Speak-Out!

We have a slow-moving emergency for small biz and working artists in NYC: we must cancel commercial rent and pass commercial rent stabilization. Come speak out! This event is focusing on Corey Johnson’s district (west side of Manhattan), but all are welcome. Register for event here.

Queens Together

The heart of our neighborhoods is at stake along with tens of thousands of jobs. Now is the time for decisive action to save our small businesses. Join us this Wednesday, July 29th at 9 am at 120-55 Queens Boulevard.

Fear For Their Future

The fees that delivery apps charge is unconscionable. Their stranglehold on the industry needs to be looked at in depth and addressed if we want to see our beloved restaurants survive: "The gap between the success of the apps and the pain of the restaurants is striking. Spending at restaurants in recent weeks dropped about 35 percent from a year earlier, while revenue for the delivery services rose about 140 percent." [NY Times]

Quarantined Cash Mob

As New York's mom and pops have been forced to close for public safety, #SaveNYC is launching a "Quarantined Cash Mob." Each day (we hope) we will highlight a different small business in the city that you can support easily from home.

Make a donation or buy a gift card. Order take-out or delivery from restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops. Take action and spread the word -- before we all emerge to find New York has vanished completely.

Logo design by Tommy Noonan (DCX)

Gem Spa Cash Mob & Art Event

#SaveNYC is hosting a cash mob at Gem Spa to help support this beloved East Village business--and keep it alive. Come prepared to spend some money — egg creams, pretzels, t-shirts, toothpaste! — and take your photo with a surprise work of guerrilla street art, as an acclaimed group of cultural activists and designers radically transform Gem Spa into a dystopian vision for the new St. Mark’s Place.

Saturday, September 14th. Noon

Gem Spa - 131 Second Avenue, NYC

People Power Against Profit

Skyrocketing rents and loss of leases replace NYC’s diverse neighborhood cultures — spaces, stores and restaurants — with vacant storefronts. Tell the NY City Council to pass the Small Business Jobs Survival Act. Come testify! Tell your story of a favorite space that closed, a lost lease, or how important it is to you to preserve NYC’s unique culture. If you cannot make it to the hearing you can still show your support for the bill.

There will be a rally and press conference on the steps of City Hall before the hearing at noon featuring David Eisenbach, (Founder of Friends of the SBJSA), Ruth Messinger (Former Manhattan Borough President and City Council Member, Original Sponsor of the SBJSA), Elvis Silverio (President at New York State Latino Restaurant Bar & Lounge Association, Nelson Eusebio (National Supermarket Association), Paul Lau (Executive Director of the Sportswear Apparel Association, Andrew Berman (Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation), Quenia Abreu (President & CEO, The New York Women's Chamber of Commerce), Kin Ming Lam (Garment District Factory Owner), Frank Garcia (National Association of State Latino Chambers of Commerce), Giovanni Taveras (Founder of the New York State Veteran's Chamber of Commerce), Rafael Martinez (President, NY Hispanic Chamber of Commerce), and Jeremiah Moss (Author of Vanishing New York).

The City Of Tomorrow

At long last, the Small Business Jobs Survival Act is getting a hearing. Come celebrate, meet and mingle, and strategize next steps for this important event and beyond.

Jeremiah Moss and others will be speaking on the importance of this historic bill. David Eisenbach, the anti-REBNY candidate for Public Advocate, will talk about his work and what we can do to get ready for the public hearing later in October.

Dream Baby is giving #SaveNYC an extended happy hour: $4 for beer and well drinks, $2 off everything else.

Wednesday, October 3rd. 7-9PM.
Dream Baby - 162-164 Avenue A, NYC

Follow The Money

"When Mayor Bill de Blasio was a Councilmember he sponsored the Small Business Jobs Survival Act. When he ran for Public Advocate, he championed it. Now that he is mayor, he is prohibiting the same bill from reaching the floor for a vote and recommends urging landlords to be less greedy.

