Tag Archives: city council

Council Small Business Report Includes Key Provisions of USBNYC Platform

The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD) and United for Small Business NYC (USBNYC) applaud City Council on the release of their 2017 report, Planning for Retail Diversity: Supporting NYC’s Neighborhood Businesses. The report provides a timely and broad analysis of issues faced by independent retailers across the five boroughs and offers a robust template of policy solutions and recommendations to address these problems. It is the first time the Administration has provided a detailed platform to address the crisis of retail displacement in New York City, an ongoing issue that impacts small businesses and commercial corridors citywide.

USBNYC is pleased that Council supports several of the Coalition’s platform priorities and recommendations, including:

• The development of a commercial development fund,
• The designation of meaningful enforcement responsibilities to the Department of Small Business Services (SBS),
• An increase in access to small business data,
• And the implementation of a count of vacant commercial properties as part of citywide Community Development Needs Assessments.

We hope that in 2018, Council takes the necessary steps to implement these recommendations through enforceable and robust legislation.

The displacement of neighborhood institutions not only threatens New York’s identity, but it also eliminates jobs, community spaces, and affordable resources in low- and moderate-income communities of color. As the city’s small businesses disappear at an alarming rate, it is vital to implement robust protections to ensure their survival, and in turn ensure the vitality and vibrancy of New York’s neighborhoods. We look forward to working with the Council to implement these recommendations and stem the continuing loss of small businesses in our communities.

Lena Afridi, ANHD’s Policy Coordinator for Economic Development

VICTORY: City Council to Pass Certificate of No Harassment Legislation

The Coalition Against Tenant Harassment is thrilled that Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) legislation passed in City Council today. An expansion of CONH beyond the Clinton Special District has been a goal in numerous community campaigns for decades, and our coalition in particular has organized and advocated for the past several years to make this program a reality.

Throughout New York City, far too many tenants face persistent harassment from landlords determined to drive them out in order to increase profits and deregulate affordable apartments. CONH will help to proactively prevent displacement by creating a strong disincentive for tenant harassment – essentially flipping the current incentive structure on its head. Where landlords have seen tenant harassment as a means to increase rents, the new CONH law will turn it into an obstacle to higher profits. And the simultaneous expansion of the definition of harassment in Intro 1721 will help to ensure that the real ways in which tenants experience harassment are acknowledged and counted in this and other programs and tools.

“In my community, too many tenants face harassment from landlords who want to push them out, renovate their apartments, and double the rent. In my building, where I have lived for 25 years, this is exactly what the landlord has done. This is why the Certificate of No Harassment is so important. This bill gives real voice to tenants and gives more weight to the complaints we make against our landlords,” said Maria Cortes, a member of Make the Road New York.

“Hard working people who are making the best with the lot they’ve been handed in life are working every day to make sure they cover the most important expenses in their household. But even so they are getting no repairs, and even living without basic services like heat and hot water. Hot water is a basic necessity for bathing and getting ready for work, or bathing after a long day, but people are going without because of deliberate landlord neglect. The Certificate of No Harassment will give us one more tool to hold our landlords accountable, and make sure tenants are able to organize for their rights,” said Sergio Cuevas, tenant leader & board member from the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition.

“As the leader of our housing team at the Fort Tryon Jewish Center, a member of Faith in New York, and a tenant who has experienced harassment myself, my community and I knew that we could not sit quietly and be complicit in the oppression and degradation of our neighbors so that we can enjoy a comfortable community. We will stand by our neighbors, and use the resources we have to help protect them. That’s why we started a petition to raise awareness in our own community about tenant harassment, found that it had wide support across faith and ethnic communities. We are excited to celebrate the passage of this bill and are dedicated to doing our part, knocking on doors, and doing what we all need to do to build the beloved city!” said Avi Garelick, housing team leader at Fort Tryon Jewish Center and member of Faith in New York.

We thank Council Member Brad Lander for tirelessly championing the Certificate of No Harassment legislation. We thank Council Member Jumaane Williams for his support and consistent commitment to tenants’ rights; Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito for her leadership; and all of the Council Members who co-sponsored the legislation, voted for it, and helped bring this crucial new protection to the tenants of New York City. We also appreciate the effort and attention HPD put into developing this legislation, and we look forward to working with them to successfully implement this new program.

This is a victory for the tenant movement, and for the thousands of New Yorkers who have fought and will continue to fight for the right to stay in their homes and communities.

