Council Members owe an apology!

Council Members owe mom and pop owners an apology!

Recently a person took strong offence to our article*about the statement made by a Village advocacy group, “ We don’t give up- and neither should you!”. Our article made the case that they in fact “did give up” on their local small business owner’s future. He accused us of unjustly attacking the group’s leader Andrew Berman and Council Member Carlina Rivera. After going into details of both Berman’s and Rivera’s pro community accomplishments he questioned, “why attack the good guys?”

* https://www.savenycjobs.com/advocates-and-activist-no-help

For over the past decade in NYC, there have been no true “good guys” with the courage to stand up to a powerful lobby, the Real Estate Board of New York, REBNY, and stand for our small business owner’s rights, justice and future. In our city’s small business owners long struggle to survive insane rent increases and oppressive lease demands when their leases expire, there are no Atticus Finch type lawmakers at City Hall. No true progressive Council Members fighting to throw mom and pop owners a real lifeline to save their American Dream. Nor but a few social leaders or community advocates willing to risk their secure political and financial positions by standing up against REBNY. This lobby is the most responsible for controlling and corrupting our Democratic leadership to rig the system to stop any legislation (like the Jobs Survival Act) giving real rights to business owners when their leases expire.

This angry citizen missed the whole point of our article. Andrew Berman’s call to save David’s business (threatened closure due to a sky high rent increase) by having the customers sign a petition to the landlord offered the best opportunity for us to better explain why David (and thousands of other business owners like him citywide) have for many years needed help to survive when their leases expired because they had NO RIGHTS. Also, who in government is responsible for David and others for not having any rights that are needed to survive when their leases expire?

Powerless business owners did not need help from their customers, but instead, they desperately needed real sincere committed effective help from their Council Members. Real help of a real lifeline with real rights, from Council Members that has never been given even once in over the past decade. Appallingly, a City Council that remained silent to over a decade of a growing small business crisis that forced record closings of long established businesses which would lead to the citywide, “empty store blight”.

Why would it be acceptable to Council Members that NYC was the only major city in America whose main streets had an empty store blight during a nationwide economic recovery. Also, during the entire growing crisis, Council Members were complicit to the lobby’s collusion with leadership to rig the system against their own small business owners. Why the discrimination by the Council Members against desperate owners like David and other business owners? Why did the community advocates/activists/groups refuse to call out their Council Members, especially the key players, like then Speaker Johnson and CM Lander, as well as today’s CM Rivera, CM Bottcher, CM Ayala, and CM Marte for this continued betrayal, discrimination, and denial of economic justice and rights for their own small business owners and workers?

The answer to these questions was the sole reason for our article. Not to single out Andrew Berman for any perceived attack. In a time of a prolonged ignored growing crisis, when it came to being a strong passionate committed voice calling for real actions and standing up for justice and rights for business owners when their leases expired, Andrew Berman and other Village activists/advocates and community organizations all acted the same as hundreds of other citywide community advocates/activists. For the past decade plus, in NYC, none had the moral courage, integrity or commitment to confront their local Council Members for their obvious and purposeful lack of wanting to take any real meaningful action to stop the closing of their very best businesses and save the jobs of their workers.

The shameful truth was that Council Members for their own self-interests willfully ignored the dire plight faced by their own long-established businesses when their leases expired. They all disregarded the dire state of even their own business owners that were the: stabilizers of their local economy, the best job creators and who had a strong customer bases, and were willing and able to pay reasonable rents and remain open if given reasonable lease terms.

Also, most advocates refused to even try to persuade their Council Members to “do the right thing” for their local mom and pop facing a growing crisis and under the threat of being forced to close every time their leases expired. None used their personal relationships with their Council Member to even try to encourage them to at least hold honest hearings or begin sincere conversations on finding the best legislation to give their merchants the rights needed to have a real fighting chance to survive in business or make a reasonable profit when their leases expired.

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, “ There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

The City Council and most community activists/advocates remained silent for over a decade to the grave injustice and destruction caused by a lobby controlled and protected grossly unfair destructive commercial lease renewal process. None ever took the time to remind their Council Members that they had a moral obligation, as well as a responsibility to fulfill their progressive pledges to the voters, to make a priority to stop the closings of their long-established local businesses and save jobs. A universal failure by all to be a real voice for merchants, workers and customers in calling out Council Members for their total absence of any real sincere empathy for the dire dilemma and suffering of their small business owners faced every time their leases expired.

All 51 Council Members and all community activists/advocates knew for a fact that their established small business owners could never pay the same rents as big banks and national chains who were insanely bidding rents up to be on prime locations. Yet, all remained silent and accepted the “status quo” a destructive commercial lease renewal process that would jeopardize the future of their very own merchants.

