3
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, APRIL 26, 2020
BY ROSE ADAMS
While large companies
rack up millions of dollars
in funds from the federal
government’s coronavirusinduced
stimulus package,
most of Brooklyn’s small
businesses have been left out
to dry as they battle signifi -
cant fi nancial losses from
the stay-at-home orders, according
to a recent study.
At least 84-percent of
businesses that applied to
the Payment Protection
Program have not received
any funding, according to
the study from the Brooklyn
Chamber of Commerce,
which surveyed nearly 300
small business owners borough
wide. The number is
higher among minority and
women businesses owners
— 90-percent of whom said
they had received no federal
assistance as of April 17.
“It’s frustrating on many
levels,” said the chamber’s
president, Randy Peers.
The Payment Protection
Program — which Congress
cobbled together in late
March to stem signifi cant
unemployment — offers
loans to small businesses
struggling to pay their expenses
during the COVID-19
outbreak. The loans from
the $349 billion program
will be completely forgiven
if they are used for payroll
costs, interest on mortgages,
rent, and utilities.
The program initially
seemed like a blessing for
small businesses and employees
struggling during
the COVID-19 outbreak,
but a series of bureaucratic
shortfalls left needy businesses
without aid — and
large companies swimming
in it.
“The program had a lot
of potential, but it fell fl at,”
Peers said.
One major problem
stemmed from the application
process, which required
business owners to
apply through an approved
lender or federally-insured
institution, such as their
bank. However, most banks
At least 84-percent of Brooklyn businesses that applied for loans
from the federal government’s coronavirus stimulus package have
not received funding. r
prioritized the applications
of businesses with existing
lines of credit, putting many
smaller, minority-owned
companies at a disadvantage,
Peers said.
“It was chaotically rolled
out from the Small Business
Administration to the
banks themselves,” he said.
“The banks were left to interpret
things to the best of
their ability, and in some
places they went with where
there was less risk.”
Communication was
other common problem. One
business owner, who applied
for a Payment Protection
Program loan one day after
the program was rolled
out on April 3, said that her
bank did not respond to inquiries
about the status of
her application.
“By 2 o’clock on April 4,
I submitted the application
in its entirety,” said Natasha
Amott, who owns a cooking
supply store called Whisk
in Williamsburg and Cobble
Hill. “I never heard back.”
Amott claims that businesses
that applied after she
did received approval, even
though there were no problems
with her application
— which later mysteriously
vanished from the bank’s
records after the program’s
funding dried up on April
17.
“It took me calling at
least 5 times that day … and
at the end I was told, ‘There’s
no SBA number associated
with your loan,'” she said.
“At that point, I just felt incredibly
upset.”
In addition to the problems
within banks, the program’s
loose guidelines
allowed some larger, publicly
traded companies to apply
for loans.
This week, Congress
will approve another round
of funding for the Payment
Protection Program, and
Amott hopes that she will
receive funding, having established
a closer relationship
with her bank. But she
worries about the hundreds
of other businesses without
her connections.
“I don’t know how many
other people have had that
fortune to have that direct
contact,” she said. “It took
a lot of polite pestering … I
don’t know how many other
business owners have the
same time to keep pushing.”
Painter Danie Herard is one of 28 artists that will have to fi nd a new studio space. Arts Gowanus
Dozens of Gowanus artists to lose
studio space as non-profi t shutters
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A group of 28 artists
will be kicked out of their
Gowanus studio when the
non-profi t Spaceworks
shutters operations in
mid-June, forcing the creatives
to move their artworks
and belongings
during the novel coronavirus
outbreak, according
to one local painter.
“It’s unconscionable
to ask us to vacate our
spaces while dealing with
this disease,” said Danie
Herard.
The once-charitable
Spaceworks offered affordable
spaces for artists
at the sprawling 540
President St. building, as
well as buildings in Park
Slope, Williamsburg, and
Manhattan — but the organization
announced
that they’d be closing their
doors this spring.
One artist who already
moved their belongings
out of the space
subsequently contracted
COVID-19, leaving others
fearful about entering the
building and the potential
moving process, according
to Johnny Thornton,
the director of Arts Gowanus,
an arts nonprofi t
based in the Gowanus
space.
Spaceworks had initially
told artists to pack
up their belongings by
May 25, but ultimately extended
the move-out window
to June 15 — nearly
a month after the end of
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s
shelter-in-place order
— after mounting
pressure from tenants,
said Thornton.
“It is a tricky legal situation
for everyone involved,
but artists should
not be asked to risk their
safety in the middle of
this world pandemic,”
said Thornton.
Spaceworks, which is
the management company
for the President Street
building that’s owned by
local real estate fi rm PDS
Development Corporation
— who did not respond for
comment — assured tenants
that they would not
dispose of any personal
property without permission,
and that they would
waiver rent for May and
return security deposits.
And beyond the safety
hazards of moving during
a pandemic, Thornton
worries that the loss
of over two dozen artists
would be devastating to
the neighborhood.
“Gowanus has already
been hemorrhaging artists,
losing hundreds of
artist spaces just in the
past three years due to
rental hikes and gentrifi -
cation,” he said. “There is
a real risk the neighborhood
will permanently
lose its unique character
and artistic DNA if this
trend continues.”
The non-profi t kicking
them out would also be
particularly disastrous
for the artists, many of
whom recently lost their
income due to the pandemic.
“I know it’s a diffi cult
time for everyone overall,
but for me and other artists
who are likely to freelance
The Spaceworks headquarters
at 540 President St. Google
to make ends meet,
this has been extraordinarily
challenging,” Herard
said. “Without the
necessary support we
will lose the artists that
have contributed to the vibrancy
of Gowanus.”
The landlord cannot
legally evict the tenants,
as Cuomo’s 90-day ban on
evictions is in effect until
June 20 — even if the nonprofi
t building management
company dissolves,
according to Prospect
Heights-based tenant lawyer
Edward Deignan.
“Tenants are tenants
of the property owner,
not the management company,”
said Deignan. “The
owner of the property
could say, ‘Just pay your
rent to me.’”
But even if they tried
to fi ght an offi cial eviction
in court, many artists
are wary that the landlord
could simply lock the
doors and hold their artwork
hostage.
“We have keycard access,
so once we lose that,
what happens then?”
Thornton said.
Money for nothing
Majority of Brooklyn’s small businesses have
not received stimulus funding, study fi nds