As we head into election-year debates, the city needs to know what happened? Why has Mayor Bill de Blasio abandoned his campaign pledges to take this city in another direction from Mike Bloomberg and help our struggling small businesses so they can survive? There are vacant storefronts in once vibrant neighborhoods and affordable grocery stores are closing all over the city.

Why hasn’t the mayor called a public hearing on the small business crisis so New Yorkers can hear all of the proposals to address it?"

Text excerpted from Powerful Forces Stop NYC Leaders from Helping Mom & Pop Stores by Kirsten Theodos (City Limits, July 20th 2017)

Not Another Starbucks

Another Starbucks is planned for the huge storefront at 125 St Mark's Place at Avenue A. We don't need more chains in the East Village! We need retail diversity and independently owned local businesses! Join community groups and local shop owners from East Village Independent Merchants Association and more to stand up for the unique character of the East Village. Support policies that can promote retail diversity, prevent chain stores and preserve small businesses! Join community groups and local shop owners from the East Village Independent Merchants Association for a protest on Thursday, July 13th at 5:30pm.

The Death And Life of A Great American City

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]

Save Our Studio

"With your support, we can convince our government officials to use one of the surrounding, vacant

 and more fitting properties for the temporary construction staging. Using one of these alternative

 sites would not close small businesses or eliminate jobs, and would allow us to continue to

thrive in Gowanus." -Scott, Laura, and Chris, owners of Eastern Effects

In case you need a reminder of how twisted NYC's land-grab politics can get... The city is attempting to drive out a successful multimillion-dollar business that gainfully employs 230 people, bases all of its operations in Brooklyn, and partners with groups like the Made in NY PA Training Program to train local kids for jobs in the film and TV industry. They city is claiming Eminent Domain, despite the presence of three other suitable, vacant properties immediately surrounding the site. Oh yeah: Did I mention that Eastern currently has a 20-year lease? Suspicious yet?

Politicians talk a big game about "creating jobs" and attracting more TV and Film — an industry that, by the way, brings 8.7 billion dollars into the city, indirectly supports another 20,000 jobs, and is desperate for large, dedicated studio spaces exactly like the ones Eastern currently offers. But the reality is that, too often, viable businesses and community investment take a back seat to good old-fashioned real estate speculation.

The good news is, we can fight this. Right now. Please click the link here to read all

the details and sign the appropriate letter... You have until Tuesday, May 31st to help us.

Text by Leon Chase

Join Together

If you're sick of watching New York City vanish and think you've got the chutzpah to do something about it, come to #‎SaveNYC's third Happy Hour Social and have drinks with your fellow community activists. Mix, mingle, and exchange ideas at long-standing Brooklyn staple, Cafe Steinhof (once called "the community center of the South Slope"). Help plan upcoming events and actions. Get involved!

Tuesday, April 5th at 6PM
Cafe Steinhof, 422 7th Avenue
Park Slope, Brooklyn

Stand Against The Shadows

Are you tired of the reckless overbuilding of New York City? Do you feel that too many insanely tall buildings are coming up; that we have lost enough light, air, and iconic views to this real estate madness? Are you sickened by the way public spaces get handed over to real estate developers for luxury housing that ends up casting the rest of us in shadows? Do you think that the takeover of so many retail spaces by developers, banks and chain stores is harming the character of your neighborhood?

We feel all those things, so we have joined together as New Yorkers For A Human-Scale City to fight back, and created a petition to tell the Mayor what we think. Please join us by signing and spreading the word.

