From Community Board 5 Alert for “Town Hall” meeting on the Small Business Crisis on Thursday, November 9th:
Are NYC’s Small Businesses Vanishing? RSVP For A Town Hall Featuring Author Jeremiah Moss
Chances are if you walk down any main thoroughfare in the city, you’ll see plenty of vacant storefronts. Pseudonymous writer Jeremiah Moss has chronicled the disappearance of NYC’s mom-and-pop shops for more than 10 years on his blog “Vanishing New York.”
This week, he will join elected officials Senator Brad Hoylman and Borough President Gale Brewer to talk about the small business crisis and what New Yorkers can do to preserve the local fabric of the city we love. RSVP at #212.633.8052 or email hoylman@nysenate.gov.
6-7:30 p.m.
Location: Haft Auditorium at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), 227 West 27th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues
The answer to the top question is very much yes, no one is disputing the “vanishing” of way too many neighborhood treasures and long-time “institutions” over the last 10 years and more. What is in dispute is what kind of legislation and regulations can be put in place to help small businesses which inevitably are being booted out due to high and majorly increasing rents. These losses make our city less interesting, more formulaic, leading to more high end boutiques and restaurants, chain stores and empty storefronts block by block.
State Senator Brad Hoylman was Community Board 2 Chair at the time this blog began in 2008. Little bit of trivia for those who don’t know.
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