Developers too stingy to build more apartments

 

 

 The Real Deal

The construction pipeline is getting narrower.

There were 351 new building filings in New York City in the third quarter, down 17 percent from the second quarter and 28 percent year-over-year, according to a report from the Real Estate Board of New York.

The drop is in part because the 421a property tax break for multifamily development in the city expired June 15, which triggered a rush of filings. The 689 in the first quarter were the most in a quarter since 2014, which, not coincidentally, was just before the previous version of 421a expired.

A drought followed the 2014 surge, and now history is repeating itself. Developers have all but stopped trying to put together investors to pursue rental projects that cannot get the 35-year property tax break. Condo projects were largely excluded from the most recent iteration of 421a.

Rising interest rates have also contributed to the decline, as financing projects of all kinds became more challenging for developers.

But the impact of 421a’s expiration is clear when comparing the slowdown in filings for rental projects to the overall drop in new-building filings. The quarter-over-quarter falloff in rental filings was 62 percent, nearly four times the quarterly decline overall. Only 78 rental projects were filed in the quarter, half as many as in the same period last year.

Those 78 projects are proposed to have 3,346 units, down 46 percent year-over-year and the smallest quarterly number in a decade — since the slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis.

Rental projects in much of the city became dependent on 421a over several decades. Progressives let the tax break lapse, believing it forgave too much property tax for too little affordability. Some predict it will be several years before it is replaced, although an abatement still exists for co-ops and condos.

REBNY's new rap language

The Real Deal

The Real Estate Board of New York is ringing in 2023 with what the group called “significant” changes to its universal co-brokerage agreement.

The new rules, which are effective Jan. 1, are tightening the language used to advertise listings. Brokers won’t be able to use the term “no-fee,” which the group said misleads customers who don’t understand the term only applies to the listing broker.

The label “off-market” will be prohibited from exclusive listings and those omitted from the RLS by an owner’s opt-out agreement, often used by wealthy clients for discreet marketing.

In cases where an open listing is being advertised as off-market, REBNY can ask for documentation proving the listing is open.

“It’s co-broke or go broke,” a representative for REBNY said.

REBNY is also instituting a “coming soon” status for listings on the RLS, which will give brokers 14 days to switch them to active. The addition comes in response to brokers using the term as a marketing or staging tool without a clear standard, so it’s unclear when a property will hit the market.

Under the new guidelines, brokers will have 14 days to change their listings to active after first posting them under the label, and they won’t be able to show the property until the listing is changed to active.

A third rule clarifies language around commission splits, encouraging brokers to come to a written agreement if they’re pursuing an uneven split for a transaction.

 A final rule change implements the Residential New Development Brokerage Agreement for new development buildings of all sizes. The agreement previously applied only to buildings with 10 or more units.

The broker fees remain

 

 

Queens Chronicle

 So, you didn’t hire a real estate broker, but you’re paying fees for one anyway? It may feel like robbery, but the longstanding practice is completely legal.

A state Supreme Court judge in Albany Court ruled April 9 that the Housing Security and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 did not prevent landlords who hire the middlemen from passing off the financial burden to their tenants.

The argument was raised after real estate representatives challenged a February 2020 New York Department of State guidance memo that stated, “A landlord’s agent that collects a fee for bringing about a meeting of the minds between the landlord and tenant (i.e., the broker fee) from the tenant can be subject to discipline.”

The Real Estate Board of New York and the New York State Association of Realtors filed an Article 78 petition to overturn the guidance, claiming that the 2019 legislation did not clearly restrict broker’s fees from being placed on tenants.

After a year, the court sided with the landlords.

“The guidance was issued in error of law and represents an unlawful intrusion upon the power of the Legislature and constitutes an abuse of discretion,” acting Supreme Court Justice Susan Kushner wrote in her decision.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assemblymember Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), prohibits landlords from charging application fees, except for the cost of background checks, credit checks and monthly late fees. Furthermore, the legislation defines rent to exclude extraneous fees and charges to protect tenants from eviction due to failure to pay fees. There is no specific mention of “brokers” or “agents.”

