BOUNCING BACK
You get knocked down, you get back up again
(Above) Gov. Hochul speaks during the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
Gala on Dec. 14. (Top left) State Senator Zellnor Myrie, Andrew Kimball,
State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz.
(Bottom left) Anna Oliveria. (Bottom right) Eladia Causil-Rodriguez, topleft,
and Dolly Williams, top-center, smile with friends and family.
Photos by Caroline Ourso
COURIER LIFE, DECEMBER 17-23, 2021 3
even after the disbursal of
relief money from all levels
of government, a third of
Brooklyn’s businesses still
owe back rent, and half had
to take on new debt to survive
the pandemic.
The Chamber has been
doing what it can, including
launching the “Bring
Back Brooklyn Fund” which
crowdfunded $750,000 for
“micro-loans,” $338,000 of
which has been disbursed, as
well as to distribute personal
protective equipment and
other materials businesses
now need in the pandemic
era, such as outdoor heaters
for restaurants. The group
also launched a “social justice”
oriented-fund, funded
by Brooklyn Nets owners Joe
and Clara Tsai, which makes
loans to businesses of color
based on “character” rather
than on credit scores.
Despite all that, and the
breadth of the city’s economic
recovery, the borough’s businesses
are still nowhere near
the state they were in prepandemic.
“We’re not out of the
woods, folks,” Peers said.
“Businesses can’t fi nd workers.
1/3 of businesses can’t
pay the rent. And revenue is
down across the board.”
The gala took place as
the city re-enters uncertain
times: the Omicron variant
is beginning its rampage
through the fi ve boroughs,
and last week, Hochul reinstated
a statewide indoor
mask mandate unless the
venue requires proof-of-vaccination
(the El Caribe did the
latter, in accordance with city
ordinance, and thus many attendees
were unmasked). A
number of counties upstate
have declared they do not intend
to enforce the new mask
mandate.
Small businesses are also
coming up on another new
city vaccination mandate,
when employees of all private
establishments will be required
to get vaccinated, or be
fi red, after Dec. 27. Peers told
reporters before his speech
that he trusts the borough’s
businesses to be in compliance
with the new mask ordinance,
but said he doesn’t believe
people should be fi red for
not getting the jab, and noted
he expects it to be challenged
in court though the Chamber
itself won’t fi le suit.
“I disagree with people losing
their jobs over vaccines,”
Peers said. “That’s a bad policy,
and it’s a mean-spirited
policy to do such around
the holiday time. There’s 89
percent vaccination rate of
adults in New York City. Harassing
the remaining 11
percent is not going to solve
for COVID. Taking precautions,
protecting yourself by
wearing masks and using
sanitizer will help, but people’s
losing their livelihoods
and their jobs for this is just
wrong.”
Hochul, for her part, said
that the borough’s businesses
can at the very least expect a
functional government where
different jurisdictions, like
the state and city, work together
to improve outcomes
rather than bicker, a clear jab
at her predecessor, disgraced
former Gov. Andrew Cuomo,
who was notorious in his refusal
to work productively
with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“We are partners,” the governor
said. “And gone is the
era when there had to be this
sense of a natural tension between
Albany and New York
City, and the governor of New
York and the mayor of New
York. That era, my friends, is
over.”