By: Ezra Ashkenazi
Small businesses across New York City have many problems, but the city government doesn’t know anything about them. The New York Post said that according to Thomas Grech, executive director of the Queens County Chamber of Commerce, “The city doesn’t get the challenges of small businesses, such as paying a minimum $15-an-hour wage. It just thinks of small businesses as something to tax.” The problem is, according to Grech, is that most city official have never owned a small business, so they don’t understand the struggles that small business owners face every day.
Dr. Nabil Salib, a New York doctor also calls for lower taxes and rents, saying that the city needs to add low interest business loans as well. There are many businesses that are victims to the neglectful attitude that the New York government has given them. The Metropolitan Pharmacy has been around in Queens for 40 years however it will be closing. The owner blames the city policies. The pharmacy’s demise comes right after the closing of a 73-year-old deli in Rego Park. A city official was asked about the Metropolitan Pharmacy’s plight, and he answered that he in fact does care about small businesses. According to the NYC Department of Small Business Services, the city is home to around 230,00 small businesses, which is defined by a business that has 125 employees or less.
A spokeswoman from the SBS says that the biggest reasons why most small businesses fail is the growth of e-commerce and commercial rents. The SBS recently launched a web portal to help out small businesses with specific problems that they have. An SBS representative said that, “We want small businesses to survive,” and they think that this portal will surely help small businesses not only survive but thrive. Another service that the SBS officials offer is a commercial lease program. This connects small business owners with free legal services with a real attorney. This helps the owners with negotiating rent or a lease, with solving problems with their landlords, and with responding to an eviction notice.
Another situation that this service helps owners with is negotiating a lease renewal. SBS commissioner Gregg Bishop said that the services were made to, “reduce the burden of bureaucracy and promote equity of access for the city’s over 230,000 small businesses.” With all the problems that are shutting down small business after another, the SBS sure is doing an amazing thing helping these business owners succeed.
(Ezra Ashkenazi is currently an intern in the Jewish Voice Student Journalist Initiative)