What Council Member, especially a self-proclaimed progressive, in a time of a growing destructive crisis, would not eagerly rush to pass legislation, especially when a bill (Jobs Survival Act) that had already existed in Committee with 28 sponsors, that would stop the closing of their long-established beloved businesses and save jobs? A bill that would give every Council Member’s merchants the rights needed to “level the playing field” in negotiating a fair lease that would give merchants reasonable profits and protect their life’s investment and the jobs of their workers? Also for a change, a bill that would give every merchant whose lease expired the right to negotiate to maximize their potential for profits, growth and job creation. A bill that the community wanted, and the merchants needed to survive and restore their American Dream.

But, for over a decade, none of the 51 Council Members made any concerted effort to pass legislation to regulate the landlord controlled destructive commercial lease renewal process. All 51 Council Members forfeited their own responsibility for the welfare of their own merchants and workers to the real estate lobby, REBNY. All 51 Council Members then played “willful ignorance” of the crisis and its root cause of their very best-established merchants being forced to close. All pretending not to possess any knowledge that a real lifeline (Jobs Survival Act) had existed in the Council that would have stopped these closings, and end a decade long small business crisis. Even with the majority of Council Members (28) sponsors of the bill, NONE would make their own merchants aware of its existence nor what the intent of the bill was. That intent was to give the merchants the rights needed to remain in business and be better able to negotiate fair lease terms.

The responsibility for the stability, profitability and growth/ job creation potential, and future of every local merchant should be solely in the hands of the local Council Member. Why place the burden alone on the public to take action that the local Council Member is responsible for? David’s dire situation has been played out thousands of times over many years in every neighborhood of NYC. And will continue to be played out until the Council Members have sincere empathy for the dire plight of their merchants, genuine respect, pride in their own progressive values and strongly feel they have a moral obligation to find a real solution that gives their merchants the rights needed to negotiate fair lease terms in a newer and a more reasonable commercial lease renewal process. Most importantly, give democracy and economic justice when the majority of Council Members are not beholden to their sponsors: the party bosses and REBNY.

Under the present grossly unfair commercial lease renewal process David was helpless to protect his investment, future, and the jobs of his workers. Even if he had a long established profitable business with a loyal customer base, he was powerless. David, and others, were victims of an over decade long unresolved small business crisis. A crisis that had a real solution sitting in Committee for over a decade, the Jobs Survival Act. If the local Council Members had made a priority years ago to stop the closing of their established good businesses and end the city’s small business crisis, David would now have a right to renew a 10-year lease, no burdensome landlord pass-alongs, a much-much lower rent, equal rights to negotiate new and fair lease terms, and an independent arbitration process to keep everyone honest and end rent gouging and landlord abuses like extortion. David’s customers would be very happy with the lower prices and having the spirit, knowledge and energy of the personal contact with him for many years to come.

David, and others are in a quandary because NO Council Member made a priority to pass real legislation to save David or even one Village merchant or one worker’s job! And they never will as long as REBNY, at every election cycle, has the city’s Democratic leadership under their indebtedness and control. There will be no hope for merchants as long as those Council Members who put their own political ambitions ahead of the stability and vitality of the “backbone of their local economy” and the will of the people, keep being re-elected. The last hope to save our small businesses lies only with electing new independent true progressive Council Members not devotees of lobbies or party bosses.

All 51 Council Members, as well as, the majority of community activists/advocates and community services organizations owe their small business owners and workers an apology. Why? Because with an absolute certainty all knew that the party (REBNY) which they willfully empowered through their silence and collusion/rigging to care for their merchant’s welfare and futures had no intentions to ever give them any rights in the vital commercial lease renewal process. REBNY never had any aims to find a real solution to end the city’s small business crisis. A crisis REBNY’s own member landlords created. All 51 Council Members knew first hand that the outcome of empowering REBNY to control their own small business owner’s future was a disaster for the “backbone of their local economy.” Every Council Member was fully aware that the forced closings of their very best-established businesses was a result of only landlord greed. And not the nonsensical false narrative of the pro real estate shills: BIDS, Chambers, SBS, and EDC, all mimicking only REBNY’s false talking points that the biggest problems facing businesses were, “too many fines, too much government over-regulation, and lack of affordable loans.” Ludicrous lobby’s propaganda in the extreme! And so many ignorant of the workings of small businesses fall for it every time!

