Mamdani kneels to REBNY

It is official, Mayor Mamdani’s administration will continue a real estate oligarchy economy.

Mayor Mamdani will join former Mayors de Blasio and Adams, Public Advocate Williams, all present and past: Speakers, Borough Presidents, Chairs of the Small Business Committee, majority of Council Members, and Commissioners of SBS in choosing their own political careers over saving the American Dream of business owners and their workers. Shamefully, by committing to REBNY’s real estate oligarchy economy the discrimination against small business owners will continue unabated. Accepted for over a decade by all politicians is the reality that under a real estate oligarchy economy our city’s entrepreneurs are treated as only second class citizens who are only expendable collateral damage to a real estate speculation economy.

Recently Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed Executive Order 11, which ordered several city agencies to inventory and examine rules for regulations and in one year to identify ways to limit or eliminate some. Also, examine the agencies’ fine policy and make recommendations for reducing fines imposed on small businesses. Order 11 is nothing but smoke and mirrors, because this order is disguised to sound like he is sincere in wanting to focus upon helping small business owners with their major problems. Nothing could be further from the truth, because these are not the major problems facing business owners, and he knows it, or should know it.

What he is proposing is exactly what past pro real estate Mayors such as: de Blasio and Adams also proposed. In fact, both former Mayors enacted the same initiatives under their real estate oligarchy economy to cover up the dire consequences to business owners happening from their real problems arising when commercial leases expired and NYC business owners had no rights.

City Hall saw a lobby orchestrated, of more than a decade of, political theater with fake deception media events to distract and cover up the real “root cause” of long established businesses with a growing loyal customer base and business owners willing and able to pay reasonable rents and make a reasonable profit if they are given fair lease terms, but instead were forced to close. While claiming to address the decade plus old phony contrived distresses of small business owners, Order 11’s true goal is to cover up the destructive and grossly one sided, but highly profitable for landlords, commercial lease renewal process. REBNY used loyalist lawmakers, year after year, for over a decade to stop any real solutions to address the “root cause” of good businesses forced to close; even if it meant ignoring three growing crises and their negative consequences to society. Crises that could end quickly if lawmakers were honest and had the political will and courage to stand up to REBNY. Executive Order 11 shows clearly that Mayor Mamdani does not have that courage nor intent to seriously address these three crises: small business crisis, empty store blight crisis and affordability crisis.

What is the irrefutable proof that Mayor Mamdani has drunk REBNY’s cool aid by allowing a destructive real estate oligarchy economy to continue unregulated in NYC?

Mayor Mamdani’s focus upon, “too many fines and government overregulation” of small businesses, as their major problems is nothing but lobby inspired distraction and misinformation that allows bad political actors to escape their responsibilities for many years! Responsibilities to be a strong voice for justice and rights to business owners and their workers. Fines and overregulation disinformation has been the foundation for over a decade of the Real Estate Board of New York, REBNY’s, nonsensical excuse for lawmakers to hide behind, and do absolutely nothing to find a real solution to the insane rents, landlord abuses and oppressive lease demands forcing many good business owners to close. A lobby corrupted government paralyzed from “doing the right thing” to address the city’s true greatest threat for business owners to achieving their American Dream.

A warning to all true community advocates and activists, whenever you hear or see any statements from politicians, candidates, organizations like the pro real estate BIDS, Big Chambers or "the NYC Hospitality Alliance", fake political coalitions like United for Small Business NYC or government agencies making this absurd claim that: fines and overregulation are the major problems of small businesses, IT IS ALWAYS A REBNY COACHED talking point!! Never trust the person/organization promoting REBNY’s obvious message of distraction. No established business has ever been forced to close due to either fines or over regulations and none of these useless lobby contrived initiatives or legislation will ever save even one business owner or one job. NEVER! Repeat that to yourselves, NOT ONE Business or Job will be saved by this or other lobby created distractions! If a true progress lawmaker is sincere in wanting to stop the closings of good businesses when their leases expire there is only ONE way. Pass legislation to give the owners the right to renew 10 year leases and an arbitration process to encourage bargaining in good faith.

Do not be fooled by REBNY’s corrupt lawmaker’s charade.

Former Mayor de Blasio was first to use one of the oldest, and highly dishonest, politician’s trick of the public manipulation of the victims to gain support for the politician’s legislative agenda. An agenda that may include a campaign of distraction legislation, excuses for non actions, outright misinformation of issues, justification for supporting special interests’ legislation and in some cases blatant lies. The BIG LIE that de Blasio schemed was claiming that after he walked on main street to speak with merchants he was told that their main problems were “too many fines and to many regulations”. He should have spoken to them after they came from negotiating new lease renewal terms with their landlords, he would have gotten a different response.

It is a shameful trick because the majority of business owners do not trust government and would never confide in a politician the details of their leases and relationship with their landlords, NEVER! Would anyone believe that any small business owner, with absolutely no rights when their leases expired and at the mercy of their landlords would tell a politician that their “biggest problems are caused by their greedy asshole landlord.”

