Bring back ‘alcohol-to-go’ to
keep more NYC businesses alive
COURIER L 18 IFE, JANUARY 7-13, 2022
EDITORIAL
OP-ED
It’s not easy being a small
business owner in New
York City.
Along with the many economic
challenges a small business
owner faces each day
— paying the rent, attracting
customers, keeping up with
wage and inventory demands,
etc. — the city government
has made a business of its own
scrutinizing shopkeepers on a
regular basis and hitting them
in the pocket hard when code
violations are found.
Unlike most small businesses,
city government is not
a for-profi t entity — at least it
shouldn’t be. The government’s
functions should mainly be to
protect the public from harm,
enforce the laws designed to
do just that, and reprimand
those who violate that trust.
It shouldn’t, as it has in recent
years, implement enforcement
systems that prove more as a
cash cow for the city coffers and
less as a corrective measure to
protect New Yorkers.
On Tuesday, Mayor Eric Adams
took a big step forward in
getting the city out of the fi negiving
business with an executive
order titled “Small Business
Forward.” Agencies such
as the Departments of Buildings,
Environmental Protection,
Fire, Sanitation, Health
and Mental Hygiene, and Consumer
and worker Protection
are mandated by the mayor to
review existing business regulations
and either change their
language or how they are enforced.
The aim, Adams said, is to
ensure that fi ne schedules are
reduced for small business
owners. Agencies would also
give themselves greater discretion
to offer fi rst-time violation
warnings or extended cure periods
rather than slapping businesses
with fi nes right away.
“The last thing they need
to deal with are unnecessary
fi nes,” Adams said. We’re cutting
the red tape and bringing
real relief to the entrepreneurs
who have made their dreams a
reality and keep our local economy
strong.”
How true that statement is.
The issue of small business
fi nes is more critical now
as New York City continues to
recover from the still-ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic. Actions
such as the one Adams took
Tuesday don’t amount to “corporate
welfare”; the benefi ciaries
aren’t international conglomerates
who too often drive
small businesses under, and
take away their customers (and
employees) on the cheap.
It’s a reinvestment in New
Yorkers who pour their heart,
soul and fi xed resources into
selling goods and services, employing
their neighbors and
pumping economic energy
back into the city that never
sleeps.
They’ve been around here
forever, and by cutting the red
tape, we’re not only easing their
pain, but making sure they’ll
be around here even longer.
Easing the pain
BY KEN GOLDBERG
New York City’s bars, taverns, clubs,
and entertainment centers are suffering
another crisis at this time. As
COVID-19 has returned to record rates,
this has provoked fear among consumer
and patrons, disrupting many
entertainment and hospitality enterprises.
In the past two weeks many watering
hole/food locations have closed.
It’s a combination of customers being
frightened by COVID-19 and staying
away, many business or holiday parties
being cancelled, and, for many
businesses, not being able to have adequate
staff because workers have either
gotten sick, are taking precautions, or
have become discouraged.
Government policymakers have lost
credibility with many of these affected
people because of confl icting information.
Yet government needs to become
immediately pro-active so many of these
small businesses are able to survive.
Government should now allow,
even encourage, bars, taverns, clubs,
and entertainment centers to offer
curbside alcoholic beverages including
mixed cocktails, and food. These
locations should also be allowed to offer
bottle service.
The NYS Liquor Authority must
do much more to boost business. For
example anyone who reviews the authority’s
website together with the
NYC website about opening a bar, tavern,
or club will be completely turned
off by the diffi culty due to many bureaucratic
hurdles. This broken system
has to be transformed where entrepreneurs
and operators willing
to risk capital in opening an establishment
are embraced with effi cient
help.
Most important, the NYS Liquor
Authority and law enforcement needs
to cease and desist with playing “gotcha”
fi ning, penalizing bars, taverns,
and clubs for a variety of slight infractions.
During the fi rst COVID-19 crisis
under Governor Andrew Cuomo,
these establishment owners experienced
a “reign of terror” with all sorts
of agency inspectors who wrote summonses
and even closed down places!
How did any of this support business
owners, who then would have to layoff
employees, halt paying their rent and
utilities, and even their taxes?
Instead of hurting responsible, decent
business owners, employees at
these government agencies should instead
be prioritized on safeguarding
us against threats by criminals, mentally
ill, and homeless who pose a dangerous
presence on our streets.
Truth be told, here’s what I am seeing
“on the street” everyday: Many
bars, taverns and clubs are one step
away from going out-of-business because
of COVID-19’s latest economic
blow.
Ken Goldberg is principal owner
of Emerson Amusement of Woodside,
Queens, and president of the Amusement
and Music Owners Association of
New York.
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