MAKING NYC A FRIENDLIER PLACE FOR SMALL BUSINESS

A letter from Christine Quinn, Speaker, New York City Council, about a piece of legislation that will be welcomed by our neighborhood's small business owners and potential owners:

September 23, 2010
 
Dear New Yorker,

We wanted to give you a quick update on our efforts to assist small business as we head into the fall season.

Preventing Unnecessary Burdens

To help make NYC a friendlier place for small business, this past month the Council passed legislation (Intro. 91) that will improve the City's rule-making process as well as the regulatory environment for members of regulated communities, particularly small business.

The bill, which we expect the Mayor to sign into law shortly, comes largely from the work of the Regulatory Review Panel and also incorporates principles first proposed by Council Minority Leader James Oddo.

Specifically, Intro. 91 will change the City's rule-making process to ensure, among other things, that:

• agency rules are not unduly burdensome; 
• agencies conduct outreach to those affected by the proposed rules;
• new or modified rules are clear and easy to understand;
• cure periods instead of automatic fines are included in rules whenever possible and appropriate so that businesses have an opportunity to fix problems before they are fined; and
• agencies promulgating rules carefully consider ways to prevent unreasonable compliance costs.

We'd like to thank the Mayor and his administration for their leadership and support in this effort.

We'd also like to thank Anthony Crowell, Council Minority Leader Oddo, Council Member Leroy Comrie, Council Member Karen Koslowitz and the entire Regulatory Review Panel for all of their hard work and effort seeing this bill through the Council.

For additional information on Intro. 91, click here or visit us online at http://www.council.nyc.gov.


3 Golden Rules to Help Small Biz

In an op-ed piece that we wrote that recently appeared in the September 13th edition of Crain's New York Business Weekly, we describe our three "golden rules" for supporting small business:

1. Help make it easier for owners to open their doors.
2. Help existing small businesses grow and expand.
3. Get out of the way of small businesses.

By sticking to these three simple rules, we can better support small businesses and keep our City growing and moving forward.

Sincerely,

Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
NYC Council

Diana Reyna
Chair, Small Business Committee
NYC Council

CITY MAY BE REQUIRED TO TRAP RACCOONS

A bill requiring the Department of Health to trap raccoons seen anywhere in New York City was introduced by the City Council last Wednesday. It was then referred to the council's Committee on Health. The bill, Int. 0319-2010, is titled "A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York in relation to the removal of raccoons."

According to the Daily News, "the city Health Department would be encouraged to humanely release the critters. Under current guidelines, most trapped raccoons are euthanized because they can carry rabies." 

The raccoon situation has been discussed by residents at Albemarle Neighborhood Association meetings. Our City Councilmember, Brad Lander, is one of the six co-sponsors of the bill. The main sponsor is Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley of Queens.

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS--WRITE A LETTER OPPOSING THE BUDGET CUTS

Parents of public school children urgently need you to participate in a letter-writing campaign to prevent devastating budget cuts to our neighborhood schools. Please write to your state assemblymember, state senator, and the governor immediately and tell them to reconsider the budget cuts to schools.

The city budget is scheduled to pass THIS WEEK--but there is always a way to move money around within the budget before it gets passed.

Here are some easy steps you can take that could make a difference:

1. Call 311. Tell the operator that you do not approve of the budget cuts to public education. The mayor reviews these statistics regularly.
2. Copy the letter below (or write your own letter), and mail it to your state assemblymember, state senator, and the governor.
3. Make sure your local school is conducting a letter-writing campaign THIS WEEK.
4. Ask your neighbors to mail a letter. Letters and faxes carry the MOST weight with elected officials. Phone calls carry less weight. E-mails carry the least weight.

Below is a sample letter and the addresses of our local officials. To find out if your State Senator is Eric Adams (20th Senate District) or Kevin Parker (21st Senate District, see the map of Senator Adams' district and the map of Senator Parker's district.

SAMPLE LETTER

June 21, 2010

Recent announcements to cut school-based budgets by 4% or more (approximately $300 million) will devastate and destabilize our public school system. These cuts are in addition to prior budget cuts to New York City's public schools that amounted to an additional 8% since January 2008 (approximately $600 million).

Teachers, parents, and concerned New Yorkers urge you to reconsider the school-based cuts and review the central administrative spending more closely, specifically the proposed spending on new positions at the Department of Education headquarters; private, no-bid contracts; standardized testing; accountability measures that don’t provide accurate results; and new teacher recruitment.

Please do not take more money from our classrooms. This will lead to larger class sizes, elimination of course offerings, and fewer enrichment programs in our schools.

I strongly urge you to reconsider the target of your cuts and spending. Find other alternatives. Protect our public schools and public school teachers and the strength of our local communities.

Do not play politics with our children.
Make education your priority.
Fully fund our public schools.