There is a huge difference in a response if a lawmaker askes a merchant, “what makes you angry and would you want government to reduce the fines and regulations,” or if honest and asked, “when your lease expires would you want to have the right to renew a 10 year lease and equal rights in the negotiation of the new lease terms?” The greatest fear of REBNY is if the city’s 200K plus business owners ever learned that a bill existed that would end forced landlord evictions of owners when their leases expired, no more forced paying of the landlord’s property taxes, and an arbitration process to end landlord abuses and rent gouging. If the Council Members were honest and told their local business owners the truth for a change of the existence of the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, Jobs Survival Act, 100% of their merchants, workers and customers would want their Council Member to support and pass it.

One question that has never been asked by any lawmaker or agency/organization falsely claiming to be a voice for business owners and pretending to care about their welfare is, “what do you need to protect your investment, hard work, sacrifices made and the jobs of your workers when your lease expires?” REBNY never wants any true progressive lawmaker or testimony at any honest public hearing asking the 200K plus business owners this,” what can government do to stabilize the local economies, protect and increase the potentials for business owners to be more profitable, create the potential for more growth and more job creation, and continue to be stable revenue collectors for our city’s budget?” Under a real estate oligarchy economy it is always only about the profits of the wealthy that matter!

In a true progressive City Hall the BIG LIE should never exist with the backbone of our economy facing a growing ignored small business crisis for over a decade caused by manipulated sky high rents, landlord abuses and oppressive landlord controlled one-sided “take it or leave” commercial lease renewal terms. The outcome of a real estate oligarchy economy has produced record court eviction warrants of businesses, record forced closings of long established successful businesses, and is a major factor in three government purposely ignored growing crises: small business crisis, empty store blight crisis, and the affordability crisis. Yes! Shameful but true, that our city’s unchecked three crises are a result of a lobby controlled City Hall accepting, protecting and promoting a lobby controlled economy.

Mayor Mamdani cannot play “willful ignorance” of not knowing the real root causes of when every successful business owner, whose lease expires, was forced to either: close, lay off workers, raise prices, postpone growth planning, work harder to make less profit, or all these landlord controlled outcomes. In no government in America that practiced sound economic policy would it ever be acceptable when a long established successful business owner who created good paying jobs and was still growing with the potential for more job creation but instead was forced to close due only to the greed of the landlord, and the once thriving business remain empty on a busy main street, sometimes for years. NEVER!

Mayor Mamdani had a clear choice to make which would impact on the future of every business owner and their workers. A choice to end the destructive real estate oligarchy economy, as he promised, and replace it with a pro working family entrepreneurial economy or too keep the status quo anti small business owners, anti working families and anti jobs economy.

Mayor Mamdani’s choice would offer the only real hope to restore the American Dream to countless business owners. All of REBNY’s backed candidates had pledged if elected to keep a real estate oligarchy economy. It is unclear what deal Mamdani made with the real estate lobby to have him publicly praise the leading lobby loyalist Maria Torres Springer. But the proof that Mayor Mamdani has no real commitment to promoting an economic policy that will serve our city’s entrepreneurs and their workers, is his entrusting Maria Torres Springer to oversee the transition committee to select the new Commissioner of Small Business Services, SBS. REBNY has had a hand in picking every Commissioner of SBS. The reason is clear, the lobby has successfully used the SBS to be their voice instead of following their mandated law to serve the interest and wellbeing of small business owners.

Maria Torres Springer’s long record of successfully serving only the interests of big business, especially the real estate industry, would disqualify her in any other major city government in America in making economic policy decisions. Furthermore, her, in plain sight, historic failure of record court evictions of business owners and forced closings of long established successful businesses are simply indefensible. Her record of non actions in the face of a growing crisis and the destructive outcomes of her pro big business policy shows she would have been fired in any other major city in America with her economic policy producing the most unstable main street business environment in America and the only empty store blight crisis during a nationwide robust economic recovery.

She was hand picked by the real estate lobby for two administrations, de Blasio and Adams, with the goal to promote and protect only a real estate oligarchy economy for NYC. Her disgraceful record to deny economic justice and rights to desperate business owners during a prolonged citywide small business crisis caused by manipulated sky high rents and landlord abuses can be viewed in these links*. *https://www.savenycjobs.com/stringer-rebny-puppet

https://www.savenycjobs.com/withdraw-support-for-mamdani

After being given undeserved economic policy oversight power by Mayor Mamdani it is not surprising that Maria Torres Springer handpicked members*of the transition teams with a known history of being loyal to big business interests in NYC, especially real estate. Also, members with a public record of opposing legislation giving rights to business owners in the vital, and highly profitable for landlords, commercial lease renewal process. Likewise, handpicked members who have benefited greatly, financially or politically, under a real estate oligarchy economy. Lastly, members who, at the beseeching of a lobby, publicly supported status quo legislation inspired by the real estate lobby to keep a destructive real estate oligarchy economy. In reality, it was the Real Estate Board of New York, REBNY, who picked the majority committee members and their predetermined outcome of a new pro lobby Commissioner of SBS.

* https://www.savenycjobs.com/rebny-fake-committee

His allowing REBNY to hoodwink him into emboldening one of their top cronies, will ensure that the rich will get richer under his administration and the entrepreneurs and property owners will get poorer. City Hall will continue to be REBNY HALL under a Mamdani administration.