New York City 2021

In his final State of the City Mayor Bill de Blasio laid out his plans for New York City’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and his thoughts for the city moving forward. Some of his bolder initiatives for small businesses are reliant on State approval and Federal aid. Though what NYC looks like post Covid-19 will mostly fall to his successor, it is important to know what some of the priorities will be over the course of 2021.

Some highlights:

• NYC Small Business Recovery Tax Credit
  • The NYC Small Business Recovery Tax Credit will be a $50 million rental assistance program for up to 17,000 small businesses in the arts, entertainment, recreation, food services, and accommodation sectors.
  • Businesses in these sectors with gross revenue below $1 million will be eligible for a tax credit equal to 6 percent of their calendar year 2021 rent, up to maximum credit of $10,000. Businesses will need to retain their current workforce to be eligible, driving job retention in our neighborhoods. This program will require State legislation, and New York City will expand it if Washington provides a robust stimulus with direct local aid for cities.
• NYC Small Business Recovery Loans
  • The NYC Small Business Recovery Loan program seeks to help shops keep their doors open and recover. New York City will provide low-interest loans of up to $100,000 to over 2,000 small businesses in the communities hit hardest by Covid-19.
  • Small businesses will be able to apply for loans from a $100 million fund built from City funds that leverage outside lenders. The loans will go to small businesses that have experienced hardship due to the pandemic and have submitted a recovery plan.
• Cut Fines and Red Tape to Boost New Small Businesses
  • Working with agencies across the government, the Department of Small Business Services will cut first time fines to small businesses, expand the number of self-certify permits and inspection applications, establish no-fine visits from regulators, and produce plain language compliance guides in multiple languages.
    • This is long overdue, but will barely scratch the surface. NYC nickel and dimes small businesses to death and recent City Council proposals make clear that taxation through regulation will be increasing not decreasing. However, de Blasio at least cracked opened the door that smart mayoral candidates will run through.
• Open Streets Made Permanent
  • Starting this year, NYC will continue the Open Streets program of 2020 with many of the streets from the previous year. The Department of Transportation (DOT) will also open applications for new streets, with a focus on local partner management and support.
    • These were done on an EMERGENCY basis. Their “popularity” must be taken with that in mind. If made permanent these must go through public hearings, environmental impacts, ULURP, etc.   
• Bike Boulevards in every borough.
  • Streets that are designed to give bicycles travel priority.NYC will also install or revamp bike lanes on the Brooklyn and Queensboro Bridges.
    • The city is misleading cycling facts endangering pedestrians and cyclists. There is a massive influx in bike lanes being used for commercial purposes. These unlicensed, unregistered, and untrained people are not following traffic rules or regulations while benefiting from infrastructure they are not paying for. This must be remedied immediately. Bikes (specifically e-bikes) used for commercial purposes must be registered, their drivers must have some sort of documentation stating they understand traffic laws, and there should be liability requirements.

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