One of many potential business protections

Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s spokesperson Juan Soto said "the small business crisis" is a top priority for him." Johnson is working on various proposals, including the SBJSA, to protect small businesses.

“Last month we had a hearing on a series of bills designed to help small businesses thrive in New York City,” Soto said. “One bill would require the City to maintain a vacant storefront registry similar to the bill that San Francisco just passed. Under this bill, landlords who do not register their vacant storefronts could face fines of up to $1,000 per week.”

Soto said the council will consider a bill that protects small business owners from harassment by “unscrupulous landlords” and another to create a “regulatory review panel” that considers rules and laws governing small businesses to eliminate outdated restrictions.

“Yet another would require the city to provide legal assistance to tenants facing eviction,” he said.

An additional bill would require the Department of Small Business Services to conduct a citywide assessment of all small businesses in the city.

“When bodegas, bakeries, barber shops, repair shops, laundromats shut their doors, we lose jobs, services, and a piece of our city,” Soto said.

Small business advocates say many of these bills amount to window-dressing, however.

"For every piece of legislation that is supposed to help, you have to ask yourself 'is it going to save them, because if the answer is 'no' it's worthless," Theodos, from TakeBack NYC said. "We are losing are artists, our music venues, our commercial institutions — they are all getting put out because they are considered small businesses too."

Pushback to the bill

Opponents of the SBJSA say it can be problematic for both tenants and entrepreneurs.

Councilmember Robert Holden of Middle Village said the SBJSA isn’t strong enough to protect businesses and may have unintended consequences.

“Mainly, I think that forcing landlords to sign 10-year leases may discourage them from renting to small businesses that have more uncertain futures than chain stores,” Holden said. “Arbitration could also present a challenge to the tenants when negotiating a renewal lease. I want to go over the possible side effects of this bill in more detail and await the results of upcoming hearings."

Hillcrest Councilmember Rory Lancman’s office said the bill was a form of "commercial rent control."

Councilmembers who haven't co-sponsored or commented on the bill include Councilmembers Eric Ulrich of Ozone Park, Paul Vallone of Bayside, Francisco Moya of Corona, Barry Grodenchik of Oakland Gardens and Peter Koo of Flushing.

Gregg Bishop, the commissioner of Small Business Services, testified at a 2018 Council hearing that he is "supportive of helping commercial tenants," but said the legislation may actually do "more harm” because of mandatory arbitration of leases to settle disputes, which would likely favor wealthy property owners.

“In arbitration, both parties would need to provide data and documents to determine fair lease terms,” Bishop said. “However, arbitration often favors the party who is able to provide more resources and information into the arbitration process.”

“Therefore, larger and more well-resourced parties, such as landlords and multinational corporations, will likely have the upper hand," Bishop continued, adding that the bill could also increase commercial rents “because landlords may incorporate the anticipated cost of arbitration into lease agreements."

Despite the lack of support of the bill by SBS, Bishop did direct entrepreneurs to use its Commercial Lease Assistance Program.

Theodos disputed the unintended consequences that Holden and Bishop cited.

"The SBJSA levels the playing field for the commercial tenants and up until this point landlords have been enjoying windfall profits, they just don't want it to pass," Theodos said. "They know it is Constitutional. Their only play is to make sure it doesn't reach the floor."

An acute need for action

Jenny Dubnau, 55, is a working artist in Jackson Heights who is struggling to maintain her art studio in Long Island City. She said she is not surprised that so many small businesses are closing up shop throughout Queens.

"There is a crisis for affordable commercial leases of any type," Dubnau said. "Rent can go as high as the landlord would like it to go and for artists it's an incredibly increasing problem."

Most of her working artist friends have either a freelance job or teaching position to support them and maintain a working space for their art, she said.

In the mid-80s she was able to pay for a studio for 50 cents per-square-foot for an entire floor of a building, which measured to 400 square feet, she said. She and four friends paid $250 monthly for that space. She now pays around $2 per-square-foot on average for 400-square-feet.

Dubnau pays $1,150 a month for her art studio, but she said she is facing a rent hike that will raise the cost to $1,700.

"The rent has nothing to do with what people who have commercial leases can afford, but the landlords don't seem to care," said Dubnau. "You have to ask is the market healthy. Are they distorting the market? What does market mean if people can't afford the market rate?"

Other artists who worked in the same building as Dubnau left New York City to cheaper locations Upstate, in the South or in the Midwest when the landlord raised rents, she said.

"My building use to have a ton of artists," Dubnau said. "Just across the hall from me the entire hallway was filled with artists, but they are almost all gone now because they got gigantic rent hikes

This story has been updated to include a statement from Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer.