Tag Archives: equitable economic development

Gentrification Has Always Been About More Than Housing

New York is experiencing growing pains. It’s quickly changing and neighborhoods with strong identities and histories are melding into the same glass-towered landscape that reigns throughout the City, rendering them unrecognizable. In last week’s New York Times Magazine, Willy Staley explores the impact of gentrification beyond the ongoing and pressing conversation about its impact on housing affordability.

Gentrification is not just limited to housing or small business loss, it marks the loss of the culture of a neighborhood, one created through community networks.

New York City is succumbing to massive wealth, an influx of capital that reshapes our poor and working class neighborhoods. As small businesses fall victim to commercial warehousing, a lack of access to financing, and their customer base disappearing, the community response has begun to shift toward a more holistic anti-displacement movement.

As part of this movement, communities recognize that it’s not just their housing that’s threatened; it’s the culture that New Yorkers have created for their city that is slowly disappearing. It is the connections neighbors make on the street, at barbershops and salons, in bodegas and grocery stores, in restaurants and with vendors on the street. This is a moment where previously disparate threads running through the conversation about community development are at an intersection.

As organizers, advocates, and New Yorkers, there is a collective recognition that protecting small businesses is part of a larger community development vision that protects the souls of neighborhoods. It is all the parts – the small businesses, culture, arts, infrastructure, public spaces, and the housing – that make streets, a block, and blocks a community.

When media boast headlines like ‘There’s Never Been a Better Time to Open Retail Stores in NYC’, they are inadvertently pointing to what happens when neighborhood small business displacement creates a glut of vacant commercial storefronts. When Karla and James Murray or Jeremiah Moss profile the loss of neighborhood businesses, they are pointing to how these forces are prioritizing capital over culture. When the New York City Council releases a report highlighting a multitude of recommendations on how to preserve small businesses on the same day they host a hearing on rampant commercial vacancies, it clear that our elected officials are attempting to address a crisis that has devastated our communities.

The effort to combat commercial and cultural displacement will be led by those most impacted by the crisis. The fight to save beloved the Washington Heights institution, Coogan’s or the backlash around vending machine concept [Bro]dega demonstrate that people who love New York City’s small businesses, who love the part of community culture they provide, are stepping forward and making their voices heard.

An impactful and effective response to the displacement crisis will take work. As Staley notes, “Befriending your bodega guy is a great thing to do, but it’s of limited assistance when the landlord triples his rent.” Being an ally to commercial tenants means supporting advocacy and organizing that empowers small businesses to decide their own future and fight against their displacement. It means developing tools and protections to address the power imbalance between commercial landlords and tenants. It means calling on those in power to enact the changes necessary to protect these vital community assets.

In short, it will take a movement.

Lena Afridi, ANHD’s Policy Coordinator for Equitable Economic Development

Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen, ANHD’s Campaign Coordinator for Equitable Economic Development

Cypress Hills Small Businesses Demand City Action Over Awning Fines

Small businesses along the Fulton Street commercial corridor in Brooklyn came out in force last week to urge City attention at resolving challenges to running their businesses. The Cypress Hills Business Partners Merchant Association and local business owners highlighted the heavy fines associated with awning violations, which has led some shopkeepers to face fines of as much as $20,000. These fines, in addition to increasing rents and a lack of commercial protections, make it harder for businesses to afford their space and stay open. Most of the businesses that have been targeted are immigrant owned. Along with Councilmember Espinal and State Senator Martin Malavé Dilan, immigrant business owners urged the City to intervene and alleviate this pressure.

The call for the Administration to take action comes at a time when commercial tenants in commercial corridors across the city face an increasingly uncertain future. Based on the experiences of business owners, the fines jeopardize the viability of businesses that have been in Cypress Hills for decades. As some indicated in their remarks, the City’s approach to fine rather than educate and help small businesses become compliant is also problematic. It builds a barrier rather than a bridge between potential city services and small businesses in communities.

As small businesses citywide continue to face displacement pressures from multiple directions, communities can learn from this mobilization by the Cypress Hills Business Partners Merchant Association. The City has an opportunity to step up and support immigrant small businesses and the communities they serve.

YASNIRI, OWNER OF TWO ROSES EVENTS

“My name is Yasniri Espinal, and I am the owner of Two Roses Events and a member of the merchant association. The DOB [Department of Buildings] has been too aggressive towards small businesses in the Cypress Hills community. As a small business owner, we are working extremely hard day by day to make ends meet. We feel that the DOB has been targeting the Cypress Hills community and needs to teach us how to fix this problem instead of taking advantage of it. My business got a summon from the DOB regarding our awning, and because of this, we had to hire an architect. This was pricey, and many of us don’t have the money to do so. We are here to ask the mayor to work with us to find a way to comply with the laws without hurting our businesses.”

