By Bob Harris
At the Queens Civic Congress, Inc. general meeting in the Union Nursing Home June 16, it agreed to help sponsor a forum July 29 to discuss the Small Business Survival Act. This act was introduced in the City Council in June 2014. The act is stalled in the Committee on Small Business without the support of the speaker or the mayor.
A presentation was made by Steven M. Barrison and Steve Null from TakeBackNYC. Several years ago, when large box stores were looking to obtain zoning changes so they could build big box stores in Queens, Barrison enlisted the help of the QCC to stop this proposal. The QCC realized its member civic associations had business strips running through them or near them and that the small mom-and-pop stores in these local businesses would be forced out of business by these big stores. Working with the Korean American Small Business Service Center of New York, Inc., the Queens Civic Congress helped preserve our small local businesses.
Barrison explained that the Small Business Survival Act seeks to protect our local businesses, preserve the character of our neighborhoods and ensure that everyone has access to economic mobility. It seems that 50 percent of New Yorkers work at a small business, but each month about 1,000 of these businesses are forced to close, mostly because of ridiculously high rents. Rents can be from $30,000 to $60,000, with stores warehoused until the owners get their high rents.
Hard hit by this real estate speculation and greed are working families from the immigrant and minority communities, who run these businesses or have to buy food at a higher price because the rents the shopkeepers have to pay are so high. When businesses close, the workers lose their jobs and their income. In Manhattan, even franchise stores and banks are closing due to the high rents. While some say it is high fines which cause the problem, Barrison and Null say it is the high rents. Some say there is a real estate bubble because of this.
The solution to this problem seems to be to give small businesses rights. It is felt that the Small Business Jobs Survival Act is the solution. It would give tenants the right to a 10-year minimum lease with negotiating power that is the same as the landlord has. It would also put an end to the ever-changing yearly burden of landlords passing on their property tax expenses. The city and state should actually consider freezing rents the way they did with the rent-stabilized apartments, putting an end to rent-gouging and exorbitant rent increases. The bill would provide binding arbitration to hold the landlord to fair lease terms if the tenant and landlord cannot come to an agreement.
The legislation, Bill #: Int. 0402-2014, is stalled in committee. The Queens council members have not taken any action to get the bill out of committee, and the leaders of the city have not come on board. Why not? Do the speculators and real estate lobbyists give too much money to our politicians? Why is the 1 percent trying to make even more money?
As of three weeks ago, the plans were for the forum to be held July 29. For information call Steven M. Barrison at (212) 750-5560 or call Harbachan Singh, President of the QCC, at (917) 749-9769.
GOOD NEWS OF THE WEEK: The Port Authority plans to spend $3.6 billion to revitalize LaGuardia Airport. It currently looks like a Third World Airport.
BAD NEWS OF THE WEEK: Congress just passed a budget bill which the President probably will not sign but it gives too many tax breaks to corporations. It would give them large R&D tax breaks for research they would probably do anyway. There is a cut in the estate tax for the wealthy. The House also cut health care for seniors and the poor, while ignoring our crumbling infrastructure.
