On Wednesday, city Council member Helen Rosenthal introduced a bill in which it proposes to create a city register of all the stores vacant for more than 3 months. This will provide an opportunity to understand, how much really commercial vacancies are open in the city.
Rosenthal says that the local data on the number of vacancies in the commercial area is small, this problem needs to be solved. This innovation will help the city to analyze the situation.
«It is difficult to develop a policy based on something like «I think a lot of vacancies»,» said Helen on Thursday.
Under the bill, property owners will be required to enroll in any store, if it is vacant for more than 90 consecutive days. The application must indicate the location of the property, the date when it became vacant, and the reason why the shop did not open, or why he had to close.
Owners who do not contribute data about your store in the registry can be fined $1,000 per each overdue week.
This proposal was made in connection with the wave of closings throughout the city favorite places of new Yorkers, such as cafe Cornelia Street in the West Village, mini-theater Videology in Williamsburg.
Another one of places that has made the West Village a special place is closing at the end of the year. The Cornelia Street Cafe. It seems another casualty of soaring rents. It will be missed. Goodbye and thank you. pic.twitter.com/PcsBIF0I8s
— Ron Piretti (@RPiretti) December 14, 2018
According to the report, in 2018 the number of stores in the city for the first time in the last decade has declined significantly. So the city authorities want to throw small businesses a lifeline.
Bill Rosenthal, presented Wednesday, is one of nine scheduled for a hearing Monday in the Council Committee on small business.
Display includes NYC’s Long-Empty Stores Would Be Listed Under New Bill https://t.co/Sf2RWmKJf1 pic.twitter.com/ijHIxhBmTl
— Sunset Park Patch (@SunsetParkPatch) March 14, 2019
Rosenthal also intends to promote another bill, in which it required the Department of small business services has created a public database of properties involved in commercial activities.
In turn, city Council member mark Levine decided to introduce a bill according to which small business owners, faced with the threat of eviction from the leased premises, could get free legal aid.
The need to #EndCommercialVacancy is evident in NYC. This empty storefront on 33rd and Park has been vacant for over 6 months. We need more small biz, like the street vendors who dream of owning a store, to occupy these storefronts. @usb_nyc pic.twitter.com/3HfWVPoXRL
— StreetVendorProject (@VendorPower) December 3, 2018
Another law promoted by a member of the city Council of Carlini revere would have forced the Department to assess the state of small business in each area of the community not less than once in five years.
