An activist for small business made his case before the progressive Independent Neighborhood Democrats (IND) for legislation that has been languishing in the City Council for about 10 years that he said will ease the plight of disappearing mom-and-pop small businesses in the city.
Steve Null, founder of the Small Business Congress and co-author of the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) argued that the bill, which creates a kind of commercial rent control is the only way to stave off shrinking small businesses in the city that are giving ground to more and more big box stores the same way gentrification is pushing out poor people.
“The condition [of small businesses in New York City] is obvious,” said Null at St. Francis COllege in Brooklyn Heights where the meeting was held. “This is stage four cancer without treatment. The government is denying treatment.”
Null said the solution is giving commercial tenants the right to renew and negotiate. The act would help small businesses with lease negotiations, tax breaks, tax incentives for lease renewals, banning key payments outside of the lease and change the zoning laws that currently force small businesses to compete with large drug stores and bank branches for commercial street space in certain commercial strips.
Under SBJSA, commercial tenants would be given the following rights: first, a minimum 10-year lease with the right to renewal, second, equal negotiation terms for lease renewal with mediation by a 3rd party if fair terms can not be agreed upon, and finally, restrictions on landlords to prevent the raising of property taxes on to small business owners.
Null also warned the consequences of losing small businesses to gentrification would cause property taxes to skyrocket and smaller supermarkets to close because of small margins and cost of living increases.
“It’s what Bernie Sanders highlights. It’s the rigging of the system for spatial interest,” Null said.
According to the SBJSA website, the bill only focuses on only existing commercial leases entering into the lease renewal process instead of interfering with the current marketplace.
Null also brought up the problem of spectators thriving in New York City while the entrepreneurs suffer. The bill proposed, according to SBJSA would protect the neighborhood businesses that have existed for years instead of commercial tenants being driven out by high rent increases.
In response to Null’s declamation, IND attendee, Ilyssa Meyer, Manager of Public Policy and Research at Etsy, member of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and member of the National Association for Women Business Owners (NAWBO) suggested a solution for small businesses might be building coalitions.
“Instead of making the chamber your enemy, it could be your friend in this battle,” said Meyer.
The last vote on the SBJSA bill took place in 2009 where 32 council members were in favor against former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Speaker Christine C. Quinn.
Activists for the SBJSA are still fighting for council member support.
