FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 10, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
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With small businesses on the brink, City Council needs to act now
BY BRENT
O’LEARY
Small businesses
are at the heart
of every community
— they’re the wellknown
and wellloved
cornerstones
that bring neighbors
together and persist throughout time. Our
city would not be the special place it is
without its independent restaurants, bakeries
and shops.
Even before COVID-19 swept our city,
forcing businesses to juggle indefi nite closure
with the world-changing eff ects of
a pandemic, our small businesses faced
a crisis. Predatory landlords looking for
large windfalls put decades-old momand
pops and new startups alike at risk
of closure with rapid and extreme rent
increases all over the city. In these conditions,
businesses were already just scraping
by.
As we head into the holiday season
nearly nine months into this pandemic,
our small businesses are now teetering on
the very edge of survival.
“Since COVID, we have been working
double as hard for half the revenue,” said
Eric Barthel, owner of Cooldown Juice.
“We went from comfortable to deciding
which bills to pay. We are trying to stay
afl oat.”
He and his shop are not alone. Countless
businesses across the city and the country
have seen the revenue they used to count
on completely vanish, and are struggling
to recover.
We can’t aff ord to lose our small businesses,
which means we can’t aff ord to
do nothing. If we do, more than just
the businesses themselves are in danger;
their employees, their employees’ families
and our city’s entire economy and tax
base are, too, with a potential for a ripple
eff ect throughout our communities, families
and economies.
Businesses shutting down and people
staying home saved lives. Now, we need a
plan to save our businesses.
A strong plan, at minimum, should
include cash grants for those businesses
that were forced to close and tax abatements
to reduce costs in the long term.
Critically, rent must be canceled for
small businesses; any unpaid rent for the
months they were closed or reopening
should never come due. If businesses can’t
letters & comments
pay their rent, they won’t be able to survive.
Landlords haven’t been a source of
support, despite the fact that not being
able to pay rent is the fault of the pandemic,
not of the businesses themselves.
“Th e most diffi cult part has been the
lack of support by landlords. Being
restricted to 25 percent capacity is hard
enough. And we’ve been very serious
about keeping our clientele safe. Lots of
money invested in protocols,” said Corey
Lange, co-owner of Solid State Bar. And
yet there is “zero help from landlords,”
Lange added. “It’s frustrating. Especially
because we’re in it together. If I fail, we
both fail.”
We can’t aff ord to leave businesses without
support as they face the possibility of
shutting their doors forever. We have to
take action to provide rent relief and other
fi nancial support now.
Most importantly, we need to give our
businesses the stability they have been
deprived of for years, and the best way to
do that is to guarantee every small business
10-year leases with the ability to
renew. Th is will help them get back on
their feet, since longer terms and guaranteed
renewal would newly give them
access to fi nancing that could make all the
diff erence in their recovery from COVID-
19.
All of these steps are possible, and the
City Council has the power to get much
of this done right now. Th e Small Business
Jobs Survival Act contains many of these
provisions and could give small businesses
the tools they need to survive. But, this
critical solution has been sitting in the
Council for years without being put up
for a vote, even with the support of 29 City
Council members.
Shuttered businesses cannot alone be
expected to pay the price of shutdowns.
Leaving them without support at this
moment risks causing signifi cant damage
to communities in the wake of mass
closures. We all, including landlords and
government leaders, need to work together
to share the burden of saving our small
business community from permanent
decimation before it’s too late.
Th e most important action that can be
taken today would be passing the SBSJA.
Th e speaker should put it up for a vote
now.
Brent O’Leary is an attorney, community
leader, and candidate for City Council in
District 26, which covers Long Island City,
Sunnyside, Woodside and parts of Astoria.
QUESTIONS REMAIN
REGARDING NEW LIRR
ELMONT STATION
Th ere is more to the recent announcement
by supporters of the Islanders
Belmont Arena that the LIRR has completed
installation of the new pre-cast, concrete
eastbound Elmont LIRR station currently
under construction.
One key element which appears to still be
missing is who is going to purchase, operate
and maintain a fl eet of shuttle buses,
which will connect the new Elmont LIRR
station with the Islanders Arena.
Several thousand fans traveling by the
LIRR will not be happy if they have to walk
up to 10 minutes from the station to the
arena especially in the rain, cold, snow or
heat. What is the status for their bus procurement?
Has a contract ever been advertised and
awarded? Bus manufacturers have a backlog
of up to two years for orders already
placed by transit agencies. Will they be
in compliance with the Americans with
Disabilities Act? Who will build a facility
for maintenance, storage and powering
electric shuttle buses? Building a facility
can require two years. What is the capacity
of these electric buses, which could
range from 20 to 60 riders? Th ere are now
less than 11 months to complete all of these
critical tasks.
MTA Chairman Pat Foye’s recent threats
to include a 40 percent reduction in NYC
Transit bus, subway and Staten Island
Railway along with a 50 percent cut in
Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North
Railroad service could adversely impact
promised service to the Islanders Belmont
Arena.
Th e second is fare increases above and
beyond the previously scheduled 4 percent
in 2021. Th is was part of the $51 billion
2020 - 2024 Five-Year Capital Plan funding
assumptions, Unless he receives $12
billion more in COVID-19 funding from
Washington, they could become reality
within months.
Th e MTA is investing $105 million to
build the new Elmont LIRR Station which
would provide service to the Islanders
Belmont Arena, scheduled to open in
October 2022. A 50 percent reduction in
LIRR service confl icts with promised service
increases.
How do you provide new LIRR service
to the Islanders Arena via the new Elmont
Station when you are threatening a 50 percent
reduction in service?
Anyone in the transit industry knows
that customers being asked to pay a premium
fare always prefer a one-seat ride.
Th is is what is provided for most who
attend events at Madison Square Garden or
the Brooklyn Barclays Center. Why would
any Islanders fan coming from Nassau
or Suff olk County want to fi rst drive to a
local LIRR station, park their car, board
the LIRR (and in some cases have to
switch at Huntington, Mineola, Babylon
or Ronkonkoma from a diesel to electric
train), then board a shuttle bus from the
new Elmont LIRR station westbound north
platform which will not open until 2022?
Only the eastbound south platform will
be completed in time to coincide with the
Islanders Arena October 2021. It can only
be served by the Hempstead branch.
Babylon, Speonk, West Hempstead, Long
Beach and Far Rockaway branch riders will
always have to change at Jamaica and walk
up the stairs; take an escalator or elevator
from platform levels serving tracks one,
two or three to the mezzanine level; walk
across the mezzanine and down the stairs,
escalator or elevator to tracks 7 or 8; wait
for the next eastbound train to reach the
new Elmont Station; and board a shuttle
bus to reach the arena.
Port Jeff erson, Huntington, Oyster Bay
and Ronkonkoma branch riders will have
to do the same until the Elmont Station
westbound platform and overpass are completed.
Th is is scheduled to be fi nished one
year later by October 2022, if all goes well.
Port Washington branch riders have the
added pleasure of an additional transfer at
Woodside. As a result, I predict 95 percent
or more of those attending Islanders games,
rock concerts or other events will elect to
drive or take a car service.
Completion for construction of the eastbound
platform for the new Elmont LIRR
station is a great early milestone. Let’s
see what occurs over the next two years
between construction of the westbound
NYC platform, overpass, elevators, actual
station waiting room, shuttle bus service
area, frequency of service and fare structure
to see if it was worth the investment.
Time will tell.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
PEACEFUL VIEW IN
KISSENA PARK // PHOTO
SUBMITTED BY LEANN
BUGARIN
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