Even renters who find apartments on their own may still be subject to broker’s fees, which can sometimes be as high as 15 percent of the annual lease, often paid in one lump sum by tenants before they’re handed the keys over.

REBNY President James Whelan celebrated the win over the DOS’s “erroneous interpretation,” stating that the decision ensures commission for thousands of real estate agents across New York who no longer have to fear being disciplined at the hands of the DOS.

Michael Johnson, the communications director at the Community Housing Improvement Program, said that even if the ruling hadn’t gone in the landlords’ favor, the prices for brokers could have been reflected in rent instead.

“What the ruling really does more than anything is help boutique, smaller brokers and small property owners to keep rent lower,” Johnson explained. CHIP members are mostly small- to medium-sized multifamily landlords, while REBNY represents some of the city’s biggest developers.

Brokers fill a need for both tenants and property owners, Johnson said, especially prepandemic when the housing market was tight. With limited options, prospective renters may have had a difficult time finding dwellings that fit their needs at an appropriate price, he said.

If Kushner ruled against fees for broker services, Johnson said, it could influence a change in the market force — rent would jump for new tenants because agents would still be used.

Renters’ advocates differ.

Including brokers’ cost in rent rather than as their own fees would not affect rent-stabilized dwellings, which Tenants Political Action Committee Treasurer Michael McKee pointed to as an example that jacking up the rent would not be the viable alternative Johnson says it is. Landlords would welcome any chance to raise rent, he added.

“This has been a giant scam. It’s been going on for years. It’s basically extortion. It basically means if you want to rent an apartment you have to pay a bribe,” said McKee.

REBNY and the City wants to turn your neighborhood hotel into a cheap substitute for "affordable housing"...

...but probably not this one

THE CITY

 City officials are looking to capitalize on a distressed tourism industry by converting commercial hotels into affordable housing — including creating single room occupancy units known as SROs.

The exploration of cheaper alternatives for affordable housing and supportive housing — offering health care and social services for people with mental illness or substance abuse disorders — comes as the city struggles to overcome a fiscal crisis prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The effort, which also comes as thousands of homeless people are staying in hotels, highlights just how hard a near-halt in business travel and tourism is slamming New York City.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing a tremendous hit to our hotels because of the reduction in tourism, because of the lack of travel — and hopefully most of that will come back. But some of it may not,” Vicki Been, deputy mayor for housing and economic development, said this week during an online roundtable on economic development hosted by the Real Estate Board of New York and the law firm Greenberg Traurig. 

...and probably (and definitely) not this one either

 

“So we’ve been looking hard at — are there hotels that we could acquire to turn into supportive housing rather than having to build from ground up?” she added. “We’re looking both at, are there assets that we own that we can make available to affordable housing or other needs — and are there private market buildings that we could acquire to convert into affordable housing at a cheaper cost.”

Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Louise Carroll, who also participated in the event, said hotels are also under consideration for a shared housing model — which includes SRO-like units that have common areas for residents.

The agency has been testing shared and co-living spaces as affordable housing since 2018.

“Maybe hotels are good for rehab in that way,” Carroll said of SROs.

REBNY proxy PAC gives Donovan Richards a mad dash cash advance days before election

Seagirt in Far Rockaway in Donovan Richards district

Queens Eagle

A Real Estate Board of New York-backed political action committee is spending big for Donovan Richards in the final days before the Democratic primary for Queens borough president.

Jobs for New York, a PAC founded by REBNY officials and funded by the city’s largest development firms, spent $66,411.68 on mailers and live phone calls promoting Richards, a Southeast Queens councilmember. 

“Donovan Richards has devoted his life to serving Queens County and creating economic opportunities for our families,” the mailers read. “Donovan Richards is a leader who stands on principles and convictions. Not politics.” 

The literature and phone calls, independent expenditures unaffiliated with Richards’ campaign, were purchased June 17.