For more information on the legislation, click here to read our explanation document.

Click here to read the full press release from Council Member Brad Lander’s office.

‘Fight’ Over Zoning Reform Should Be About Jobs, Not Industry Interests

Tuesday’s Crain’s story on the expected fight between the self-storage industry and City Hall announces industry efforts to weaken City industrial policy. The article recognizes the delay on crucial land use reforms yet improperly frames the state of current industrial policy. The City’s focus on the industrial and manufacturing sector to advance economic equity is the result of extensive research and assessment on the subject. The Mayor’s 10-Point Industrial Action Plan aims to support the creation and sustainability of good paying industrial jobs by limiting non-industrial uses through zoning reform.

The suggested “fight” is essentially the City standing up for well thought out policies that lead to the creation of more good-paying jobs in the City against the self-storage industry’s interests.

An out of control real estate market is the overarching problem for both existing and potential manufacturers looking to locate in the City. As Leah Archibald of industrial business provider organization Evergreen Exchange pointed out to Crain’s, nonindustrial uses that are permitted in industrial areas feed speculation, driving up rents and property values to the point where manufacturers are unable to compete. Jobs that leave as a result of this speculation are unlikely to come back if underlying conditions are not addressed. Competing uses like self-storage or hotels create fewer good paying jobs and drastically alter the composition of a neighborhood and further accelerate speculation.

As concluded in the Industrial Plan, limiting these competing uses through zoning mechanisms like a special permit is a sound policy tool with both local and citywide precedent. The Bridging Gowanus report, which comprehensively examined ways to move the community forward amidst speculative forces, explicitly highlights the need to restrict the capacity of competing non-industrial uses. Citywide, the City Council’s own Engines of Opportunity report on the industrial and manufacturing sector recognized the need for broad zoning reform to advance economic equity. This Administration’s Industrial Action Plan rightfully focuses on addressing competing uses as a way to create more jobs and economic opportunity for New Yorkers.

Now, over a year after the Mayor’s announcement, the Plan still provides a solid foundation for industrial policy to create economic equity. But implementation remains incomplete, to the detriment of employees, businesses, and communities citywide. Jobs are disappearing as the cost of operating an industrial business continues to rise. Delays to the full implementation of this plan – whether logistical or as a result of industry interests – do not change these realities. ANHD and industrial advocates throughout NYC will work with the Administration and the City Council to protect and grow the critical industrial jobs that serve families and their communities.

The promise of use group reform remains unfulfilled.

Almost one year ago, the Administration and the City Council, with the support of many of us in the economic development community, announced the Industrial Action Plan, a ten-point roadmap for strengthening the industrial and manufacturing sector, a growing source of middle-class jobs and entrepreneurial opportunity for New Yorkers in all five boroughs. One of the most significant promises out of that plan was the development of new “safeguards against the influx of tourist hotels and personal mini-storage facilities”. Unfortunately, the Administration’s publicly stated October 15^th deadline has passed, and the promise of use group reform remains unfulfilled.

The rationale behind creating these safeguards is “to preserve opportunities for industrial and manufacturing businesses” and the good paying jobs they bring to NYC. But these businesses are closing because they are being priced out of the City’s little manufacturing zoned land by non-manufacturing businesses. ANHD and the Pratt Center for Community Development, along with industrial advocates from across the city, were proud to stand with the Administration when it announced it would limit hotels and “implement restrictions on personal mini-storage and household goods storage facilities in IBZs through appropriate land use controls”. However, those land use tools have yet to be announced let alone implemented.

The jobs created by industrial and manufacturing businesses provide an opportunity for economic stability and social mobility; this has been central to the discussion of industrial policy for years. As demonstrated by the Council’s 2014 Engines of Opportunity report, jobs in this sector pay more than double in annual wages than the types of jobs that are often displacing them, such as retail, restaurants, and hotels.

Industrial use group reform can help the Administration, the Council, industrial advocates, and our communities in our shared goal of expanding the number of good quality jobs for lower skilled workers who so often struggle to achieve economic stability.

However, the Administration’s failure to fulfill this crucial commitment may be a disappointing sign for its Industrial Action Plan and for the broader realm of policies that can help ensure greater economic stability and social mobility for all New Yorkers. While the Administration has moved forward on some of its commitments, others that are essential to the City realizing the full economic benefit of this sector remain delayed. We urge the Administration to move forward on use group reform, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Administration and the Council as we work to serve and grow the jobs and business in the industrial sector.