SBC Small Business Congress
Mayor Mamdani showing profound ignorance of basic economics 101.
Why is the proclaimed champion for working families running around eagerly setting up his administration to keep a status quo economic policy that has been destroying the American Dream for over a decade for most working families?
For the first time in many Mayoral elections, the small business advocates had the most hope of finally electing a true progressive who had not sold their soul to the city’s powerbrokers for their own political ambitions. Zohran Mamdani was hands down the only potential real hope to restore the American Dream for countless business owners and their workers. Being betrayed repeatedly by lawmaker’s abandoning their progressive values, our advocacy organization hesitantly supported Zohran Mamdani as the only honest true progressive voice fighting for the rights and justice of a deprived social class whose future would be bleak if he did not win. He was the only Great Progressive Hope for every business owner and their workers.
That hope was shattered when candidate Mamdani at a major TV debate publicly singled out a key real estate lobby’s loyalist, Maria Torres Springer for praise of her positive service at City Hall. The advocates immediately knew that, willingly or unwillingly, Mamdani had joined former mayors de Blasio and Adams in selling out business owners for his own political ambitions.
We instantly sent out a warning to all activists that if Mamdani empowered Maria Torres Springer in any key role overseeing economic policy then the status quo destructive real estate oligarchy economy would continue in NYC. It was easy to expose her disgraceful record as being one of the most anti small business, anti immigrant family and anti jobs promoters at City Hall. She was hand picked in two administrations, de Blasio and Adams to protect and promote a real estate oligarchy economy, while covering up the three crises this “fat cat” economy helped to create. She also was successful in protecting big real-estate interests by playing a key role in preventing any vote on legislation giving rights to business owners in the highly profitable for landlords commercial lease renewal process.
We were very confident that our warning would reach at least a few loyal Mamdani insiders who would alert him of her hidden loyalty to big real estate and her, in plain sight, shameful record of discrimination against every small business owner and their workers. But our warnings went unanswered when not one Mamdani loyalist would step up to show him that she was the worst possible choice for achieving his economic goals for working families. Also, to make him aware that his pledges to end the affordability crisis for working families would never be achieved by keeping the status quo real estate oligarchy economy. Zohran Mamdani, as well as his advisors obviously have a profound ignorance of basic economics. Nobody in his administration was aware that the futures of 200K plus entrepreneurs and their workers, addressing the affordability and the empty store blight crises, and exposing the property tax rip-off were all in the same sinking boat that the real estate lobby REBNY put them in.
Mayor Mamdani has 85 appointments to oversee or head his administration’s agencies. With his many campaign pledges made on behalf of working families and the city’s voiceless, and as the proclaimed progressive leader, one would hope that he would give the “backbone of our local economies, creators of local jobs, and overseers of the American Dream,” just one honest appointment.
In several of our warning OP ED articles we pleaded with him that if he wanted to restore the American Dream to our city’s entrepreneurs and their workers and end three unchecked crises: small business, empty store blight and affordability, then he must appoint an honest independent Commission of Small Business Services, SBS.
On behalf of desperate business owners needing rights in the critical lease renewal process in order to survive and make a reasonable profit, we set fourth our plea. Our plea to Mamdani, “select a SBS Commissioner who has taken the risk to invest his/her savings and time into building a successful small business in NYC. A Commissioner committed to listen to all business owner’s real needs and problems. A Commissioner who will act on these needs and problems with real solutions not influenced by special interests or politics. A Commissioner who respects the hard work and sacrifices made by business owners. A Commissioner who will make a priority to protect every successful business owners’ investment and the jobs of their employees. A Commission who strongly believed that the word “economy” did not just mean BIG BUSINESS. A Commissioner with no political ties, funding ties, or political ambitions.”
If Mayor Mamdani lived up to his progressive values and appoints one honest SBS Commissioner who allows one honest hearing to find a real solution to stop the closings of those long established successful businesses with a growing loyal customer base and willing and able to pay reasonable rents and live by reasonable lease terms when their leases expired, then he will do what the other past Mayors refused to do. All past pro big real estate Mayors refused to let the SBS honor their mandate to serve the best interests and welfare of business owners by allowing good government to work for small business owners. Mayor Mamdani by “doing the right thing”, would have ended three purposely ignored and very solvable crises and restored the American Dream to countless business owners. He then would have the appreciation of 200K plus entrepreneurs and millions of their workers. Also, the gratitude of millions of New Yorkers who would be happy that a politician finally stood up to the powerbrokers running our economy in order to save their beloved mom and pop local merchants.