JOSE LUIS, OWNER OF TIO DELI

“Mi nombre es Jose Luis Cepeda, dueño de la bodega Tío Deli y un líder de la asociación de negociantes de Cypress Hills. Estamos aquí hoy para expresar nuestra preocupación por la ola de presión a la cual estamos siendo sometidos los comerciantes de Cypress Hills. Somos una comunidad humilde y trabajadora, la cual aporta grandemente con sus impuestos a la ciudad de NY. Los pequeños negocios no estamos en condiciones de pagar multas tan altas, por lo cual le pedimos al alcalde que nos dé más tiempo para educarnos mejor en el problema y para poder legalizar nuestros letreros.”

JAVIER SOLIS, OWNER OF LOS TAXES

“My name is Javier Solis, and I am the owner of Los Taxes and a leader of the merchant association. When I came to Cypress Hills back in 1994, I never thought this would become my permanent home and my business. I see how many small business owners struggle with the daily challenges we face to keep our doors open, and now we are faced with the lack of consideration of our city agencies. The sad and unfair penalties many of us have received for having inherited a business sign is escalating to thousands of dollars, and we still do not have a reasonable commitment from the Department of Buildings to help us come to a settlement where we can correct the problems. Our councilman Rafael Espinal is aware of the issue and is willing to work with us, but we need the Mayor to help us find an immediate solution to this issue.”

JUAN DIAZ, OWNER OF AVI MULTISERVICE

“Mi nombre es Juan Díaz, dueño de AVI Multiservice, y un líder de la asociación de negociantes de Cypress Hills. He sido dueño de varios negocios en la comunidad por 25 años. Hemos recibido summons por no estar cumpliendo una ley que no sabiamos que existia. No hubo educación ni comunicación que la ley estaba en efecto ni cómo cumplirla. Es difícil mantenerse al tanto de cambios de leyes y regulaciones. Le pedimos al alcalde una campaña de educación al respecto, en inglés y en español porque somos una comunidad mayormente hispana.”

JULIO TAVARES, OWNER OF TAVARES RESTAURANT

“Mi nombre es Julio Tavares y he sido negociante en esta comunidad por más de 11 anos. Recientemente yo recibí una multa del departamento de buildings por la suma de $ 5,000 dólares suma que por su alto valor en estos momentos yo no puedo pagar. Estas multas constante por las agencias de la ciudad, perjudican grandemente mi negocio. Por esta razón, hoy estoy aquí reunido con mis otros compañeros negociantes para pedirle al Mayor que por favor trabaje con nosotros para buscarle una solución a este problema.”

Bodegas, Not Brodegas #StopBrodega

The recently reported business idea for Bodega (hereafter referred to as Brodega), a glorified vending machine aiming to replace the venerable New York institution, is not a bodega at all; it’s an engine for displacing hardworking business owners.

The awful irony of naming the company “Bodega” after the very brick and mortar institutions they aim to displace, to say nothing about the cat their logo is based on that will similarly be displaced, is offensive, utterly misguided, and frankly disrespectful to New Yorkers. But when the young, white founder is asked whether he’s worried  the name Bodega might come off as culturally insensitive he says, “I’m not particularly concerned about it…We did surveys in the Latin American community.” Ignoring the fact that there is no such thing as a singular, “Latin American community,” it’s still an outrageous and revealing comment.

One can’t help but keep asking, Why? Why would you want to make bodegas a thing of the past? Why would you want to eliminate one of the pillars of New York City life? The existing landscape for small businesses is difficult enough as it is. In the same neighborhoods where Brodega hopes to cash in on the popularity of and need for actual bodegas, small business owners already lack basic rights and protections, making them susceptible to rising displacement pressures.

As New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Chairman Frank Garcia said, “Real bodegas are all about human relationships within a community.” Despite their extensive demographic and market research, the creators missed a crucial fact about New York City: you can mess with a lot here, but you can’t mess with our bodegas.

It’s true that Brodega is convenient. It’s a convenient way to ignore rampant displacement caused by luxury developments. It’s a convenient way to slip blinders on and avoid New York’s worsening inequality crisis and its disappearing small businesses. And it’s a nice and easy way for rich tech bros to avoid interaction with the plebes and communities of color that are quickly – but apparently not quickly enough – disappearing from the City’s boundaries.

Brodega allows the new city dweller to automate and sanitize urban life, to live in the City without actually participating in its civic and cultural life aside from contributing to its disappearance. Never mind the lives of the immigrant and refugee service workers behind the counter who work 80 hour weeks, who brew the City’s morning cup of coffee and wrap up our life-sustaining egg and cheese on a roll. Or the lives of the young parents who rely on the bodega because the owners give them food on credit when they can’t afford it, or the senior citizens who use the space as a community center and act as a de facto neighborhood watch. There’s little need for such a community safety net when that community ceases to exist.

New Yorkers know the difference between a vending machine and the real thing. The bodega is part of New York’s culture. Trying to replace the bodega with a glorified vending machine is like trying to replace the Empire State building with a low-rise strip mall.

We should be looking at ways to sustain and strengthen our bodegas and small businesses, not developing ways of getting rid of them. Why? Because communities are not just where people sleep and get their mail. They are where people live. Bodegas and small businesses are such a crucial part of the urban experience that you’d be hard pressed to find a New Yorker who hasn’t stopped in for a sandwich, milk, or conversation with the business owners who are just as part of the neighborhood as the people who live there. They are a crucial part of life in this City. Their owners and workers are our neighbors and our fellow New Yorkers.

