BROOKLYN IS
Governor Hochul to borough’s honchos:
Political bigwigs, including Gov. Kathy Hochul (far right) gathered at the Brooklyn Chamber of Conmerce’s gala on Dec. 14. Photos by Caroline Ourso
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s message
to the Brooklyn business
community, finally
on the mend after arguably
the most difficult year-anda
half it’s ever seen, was a
simple one: while you may
get knocked down, Brooklynites
always get back up
again, stronger than before.
“This business community
was knocked down so
hard. And yet you never,
ever, ever gave up,” Hochul
said in a keynote speech at
the Brooklyn Chamber of
Commerce’s annual gala in
Tuesday night. “And I thank
you for having that courage,
Caribbean L 26 ife, January 7-13, 2022
the resiliency and that
Brooklyn tough attitude
that got us to where we are
today.”
The gala, the Chamber’s
first since 2019 owing to the
pandemic, was held at the
El Caribe Country Club in
Mill Basin, and brought together
Brooklyn’s political
and business honchos in the
swanky locale to boost the
borough’s commerce, after
taking a veritable pounding
due to the pandemic.
The governor said that
Brooklyn coming back is
crucial for the entire state,
because the rest of the state
is “watching” how the recovery
unfolds in Kings
County, New York’s most
populous county.
“Why Brooklyn needs to
succeed coming out of this
pandemic is because the rest
of the state is watching you,”
Hochul said. “They need to
know it can be done.”
The Chamber’s president,
Randy Peers, said that the
past 18 months had been the
busiest ever for the group,
which beefed up its staff by
over 50 percent, from 22 to
35 full-time employees, to
meet the unprecedented demand
for services and assistance
from Brooklyn’s small
businesses during the pandemic.
“Without hesitation, I
can say that while our 103-
year organization has lasted
through world wars and
great depressions, this was
probably one of the most impactful
events on our membership
ever,” Peers said in
remarks to attendees. “Because
it affected almost every
business in Brooklyn
and in New York City.”
Peers laid out the dire
situation for the borough’s
62,000 businesses, 84 percent
of which employ 10 or fewer
people, as he read off statistics:
80 percent of Brooklyn
businesses lost revenue in
2020, with over half of those
losing more than 50 percent
of annual revenue year-overyear,
a fi gure he called “devastating.”
85 percent of the
borough’s establishments
had to lay off employees.
Meanwhile, a year-and-ahalf
into the pandemic, and
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