The continued record closings of established businesses and the empty storefronts on every main street where once thriving businesses had prospered, were the proof of who REBNY really served, only its property owner landlords. Furthermore, all the Council Members and community advocates also knew, for absolute certainty, that every agency mandated to promote a healthy small business environment was in truth nothing but shills for big real estate’s interests. All: SBS, BIDS, Chambers, Small Business Committee, local business organizations, and many CB committees, played a role in a shameful lobby orchestrated charade of misinformation, distractions, political theater and worthless initiatives with the sole goal to stop a vote on the Jobs Survival Act and keep the status quo for landlords in the critical commercial lease renewal process.

It is unconscionable that year after year, during an unresolved growing crisis, Council Members and community advocates consistently would give public credibility to the most preposterous REBNY inspired substitute fake solutions to stop good businesses from closings. Disingenuous, ridiculous and insulting initiatives and legislation with the only goal of stopping a vote on the only real lifeline (Jobs Survival Act) to save the American Dream for every business owner. Ludicrous initiatives such as, counting and keeping a record of empty storefronts, zoning laws that have nothing to do with lease renewals or giving fines to wealthy landlords who keep stores empty for extended periods of time. Yes, insulting to merchants and democracy.

What possible rational could any true progressive Council Member give for supporting a policy where one or more of their local long established successful and growing businesses, that had created good paying jobs, but was forced to close due ONLY to being given unreasonable lease demands by one landlord? Forced closing due to a “take it or leave” landlord controlled one sided commercial lease renewal process. Then the landlord keeps this once vibrant and prosperous job creating business empty for sometimes years! Insane economics in the extreme and indefensible for any true progressive Council Member. That is, indefensible if ever called out by the community advocates, Council Committees, merchants or the public.

The angry critic of our article also questioned, “At the 2018 Council hearing on the Jobs Survival Act, Andrew Berman’s testimony called for a vote on the Jobs Survival Act, “isn’t that exactly what we wanted?” No, not exactly! Regrettably, like others, he also gave testimony that REBNY wanted. In fact, this hearing would be the most anti small business hearing ever held in the Council. It was a lobby orchestrated sham hearing with only two goals. One was to stop any vote on the Jobs Survival Act (with its 28 sponsors) and the second was to call for an amendment to the bill before any vote.

The scheme by the lobby, which their pawns would carry out, was to water down the bill after the hearing to where the merchants would have no real rights. With few exceptions, dozens of early speakers gave REBNY’S coached talking points testimony putting doubt on the Jobs Survival Act as the only solution to address the crisis. Doubts, such as the bill will have “unintentional consequences,” it was not a “silver bullet”, was only the first step with more needed, or still more studies needed to clarify the small business problems. Also, many speakers falsely claiming that arbitration in the bill would be a financial burden on business owners. All nonsense! Only non business people would believe this BS.

What did we want Andrew and others speaking on behalf of small business owners to testify too? The TRUTH for a change in the Council! We wanted the true pro small business owner advocates to look the Council Members in the eye and state the truth, “ if you are sincere in wanting to protect your long established business owners from being forced to close when their leases expired, there is no other option but to give them the right to renew long term leases and an arbitration process to level the playing field for them to negotiate fair lease terms.” An arbitration oversight that encourages bargaining in good faith and guidelines that end rent gouging and end landlord abuses like extortion and being forced to pay the landlord’s property taxes.

With no exceptions, every substitute bill for the Jobs Survival Act or initiative recommendation testified too by REBNY’s loyalist was lobby inspired and lobby approved. Some were created as far back as 1986 by the very same lobby but soundly rejected by the city’s entire business community. All of the lobby’s proposed bills would keep the status quo and none would save a single business owner or worker’s job unless the landlord wanted to keep the business open.

The lobby’s scheme to water down the bill after the election blew up when the bill’s prime sponsor CM Rodriguez backed down and refused to water it down. That did not stop REBNY from high jacking democracy at City Hall.

Another criticism of our article was that we unfairly targeted CM Rivera, also then Speaker Johnson. It is extremely rare that any Council Member can successfully pass legislation that would greatly impact every business owner’s and worker’s future. Legislation that would end a crisis in their district and be enthusiastically welcome by all of their constituents. Johnson as Speaker and CM Rivera on the Small Business Committee had in their hands the rare opportunity to pass legislation that would end the Village’s small business crisis and stop the closing of their long-established businesses and restore for all business owners their American Dream. The opportunity to be champions of the most progressive legislation, by standing up to a powerful lobby. The opportunity to stop the slow destruction of the character, spirit, energy, and backbone of the economy of the most iconic neighborhoods in America.

