5 big firms seek perk for parking
The New York Daily News
By Joe Calderone

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Five major firms have asked for special on-street parking privileges to make it easy for limousines to pick up their workers and ferry them home in comfort.

Publishing giant Conde Nast, Chase Manhattan Bank, Merrill Lynch, Bankers Trust and investment house Salomon Smith Barney have asked for limo-only zones to accommodate the fleet of black cars their workers get as a perk, Department of Transportation officials said.

The applications came to light as Mayor Giuliani defended the first zone, which was awarded to Goldman Sachs, a major Wall Street investment bank with annual revenues of $8 billion.

"I know the spin that happens here. 'Oh, this is a big business, so it has access to the mayor,' " Giuliani said. "The fact is I have done this for delicatessens. I've done it for candy stores. I've done it for people who call on my radio show."

He didn't specify anyone else the city has assisted.

Giuliani said Goldman Sachs' zone was created after former Chief Executive Officer Jon Corzine brought up the issue during a breakfast meeting last summer. He denied lobbying took place.

Transportation Commissioner Wilbur Chapman said the zone was approved in June, when Richard Malchow was acting commissioner.

However, Chapman acknowledged that Goldman Sachs' lobbyist, Suri Kasirer, met with Malchow about establishing the zone. Kasirer is the wife of Giuliani's former chief of staff Bruce Teitelbaum.

Giuliani yesterday banned Kasirer from lobbying at City Hall.

"The mayor said he would tell city commissioners not to do business with her in her capacity as a lobbyist," said mayoral spokeswoman Colleen Roche. "This does not relate to her non-lobbying activities or other members of her firm."

Roche said Giuliani made the move because of "an excess of caution."

Though Giuliani called the Goldman Sachs arrangement a pilot project to ease congestion, the Daily News found cars waiting at Goldman's Broad St. headquarters blocking hydrants and bus stops, taking up metered spaces and double-parking.

"It's dead wrong," said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. "If the mayor were to do this for every business, the city would come to a standstill."

John Kaehny, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a mass-transit watchdog group, called the zones "a rip-off."

He added: "The city is inviting thousands and thousands of businesses to demand the same kind of treatment."

Goldman Sachs refused to comment yesterday. Representatives of the other companies could not be reached for comment late in the day.

Community Board 1 leaders backed away from criticizing the DOT and Goldman Sachs, saying the firm has been responsive to its complaints and that limo congestion near one apartment complex has eased.

The reaction was an about-face from November, when the board passed a resolution citing a "serious limousine problem on Pearl St./Water St."

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