembering his
former boss in a Lower East Side apartment
on July 14, police said.
Cop cuffed Flatbush resident Tyrese
Haspil, 21, at 8:45 am on Friday morning
for allegedly killing the 33-year-old tech
entrepreneur, and charged him with homicide,
Chief Detective Rodney Harrison
announced at a Friday press conference.
According to police, Haspil tased Fahim
Saleh, the co-CEO of a motorbike ride-share
company, as the two were entering Saleh’s
$2.25 million condo on E. Houston Street
on the corner of Suffolk Street at around
1:45 pm on July 13. Haspil then amputated
Saleh’s head, arms, and legs, Harrison said.
Sources told amNewYork Metro that an
electric saw was reportedly found near the
body, and the New York Times reported
that Haspil stabbed Saleh to death before
dismembering him. The NYPD did not
immediately confi rm either account or list
Saleh’s cause of death.
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
Saleh’s cousin discovered his remains
the next day when she went to his apartment
to check on him, and immediately
called 911, Harrison said.
Police authorities implied that Haspil,
who had worked for Saleh since he was
16, may have carried out the grisly murder
because he owed Saleh a lot of money.
“It was revealed that Mr. Haspil was
Mr. Saleh’s executive assistant and handled
his fi nances and personal matters,” Harrison
said. “It is also believed that he owed
him a signifi cant amount of money.”
According to Reuters, Saleh founded the
Gokada motorbike hailing app that was
popular in the Nigerian megacity of Lagos
until state offi cials in February banned all
motorcycle taxis, known locally as ‘okada’
and able to weave through traffi c.
Harrison praised the 7th Precinct for
apprehending Haspil so quickly.
“First, I want to acknowledge and commend
the great work that was done in this
case,” he said. “The extensive investigation
led by the 7th Precinct Detective Squad,
Manhattan South Homicide, identifi ed the
perpetrator in less than three days.”
4 July 23, 2020 Schneps Media