Editorial
Small businesses
finally getting a break Skateboarding in
Product prices are going up. Labor
expenses are going up. Tax liabilities
are going up. And on top of all that,
the rent is too darn high.
These are some of the responses you’ll
hear, in one form or another, from a New
York City small business owner if you ask
them “How’s business?” these days.
Many of them are eking out an existence
faced with all these financial challenges.
And sometimes, the last straw for these
businesses can be fines levied by various city
agencies for seemingly minor infractions.
City Hall is now trying to alleviate some
of the pressure. On Feb. 20, Mayor Bill de
Blasio announced a new program granting
greater leniency to small businesses to correct
and review discovered violations before
facing financial penalties.
The violations fall under the purview of
several city departments: Buildings, Environmental
Protection, Transportation, Sanitation,
and Consumer and Worker Protection.
De Blasio said these agencies will give businesses
more time to remedy problems before
being hit with fines and/or eliminate fines for
certain first-time violations.
These violations are mostly minor, including
things like improper cleaning of a
sidewalk, having grocery scales not in public
view and failing to post details about layaway
plans. Though these problems can be easily
solved, the financial hit small businesses take
for them — running into the hundreds of
dollars, depending on the infraction — only
adds to the risk of total financial failure for
mom-and-pops on the brink.
If you don’t think that’s a fair assessment,
we challenge you to take a walk through your
local neighborhood shopping strip and count
the number of vacant storefronts. Most of
these strips have almost too many to count.
Everything adds up over time. Even
though the city’s economy remains strong,
its strength is only as good as the viability
of its small businesses. The more empty
storefronts we see, the greater risk the city
faces of slipping into an economic downturn.
Greater leniency for small business violations
is a solid step toward ensuring their
health, but more must be done. City Hall
continues to dither on legislation to institute
commercial rent regulations and a proposed
vacancy tax that would further ease the
financial burden on small businesses, and
keep them open.
We hope the dithering will finally end
this year.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
ROBERT POZARYCKI
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Washington Square Park
in 1986
VILLAGER FILE PHOTO
This photo is from the March 27, 1986 issue of The Villager. Skateboarders
in Washington Square Park on a weekend afternoon drew
a sizable crowd of curious onlookers.
— Gabe Herman
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8 February 27,2020 Schneps Media
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