In addition to promoting Richards, some of the literature goes negative. The reverse side of one mailer specifically targets Richards’ opponent Costa Constantinides, listing how the Astoria councilmember has “failed” condo and co-op owners.

“This year, we are facing the most important election of our lifetimes,” the mailer states. “Some of our leaders seem tone-deaf.”

Jobs for New York also funded live phone calls and provided scripts for operators to read to homeowners and REBNY members. A third script is labeled “Low Efficacy Absentee Chase.”

“It is clear from Council Member Richards’ lengthy track record of working to improve NYCHA, creating affordable housing and good jobs and serving as a consensus builder that he is ready to be the next Queens Borough President,” Jobs For New York said in a statement.

The Queens borough president is tasked with making advisory recommendations on land use proposals, including projects backed by major developers. In Queens, large-scale projects at Sunnyside Yards, Willets Point and the Flushing Creek Waterfront are in the works, as development continues to surge in Western Queens, Flushing and Jamaica. 

REBNY agrees to suspending evictions for three months during pandemic

The Real Deal

The Real Estate Board of New York announced on Friday that more than two dozen of its members, who own 150,000 rental apartments, have pledged to hold off on evictions for the next three months in response to the coronavirus.

“No one knows how long this pandemic is going to take to play out,” REBNY president James Whelan said. “Our best guess, in terms of seeing this through, was to look at a 90-day time period.”
Starting immediately, the members will not execute any warrant of eviction for three months with the exception of criminal or negligent behavior that jeopardizes the life, health or safety of other residents, according to a letter released by REBNY.

“With all the stress, health risk and economic suffering going on now, no one should have to worry about losing their place to live during this crisis,” REBNY said in a statement.
The letter was signed by a who’s who of New York City real estate, including A&E Real Estate’s Douglas Eisenberg, Richard LeFrak, Related Companies’ Jeff Blau, Brookfield Property Group’s Ric Clark, RXR Realty’s Scott Rechler, Taconic Partners’ Paul Pariser and Charles Bendit, Blackstone’s Ken Caplan and Kathleen McCarthy and others.

The move comes just hours after the state announced a one-week moratorium on evictions in New York City, to begin Monday, after calls to do so erupted across the nation.

The leading real estate trade group’s announcement also coincided with a push from more than 100 other organizations across the city, spearheaded by the tenant advocacy group Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, which sent a letter to mayor Bill de Blasio, urging him to close the city’s housing courts during the coronavirus pandemic.

REBNY bought their man for Queens

NY Post


The powerful Real Estate Board of New York is throwing its muscle behind Councilman Donovan Richards to become Queens’ next borough president — and is helping to fundraise for the Far Rockaway Democrat, The Post has learned.

“We firmly believe Council Member Donovan Richards would best serve in this role,” wrote REBNY president James Whelan in an email that was sent to the organization’s board last week and obtained by The Post.

Whelan pointed to Richards support for rezonings and for controversial public-private partnerships to pay for rehabbing decrepit public housing developments as reasons for backing him.

“We can’t expect to see eye-to-eye with every elected official on every issue,” he added. “We can expect, and should support, those candidates who are willing to have direct, honest conversations about ways we can work together to move the City forward — and we believe Donovan is that candidate.”

Whelan’s Feb. 14 email called for REBNY’s deep-pocketed members to contribute to Richards’ campaign and included an invite to a Feb. 19 fundraiser organized by Queens real estate broker Eric Benaim.

They got theirs...

Broker fees begone not yet

NY Post

An Albany judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order halting the Empire State’s new lightning-rod rule that renters can no longer be charged broker’s fees.

The ruling by Justice Michael Mackey came after the influential Real Estate Board of New York and other industry honchos, including big-name brokerages like the The Corcoran Group and Sotheby’s Realty, filed a lawsuit against the Department of State on Monday.

The temporary ban means brokers can, for now, continue collecting hefty commissions from tenants when they rent a residence.