Initial sponsors: Art Loisada Foundation, Bedford Stuyvesant Society for Historic Preservation, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation, Citizens Defending Libraries, Coalition for a Livable West Side, Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, Community Action Alliance on NYU2031, Concerned Citizens for Community Based Planning, Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side, East Harlem Preservation, Fiske Terrace Association, Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, Friends of Brook Park, Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park, Friends of City Hall Park, Friends of Greenwich Street, Friends of Lamartine Place Historic District, Friends of South Street Seaport, Friends of Tribeca Park, Historic Districts Council, Historic Park Avenue, LANDMARK WEST!, Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, Lower West Side Association, Madison-Marine-Homecrest Association, Movement to Protect the People in Crown Heights, North Avenue A Neighborhood Association, NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan, Preservation League of Staten Island, Project for Public Spaces, Save Chelsea, Save Harlem Now!, #SaveNYC, Save The View Now, Save Our Seaport, SoHo Alliance, South Bronx United, South Village Neighbors, Sullivan-Ludlam-Stoddard Neighborhood Association, TakeBackNYC, TenantNet, Tribeca Trust, 29th Street Association, Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association, West 80’s Neighborhood Association, and Women of Woodlawn.

Dear Mayor de Blasio

The largest employer of New York City residents are its 185,000 small businesses. A majority of New Yorkers rely on steady jobs from local employers to survive the increasing cost of living. Yet the most secure jobs for low and middle income New Yorkers are being lost every day as long established core businesses are forced to close when their leases expire.

New York City faces a jobs crisis that must be addressed immediately as our job creators fight for their livelihood. Exorbitant rent increases and no rights to negotiate fair lease terms with their landlords are driving our local economies into the ground.

We believe a real solution has been presented that will give our local entrepreneurs — in storefronts, manufacturing, not-for-profit organizations, performing arts and theater groups, art spaces and studios, recording and rehearsal studios, retail and service businesses, professional medical offices, commercial tenants — the single most powerful tool to stay in business: equal rights in commercial lease renewal negotiation. If our small businesses face a crisis, their employees face a crisis, and that means we all face it. Give small business owners rights, so that their employees can have stability and our economy can continue to flourish.

We are calling on you, New York City Council Speaker Mark-Viverito, and all New York City Council Members, to unequivocally support the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (File #: Int 0402-2014), the only real solution to ensure we are saving and protecting all of our small business jobs and in turn, the local economy.

This SBJSA will allow small business owners the right to:

- A 10 year minimum lease with the right to renewal, so they can plan for the future of their business, continue to employ staff, and provide their service to the community.

- Equal negotiation terms during the lease renewal process with recourse to binding arbitration by a 3rd party if fair terms can't be agreed upon.

- Restrictions to prevent landlords from passing their property taxes on to small business owners.

- An end to rent-gouging, illegal extortion of unscrupulous landlords, and unconscionably high rent increases that affect ALL businesses.

On behalf of NYC's single largest employer and revenue generator for our neighborhoods, we ask that you do the right thing for your city and local communities.

Please support the Small Business Jobs Survival Act.

•••

[Click here to send this letter to Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Mellisa Mark-Viverito]

Rally Against The Corporate University

"NYU is now an institution driven not by a concern for education, but by an elite financial calculus that ends up hurting all of us in many ways: the students, faculty and staff within the school itself, as well as its long-suffering neighbors. What’s happening at NYU is indicative of a nationwide trend that has turned institutions of higher learning into profit-driven corporations." -Mark Crispin Miller, NYU professor of media

Did you know...

-NYU “creates more student debt than any other nonprofit college or university in the country” (Village Voice)?

-NYU Law is the nation’s 2nd most expensive law school?

-Princeton Review has rated NYU's financial aid "the worst in the United States."

-NYU charges international students $9,392 more than American students, bringing in an extra $100,000?

-Your insurance costs anywhere from $2424 to $3236 with $5000 in-network deductibles and without dental or vision benefits?

-NYU bought two buildings in NoHo for $157 million in October 2014 (which had cost the owner $96.6 million one year earlier)?

-NYU provides Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates a luxury two bedroom at 120 West 15th Street though he has no affiliation at NYU and many students have no housing?

-President Sexton currently makes a base salary of $1,404,484 and will retire with a $2.6 million length of service bonus and $800,000 lifetime annuity? And a $1 million low cost loan for President Sexton’s beach house on Fire Island?

-Did you know that NYU’s Board does not have a single academic member—only Wall Street bankers, lawyers, and elite figures from Abu Dhabi and Shanghai?