Yours truly,

ADDRESSES AND OTHER CONTACT INFORMATION

State Senator Eric Adams
572 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11225
Phone: (718) 284-4700
Fax: (718) 282-3585

OR

State Senator Kevin Parker
1300 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11210
Phone: (718) 629-6401
Fax: (718) 629-6420

Assemblymember James F. Brennan
416 Seventh Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: (718) 940-0641

Governor David A. Paterson
Phone: (518) 474-8390
Email: fill out the form at
http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/GovernorContactForm.php

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Fax: (212) 312-0700

Please help!

MAKING THINGS A LITTLE EASIER FOR OUR SMALL BUSINESSES

from our New York City Councilmember, Brad Lander:

The small, independently-owned businesses that line our commercial avenues are - as we so often say - a key part of what make our neighborhoods, well, real neighborhoods. We are lucky to live in a place where we can walk to do so much of our weekly shopping, where we are likely to see neighbors, where we know the proprietors, where we have a choice to support local businesses instead of only global chains. Whether its 5th Ave, Court Street, Church Avenue, Prospect Park West, 7th Ave, Smith Street, Columbia Street, or Fort Hamilton Parkway, so many of you have talked with me about the importance of working to help strengthen and support small businesses.

Unfortunately, our small businesses face big challenges. Real estate, energy, and other costs have skyrocketed in recent years. Too many of us these days are doing more of our shopping online. And the economic downturn has been especially hard on those businesses without deep pockets or cash reserves.

Government can't solve all of these problems, but we should do all we can to provide a level playing field. So I've been troubled when I've asked small business owners their biggest problem - and they've indicated it was agency inspectors who seemed bent on levying fines in order to raise revenue for the City, rather than attending to public health or safety, much less to help make our small businesses better and stronger.

So, I was proud this week when the City Council passed the "Small Business Owners Bill of Rights," an important first step towards ensuring that small businesses in the city are able to survive and thrive in these difficult economic times. The new legislation requires inspectors, upon entering a business, to give owners a written bill of rights, that lets them know how they can contest a claim (which they will soon be able to do online) or make a complaint, and sets a standard for fair and consistent enforcement.

The idea of a small business owner's bill of rights was one of 14 recommendations that were proposed by the Regulatory Review Panel, a joint task force between the City Council and the Mayor's office that reviewed City regulations and their impact on small businesses. Many local businesses and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce weighed in as part of the Panel's efforts. Find out more here.

The other recommendations include:

-Giving small businesses the opportunity to resolve some low-risk violations before fines are levied
-Providing the opportunity to settle or contest any violations without having to go to court
-Implementing customer service training for agency inspectors
-Expanding programs for immigrant small business owners
-Enhancing 311 to better assist small businesses
-Helping business owners avoid violations in the first place

I am working to make sure we continue to make progress on these and the other recommendations - and also to address some of the other problems small businesses face, like the rising costs of real estate and energy. The Bill of Rights is just a first step, as there is much more to do, but I believe it is a good one.

Closer to home, you can also check out the online presence of some of our neighborhood merchant associations, join their e-mail lists, and learn about events and opportunities to support the neighborhood businesses we treasure. We've also listed some other local business-related websites.

Park Slope 5th Avenue BID
http://www.parkslopefifthavenuebid.com/

Kensington Area Resident/Merchant Alliance
http://karmabrooklyn.blogspot.com/

Court Street Merchants Association
http://www.courtstreetmerchants.org/

Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association
http://www.atlanticavenuebkny.com/

Park Slope Chamber of Commerce
http://pschamber.tumblr.com/

Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com/

Borough President Marty Markowitz "I Shop Brooklyn" website
http://www.ishopbrooklyn.com/

Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
http://www.ibrooklyn.com/

Serving the neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope,
Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, and Kensington

456 5th Avenue, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11215 * (718) 499-1090
http://council.nyc.gov/d39/html/members/home.shtml
http://www.bradlander.com
lander@council.nyc.gov

DEATH OF THE SMALL BUSINESS SURVIVAL ACT

Over the past few weeks, several New York City Council members who had supported the Small Business Survival Act decided to withdraw their support. As a result, the Coalition to Save Small Businesses has asked New York City Council Member Robert Jackson to withdraw his motion to discharge the bill from the Small Business Committee, which would have allowed the full Council to vote on the bill.

Crain's New York Business explained in Rough Road for commercial rent control, in its December 3rd edition, the politics behind the death of the bill, saying that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn "opposes the motion, and presumably would not look kindly on members who vote for it. Quinn, if she remains speaker, will soon be handing out prized committee chairmanships."

As always,

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS!

SLIP ME CASH TO RENEW YOUR LEASE

For years, commercial landlords have been demanding cash "under the table" from their tenants in exchange for renewing their leases.