REBNY and the New York State Association of Realtors declared in a statement that it also means “that thousands of hardworking, honest real estate agents across New York State can do business in the same way they did prior to last week’s DOS memo without fear of discipline by the DOS.”

Small Business Congress lays blame for Court Square Library closing and delay of SBSJA on Jimmy Van Bramer

SBC - The Small Business Congress      

E-mail  savenycjobs@gmail.com                Websites:  Savenycjobs.org

 Councilman Van Bramer’s  Favoring Big Real Estate over Commercial Tenants 

Is The Reason for Queens Closings!

Deadline NYC, Jan. 10, 2020:

Yesterday the Queens Public Library announced that their Court Square Library will close on Feb. 15, 2020 due to being unable to find suitable long term space and reasonable lease terms in an area with sky high rents.  Councilman Van Bramer disagrees with their reason for closing and blames the Library for dragging its feet in finding a new location. 

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer made clear who was responsible, “This could and should have been avoided…...this is about the library failing to plan for this community.”  The truth is CM Van Bramer is fully to blame for this library closing as well as all Queens businesses willing and able to pay a reasonable rent but forced to close because they have no rights when their leases expired to negotiate reasonable lease terms. They have no rights because CM Van Bramer has fought against any legislation giving them rights. 

CM Van Bramer should be ashamed of the critical role he played in using his office to work to prevent a vote on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, giving all commercial tenants rights when their leases expire.  Rights needed to remain long term in business and rights to equally negotiate fair lease terms that would allow owners to make a reasonable profit. Instead, CM Van Bramer actions has favored the real estate lobby’s interests and he has worked to “keep the status quo”, which is destroying the backbone of Queens local economy.

These are the facts CM Van Bramer does not want the Queens residents to know which shows how hypocritical his statement is, “This (closing) could and should have been avoided.”  All of the Queens business closings for the past decade could and should have been avoided, if not for lawmakers abandoning their progressive values and selling out to big real estate for their own political ambitions.

CM Van Bramer was the Majority leader of the City Council from 2014 thru 2017. A leadership role that offered a platform to be a strong voice for Queens small businesses.  Adding to this political influence was the fact the majority members of the Small Business Committee were Queens council members (5 of 9 members). Other than the Speaker, no council member was in a better position to influence legislation to save Queens small businesses than CM Van Bramer.  What did CM Van Bramer do with all this political power to

prevent the growing small business crisis from coming to main streets in Queens? 

For the entire term of CM Van Bramer he did absolutely “nothing” to save a single business, job, or give rights to businesses to survive.   Only once under the many Speakers in over 30 years has the Jobs Act not been allowed to have an honest hearing in council. That was under Majority leader Van Bramer’s term with the majority members on the Small Business Committee from Queens.  Not only was the Jobs Act denied a hearing but NO hearing was held under Van Bramer’s watch to address the sky high rents and the growing crisis forcing the closing of small businesses citywide, even when the crisis came to Queens. Just one honest public hearing on the Jobs Act would have shown the bill to be only solution to save small businesses.  The Queens desperate small business owners, especially the immigrant owners, would have NO Voice at City Hall under Van Bramer’s entire leadership. His recent sponsorship of the worthless Levin Commercial Rent Stabilization bill shows they still have NO voice.

CM Van Bramer is Chairman of the Arts and Cultural committee and not once as Chairman did he hold a hearing specifically on finding legislation to stop the closing of our city’s art and cultural tenants. 

Under CM Van Bramer’s watch no effort was ever made to have the Council’s legal department resolve any legal issues with the Jobs Act. For every legislation introduced in the council, the legal department will review and give recommendation to its legality and recommend amendments to resolve any real or potential legal issues. The one exception to this policy is the Jobs Act, whose unsubstantiated legal claims remain for over a decade.  CM Van Bramer claims he is a proud sponsor of the Jobs Act and yet never once did he use the power and influence of his office to insist that the legal department due their duty and treat the Jobs Act like other legislation by resolving any legal claims. During his entire tenure as Majority of Council, Van Bramer remained silent and complicit to the rigging by the Speakers’ Office and REBNY to stop the Jobs Act.

