Matthew Flamm
Crain's New York Business
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Matthew:
Cut the line? Biometric ID firm is taking its technology to the masses
When travel industry consultant Max Rayner began using biometric identity-verification service Clear in the mid-2000s, he was sometimes met with unfriendly stares from fellow air travelers who hadn't paid $200 to jump the security line. "I could see some perplexed looks , 'Who is this jerk… → Read More
Uber follows Lyft in limiting app
Driving for Uber may get a little harder starting next Tuesday afternoon. That is when the ride-hail giant will introduce a policy that will limit when drivers can work from its app. “Starting Tuesday, Sept. 17, rider demand will determine how many drivers can be online at the same time,” Uber… → Read More
Ex-TLC commissioner pitches solution for liveries
Livery cab operators, suffering from a shortage of drivers, want an exemption to the city's freeze on for-hire-vehicle licenses. The Taxi and Limousine Commission objects, in part because the liveries are seeking a restricted license that could only be used for their cars. Many drivers survive… → Read More
Google app offers Waze for buses and subways
Crowd-sourcing has come to mass transit. Bus, subway and commuter-train riders can now get service updates from fellow passengers, as well as commentary on delays or which stations might have the best subway performers, thanks to a new app by Google. Similar to the navigation software Waze,… → Read More
Alibaba offers platform for city's small businesses to go global
For years, Alibaba, which calls itself the world’s largest retail commerce company, has had a little-known business enabling companies in the United States to source suppliers and manufacturers in China and Southeast Asia. But starting Tuesday, the ecommerce behemoth’s B2B division will be inviting… → Read More
Taxi medallion auction price hits new low
New York's troubled taxi medallion industry, which recently has been the subject of a New York Times investigation and a City Council hearing, continued its precipitous decline in value. An auction Thursday of 16 medallions at an East Elmhurst, Queens, hotel came to an early end, with just three… → Read More
Both sides gear up for garbage fight
Supporters and opponents of a bill to overhaul commercial waste pickup are trying to seize the narrative ahead of a City Council hearing Thursday on the controversial plan. Backers have come out today with a report positioning the bill, which would establish exclusive zones served by a single carter—as part of a growing wave of global-warming legislation. The report's title leaves little to the… → Read More
Startup that grew out of Sandy scores $24 million funding round
A Brooklyn startup that launched in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and became a key supplier of communications hardware to rescue workers and the military has just raised $24 million to speed up its expansion. San Francisco–based Founders Fund, which has backed SpaceX and Palantir, led the Series C round, which was announced Tuesday. Union Square Ventures and Comcast Ventures also took part. The… → Read More
Race is on to bring broadband to outer boroughs
Until a couple of years ago, the nonprofit Cases, which provides alternatives to incarceration, was paying $860 a month for 10 megabits-per-second broadband service delivered through a copper cable to its Downtown Brooklyn headquarters. That kind of speed is enough to stream movies on Netflix but not enough to manage the group's online databases, video conferencing and web-based training… → Read More
End of the road for auto brokers?
When David Hazan began working in the auto-broker business a decade ago, at a small company that mainly serviced the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn, he was lucky if he leased 10 cars in a month. He now does 50 to 75 leasing and sales deals monthly as head of five-year-old Montage Auto Leasing, which is based in a ground-floor office beside its 50-car garage in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Hazan's… → Read More
Mayor to keep cap on Uber, Lyft vehicles
A controversial cap on the number of for-hire vehicles allowed on city streets will become permanent, Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to announce this afternoon. The cap, imposed in August as part of a raft of new regulations on the for-hire industry, was meant to reduce congestion in the central business district—much of which has been blamed on the surge in the number of for-hire vehicles in… → Read More
The end of the Hudson as we know it?
On patrols during the past month along the Hudson River, John Lipscomb has spotted an exposed rock-salt heap near Troy and discharge from a cement plant outside Albany—possible violations worthy of reporting to state regulators. But the patrol boat captain for the environmental watchdog Riverkeeper has much larger concerns. One recent morning he steered his 36-foot workboat out to the Verrazzano… → Read More
Countdown begins for pipeline
At one minute before midnight May 15, a state regulator will decide whether to green-light the Williams Transco pipeline, which would travel across New York harbor to the Rockaway Peninsula. The $1 billion project, which will feed fracked gas to National Grid for the outer boroughs and Long Island, either will rescue builders from a looming moratorium on natural-gas hookups or threaten marine… → Read More
Countdown for pipeline begins
At one minute before midnight May 15, a state regulator will decide whether to green-light the Williams Transco pipeline, which would travel across New York harbor to the Rockaway Peninsula. The $1 billion project, which will feed fracked gas to National Grid for the outer boroughs and Long Island, either will rescue builders from a looming moratorium on natural-gas hookups or threaten marine… → Read More
Legal weed would create at least 21,000 jobs: think tank
Legal weed in New York would be job engine: Rockefeller Institute of Government analysis → Read More
Mom-and-pops will need help from giants to flourish in cannabis trade
New York marijuana: Mom-and-pops will need help from giants to flourish → Read More
New York tech's gender wage gap worse than Valley's, better than Boston's
New York tech's gender wage gap worse than Valley's, better than Boston's → Read More
Report: No need for gas pipeline under New York Harbor
Report by 350.org: No need for Williams gas pipeline under New York Harbor → Read More
How Via benefits from new regulations that hurt Uber and Lyft
How Via benefits from new regulations that hurt Uber and Lyft → Read More
Business groups say natural-gas delivery has reached a crisis point
Business groups say natural-gas delivery has reached a crisis point. Environmentalists agree → Read More