When small businesses, especially bodegas, are displaced, New York’s culture is displaced. And we (and our bodega cats) won’t stand for that.

Lena Afridi, Policy Coordinator for Equitable Economic Development

Armando Moritz-Chapelliquen, Campaign Coordinator for Equitable Economic Development

Advocates Launch Small Business Anti-Displacement Platform

Group calls for City to Focus on Preventing Commercial Displacement

Today, advocates launched the platform for United for Small Business NYC (USBnyc), a coalition of community organizations across New York City fighting to protect New York’s small businesses and non-residential tenants from the threat of displacement, with particular focus on owner-operated, low-income, minority-run businesses that serve low-income and minority communities. As part of their platform launch, USBnyc outlined recommendations to prevent small business displacement through a variety of policy and legislative solutions. In the coming months, the coalition will engage community organizations, commercial corridors, and elected officials to fight back against commercial displacement together.

“For all of the progress we have made over decades to establish and protect the rights of residential tenants, the rights of commercial tenants are largely limited to what’s in their lease,” said Benjamin Dulchin, Executive Director at the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD). “With gentrification and displacement threatening the viability of commercial tenants in neighborhoods across the city, City Hall needs to develop tools to protect small businesses, create affordable space, and regulate bad landlords.”

Under the threat of landlord harassment, impending displacement, and a lack of city resources, USBnyc aims to create strong, lasting protections for commercial tenants. The coalition was successful in helping pass last year’s commercial tenant anti-harassment legislation, which for the first time ever allows commercial tenants to legislate against unscrupulous landlords. Now, businesses are looking to build on the framework of the commercial tenant harassment legislation by expanding the definition and providing legal services for small businesses.

“Small businesses provide employment to local residents. There have been many situations that made our businesses in the Northwest Bronx harder to manage. Landlords have raised rents, they stopped renewing leases” said Christian Ramos, President of the Northwest Bronx Merchants’ Association. “We have the right to stay. We have the right to free legal services. Immigrant business owners also need protection and resources to survive. We need stronger legislation in the city that protects small business owners.”

However, not all commercial corridors are experiencing the same challenges. While some areas have small businesses struggling to hold on, others are marked by vacant storefronts. These vacant storefronts became a reality as landlords wait for tenants who will pay high rents and receive no penalties for commercial warehousing. As a citywide coalition, the United for Small Business NYC platform targets this challenge by calling for the creation of a penalty system for commercial warehousing as well as new financial tools to facilitate development of affordable commercial space by non-profit entities.

“There are numerous storefronts that have been sitting vacant for many months, after landlords like Icon Realty bought out commercial tenants or refused to renew leases. While they sit and wait for some chain store or bank to lease their space, countless aspiring small business owners, many of them immigrants, lose an opportunity to make their American dream come true,” said Steve Herrick, Executive Director of Cooper Square Committee. “It’s time for the City to pursue an aggressive agenda to preserve small businesses, which reflect the character of our communities.”

“For the past 25 years, WHEDco has worked to ensure that residents across the South Bronx have access to the resources we all need to thrive, including economic opportunity. Many of the local entrepreneurs we serve are immigrants operating in low-income communities. They’re continually faced with an uphill battle because of limited access to capital that prevents them from growing, ever-increasing rents and operating costs, and predatory landlords that harass them with unreasonable demands,” says Kerry McLean, Vice President of Community Development at WHEDco. “As a founding member of USBnyc, WHEDco is proud to add our 25 years of community development experience to the depth of expertise shared by the coalition’s members.”

Advocates urge the City to take action on these challenges, stressing that the continued displacement of small businesses from New York’s communities exacerbates the cultural displacement underway citywide.

“Small business owners, the lifeblood of New York City, have very few protections under the law,” said Gowri Krishna, Community Development Project at Urban Justice Center. “We support USBnyc’s efforts to commercial tenants and help ensure their sustainability.”

“BKA believes that small businesses are vitally important to the low-income, minority communities that we serve,” said Meah Clay, Senior Staff Attorney for Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A’s Community and Economic Development Program. “We strongly support the fight to preserve small businesses against displacement in the face of rapid re-zonings and gentrification.”

“This is a critical time for Small Businesses in New York City. Nearly half of all Small Business in NYC are immigrant owned and operated; these businesses are the unique makeup of our communities,” said Annette Seecharran, Executive Director of Chhaya CDC. “Immigrant business owners in Queens are facing increasing competition and community displacement. It is important to advocate on behalf of the immigrant small business community and push for systemic change that improves the well-being of all small business owners.”

USBnyc Membership

Asian Americans for Equality, ANHD, Banana Kelly CIA, Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), Chhaya CDC, Community Development Project-Urban Justice Center, Cooper Square Committee, Fifth Avenue Committee, Fourth Arts Block, Make the Road NY, Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, Pratt Center for Community Development, Spaceworks NYC, Street Vendor Project, Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS), WHEDco