In May 2016,  87 Queens Associations signed a petition calling upon Queens lawmakers to stand up for small businesses as they face a crisis to survive caused by exorbitant rent increases. Community leadership signed this petition calling on Queens lawmakers to “ address the crisis quickly by passing the Small Business Jobs Survival Act,  which gives rights to owners to protect and preserve Queens’s businesses and jobs”. 

What was the Majority leader of the Council’s response to the largest Queens community groups’ plea to do something?  CM Van Bramer did not respond and continued his policy in the face of this crisis, to “do nothing.” 

CM Van Bramer should be embarrassed by allowing the Small Business Committee to have NO members on it representing Queens small businesses. It is bad enough to allow, without protest, CM Mark Gjonaj, a real estate owner and an anti small business chairman, but to also allow a vital committee that in a time of crisis will determine the future of every Queens small business owner and the future of their employees to have NO representative is a disgrace.  Clearly, CM Van Bramer is going along with the rigging by REBNY to stop the Jobs Act.

CM Van Bramer’s statement on the Court Square Library closing, “I believe they dragged their feet and now we’re in a crisis where this community is faced with the loss of a public library.”  No lawmaker has dragged his feet more than CM Van Bramer in pressuring the Speaker to make the changes in the Jobs Act and bring it to a vote.

On Oct 22, 2018 at the hearing on the Jobs Act, Speaker Johnson repeated many times the Jobs Act would be changed to not include or protect big Fortune Companies like Goldman Sachs, and then moved to a vote. In the face of a growing small business crisis Speaker Johnson, when questioned on the progress of the Jobs Bill repeatedly said, “it’s being tweaked and fine tuned.”  The changes to the Jobs Act that Speaker Johnson pledged to make would take one hour to make. A simple change in the definition of who the bill covers, one paragraph. Yet, 14 months after the hearing and no changes to the Jobs Act have been made!!  With Queens businesses closing monthly, why didn’t CM Van Bramer go to Speaker Johnson to encourage him to “ stop dragging his feet” and make the changes so the Queens commercial tenants, like the Court Square Library would have rights to renewal their leases for 10 years, which would stop the closings?

The reason CM Van Bramer did not “push” Speaker Johnson to make the changes to the Jobs Act and move it to a vote and begin saving Queens businesses was because CM Van Bramer was promoting another bill written by the real estate lobby.  On December 13th, Councilman Van Bramer held a rally in Sunny Side Queens proclaiming his endorsement of Councilman Levin’s new bill, Commercial Rent Stabilization.  A bill touted to save small businesses by having a commercial rent guideline board set rent increases for businesses,

This bill is an insult to every business owner in Queens and an affront to good government. What CM Van Bramer has done was throw Queens businesses under the bus by promoting legislation to kill the Jobs Act.  CM Van Bramer was promoting legislation that would substitute for the only real solution to save small businesses, and promote legislation that would keep the “status quo.” destroying small businesses.  This new bill was written by REBNY to keep all the rights solely in the hands of the landlords and would give NO rights to business owners.  CM Van Bramer along with CM Lander and CM Levin were serving big real estate interests by stopping a Tenants Rights Bill ( Jobs Act) and substituting a Landlords Rights Act (Levin Bill). 

How does CM Van Bramer explain why the simple change to the Jobs Act was never made and instead, 14 months later end up in another bill which was written by the real estate lobby?  How does CM Van Bramer explain how the council ends up with two bills at the same time dealing with Commercial Lease Renewal Process?  In the long 34 year debate on the Jobs Act, never once has two bills been in play, but today CM Van Bramer is promoting one of bills while he is a proud sponsor of the other.  The public may be confused by CM Van Bramer’s actions but the small business advocates who wrote the Jobs Act are not. Sung Soo Kim, Godfather of immigrant businesses, “ CM Van Bramer has joined in the rigging to stop the Jobs Act.”