Regrettably, Mayor Mamdani follows Mayors de Blasio and Adams in allowing a lobby to continue to control his economy.
Mamdani threw the small business owners and their workers under the bus when he appointed Maria Torres Springer to oversee the transition Committee for Commissioner for Small Business Services.* The real estate lobby, the Real Estate Board of New York, REBNY, has influenced the selection of every Commissioner of SBS since its inception. That privileged empowerment of a lobby and the destruction it has caused will continue under a Mamdani’s administration. For over a decade, the SBS has been the foundation for big real estate to deny economic justice and rights to small business owners, while protecting the profits of big real estate. The pro real estate SBS will again lead the way to discriminate against all business owners and make the majority of owners nothing more than expendable collateral damage to a real estate oligarchy economy.
* https://www.savenycjobs.com/advocates-and-activist-no-help
https://www.savenycjobs.com/rebny-fake-committee
The shameful truth is that Mamdani was hoodwinked by lobby loyalists and once again REBNY influenced the selection of the new Commissioner of SBS! The outcome of the collusion by lawmakers with a lobby is that all three crises will be purposely ignored and their consequences to society will be continued to be covered up by a real estate lobby controlled SBS.
REBNY’s de Blasio and Adams “Groundhog Day” BIG LIE has now been joined and championed by Mayor Mamdani!
Mayor Mamdani owes an apology to his loyal follows, the city’s 200K plus entrepreneurs and their workers, and every New Yorker who voted and trusted him to be an honest voice for their welfare. Mayor Mamdani should be ashamed and embarrassed for mimicking the false talking points of the real estate lobby to distract from passing legislation giving business owners the rights needed to have a real fighting chance to negotiate fair lease terms that would protect their investment and the jobs of their workers. Rights that they earned and deserve! Rights that he will learn the hard way are the only real pathway to begin to end three crises.
Several Mamdani loyalists pushed back on our OP ED claiming that he betrayed small business owners by keeping the destructive real estate oligarchy economy. His own actions speak for themselves of his betrayal.
The genesis of the BIG LIE!
The original champion of the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, Jobs Survival Act, giving every business owner the right to renew a 10 year lease and equal rights to negotiate fair lease terms with an arbitration process based upon a “case by case” guidelines to encourage bargaining in good faith, was then Councilman Bill de Blasio. Fighting for this bill was his major message to all immigrant voters! In August 2009 he demanded a vote on this bill by the Committee and then by the full Council, de Blasio, “a vote so that the City Council can begin saving our small businesses.” But after he won the Public Advocate office he flipped and refused to ever mention the bill again, except to purposely lie when claiming it was unconstitutional!
When he became Mayor he needed an excuse for not calling for an honest hearing and vote on the Jobs Survival Act, which he once championed. No lawmaker at City Hall knew more about the cause of the small business crisis and its destruction of good businesses than de Blasio. Also, he knew the “root cause” of good businesses being forced to close when their leases expired, the illegal extortion of cash from immigrant owners, or the only real solution to end a crisis caused by landlord greed and control of the commercial lease renewal process. Therefore, with no real rational reason for not giving business owners rights in the landlord controlled commercial lease renewal process, especially during a small business crisis caused by sky high rents and oppressive lease demands, lobbies and powerbrokers schemes with de Blasio to cook up a BIG LIE for him and other pro real estate loyalist to hide behind for doing absolutely nothing to end the growing small business crisis.
The BIG LIE used by de Blasio and Adams and now today by Mamdani is the nonsensical and insulting to every business owner: that the major problems facing small business owners are too many fines and too much regulations. Who did Mayor de Blasio empower to promote this BIG LIE to the public, who would refuse a call for any honest public hearings on finding a real solution to stop the closings of good businesses when their leases expired, also who would refuse to acknowledge the small business crisis caused by sky high rents and oppressive lease terms, and instead use the lobby shills: property owner BIDS and developer friendly big Chambers to oppose any vote on the Jobs Survival Act? Mayor de Blasio empowered MARIA TORRES SPRINGER!
