The Small Business Plan.

Small businesses recently employed as many as 3 million workers in New York. Vacant storefronts now line our streets, eroding the basic culture of the neighborhood, and unemployment hovers at 12%. The City’s regulatory bureaucracy is so complex that many small business owners struggle to navigate it. Even with PPP loans, many will not survive.

We must prioritize the return of small businesses
to the Upper West Side.

 

To do this, we must reform property and commercial rent taxes to bring Mom and Pop shops back to our neighborhood, reimagine our city streets to encourage year round outdoor dining, streamline regulatory hurdles by creating a single point of contact for businesses, and invest in new building projects to bring back the jobs our community desperately needs. We must support the businesses that are holding on right now, and encourage the creation of new businesses.

Here's how we get it done.

 

Give Small Businesses a Break on Commercial Rent Tax

We must prioritize small, locally owned businesses in PPP loan distribution, putting them at the front of the line for financial support instead of deep-pocketed, well-networked elites who’ve seen their incomes rise throughout the pandemic. Providing Commercial Rent Tax relief to actual Small Businesses is an efficient, equitable way to provide direct relief to local entrepreneurs and create a more fair competitive environment for small business owners.

Implement Strategies for Language Justice

Language barriers prevent business owners from gaining access to PPP loans and other government services. We will create a campaign to recruit diverse translators who represent our demographics and fund a program for fairly paid interpreters citywide. We’ll create a strategy for translation in times of emergency. We’ll provide adequate support for English Language Learners in our schools. And we’ll enforce compliance across agencies, so that City services are accessible to all, regardless of their English language proficiency.

Encourage Pop-up and Start-up Shops and Restaurants

We can use our many vacant storefronts to provide entrepreneurs with an opportunity to start or expand their business by streamlining permitting and eliminating permitting fees for temporary alcohol and food service. This will allow entrepreneurs to sell their products in brick-and-mortar locations and build a loyal following while revitalizing our commercial corridors.

Reform Our Commercial Property Taxes

Currently, the tax burden is passed down to the business owner in the form of skyhigh rent. The City must overhaul our commercial property taxes, reassess property values, and create a more flexible system linked to store revenues. A new system can incentivize landlords to keep properties leased and occupied and ease the burden on commercial tenants and landlords alike.

Void Minimum Rent Provisions in Mortgages

Many commercial mortgages contain minimum rent provisions that prevent landlords from lowering rent even when they want to. Some of these mortgages are securitized, which means it takes approval of up to thousands of institutions holding a piece of the loans to change provisions. The City must work with state lawmakers to pass legislation voiding current and future minimum rent provisions in commercial mortgages to allow landlords to respond to declining market demand and offer competitive rents. If we eliminate these provisions, we will help businesses thrive, foster new businesses, fill vacant storefronts, and put people back to work.

Eliminate Regulatory Hurdles and Create a Single Point-of-contact Customer Service Liaison

Mayor DeBlasio started the Small Business Advocates program to assist small businesses in navigating regulatory agencies. We should go further and create a city-sponsored single point-of-contact customer service liaison assisting business owners by coordinating and expediting all interactions with City agencies. The liaison will walk business owners through permitting, regulatory paperwork, Department of Health guidelines, compliance issues, insurance requirements, etc., enabling more New Yorkers to become small business owners.

Redesign Our Streets and Expand Outdoor Seating to Maximize Restaurant Revenue Potential

One of the few bright spots to come from this pandemic has been the transition to outdoor dining. As restaurants have poured out onto the streets, we have seen the sounds of the Upper West Side return. We can continue this trend and make our streets more pedestrian friendly, expand space and permitting for outdoor dining, and limit large industrial traffic. Not only will this create jobs and support local businesses, but it will also make the Upper West Side an even more welcoming and vibrant neighborhood.

Incentivize Mom and Pop Shops

We can give tax breaks to small business owners with three or fewer locations so they can compete with large chain stores.