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necb.com
Council O.K.’s
retail-vacancy
tracking bill
BY GABE HERMAN
Retail vacancies remain an ongoing issue throughout
much of the city, including in Downtown
Manhattan, in areas like the East Village and
West Village, such as along Bleecker St. Now the City
Council has passed a bill that will create a database
of retail spaces and their vacancy status, and which
requires merchants to register storefronts with the city
as part of the process.
The bill to create the vacancy database, which
would be the fi rst of its kind in the country, was introduced
this year on March 13 by Manhattan Borough
President Gale Brewer, City Councilmember Helen
Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side, and
Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose district includes
Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, the West Village and
Midtown West.
The three local politicians said the bill would help
address the crisis of empty storefronts.
“You can’t fi x a problem when you can’t even begin
to measure it,” Brewer said after the bill passed. “This
database will be a boost for business owners looking
for possible places to rent, those facing lease negotiations,
and countless other possible services, which is
why I’m proud the Council voted to pass this bill today.”
“Our ‘Storefront Tracker’ legislation will require
citywide tracking of commercial storefront and second
fl oor spaces for the fi rst time,” Rosenthal said,
“providing comprehensive data on commercial strips
at risk, the location of every vacant storefront and
more. This essential information will be the basis for
solutions which help keep small businesses in our
communities.”
Speaker Johnson joined Rosenthal in stressing the
importance of small businesses to the local economy.
“Passing legislation to address and help mom-andpop
store owners is vital,” Johnson said after the bill
passed, “and today we are approving several proposals
to help businesses by providing much-needed support
and information. Currently, the city lacks the data
necessary to make informed policy decisions and the
storefront database bill will tackle this issue head on.”
Some small-business advocates, however, were less
optimistic about the bill’s impact on the problem.
Kirsten Theodos, co-founder of TakeBackNYC,
which advocates for mom-and-pop shops, said she has
no problem with collecting information about retail
vacancies.
“But it is perplexing why a bill counting vacant
storefronts was fast-tracked and passed in just four
short months,” she said, “while the Small Business
Jobs Survival Act, a bill that would actually stop the
closings by addressing the unfair lease-renewal process,
had a hearing eight months ago and since then
there has been zero movement toward a vote.”
Theodos was also critical of how Speaker Johnson
has been handling the vacancy issue.
“It is very sad that the speaker had the time to withdraw
his name from the S.B.J.S.A., a bill he proclaimed
in 2018 he was a ‘proud sponsor’ of, be a co-sponsor of
this recent bill — that will not stop the crisis of good
businesses from closing — and quietly reshuffl e the
deck on the Small Business Committee; but he does
not have the time or political will to pass progressive
legislation like the S.B.J.S.A.”
Schneps Media TVG August 1, 2019 23
/NECB.COM
/necb.com