SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

If you are a business owner or homeowner still struggling to get back on your feet after Superstorm Sandy, there is help available to you to ease the recovery process.

Asian Americans for Equality and the Kings Bay YM-YWHA will present a “Post-Sandy Recovery Resource Seminar” for business and homeowners, April 18, 7:00 p.m. at the Kings Bay Y’s Sheepshead Bay location, 2801 Emmons Avenue.

The seminar — sponsored by the Brooklyn Community Foundation — will address such topics as emergency repair loans for homeowners, financial assistance for small businesses, rehab cost consultation and how to qualify for a post-Sandy recovery grant of up to $15,000.

The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

To learn more, call (718) 648-7703 extension 239 or email info@kingsbayy.org.

Earlier this week, a boatload of Southern Brooklyn politicians banded together to introduce a bill that would waive fees for businesses recovering from damages sustained during Superstorm Sandy, according to a press release.

The bill whose sponsors include Domenic Recchia, David Greenfield and Michael Nelson would waive fees for permits, applications and inspections for businesses doing their best to rebuild and reopen after the events of Sandy.

Councilman Vincent Gentile, who co-sponsored the bill, stressed the importance of this legislation in a press release.

“Some businesses are literally rebuilding from the ground up and when you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get your business up and running again, you really shouldn’t have to bother with superfluous fees for permits and inspections.”

Businesses that qualify for the special waivers must have been open before Sandy struck and were located in Evacuation Zones A and B or in a building that was inspected for structural damage by the Department of Buildings. These fees have already been waived since Sandy due to an executive order from the mayor, but the pols are looking to extend it beyond its current expiration date.

Here is a list of the fees being waived.

• Department of Buildings permit and inspection fees required for construction, demolition, scaffolds, boilers, plumbing, electrical work, signs, scaffolds, limited alterations and after hours work.
• Fire Department fees for inspection of fire protection systems and gas station fuel dispensing systems, as well as for plan review and examination fees for installation of fire protection systems and fuel dispensing systems.
• Department of Transportation permit fees for opening the street, debris containers, sidewalk construction, vaults, and canopies.
• Department of Small Business Services permit fees for waterfront construction, equipment use, mooring, fill work, as well as fees for work notices and certificates of completion.
• Department of Environmental Protection permit fees for fuel burning incinerators, as well as fees for certificates of instruction in the use of and to operate the same.
• Department of Consumer Affairs licensing fees for salvage and liquidation sales of goods.
• Taxi and Limousine Commission Fees in connection with the licensing of vehicles, replacing medallions, transferring licenses, and for-hire vehicle inspections.
• Landmarks and Preservation Commission fees required with respect to obtaining certificates of no affect and certificates of appropriateness.

Thor’s vision for its Surf Avenue properties. Source: Thor Equities

Thor Equities, the global urban real estate developer, has announced plans to rent parcels at reduced rates in its new building at the corner of Surf Avenue and Stillwell Avenue in an effort to encourage the growth of local small businesses in the area, according to a press release.

“Coney Island’s popularity has reached record proportions, but we can never forget what got us here – local, ahead-of-their-time business owners who brought flair, hipness and edge to the People’s Playground,” announced Thor CEO Joe Sitt, adding, “While it is wonderful that national chains are now coming to Coney, providing needed jobs and year-round revenue to the community, we must always remember the history of this iconic neighborhood.”

So far, reaction to this plan remains skeptical. Amusing The Zillion highlighted a 2008 New York Post article in which Sitt took severe measures against local Coney business operators, by clipping and changing their storefront locks on Christmas Eve, and hanging “For Lease” signs in their storefront windows. Has Sitt pulled a 180 on small businesses?

Another caveat in Sitt’s altruistic gesture to the local small business people of Coney Island is that the rents will only be slashed for 2013. Amusing The Zillion, recalling the documentary “Zipper,” noted that Sitt’s real plans for Coney Island’s future involves installing a series of national chains. In the documentary, Sitt listed Dave and Buster’s, the Hard Rock Cafe, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Howie’s Game Factory as his choices to fill in and replace the Coney landscape.

