*Another dangerously fake "progressive" does his bit to smash* *the middle class. New York City, which was already vanishing * *before this crisis struck, will be unrecognizable—and, for most* *of us, unlivable—without its small businesses.*
*MCM* > > SBC - The Small Business Congress > > E-mail [email protected] Websites: Savenycjobs.org > <http://savenycjobs.org/> > > > > *Media Adviso**ry **Contact:** Steven Barrison* > > *For Immediate release** [email protected] > <[email protected]> [email protected] <[email protected]>* > > *May 22, 2020 212-750-5560* > > > Mayor de Blasio's Appointment of Gregg Bishop to Address the Small > Business Crisis is > > *Appalling and Inexcusable!* > > > > Lowest Point yet for Democracy and Ethics > > at City Hall > > > > Dateline May 22, 2020, NYC: > > Mayor de Blasio announced the appointment of Gregg Bishop as senior > advisor for Small Businesses in the coronavirus recovery. The Mayor > praised Bishop for doing a great job and being the voice for small business > owners. He said, “ Bishop will bring a whole new approach to bring > resources and support to small businesses.” > > As Small Business Commissioner, Bishop’s record shows him to be the worst > possible choice to make policy to save, stabilize or rebuild our small > businesses. His appointment is an insult to every small business owner, > especially immigrant owners, and a disgrace to good government. He has > been the voice, not for small businesses, *but only for the very same > identities who created and benefited from the decade long small business > crisis in NYC*. In reality, in no other major city in America would > Bishop be a Small Business Commissioner, because he lacks the experience > or expertise required, and lacks the respect for small business owners. > > In NYC, where only politics matters, Bishop was appointed in June 2015 as > Commissioner of Small Business Services, SBS. The SBS website is filled > with charts and uplifting positive statements on the array of services and > programs for small businesses. The one graph never shown is the *NYC > Court Warrants to evict commercial businesses.* Under Bishop’s watch* > 21,816** warrants to evict businesses were issued and an estimated *67,000 > to 72,000 *businesses closed in New York City! In any city in the > nation, Bishop would have been fired in three months with his failed record > of doing absolutely nothing to save a single business. See Court > evictions> https://www.savenycjobs.com/nyc-court-evictions- > > Every New Yorker walking down their main street can see for themselves > the horrific record of Gregg Bishop. Empty stores fronts, many for years, > on every block where once thriving businesses were, have sadly become the > accepted norm under Bishop. What is indefensible in his appointment is that > in reality from day one of becoming Commissioner he has played a major role > in the collusion of the real estate lobby with the Speaker’s Office to rig > the system to deny economic justice to small business owners, the majority > of whom are immigrant family owned. As well as, using the SBS and its > partners: BIDS, Chambers, REBNY cronies, and funded community groups to *cover > up the crisis* with a charade of worthless initiatives, useless bills, > fake studies, valueless forums and disinformation campaigns, all actions to > stop passage of any law giving rights to small business owners. > > *Never once in his entire term did Bishop acknowledge that a crisis > existed for the majority of small businesses.* Never once has he said > high rents were the major problem facing businesses. Nor that the major > target for illegal extortion of cash to remain in business were mainly > immigrant owners. The SBS under his leadership has totally ignored all of > the major problems facing small businesses like short term leases of month > to month or one/two years, businesses forced to pay their landlord’s > growing property taxes, or having no rights when their leases expire. *Why > in the face of long established businesses closing citywide would Bishop > never once look for a real solution to stop the closings? * > > The answer for Bishops’ anti small business record, as well as our entire > government’s conspiracy of silence to the growing small business crisis, > and Mayor de Blasio’s despicable appointment, was exposed at a June 2009 > hearing on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, Survival Act. Michael N. > Meola Senior VP NYC Economic Development Corporation testified: > > "My name is Michael Meola and I'm a senior vice president at the > NYCEDC. Intervention of this type in the commercial real estate market > would be a dramatic departure from current and past practice in New York > City. Such an intervention in the vast commercial real estate market could > have the unintended consequence of reducing the supply of new capital > investments in commercial and retail space. *What we do not want to see > is a reduction in the ability of developers and small investors to build > new commercial property."* > > This statement is why, through their campaign donations, the real estate > lobby controls economic policy at City Hall. Government protecting the > profiteers and not the victims. Lawmakers serving their donors and the > political machine and not the will of the people. Lawmakers working to > create a perfect environment for international real estate speculation and > then serving to maximize their profits, protect them from regulation, and > cover up the dire consequences to our society of their greed. In order to > make NYC the epicenter of world real estate speculation, the SBS, Speaker > and Mayor’s Offices had to throw the small businesses under the bus by > denying them an honest hearing seeking real solutions to their real > problems. By doing so, they are the creators of our small business crisis > and then they denied treatment to cure it. > > Gregg Bishop has a record on how he handled a small business crisis, and > it is disgraceful. Mayor de Blasio should be embarrassed and ashamed for > appointing Bishop to manage another small business crisis after his complete > failure to even try to find a solution to the existing crisis, and his > failure to save a single business or job. Most importantly is the reality > that because of Bishop's failure as a voice for small businesses, *New > York City small businesses are the most vulnerable to closing than any > city's small businesses in America! *Coming back to normal for NYC small > businesses is coming back to more than a decade old crisis of the highest > rents, taxes, costs to do business, shortest leases, illegal extortion and > having *NO RIGHTS*. > > After nine years of being denied a public hearing on the *Survival Act*, > one was held on Oct 22, 2018. Unlike the previous 11 honest hearings on > the bill, where the focus was only upon the *Survival