MEANER STREETS
Walking to offices a safety concern
AMID a surge in violent crime in New York City, Wall Street bigwigs continue to encourage younger staffers to come into the office — but to do so with caution.
At Bank of America, senior executives have quietly urged younger employees to “dress down” to attract less attention as they make their way to the company’s tower at 1 Bryant Park.
These execs have told their staffers that dressing up, or wearing anything with a Bank of America logo, could make them a target.
One bank employee told On The Money that he was on high alert after he recently spotted someone with a knife near the office.
Of course, it’s not just Bank of America where worries over crime pervade.
The city reported a 15 percent increase in felony assaults over the past 28 days, as of Nov. 28, compared with the same period a year ago, according to NYPD statistics. (Murder rates have surged 42 percent over the past two years but remained largely flat over the past year.)
One top executive at a large money-management firm recently began carrying a Taser as he commutes to his Midtown office, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told On The Money.
And after daylight saving time ended last month, more people are commuting home in the dark, giving worries over crime a renewed focus.
In areas surrounding Hudson Yards, the problem has been especially acute: For commuters coming into Penn Station or the Port Authority Bus Terminal, walking the few blocks to the Far West Side after dark on streets that are largely deserted, except for sometimes menacing vagrants, can feel dangerous, sources told On The Money.
Bank of America is adjacent to Times Square, and like those working near Hudson Yards, many employees use Penn Station and the bus terminal as transit hubs.
Bank of America declined to comment for this story.
Some companies like Citibank are offering employees private shuttles so they can avoid public transportation altogether. And most major banks will offer employees car service if they work afterhours.
It’s not just Midtown where crime has taken center stage. A Wall Street source who works downtown told On The Money, “It’s been a topic of conversation on the floor frequently over the last few months.”
“Some people I work with have been accosted . . . I’d say it’s becoming frequent, if not common,” the source said.
“There’s probably a dozen incidents that I saw, or have been involved in,” the person said, noting they were mostly verbal, but some physical.
Some executives say the new state of affairs could be here to stay.
“Undoubtedly, part of getting people back to the office in NYC is about making the streets and subways safer,” Ronn Torossian, CEO of p.r. firm 5WPR told On The Money. “I would venture less than 50 percent of people are back to the office full time — and I don’t know if that ever changes in NYC.”