Reprehensible that both had “drunk the cool aid of REBNY” to gain their political ambitions. Both made the choice to betray their own merchants, workers and all their constituents who loved their merchants and neighborhood. They played key roles (along with CM Lander and COS Bottcher) in the greatest mockery of Democracy of the City Council. Instead of Johnson keeping his pledge to amend the Jobs Survival Act and move it to vote in the Council, he and Bottcher stalled any amendment to the bill. Keep in mind that the bill had 28 sponsors, and the proposed amendment would take less than 2 hours. Unopposed, the amendment would be the simple changing of a few sentences in the scope of the bill. This pledged amendment and vote made at the Jobs Survival Act hearing in Oct. 2018 never happened in over three YEARS! Even during the Covid crisis destroying thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs. NO COUNCIL MEMBER called for a vote that would save even their own businesses and jobs.

What Johnson and CM Rivera sanctioned would shatter the integrity of the City Council. They permitted a lobby to create their own legislation that would only benefit the lobby’s members, while denying rights to merchants and allow the destruction of the “backbone of the local economies” to continue. Every Council rule was broken in plain sight as the lobby inspired Commercial Rent Stabilization Act, CRS was introduced on Nov.14, 2019. Two bills at the same time with the same intent of determining rent through legal guidelines in the commercial lease renewal process. A clear violation of Council rules. *Read this link for the mockery of the City Council’s mandated oversight role in holding hearings and creating legislation.

* https://www.savenycjobs.com/who-will-stop-rebny

Again, with absolute certainty, all 51 Council Members knew their small business owners were being screwed by the Democratic leadership. All should be ashamed and embarrassed by the introduction of the lobby’s bill, CRS. In no government in America that practiced good government would the CRS bill ever exist. All share in the blame for this blatant betrayal of their oaths of office and of their own small business owners and workers. What is indefensible for every Council Member is their knowledge of the truth, that the lobby’s bill was far inferior to the Jobs Survival Act and was meant only to keep the status quo for the landlords. The introduction of the Commercial Rent Stabilization Act at the same time as the Jobs Survival Act (with 28 sponsors) was waiting for a simple amendment before being voted on showed REBNY as the puppet masters of the corrupt City Council leadership.

CM Rivera’s key role played in this disgraceful lobby orchestrated rigging of the system against small business owners must be exposed to her constituents. *This link details her betrayal. The fact that she was a sponsor of the Jobs Survival Act waiting to be amended and voted on, and then flipped to sponsor the lobby’s status quo CRS bill must be called out. Who would sponsor two bills** at the same time that had exact opposite intents producing opposite outcomes for their merchants? Having her name on two bills at the same time without calling for a hearing to determine which bill her merchants would want or would need to survive is an outrage and unacceptable. Also, an outrage for all 51 Council Members, especially the 28 sponsoring the Jobs Survival Act, is the “in plain sight” fact that the lobby’s CRS bill does not give the business owners the right to renew their leases! No true progressive Council Member would ever support legislation that did not give their merchants the vital right to renew their leases. All knew that without this right the landlords maintain total control of the commercial lease renewal process.

· https://www.savenycjobs.com/carlina-rivera-betrayal

** Int 0737-2018

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to creating a small business lease program for establishing an environment for fair negotiations in the commercial lease renewal process in order to determine reasonable lease terms

Sponsors:

Ydanis A. Rodriguez, Margaret S. Chin, Carlina Rivera , Helen K. Rosenthal, Antonio Reynoso, Carlos Menchaca, Diana I. Ayala, James G. Van Bramer, Mark Levine, Stephen T. Levin, Laurie A. Cumbo, Ben Kallos, Mark Treyger, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Bill Perkins, Mathieu Eugene, Alicka Ampry-Samuel , Adrienne E. Adams, I. Daneek Miller, Karen Koslowitz, Deborah L. Rose, Vanessa L. Gibson, Inez D. Barron, Daniel Dromm , Rafael Salamanca, Jr., Alan N. Maisel, Ruben Diaz, Sr., Tiffany Cabán

Council Member Sponsors:

Int 1796-2019

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the regulation of commercial rent

Sponsors:

Stephen T. Levin, Vanessa L. Gibson, Antonio Reynoso, Diana I. Ayala, Brad S. Lander, Margaret S. Chin, James G. Van Bramer, Daniel Dromm , Ben Kallos, Carlos Menchaca, Carlina Rivera , Helen K. Rosenthal, Darma V. Diaz, Deborah L. Rose, Karen Koslowitz, Alicka Ampry-Samuel , Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, Robert E. Cornegy, Jr., Inez D. Barron, Kevin C. Riley, Adrienne E. Adams, Farah N. Louis, Mark Levine, Laurie A. Cumbo, Ruben Diaz, Sr., Justin L. Brannan, Tiffany Cabán, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams

Council Member Sponsors:

It is unconscionable that 51 Council Members would willfully deny their own merchants the right to renew 10 year leases, or to have equal rights to negotiate the new lease terms, or an arbitration process to encourage fair negotiations and prevent rent gouging and landlord abuses. Why didn’t CM Rivera want her merchants to have the basic right to renew 10 year leases or the right to equally negotiate fair lease terms? The answer is because REBNY did not want them to have any rights?