-The top 21 administrators make a combined total of $23.5 million dollars (an average raise of 23.3% from 2011 to 2013, while faculty raises average 2.5%)?

-And that the increase alone would have covered tuition for 67 students and saved them between $4.3 and $8.9 million in interest over 15 years?

-That NYU admitted at least 1/3 of the workers (around 10,000 people) who built the Abu Dhabi campus were never paid for their work? And that over 200 workers were summarily imprisoned and then deported for daring to strike to recover their stolen wages?

Join students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members on September 1st to call on NYU to do the right thing, and be a good neighbor and anchor for the sustainable life of our community.

Established 1921

"This one is really the face of Vanishing New York. This is a business that's been here for 94 years, made it through the Great Depression, made it through everything. This store is part of the fabric of New York."

After 94 years in business, Louis Shoe Rebuilders is getting the boot from Empire State Realty Trust without reason. On June 18th, #SaveNYC paid our respects and commemorated the life of this cultural gem with a funeral; old shoes and flowers were brought as offerings, the mourners dressed in black, and the legendary Penny Arcade gave a fiery eulogy for the beloved shop. Ms Beatrice Barbieri and her staff (Julio, Fabio, and Luisa) are some of the best New Yorkers we've ever met, with wonderful stories to tell about their loyal customer base and the changing neighborhood. In a short period of time we already consider them part of our #‎SaveNYC family. They will be missed by many.

Funeral Held For Louis Shoe Repair (NY Observer)

Empire State Building Cobbler to Close After 94 Years (Curbed)

Empire State Building Shoe-Repair Shop to Close After Decades (Wall Street Journal)

After 94 years, Empire State Building shoe repair store gets booted (NY Business Journal)

94-Year Old Shoe Shine Shop Getting The Boot (WABC Eyewitness News 7)

Longtime Empire State Building Shoe Repair Shop Loses Lease (CBS NY)

Le Cireur de Chaussures de l’Empire State Building Ferme Boutique (Le Monde)

Dopo 94 Anni Sfrattato Lo Storico Calzolaio Dell'Empire State Building (L'Unione Sarda)
Tras 94 Años Cierra Local de Reparación Calzado en Empire (Ansa Latina)

All photography by Beatriz Elena Rodriguez © 2015

Funeral For A Shoe Repair Shop

After 94 years in business, Louis Shoe Rebuilders is getting the boot from their landlord, Empire State Realty Trust (aka the Empire State Building). Take this opportunity to show your love for the dying city. On Thursday, June 18th starting at noon, come to a funeral for this venerable small business hosted by #SaveNYC. Bring old shoes and flowers as an offering. Bring your #SaveNYC signs. Dress in funeral black. Eulogies welcome.

•••

Louis Shoe Rebuilders has been in business since 1921, originally located on the site of the Empire State Building before there ever was an Empire State Building. When the new skyscraper opened in 1931, the landlord took Louis in. But they won't be there for much longer. The 94-year-old shop will be closing at the end of June. Owner Beatrice Barbieri: "We're not having our lease renewed. They want $25,000 and nobody can pay that on shoe repair." The Empire State Building is owned by Empire State Realty Trust, run by the Malkin family, who bought the building from Donald Trump in 2002. The building is going through changes. Tony Malkin has said he considers it the center of Silicon Alley and a "premier urban campus" for tech companies. Ground-floor windows are papered with "Retail Space Available" signs. Banners wrapped around the scaffolding cheer: "$550 Million in Building Upgrades" and "Creating New Jobs in New York.” But jobs are also being destroyed here, like the one done by cobbler and store manager Julio Galvis for the past 27 years. [Story continues here]

•••

Louis Shoe Rebuilders is located at 25 W 33rd Street, in the Empire State Building. The shop's
entrance is on the street. The funeral is rain or shine (bring a black umbrella if it's raining).

You Can Fight City Hall

City Hall press conference on manufacturing and industrial zone land-use/redistricting.

Photo credit: Nancy Brous