September 17, 2018
Join United for Small Business NYC as we raise the alarm on vacant storefronts across the city.
As a recent NYTimes spotlight demonstrates, commercial corridors across the city are being hollowed out. Since United for Small Business NYC launched its campaign platform last June, we have worked with communities to elevate the issue of commercial vacancy to a citywide audience. While the fight to prevent displacement continues, the loss of small businesses in many neighborhoods has already happened.
It doesn’t need to be this way. Landlords, pursuing ever higher rents, push out commercial tenants in a gamble that leaves communities in limbo. In the absence of any penalty for this kind of behavior, the displacement and warehousing of commercial spaces will continue. Since we don’t have citywide data that shows how bad the vacancy crisis is, communities must take the lead on this issue.