Also again, CM Rivera’s greatest betrayal of her own merchants, workers and the citizens of her district happened in the newly elected City Council in 2022.

The Jobs Survival Act was the oldest pending legislation in the Council’s history, first introduced in June 1986. Over the years it has had 8 prime sponsors (always with the majority of Council Members as sponsors) and has been amended seven times to make the commercial lease renewal process: the fairest, simplest for all parties, less expensive for merchants, involved no taxpayer funds or government interference, and had an independent arbitration process with fair proven guidelines to encourage compromises. The bill was successfully reintroduced many times when the changing of elections produced a new Speaker and new Committee Chairs. For over three decades, there was no problems reintroducing the bill, that is until CM Rivera and CM Ayala, as the new co-prime sponsors of the bill, deceived all small business owners and their workers when they made the choice to NOT resubmit the Jobs Survival Act in the new Council!

Instead of throwing a real lifeline to save their own businesses and jobs, they acted as pawns for REBNY when they introduced the lobby’s status quo Commercial Rent Stabilization Act, CRS. With the majority of our small business owners being multi-generational immigrant families and the majority of newly elected Council Members representing large immigrant communities, as well as many with immigrant backgrounds, if CM Rivera and CM Ayala had not flipped and instead resubmitted the Jobs Survival Act it would have quickly and unanimously passed in the new Council.

After 38 years REBNY finally found two Council Members with no moral compasses what so ever and lacking any decency or humanity, who would openly kill the only real hope of ending our city’s small business crisis. Selling their souls to REBNY these two actively promoted this status quo bill to the new Council Members. Covering up a decade long unresolved growing crisis that was slowly destroying the backbone of local economies and then killing of the Jobs Survival Act and substituting the lobby inspired CRS bill was the most successful “Machiavellian scheme” by a lobby colluding with morally corrupt lawmakers ever in the Council. It also represented the moral bankruptcy of the City Council.

The height of hypocrisy was when the majority of newly elected Council Members, many with immigrant backgrounds, and all proclaiming their progressive values, made their first sponsorship (March 2022) the lobby’s CRS bill.

The CRS bill was created by a lobby colluding with the corrupt Democratic leadership to keep the status quo of the destructive commercial lease renewal process. A process that was the root cause, now and will be in the future, of every Council Member’s long-established businesses being forced to close when their leases expired. Yet when these new Council Members were made aware of what they had sponsored, a lobby status quo bill that gave no right to renew the lease for their merchants, no rights in the negotiation process, and would make a crisis worse, all still remained on the bill.

If you believed that these new Council Members sponsoring this lobby bill (CRS), that would make their own business owner’s chances of survival much worse, could not have shown more disrespect for their merchant’s future, you would be wrong. The CRS bill had 25 sponsors and could have easily passed if voted on. But before any vote the bill must have a hearing in the Council. No sponsor ever called for a hearing because the truth of who was really behind the bill and the true intent of the CRS bill would be exposed. The true small business advocates called this bill the Council’s BIG LIE, that the CRS bill would save our small businesses. The lie of the CRS bill was, without giving the merchants the right to renew their leases and no rights in the negotiation process it would not save a single business owner. Why did the new Council Members, especially those representing immigrant communities not want their own merchants to be aware of this destructive lobby bill that they were sponsoring?

On Dec. 31, 2023 all pending bills expired in the Council. Would these new Council Members find their moral compasses and finally do the “right thing” for their merchants by resubmitting the Jobs Survival Act? Unfortunately, no! The self proclaimed progressive Council Members would refuse to submit any legislation that would regulate the landlords in the proven destructive commercial lease renewal process. All would go back to the Council’s decade long silence and complicity of doing absolutely nothing to address the forgotten crisis that would put into grave jeopardy the futures of every business owner whose lease expired. All 51 Council Members were acceptable to REBNY’s favored status quo commercial lease renewal process. Shame!

The only hope to restore the American Dream for our small business owners is to rid the Council of REBNY’s loyalist who will never pass legislation giving business owners the rights they deserve and need to remain in business and negotiate fair lease terms.