On Friday, April 1st, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer toured Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill with Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership staff, advocates, community members, and small business owners, to visit small businesses including Brewklyn Grind, Pushkin Creperie Bakery, and Pillow Café-Lounge.
“Small businesses are the economic engines of Brooklyn, employing more than 222,000 New Yorkers at 52,000 establishments. But despite this, my Red Tape Commission found that government is too often a barrier to their growth,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “Small business owners deserve a government that is responsive to their needs. This week, we announced sixty recommendations to break through the bureaucracy, hold agencies accountable, and cut the red tape that is holding our City’s small businesses back.”
During his visit, business owners shared the challenges they faced with the construction of Myrtle Avenue Plaza and Comptroller Stringer discussed recommendations from his Red Tape Commission report, such as creating clear timelines for agency approvals, improving services for New Yorkers with limited English proficiency, and making better use of technology to support small businesses.
Meredith Phillips Almeida, Executive Director of Myrtle Avenue Partnership shared that all over the city, small businesses suffer when major construction projects tear up the streets in front of their storefronts, and Myrtle Avenue businesses are no exception. “While the Myrtle Avenue Plaza and streetscape improvements promise long-term benefits for our community, we need to do better to mitigate the impacts of construction on our commercial corridors. We are encouraged by the recommendations outlined by the Comptroller in the Red Tape Commission Report, and hope to work with him and his team after today’s visit to the avenue to advocate for improvements to this process.”
Watch our Executive Director, Meredith Phillips Almeida speaking about the impact of construction here.
The Comptroller’s Red Tape Commission is made up of 31 small business leaders, regulatory experts, and advocates. Over the last year, the Commission has held hearings in each of the five boroughs, and conducted an online survey of 300 business owners to better understand the challenges faced by New York City’s small businesses.
A final report, including 60 recommendations, was released by the Commission earlier this week. To read a press release on the report, click here. To view the full report, click here.
