City Dreaming

"Last night, buoyed by this prospect, about 50 New Yorkers gathered at Dream Baby in the East Village for an SBJSA-themed happy hour hosted by #SaveNYC. (The bar’s location on Avenue B is, of course, not currently among the 20% of retail spaces currently sitting vacant in NYC, up from 7% just two years ago.) Attendees were offered $4 off beer and well drinks, $2 off everything else, and got a chance to organize ahead of the City Council hearing on the SBJSA scheduled for the fourth Monday in October... The event featured pro-SBJSA speakers Jeremiah Moss, Jenny Dubnau, and David Eisenbach. Moss is a #SaveNYC leader, anti-gentrification activist, and author of the book Vanishing New York. He drew guests via his beloved blog of the same name."

Text by DJ Cashmere from Bedford & Bowery
All photographs by Beatriz Elena Rodriguez © 2018

Give Small Businesses A Fighting Chance!

"When now-mayor de Blasio was a council member, he supported the SBJSA. Now, he won’t go near it. Same

goes for City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Councilman Brad Lander, and Public Advocate Tish James, 

all of whom supported the bill before they ascended to leadership positions." -Village Voice, September 30th 2016

Activists from the Artists Studio Affordability Project (ASAP), New Yorkers For A Human-Scale City, #SaveNYC, TakeBackNYC, and other groups stood in solidarity at a press conference on the steps of City Hall on Friday, September 30th to bring attention to the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA), and to call for the scheduling of a public hearing and vote on the legislation. Inside City Hall, the Committee On Small Business and the Subcommittee on Zoning & Franchise held a sham hearing on "Oversight - Zoning and incentives for promoting retail diversity and preserving neighborhood character."

Photograph by Ann McDermott

Call For A Public Hearing

[Click here to send a letter in support of the SBJSA to Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Mellisa Mark-Viverito]