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A vacant storefront in Manhattan in 2017. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\n\u201cIt would ensure that small business owners can afford to keep their doors open and that we don\u2019t live in neighborhoods lined with Sweet Greens, Targets, and Whole Foods.\u201d<\/p>\n
A vacant storefront in Manhattan in 2017. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\n
As president of the board of directors of the Park Slope Food Coop, even with a religiously committed community of shoppers, I can confirm that we\u2019ve only been able to stay afloat in this economic climate because we own our building. We\u2019re not subject to the unaffordable rent hikes that have led many of our neighbors to shut down.\u00a0<\/p>\n To point to a recent example:\u00a0Gino\u2019s, a beloved pizza restaurant near Barclays Center and my old apartment, had been a staple in our community for 30 years. Miami-based Tristar Management recently bought the building and raised\u00a0Gino\u2019s rent from $10,000 to $25,000<\/a>, forcing it to shut down. A chain restaurant or business is expected <\/a>to take\u00a0Gino\u2019s place. Is this what we want to keep happening throughout our city?<\/p>\n Park Slope\u2019s small businesses, like\u00a0Gino\u2019s, desperately need more protections to compete against corporate behemoths. They need their lawmakers to pass Small Business Rent Stabilization.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve lived in Park Slope for the past 15 years. Concerts at the independent venue Southpaw, great sandwiches at Bierkraft, and memorable nights at bars like The Sackett or Dirty Precious were what made this neighborhood lively, community-oriented, and everything you imagine when you think of living in Brooklyn as a young adult.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n And yet, every one of those businesses have shut down\u2014mostly because of steep rent increases by landlords. This is an epidemic plaguing New York City<\/a> and closing down the businesses that made our city what it is. Park Slope alone lost over 30 restaurants in the past year.<\/p>\n Between 2007 and 2019, retail rents in New York City increased\u00a0an average of 22 percent<\/a>\u2014and more than 50 percent in some neighborhoods\u2014and this trend has only\u00a0increased post-COVID<\/a>.\u00a0 In 2024, the city had more than\u00a011 percent commercial vacancies, up from just 4 percent in 2007<\/a>. Currently, there are almost no lease protections for commercial tenants.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, if it feels like some of your favorite places are going by the wayside, it\u2019s because they are. Everything is closing. It\u2019s becoming a retail massacre in Park Slope and other parts of Brooklyn, as communities that used to be defined by their small businesses are now increasingly becoming stale, overpriced, and overrun with encroaching chains, many with dubious commitments to employment standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"CityViews](\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/trx_addons\/components\/lazy-load\/images\/placeholder.png\")
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