The Small Business Congress
New York City
Sung Soo Kim, Founder
savenycjobs@gmail.com savenycjobs.org
Media Release: Contact
Immediate 3/23/18 Steven Barrison, Spokesperson 212-750-5560 Barrisons@aol.com
HOPE OR HYPE !
SMALL BUSINESS BILL BACK
FATE OF MOM & POP IN HANDS OF NEW SPEAKER
Dateline March 23, 2018 NYC:
Councilman Ydanis Rodriquez reintroduced the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SB Jobs Survival Act ) yesterday. If passed into law the bill would give all commercial tenants the right to renewal a minimum 10 year lease when their leases expired and the right to negotiate equally the new terms of a lease and an arbitration process if mutual agreement was not reached. This bill was ready to be voted on by the Small Business Committee in Oct 2009 and would have easily passed with every member of the committee a sponsor and 32 council member sponsors. But a vote was stopped at the last minute by a bogus legal roadblock claim from the Speaker’s Office that the bill was unconstitutional. Even though this sham claim was proven later by an independent legal review panel to be without any legal merit the bill has been bottled up in committee for 8 years and denied a honest public hearing.
August 11, 2009 City Hall Rally
Former Chairman David Yassky “ Small Businesses are getting killed, everyday there is another storefront closing . The cornerstone of saving our small businesses is the Small Business Survival Act “
As the only real solution to save our businesses sat bottled up in committee, the crisis has grown worse with long established small businesses closing in every neighborhood ( NYC Courts issuing warrants to evict commercial businesses average 492* each month an estimated 1,200-1,400 business closing each month ) . Empty storefronts are in every main street of the city where once vibrant businesses were. The reintroduction of the SB Jobs Survival Act gives HOPE that finally our lawmakers are going to do something to stop the closings and end this crisis, finally Democracy will be restored by the new Speaker Johnson.
Speaker Johnson said. “I believe that the small business loss we are seeing in the Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen and all across the city is a crisis. I want to reiterate, crisis. I will find a solution.”
“As I said during the speaker’s race and at the first speaker’s forum, I am committed to a hearing on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act,” he said.
Not everyone is optimistic there are enough real progressive leaders to stand up to the powerful real estate lobby, REBNY. REBNY’s control over the Speakers’ office and leading lawmakers has blocked any movement in the bill for 8 years. The author of the SB Jobs Survival Act is Sung Soo Kim*, the leading advocate for small businesses for over 30 years in NYC. This bill has to do with the regulation of the lease renewal process. As founder of the oldest small business service center for Korean and Chinese businesses ( at its peak in early 90’s 17,000 businesses) , Kim has negotiated and renegotiated over 55,000 commercial leases in 30 years. He has been part of the many changes made to the bill to make certain that any changes in the bill will not reduce or eliminate rights needed by the business owners to survive and negotiate fair lease terms.
In a government greatly controlled by REBNY’s huge campaign contributions, the reintroduction of the SB Jobs Survival Act may be just HYPE to cover up the failed policy destroying our small businesses and making landlords richer.
Kim, “if its hope or hype will be determined by the new Speaker Corey Johnson. Past Speaker Quinn stopped democracy when she colluded with REBNY to stop a vote on our bill. Past Speaker Mark Viverito stopped any public hearing on the bill and instead promoted fake studies and fake programs to cover up the crisis. Now what will Speaker Johnson do?
The future of our city’s small businesses will be in his hands!
Will he allow the continued rigging at city hall to deny economic justice for our mom and pop owners and their employees? Will he stand up to REBNY’s power and restore democracy at City Hall to end this crisis? The SB Jobs Survival Act will be the litmus test for not only Speaker Johnson but for all the self proclaimed progressives at City Hall in showing who they really serve. Do they serve the will of the people and stand for their progressive principles or do they serve the powerful lobby and their own political ambitions. If the SB Survival Act is passed with changes made that waters down the bill to be worthless then it will show city hall full of fake progressives serving only REBNY. But, if the SB Survival Act is passed with no changes then it will restore democracy and serve the will of the people. “
*
https://www.savenycjobs.com/nyc-court-evictions-2016
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*Sung Soo Kim, recognized as the city’s leading small business authority, is the founder of the oldest small business service center in NYC, the Korean American Small Business Service Center, and was Chairman of the Mayor’s First Small Business Advisory Board, appointed by Mayors Dinkins and Giuliani. He is co-founder of Small Business Congress and sole creator of the Small Business Bill of Rights. He has spent every working day for 32 years addressing the problems of immigrant small business owners. He never took a salary from government as Chairman of Small Business Advisory Board nor in consulting on numerous regulations. He turned down offers to run a BID in Queens and turned down government funding for his business service center. In 32 years he has personally negotiated and re-negotiated an estimated 50,000-55,000 commercial leases for his Korean members. He has gone to court weekly for 30 years to fight over 5,000 times for his members in court. He personally consulted in the drafting of the original version of Small Business Jobs Survival Act and every version introduced by seven prime sponsors. It was his decision on the selection of the bill’s prime sponsor over the 30 years.