"These fees, which merchants are expected to pay on top of rent in order to renew their leases, are common" in ethnic communities. The Asociacion de Bodegueros de los Estados Unidos, a national association of Hispanic merchants, reports that "one in three merchants in New York City must pay these fees."

"A survey confirmed what immigrant owners already knew: It's almost routine for landlords to demand 'cash money' under the table to negotiate a new lease."

KARMABrooklyn supports the Small Business Survival Act. Outrageously high rent hikes, in addition to the extorted cash, mean that "An estimated 48,000 Hispanic small businesses will close in five years without the protection of the Small Business Survival Act." "Nearly 60 percent of the city's small businesses are owned by women - and they will not survive without the Small Business Survival Act."

COMMERCIAL LEASE RENEWALS AND THE SMALL BUSINESS SURVIVAL ACT

The City Council's Committee on Small Business will get back to work on the Small Business Survival Act either next month or in October. The bill will create "a small business lease program for establishing an environment for fair negotiations in the commercial lease renewal process in order to determine reasonable lease terms."

You can read the bill and see which City Council members are sponsoring it and also read the agenda and minutes of the hearing the committee held on June 29, 2009.

These are some of the statements in the 155 pages of Minutes:

Chairperson David Yassky: "The mom and pop stores on the commercial strips in our neighborhoods are the heart of the neighborhood. We cannot allow them to be pushed to the point of disappearance, which is what is happening now. The proposed legislation would represent a substantial departure from the current marketing for leasing space and involving city government in the process."

New York City's Department of Small Business Services spoke on behalf of the Bloomberg administration, which is against the legislation. The administration believes that it would cost New York City too much money for monitoring and enforcement.

Council Member Robert Jackson, who proposed the bill: "Nobody is suggesting that the city start regulating the rents. Many of the advocates here today will say that this is not commercial rent control. This is simply assisting them so they have a little bit more leverage because right now they're totally dependent upon the landlord of the building. The ironic thing is that the more successful these entrepreneurs are in building up their small business, the more valuable the landlord's property becomes and then the landlord can demand even higher rent. So what they're asking for is not for the city to institute rent control; they're asking for the city to stand on their side for a change and to help them with the negotiations that take place whenever their leases come up for renewal."

Mr. Jackson to Stephen Null, Founder, Coalition for Fair Business Rents: "Do you have any opinion as to what caused the landlords to stop bargaining in good faith with their tenants? You testified that for 40 years the landlords and tenants bargained in good faith successfully."

Mr. Null: "Three things happened. The first was that they allowed speculators to flip buildings and they allowed this to go on too long. What happens when somebody goes to buy a building to flip it, they don’t want to negotiate with the tenant. They would prefer to have the tenant out. The second thing was the franchises. Again, the landlord didn’t want to negotiate with the little mom and pop buy because he's going to negotiate a fair rent. He cannot compete against banks and franchises, even though they're going to go out of business. The last factor was the overall real estate speculation. Nobody wants an average profit. Everybody wants a fortune. So the poor little tenant who's negotiating and trying to get a reasonable lease, he's caught up with all this speculation and greed."

Sherri Donovan, Attorney, National Organization for Women: "Yes, this is a capitalist market but we have government to balance interests. Whenever there is a public interest, the government has the right to step in with reasonable regulation. This is so minimal. This is just sending them to an arbitrator process to negotiate. This is not established rent. This is not a percentage. This is not even a tax."

Mr. Yassky: "One concern I have about the bill is whether it would backfire. If you're a landlord and you know that a tenant is going to have the right to go to arbitration before renewal, you would not take a risk on a smaller tenant that you don’t know if they're going to stay in business. Maybe then whenever you have an empty store, you'll insist that it be Chase Bank or Rite Aid Drugs."

Luis Parra, president of the Latino Association of Tax Preparers: "Today, most people are speaking of small businesses like bodegas, Laundromats and other businesses. We have around 96,000 small businesses in the service sector like lawyers, accountants, tax professionals, doctors, dentists, engineers, real estate, day care providers, cleaning services, beauty salons, and others. This bill is going to protect these kinds of businesses along with the businesses we've heard of today. According to the New York State Department of Labor, this section of the professional businesses has 583,000 employees by April 30, 2009. That represents 30% of the total of the sector."

CITY SALES TAX INCREASED

The total sales tax that you pay on taxable items purchased in New York City increased yesterday from 8.375% to 8.875%. Of that 8.875%, the amount that is for New York State sales tax is 4.375%.

The rest of the tax is for New York City sales tax, which increased yesterday by one-half of one percent from 4% to 4.5%. That is an increase of 5 cents on each $10 you spend on taxable items. The last permanent increase in New York City sales tax was in 1974, when it was raised from 3% to 4%.

Also, if you buy one item of clothing in New York City that costs $110 or more, you'll now be charged sales tax.