COMING 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
Caribbean Life, January 7-13, 2022 27
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 pre-pandemic.
“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 proofof
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 meanspirited
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.”