President's message: Upcoming events this spring

Spring has sprung, and we on the executive committee of the Greater New York Chapter of IREM have been busy bees.  We're quite excited to bring you an extraordinary line up of events this spring. We start on April 18 with our monthly luncheon at the New York Helmsley Hotel in NYC with featured keynote speaker Kenneth McCarthy managing director, New York Research, Cushman & Wakefield. The topic of his talk is  "The Impact of a Financial Services Downturn on the New York City Real Estate Market." Anyone who has picked up a newspaper lately has read about the crisis in the financial services sector. Now let's learn about how it will effect the real estate market in NYC.         I am proud to announce our Fourth Annual golf outing to benefit the March of Dimes on Monday, April 28th at the Richmond County Country Club Staten Island, N.Y. In addition to being a fun and relaxing day, it is our honor to be able to contribute to a most worthy cause. The March of Dimes is the leading non-profit organization for pregnancy and baby health.  They are dedicated to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Our May 21 luncheon, also at the New York Helmsley Hotel, will most certainly be standing room only. Larry Silverstein, president & CEO of Silverstein Properties Inc. is our honored keynote speaker. Need I say more? Make your reservations now, as seating will be limited! Stuyvesant Fuel Service Corp. has graciously offered to sponsor the cocktail hour for this exciting event! This year mark's IREM's 75th Anniversary, and our chapter will celebrate on June 12 with a cocktail reception at the world famous Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum on 234 West 42nd St., NYC. Join us for a drink, some networking, and you can even get your picture taken with Brad Pitt! We've got a lot going on this spring. Don't miss out - to reserve please call Sheila Still at 212.944.9445, but make sure you call her soon! James Hayden, CPM, is the 2008 president of IREM, New York, N.Y.