Despite local legislative efforts to lend independent retailers a helping hand, small businesses in Morningside Heights say they are still feeling the punch of economic downturn.
Martha Faibisoff, owner of the clothing store, Liberty House at 112th Street and Broadway, said that rent is the biggest obstacle that small business owners face, particularly since Morningside Heights rent continues to rise in inverse proportion to declining revenue.
“I have been lucky with my own landlord. It’s hard to make enough money to pay high rents and then to pay salaries and make a living. That’s why there are so many vacancies on this stretch of Broadway,” Faibisoff said, adding that a more reasonable process of lease and rent negotiation would help struggling businesses like hers.
The Small Business Survival Act—a legislative measure proposed by New York City councilmember Robert Jackson, who represents Morningside Heights—aims to ease the pains of slipping revenue by granting additional rights to commercial tenants during the lease-renewal process. Should the act pass, an arbitrator would play a third-party role in the lease-renewal process to resolve potential disputes over a lease or rent. Rather than focusing on rent control, the act recognizes increases in rent during the lease-renewal period as a central factor in the failure of small businesses and seeks to support a process more sensitive to merchants’ needs.
But according to the office of New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, questions arose about the legality of the Small Business Survival Act after the first of two hearings took place at the end of June. The necessary follow-up hearing has yet to be been scheduled.
Joanna Garcia, a spokesperson for Jackson, said that they are confident the bill will eventually be brought to a vote. She noted that New York attorney Sherri Donovan wrote the law, so its legality should not be in question.
“We are going to meet with Quinn’s office and have her [Donovan] as a legal expert to address concerns that the speaker’s office might have,” Garcia said, adding that Quinn’s objections were the only obstacle to a second hearing for the act and that addressing the bill’s legality with Quinn’s office was a priority for Jackson.
While awaiting progress on this proposed bill, the city has also received stimulus money for programs aimed at easing the plight of local entrepreneurs in a time of increasing rent and decreasing business.
These efforts seek to help businesses provide training for their workers and use potential unemployment funds to help employers pay their workforce at a reduced rate instead of defaulting to layoffs. A large chunk of the billions of stimulus dollars announced this past spring by U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel of Harlem has already been pumped into the Manhattan economy, including the Morningside Heights and Harlem neighborhoods. According to Elbert Garcia, the New York communications director and policy director in Rangel’s office, more than one-third of stimulus funds went towards tax relief for individuals and businesses to help defray some of their operational costs. For merchants, a large portion was devoted to hiring youth, veterans, and others in specific areas of the city.
“We have been meeting with business groups and local chambers of commerce to help businesses utilize existing federal assistance options, as well as find out about city and state resources,” Garcia said.
Locally, Rangel has sought to increase available resources for businesses—and their knowledge of them—by participating in conferences with the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce˜ over the summer. During the conference, he brought together store owners as well as local, state, and federal officials and bank representatives to dive into topics such as credit issues and the usage of stimulus dollars.
But these efforts have yet to deeply impact struggling store owners, locals say.
Paula Blat, manager of the 66-year-old chocolate shop, Mondels, on 114th Street, said that although the shop will likely survive, they could still use support. “With rents so high, we welcome anything that could help,” she said.
Faibisoff of Liberty House feared a greater loss once the storm of recession has finally cleared away. “This isn’t a New Jersey mall—people come here for small, familiar stores but the interesting neighborhoods like this one are fast disappearing.”
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