Thor’s new one-story building is on the spot once occupied by the century-old Henderson Music Hall, a building that was demolished when the city re-zoned it in July 2009. Since being erected last January, the sleek and sterile-looking new building has since been covered with plywood decorated in the Coney Island style, promising “THE RETAIL RIDE OF A LIFETIME,” with info about leasing opportunities.

Photo by: BSH Shooter

Like many local business owners, Paul Randazzo, owner and operator of the world famous Randazzo’s Clam Bar (2017 Emmons Avenue), is rushing to reopen his doors to cash in on the upcoming lucrative holiday sales week. Until his desperately missed clams are back for sale, though, Randazzo himself refuses to indulge in any clam until they are served from his kitchen, according to a report by NY 1.

Since Superstorm Sandy closed Randazzo’s down in October, the clam bar has been doing all it can to reopen its doors as quickly as possible, but progress has been slow.

“I’m still not fully restored. I still have no register. I might be working out of the cigar box. As long as there’s money coming in and the doors are open. I just got my credit card machine,” Randazzo told NY1. ”I know it’s coming. I’ll be eating calamari Thursday at the latest,” Randazzo added, to the relief of those hungering for his delicious clams.

Despite the understandably less than speedy progress made by Randazzo to provide the city’s best clams, he considers himself fortunate compared to some other local businesses that share spots along Emmons Avenue.

Source: Thomas Good via Wikimedia Commons

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, local Chambers of Commerce, and elected officials launched a new campaign aimed at assisting neighborhood businesses affected by Superstorm Sandy.

The initiative is called “Bounce Back NYC,” and it will be sending staff members and volunteers to the hardest hit neighborhoods and business districts in an all out effort to assist, promote, and restore small businesses back to health.

“We are setting out to provide small businesses in the hardest-hit parts of our city with more promotion, more customers and more resources to help them back on their feet,” De Blasio announced in a press release.

If you are work in or operate a small business that has been affected by Sandy, we urge you to fill out a form to get listed on bouncebacknyc.com. Over 500 of the hardest hit businesses from Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island have already registered. Almost none are from Sheepshead Bay, so get on it!

Source: Wikimedia Commons via Wikipedia

Local New York City-based Congressional Representatives are banding together to urge FEMA to extend the deadline for small businesses affected by Superstorm Sandy to apply for disaster aid. A joint letter to FEMA, cosigned by nearly a dozen Congressional Representatives, argues that the deadline, currently set at December 31, is too soon and should be pushed back until May 1, 2013 so small businesses can accurately assess the damages wrought upon their livelihoods.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who represents Coney Island, Bensonhurst, and Borough Park, was among those that signed the letter, wrote:

Hurricane Sandy displaced tens of thousands of New Yorkers and shuttered or destroyed thousands of businesses. Despite the tireless work by so many to rebuild and get business and life back to normal, we are still a long way off.  Our constituents and businesses still need time to regroup and rebuild and, as such, we are asking FEMA to extend the deadline for small business claims to May 1 to give them a real opportunity to get what they need and deserve.

Thus far, FEMA has already paid out $745 million to individuals and families since the advent of Sandy, with $152.1 million earmarked for Kings County alone, while the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), has approved $85.5 million in loans for  businesses, renters, and homeowners. For more information on assistance, you can send an email to DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov, visit sba.gov, or call the SBA Disaster Customer Service Center toll-free number 800-659-2955 (TTY (for hearing impaired) 800-877-8339.)

In what hopes to be another positive step for recovery, Mayor Bloomberg announced a new $5.5 million grant matching program aimed at getting small businesses bowled over by Hurricane Sandy back on their feet.

The grant program, funded by $500,000 from the Partnership for New York City and $5 million from the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, will be run by the New York Business Development Cooperation. According to the Mayor’s press release,

The matching grants are designed to provide additional financial assistance for local businesses already seeking low-interest loans through the City’s existing Emergency Loan Fund…The new matching grants of up to $10,000 will be administered by the New York Business Development Corporation and will be available to New York City businesses in all five boroughs that have been displaced from their workplace for three weeks and are already seeking emergency loans from the City’s existing program. They are designed to provide critical supplemental assistance to what is being provided through the low-interest loans, and will be capped at no more than the amount the business receives in the loans.

