FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 27, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 27
Borough's small biz owners will benefi t
from city’s revised violations initiative
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Small business owners in Downtown Jamaica and across the borough will soon feel relief from some of the city’s violations and penalties.
QPL off ers workshops to help former inmates re-enter society
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
When the de Blasio administration
pledged to reduce the prison population
in city jails in order to close down Rikers
Island and move the inmates to borough
based jails, the results were impressive.
New Yorkers entering the city jail
system has declined by nearly half in
the past six years from 11,000 in 2014 to
around 7,000 today with a projected population
of nearly 3,300 by 2026, according
to City Hall.
Now, Queens Public Library is launching
No Barriers Tech, a series of workshops
seeking to introduce formerly
incarcerated and justice-involved New
Yorkers to new technologies and provide
them with information on career paths
within the tech sector. Th e 15-week series
will be held at QPL’s Queensbridge Tech
Lab, located at 10-43 41st Ave. in Long
Island City, with the fi rst workshop scheduled
for Tuesday, March 3.
Th e series will introduce participants to
topics such as music creation and production,
graphic design, photography, Google
and Microsoft products and web-based
coding. Designed as a stepping stone to
employment, the workshops will also provide
strategies for breaking in the tech job
market.
“Many of our justice-involved patrons
struggle with reentering society and the
lack of a job can be a major setback
to leading successful and fulfi lling lives,”
QPL Director of Community Engagement
Kim McNiel Capers said. “We hope that
this program will serve as a stepping
stone, helping them develop the high-demand
tech skills needed in today’s job
market and increasing their chances to
realize their full potential.”
Th e series adds another valuable
resource to QPL’s correctional services,
which also includes a video visitation program
allowing families to connect with
incarcerated loved ones without making
the trip to the Rikers Island jail complex,
library services at Rikers, giving inmates
access to books and other reading materials,
and the See You on the Outside program
at the Queensboro Correctional
Facility, helping inmates prepare to successfully
re-enter society by honing their
jobs and coping skills.
Courtesy of QPL
QPL’s Queensbridge Tech Lab will host the workshops.
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Queens lawmakers are applauding a
new initiative announced by Mayor Bill
de Blasio to expand relief for small businesses,
including eliminating fi nes for
fi rst time violations as well as expand the
universe of violations that will have cure
periods.
Th e de Blasio administration claims
to have cut small business fi nes by more
than 40 percent since 2014 and will cut
an additional 10 percent by the time the
Hizzoner leaves offi ce.
“New York City is not New York City
without our small businesses,” de Blasio
said. “We will not be a city that gives in to
corporate takeover. Instead, we’ll fi ght for
our mom-and-pops and do all we can to
help them thrive.”
Fines subject to relief include select
Department of Buildings, Department of
Environmental Protection, Department
of Transportation, Department of
Sanitation, and Department of Consumer
and Worker Protection violations. Th e
administration will work with the City
Council to review more than 75 violations.
“Our small businesses are the core of
New York City’s economic engine, and
it is no secret that being a small business
owner is oft en an arduous task,” said
Councilman Paul Vallone, chair of the
Committee on Economic Development.
“In these diffi cult economic times, this
much-needed relief for our mom-andpop
institutions will go a long way in
helping our city’s business owners and
their employees thrive and continue to
serve their communities.”
DOB and DOT can implement their
own rule changes, and will begin providing
additional relief in the fall. To ensure
businesses are aware of these changes,
these agencies will update their summonses
to include clear and easy explanations
for how to fi x the violations and the
Department of Small Business Services
will organize a canvassing eff ort across the
city to spread the word.
“Too oft en, we see businesses suff er
because of punitive fi nes and owners not
fully understanding the rules of engagement,”
Councilman I. Daneek Miller said.
“Our offi ce regularly holds OATH Pop-
Up Court sessions and informational
workshops to help educate small business
owners. Education and transparency
are key to ensuring that our businesses
have the tools they need to fl ourish.
Th e city should aim to strike a new balance
between enforcement and eff ective
regulation to work with business owners,
and we support the administration in
this eff ort.”
Under the “fi x it, don’t fi ne it” initiative
examples of fi rst time fi ne forgiveness
includes failure to clean 18 inches
from curb into the street, which carries a
$100 violation, and excessive noise created
by an air compressor, which is a $560
penalty.
“I support the city’s eff orts to make it
easier for small businesses to operate in
the city and hopefully encourage more
entrepreneurship,” state Senator James
Sanders Jr. said. “Reducing fi nes and helping
educate small business owners on how
to resolve or pay off penalties is a positive
step forward but there is more to be done.”
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