Former Mayor de Blasio appointed Maria Torres Springer as Commissioner of SBS! Yes, the same successful lobby loyalist Maria Torres Springer who did absolutely nothing to save even one business owner or one job during a growing crisis, is who Mayor Mamdani empowered to pick his new SBS Commissioner and advise his economic policy. Yes, the same Maria Torres Springer who played a role in supporting a lobby inspired status quo bill, Commercial Rent Stabilization Act, CRS, to replace the Jobs Survival Act. A lobby crafted bill that small business advocates call the most anti-immigrant, anti-jobs and anti-small business legislation in the City Council’s history.
Therefore, it was no surprise to long time small business advocates to see Mayor Mamdani’s first acts being to promote the lobby’s BIG LIE, while ignoring the small business crisis, empty store blight crisis, the affordability crisis or the real “root cause” of long established businesses forced to close due only to having no rights in the commercial lease renewal process. When it comes to Mamdani willingly refusing to restore the American Dream for our city’s business owners and workers, “betrayal” is the proper word for Mayor Mamdani’s actions.
Mayor Mamdani’s first act was calling for Rental Ripoff Hearings to expose the abuses and suffering caused by unscrupulous landlords. He claimed that the statements from the tenants will guide policy that will protect tenants in the future. He seems to be fully committed to giving a strong voice to the poorer abused tenants of this city. But why is he discriminating against small commercial tenants who have also been “ripped off”, and who also need to be protected, maybe more so?
Does he have such a profound ignorance of the workings of small businesses to not understand that they too are tenants. Desperate commercial tenants that have been “ripped off” for more than the past decade. Ripped off from a rigged landlord controlled commercial lease renewal process protecting rent gouging and landlord abuses, such as illegal extortion by unscrupulous landlords demanding cash from tenants to remain open. Also, fleeced are the mostly immigrant tenants who have been targeted to be given only cruel month to month or just one/two-year leases.
With the exemption of former Mayor de Blasio opening his administration to lobbies on day one to control his economy, the first 100 days of Mayor Mamdani’s economic policy show REBNY’s loyalists making a fool of him by parading him around the city touting REBNY’s talking points used to keep a real estate oligarchy economy.
Also, proof of this lobby’s control over Mayor Zohran Mamdani was when he signed Executive Order 11*. He ordered several city agencies to inventory and examine rules for regulations and in one year to identify ways to limit or eliminate some. Also, to examine the agencies’ fine policy and make recommendations for reducing fines imposed on small businesses. Order 11 is nothing but lobby created 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 he should know it.
What he is proposing is exactly what past pro real estate Mayors de Blasio and Adams also proposed, word for word. 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. Executive Order 11 shows clearly that Mayor Mamdani does not have the courage nor intent to seriously address these three crises: small business crisis, empty store blight crisis and affordability crisis.
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 own responsibilities for their local merchants and their workers! 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 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.
If Mayor Mamdani did not already look foolish enough in spouting REBNY’s same false narratives and distractions he looked unwise being paraded out to Brooklyn to give money to a BID while praising what great work the BID is going to do with taxpayer funds. Does he not know that the BIDS are property owner controlled and that they united to stop any vote on legislation giving rights to the BIDS’s own merchants when their leases expired.
BIDS’s property owners have been making windfall profits for over a decade from the real estate oligarchy economy.
In fact, BIDS in partnership with the lobby controlled SBS prevented four times ( Aug. 2009, Jan. 2011, Nov. 2018, and Mar. 2022) what should have been a vote and easy passage of the Jobs Survival Act, the only real lifeline to save the BIDS’s merchants from being forced to close when their leases expired. Like the SBS, BIDS and big Chambers are no friends of small business owners!
If Zohran Mamdani was sincere in his pledges to change the status quo at City Hall to serve working family’s needs, then he has no option but to call in his SBS Commissioner and mandate that he call for an honest hearing. An honest hearing not influenced by special interests but with the goal to find the best legislation for regulation of the commercial lease renewal process to protect those long established business owners who built successful businesses, created good paying jobs and collected revenue for the city’s budget. Fair legislation to all parties that would level the playing field to give business owners a real fighting chance to negotiate fair lease terms that would keep them in business and prosperous enough to make a reasonable profit and offer the potential to even grow and create more jobs. He needs to challenge his SBS Commissioner to do his job for small business owners for a change and stop serving special interests. Demand that the SBS either put forth a better bill/solution than the JOBS SURVIVAL ACT to end the small business crisis or support the reintroduction of the only real lifeline to restore the American Dream for business owners.
Part II- Mayor Mamdani betrays the city’s Bodega owners.