The Mayor expressed his aims with the new program stating, “The capital provided through this program will help businesses purchase supplies, make repairs, and get back up and running.” In a letter to his constituents, local Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz joined the Mayor in expressing the importance of this program, citing the weakened shape much of Sheepshead Bay business community is still in,

“While some stores are back in business, there are many that remain shuttered, a sad testament to the unpredictable force of nature. For these businesses, today was another day of cleaning and rebuilding, getting rid of what’s unsalvageable and hoping for better days ahead.

If you are a small business owner looking more information on qualifying for loans or accessing donations click here.

Source: pubadvocate.nyc.gov

Several local businesses routinely express frustration to Sheepshead Bites about the number of fines the city has doled out, whether it be for trash, health inspections or obscure signage regulations. And, according to the complaints we get, it seems inspectors of businesses are unfamiliar with many of the regulations and sometimes apply them inconsistently.

But though it may seem like the city is cracking down and issuing more fines as the city struggles with the economic recession, data on the number of fines given out has been hard to come by.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is trying to fix that. He has announced his plans to sue Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city agencies in order to force them to reveal information regarding the amount of fines given, and the income generated from those fines.

Currently, there are 20 agencies involved in small businesses-related regulations. According to an analysis performed by de Blasio’s office, cited by the New York Times, fines collected by these organizations have jumped from $485 million in the 2002 fiscal year, when Bloomberg was elected, to a whopping $820 million in this past fiscal year.

De Blasio told the paper that he has been pushing six of the offices involved in regulating small businesses to release information about these fines for several months now. He said that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Consumer Affairs told him they were in the process of compiling a response. The Transportation Department, Sanitation Department, Buildings Department and Finance Department failed to reply to his requests.

“We’re just not going to stand for it anymore,” de Blasio told the paper.

Marc LaVorgna, Bloomberg’s spokespman said the city will respond to de Blasio and provide this information soon. He argued that the main source of rise in fines over the past 10 years is driving tickets. The fines have increased for parking tickets and moving violations, while more tickets for running red lights have been distributed, as the city installed more cameras by traffic lights.

Klearview is one of hundreds of small, locally-owned businesses with long-time roots in the neighborhood.

State Senator Marty Golden is urging local shoppers of Sheepshead Bay to participate in the 2nd Annual Small Business Saturday on November 26.

“As a former small business owner and merchant leader, I am encouraging area residents to join in the holiday shopping spirit and shop locally next week as part of Small Business Saturday,” said the state senator. “It is so important that we shop in our neighborhood stores and support the people and the economy of our hometown.”

Small Business Saturday is the creation of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and American Express, who organized the citywide sale last year. New York City was the first city in the nation to make the push for people to support their communities by shopping in local stores.

Check out more details of Small Business Saturday, and the important benefits of shopping locally.

Source: NYPost.com

From the New York Post:

Brooklyn restaurant owner Vinnie Mazzone is steaming over a City Council proposal to require that even small businesses offer paid sick days to their workers.

Mazzone, owner of Chicken Masters in Sheepshead Bay, said the bill would force him to lay off employees — or even shut down.

The restaurateur told The Post it would cost him an additional $13,000 annually because he would have to pay workers who call in sick, as well as pay replacement staff to fill in for them.

A study released this week by the New York City Partnership found that the measure would cost city businesses $789 million annually.

Mazzone’s current policy is requiring a shift swap when someone calls in sick — a policy he said has always worked for his 14 employees in his six years in business.

“Now they switch shifts so that nobody loses anything, and that develops a camaraderie amongst my workers. They look out for each other. Once they’re entitled to a day’s pay, then [they'll think], ‘Why should I switch? I’ll stay home and get paid and then if I come in Thursday I’ll get paid an extra shift,’ ” he said.

The bill under consideration in the City Council would force employers with staffs of 20 or more people to provide nine paid sick days to each full-time worker annually. Smaller businesses, like Mazzone’s, would be required to offer five days a year.