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“The City must deliver much-needed relief to help businesses reopen, stay open, and revive high-vacancy corridors that have been devastated by the pandemic,” Comptroller Stringer said.
By Forum Staff
City Comptroller Scott Stringer on Wednesday proposed “Save Main Street,” a crash-relief program to help the city’s struggling small businesses access millions in untapped federal aid, provide tax incentives and other financial relief measures to support reopenings and ongoing small business survival, streamline city approvals for reopening, and encourage reopenings and startups in high-vacancy corridors that have been devastated by the pandemic.
Stringer said his plan would:
Establish Door-to-Door Outreach Teams to help business owners tap into the remaining $150 billion in the Paycheck Protection Program: Given that only 12 percent of New York City businesses and sole-proprietors have received a PPP loan, it is clear that a huge number have not taken advantage of this program. What they need is swift, hands-on support, and the City should provide it in conjunction with banks.
Offer City tax credits on business income taxes, to speed immediate relief to businesses, help them pay back rent, and cover the costs of reopening—from the utilization of sidewalk space, to interior remodeling that provides social distance and protective barriers, to outreach and advertising.
Make permanent the City’s temporary cap on third-party food delivery fees: In mid-May, the City Council voted to temporarily cap the fees and commissions that restaurants paid to companies like Uber Eats and Seamless. To help these businesses both during the pandemic and beyond, delivery fees should now be capped permanently at 15 percent and non-delivery services at 5 percent.
Eliminate the City’s 25-percent tax on liquor licenses: Meanwhile, the State should expedite the issuance of new liquor licenses, continue to ease regulations on alcohol pick-up and delivery, and repeal the recent executive orders that require food to be purchased along with alcohol and place the onus on businesses to enforce open container laws.
Allow businesses a “cure period” to address and fix violations, rather than fining them immediately: Moving forward, any business violation that does not pose an immediate hazard to the public should be granted a 30-Day “cure period” to address and rectify the issue. Rather than taking a punitive approach and issuing a fine, the City should grant all businesses the opportunity to remediate problems.
Waive permitting and inspection fees for businesses that take over a vacant space in the next 10 months: This will incentivize businesses to act fast and begin to revive our commercial corridors.
Work with New York City’s technology community and local business schools to create a NYC Tech Corps that helps small businesses design websites, help purchase business software, and set up digital payroll, sales, and inventory tools.
Eliminate expeditors, the for-profit fixers that many small businesses are forced to hire to navigate the Department of Buildings, and replace them with in-house Business Advocates that create faster approvals for all applicants.
Help immigrant entrepreneurs scale up, extend into new markets, and open second businesses: Small Business Services should help immigrant entrepreneurs expand into new markets and open new stores. Marketing, promotion, and translation services should be offered to help reach new customers beyond their immediate neighborhood and the City should pilot a new program to help proven, successful entrepreneurs open second businesses throughout the city, expediting permitting and helping with the costs of modifying these new spaces.
“The City must deliver much-needed relief to help businesses reopen, stay open, and revive high-vacancy corridors that have been devastated by the pandemic,” Stringer said.
