FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JULY 30, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
SMALL BUSINESSES
NEED MORE HELP
It’s clear that the death knell is
tolling for small business in New
York City. With coronavirus cases
surging in an increasing number
of states, it’s only a matter of time
before New York City again witnesses
an increase. And that will bring
with it tighter restrictions on who
stays open, and who is forced to
close again.
Sadly, this may be the final obstacle
that is too steep to overcome for
countless small businesses. This will
forever change the landscape of the
small businesses in our diverse borough,
many founded by immigrants
(and employing immigrants now
cast onto the unemployment rolls).
Small businesses have encountered
significant obstacles, starting with
the forced closure amid the pandemic,
significant lost revenue, the
inability to pay rent and inability
to get federal funding. In recent
weeks, Comptroller Scott Stringer
reported that 85 percent of minority
and women-owned businesses
(M/WBEs) polled across New York
City indicated they won’t be able to
make it into 2021.
And, another report by Stringer’s
office unearthed that only 12 percent
of employee-based and nonemployer
businesses in the city
received funding under the federal
Paycheck Protection Program, even
as states less impacted economically
by the pandemic received greater
funding.
This was a lifeline that many small
businesses counted on, but now have
to make the difficult decision about
whether to continue. Even though
the city has been phasing in reopenings,
business is still down and small
businesses are seeking creative ways
to survive.
In my neighborhood, Jackson
Heights, more than 300 businesses
and patrons signed a petition urging
the city to extend the ability for
restaurants to have outdoor dining
beyond the fall expiration date. But
an extension won’t be enough without
the city ensuring that renewal
fees are low, and burdensome rules
and paperwork are streamlined.
It’s important that any new stimulus
package supports small business,
and does not smother their opportunities.
They need help, not a hurdle.
Alfonso Quiroz, Jackson Heights
Founder of 37th Avenue
Sidewalk Cafe Coalition
WEAR A MASK AND
HELP SAVE LIVES
Governor Andrew Cuomo has tried
to impress on us that it is of great
importance to wear masks and to social
distance. For that I agree 100 percent.
But there are some businesses that
are not abiding by the rules during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Th ere are young
people between the ages of 19 to 30 who
have not gotten the message and don’t realize
they can die of COVID-19 and spread
the disease to family members. Th ere are
also many others who don’t seem to have
gotten the message that wearing masks
and social distancing saves lives.
I was in a laundromat in Queens
when a woman walked in without
a mask — even though the sign on
the window said a mask was required
— and proceeded in doing her laundry.
I was ready to leave and told the
owner, who said he would talk to her.
I don’t know the end result, but I hope
he was able to convince the woman to
wear a mask.
It’s too bad some people don’t care
about the lives they endanger. I guess
some people don’t want to be heroes by
wearing masks and saving lives. What
a shame.
Frederick R. Bedell, Bellerose
BEECHHURST SUNSET // PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ELSA C. LORENZO
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oped
MTA fi scal tsunami
requires federal relief
BY PATRICK J. FOYE
With the Senate
back in Washington
working on another
COVID-19 relief package,
we at the MTA are
fending off a fi scal tsunami.
We’re simply trying
to survive the rest
of this year, and the next one, with our fi nances
mostly intact. But to do that, we need help and
we need it now – in the form of another $4 billion
in federal aid to get through 2020.
Without additional federal relief, we will be
forced to slash and burn, including possible
reductions in force and service, as we navigate
the most severe fi nancial crisis the MTA has
ever faced. Everything is on the table: fare and
toll increases, defi cit fi nancing and even delaying
our historic Capital Program.
We are not crying wolf. Th e fi scal tsunami that
is now crashing down on the MTA is very real,
and should concern all New Yorkers. Our organization
is losing about $200 million a week in
revenues, from losses in fares, tolls, subsidies
and COVID-related expenses. To put that in perspective,
we spend approximately $300 million
a week just to operate the MTA. All told, we’re
facing a projected, aggregate $16 billion defi cit
through 2024.
We’ve been doing our part to balance the
books on our own — implementing a hiring
freeze and identifying more than $1.1 billion
in budget savings in 2021 and $5.13 billion
in savings overall through 2024. Th ose fi gures
include $340 million in newly identifi ed annual
recurring savings, from reductions in overtime,
consultant contracts and other non-personnel
expense reductions. Th is is on top of $2.8 billion
that we had already trimmed from the budget
over the past few years, pre-pandemic.
But even with emergency federal aid and these
expense reduction eff orts, we will need to do
more. Th ere’s no question that we will be forced
to make cuts; the only question is how extreme.
Only Congress can answer that.
Our precarious fi scal situation should raise
alarms across the country. Th e New York metropolitan
region accounts for nearly 10 percent
of the national GDP, meaning there is
no full economic recovery without a robust
MTA. Additionally, businesses throughout New
York and the nation benefi t from contracts with
North America’s largest transportation system.
Th is is not a partisan issue. Business leaders,
labor leaders and elected offi cials from all parties
have recognized the gravity of the MTA’s
fi nancial challenges and called on Congress to
step up. Senator Schumer and the New York
Congressional delegation support MTA funding.
On Friday, we exhausted the $4 billion allocated
to the MTA in March under the CARES Act.
We can’t let the progress we’ve made in recent
years go down the drain, plunging the MTA into
the service failures and delays New Yorkers were
subject to in the bad old days of the 1970s and
early 1980s.
We need our national representatives to act
urgently and responsibly — time is running
short.
Patrick Foye is the chairman and CEO of the
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority
(MTA).
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