Act* as the best > solution to stopping the closings, this hearing was a total sham > orchestrated by the real estate lobby. Then Commissioner Bishop was the > central player for the lobby. Even though our city’s small business owners > faced a crisis to survive, Bishop came to the hearing with one goal, to > stop the *Survival Act* and to block any real solution from being > promoted. His long testimony was filled only with REBNY talking points > of misinformation on the *Survival Act*. Bishop highlighted only the new > REBNY bogus narrative, such as arbitration would burden owners and the bill > would have unintended consequences, though never detailed. What was made > clear was that Bishop offered no real solution to stop the closings of > small businesses and all his programs were meant to only keep the status > quo. What was also clear was the power of REBNY over the SBS and many > business organizations. For the first time in 30 years of hearings, the > BIDS, Chambers, and Government funded Community Groups, who are all > influenced by SBS, came to testify against the *Survival Act* and promote > only REBNY's false narrative. But like the SBS, none offered any real > solution to the small business crisis. > > After the hearing Bishop continued to do nothing to address our city’s > small business crisis. With the collusion of REBNY and the Speakers' Office > continuing the rigging, Bishop signed off on a “basket of bills” passed in > July 2019 touted to help small businesses, which were really a basket of > nothing. > > Careful examination shows none of the bills would save a single business, > none gave a single right to owners and *all were useless in addressing > the crisis*. One example of Bishops’ influence was Councilwoman Rivera's > bill 1049, which calls for SBS to count empty stores and issue a report on > their assessment of the state of businesses,* every three years! *SBS > oversees 76 BIDS citywide and it would take one hour to count empty stores > and two hours to do a report on the state of the businesses. Shameful! > Every Council-member is a member of their local BID board and yet they need > an assessment report on the state of the businesses? Its called > *RIGGING! * > > When Bishop testified at the sham hearing in 2018 the SBS budget was > $216.5 million dollars. Under his watch SBS was politicizing the agency by > funding community groups under the charade of promoting economic > development in the community. Businesses were closing in record numbers > and Bishop is approving more landlord BIDS and funding non business groups > as somehow saving small businesses and creating jobs. All the SBS efforts > were focused upon spending the taxpayers dollars on worthless projects > while ignoring a citywide small business crisis right in front of them. SBS > had expanded BIDS with landlords, by law, being the majority board members > to promote economic development and they only enriched themselves while > every BID small business owner was in jeopardy of closing when their leases > expired. The BID organization testified at the hearing opposing the *Survival > Act* and opposing giving rights to small business owners. Bishop > promoted funding community groups through Avenue NYC Commercial > Revitalization Grants. Grants of up to $100,000 per year over three years; > maximum possible award $300,000, as well as dedicated funding for a > full-time program manager and assistance for grantees to complete a > Commercial District Needs Assessment (CDNA). Pure giveaways as hard working > small business owners lose their life savings. > > A close examination of SBS financials, as well as, just one of many fake > studies exposes the total waste and abuse of taxpayer money by this agency > and the minimal effort to seriously address any real problems of small > businesses. Examples of this gross under-performance is shown in SBS > Performance indicators for FY 2018 budget: > > Businesses opened with assistance from SBS 2017 was 867. During the same > year an estimated *15-16,000 businesses closed citywide.* > > Projected number of hires by businesses opened with assistance from SBS > 10,096. Same year est. *120-130,000 jobs lost.* > > Mayor de Blasio touted the way Bishop would utilize resources, which is > code for funneling money to corrupt Brooklyn political machine and friends > of de Blasio. Just one example of the fake studies under Bishops' watch is > the highly touted > > *NYC Small Business Services “State of Small Businesses Survey”* > > > https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/sbs/downloads/pdf/about/reports/small_business_survey_report.pdf > > The most disgraceful sham survey ever done, a total LIE. Done over the > phone with less than half answering questions. Approximately half of the > respondents are White/Caucasian. While the largest majority of small > business owners in NYC are Hispanics with only 15% answered questions. The > overwhelming majority surveyed (94%) have a college or related/advanced > degree. While the majority of small businesses are immigrant owned and not > likely to have college degrees. > > *Shockingly 38% have no employees!! - not typical and should never be in > survey!* > > *33% in business less than 2 years – should have never been in survey * > > *14% own their buildings – not typical by any standard* > > Who was taking this survey, it certainly was not the typical small > business owners? > > Even this fake survey was so obviously cooked that the SBS had to issue a > disclaimer of their own survey! *Imagine that, a disclaimer! DO NOT > BELIEVE US!* > > **Unfortunately, the survey sample is not representative of the city’s > business population; the findings presented are based on a limited data > set, which is not weighted to be representative of the population of NYC > small businesses. • > > What was SBS recommendation for the needs of our small businesses? New > York City’s small businesses need more employees but struggle with hiring. > Which is code for MORE government funded training programs that do nothing > to save small businesses but will make our political friends happy. > Disgraceful! > > Gregg Bishop, who never even tried to find a solution to our city’s > existing small business crisis and who only served the interests of the > very people who caused our small business crisis is who Mayor de Blasio > appointed to address the coronavirus crisis on behalf of our small > businesses. Disingenuous, a betrayal of progressive principles and void of > any ethics. This appointment is “rock bottom” for democracy at City Hall. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- If you appreciate News From Underground, please consider making a donation — either a one-time gift or a monthly subscription: http://markcrispinmiller.com/support/ Thank you for your support. 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