How shameful that CM Van Bramer remains silent on the small business crisis for his entire term and only now speaks loudly in support of a Landlords Bill that was created for only one purpose, to kill the Jobs Act, and with it the hope for survival for countless Queens businesses.   

* Sung Soo Kim, recognized as the “godfather of immigrant businesses” and major advocate for over 30 years.  He is the founder of the oldest small business service center in NYC, the Korean American Small Business Service Center, and was chairman of the Mayor’s First Small Business Advisory Board, appointed by Mayors Dinkins and Giuliani. He is co-founder of Small Business Congress and sole creator of the Small Business Bill of Rights.  He has spent every working day for 30 years addressing the problems of immigrant small business owners. He never took a salary from government as Chairman of Small Business Advisory Board nor in consulting on numerous regulations. He turned down offers to run a BID in Queens and turned down government funding for his business service center.  In 30 years he has personally negotiated and re-negotiated an estimated 50,000-55,000 commercial leases for his Korean/Chinese members. He has gone to court twice a week for over 30 years to fight for his members in court.

City planning official acknowledges citizens agonizing fears and contemptible disdain for de Blasio's zoning policies, then undermines their concerns in speech to real estate lobby organization

Crains New York

The head of the city's planning agency acknowledged that the mandatory inclusionary housing program—a signature accomplishment of Mayor Bill de Blasio's tenure—has failed to quell the growing concerns New Yorkers have about development pushing people out of their neighborhoods.

"I think we need to speak about [development] in terms that respond to the very concrete fears that people have about displacement," Marisa Lago, director of the Department of City Planning and head of the City Planning Commission, said at an event Thursday.

But Lago said public confidence in the mayor's policy requiring affordable units in projects benefiting from rezoning would grow over time.

"Mandatory inclusionary housing was passed just three years ago," Lago said. "As we see more and more of these units coming online, as we see neighborhoods ... begin to be regenerated, I think the facts will ultimately bear out that we're headed in the right direction."

Public Advocate candidate David Eisenbach aims at REBNY, de Blasio and City Council

Upstate senators support a denser New York City

From Crains:

Support for a state Senate bill allowing the city to zone for denser apartment buildings is breaking down along geographic lines.

Representatives from within the five boroughs—aside from the Bronx's state Sen. Jeff Klein—voted against the proposal earlier this month, while lawmakers from outside the city were in favor.

The bill would roll back a state law capping residential development at 12 times a city property's lot area. The legislation's stated aim is to give the city greater leeway to address the housing crisis by zoning for denser development wherever the City Planning Commission deems appropriate. Doing so would bring residential planning in line with commercial properties, which are not subject to a state-imposed cap. That idea is supported by the de Blasio administration, the Regional Plan Association and the Real Estate Board of New York. But new housing is often opposed by preservation and community groups, a dynamic that makes the geographic split in the Senate Committee on Rules, which voted May 7, unsurprising.

REBNY involved in CUNY chancellor search

"Why on earth would the President of REBNY be on the search committee for the next CUNY Chancellor? Their tentacles are everywhere...

These are the members of the Chancellor Search Committee and their affiliations:

William C. Thompson Jr., Chairperson, CUNY Board of Trustees
Barry F. Schwartz, Vice Chairperson, CUNY Board of Trustees
Henry T. Berger, Trustee, CUNY Board of Trustees
Fernando Ferrer, Trustee, CUNY Board of Trustees
Una S. T-Clarke, Trustee, CUNY Board of Trustees
Kevin D. Kim, Trustee, CUNY Board of Trustees
Jill O’Donnell-Tormey, Trustee, CUNY Board of Trustees
Karol V. Mason, President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Dr. David Gómez, President, Hostos Community College
John Aderounmu, Chairperson, University Student Senate
Huiling Cai, Student, LaGuardia Community College
Katherine M. Conway, Chair, University Faculty Senate
Ruth E. Stark, Distinguished Professor, City College
John Banks, President, Real Estate Board of New York"

- anonymous

REBNY wants to eliminate building height limits

From Crains:

This year the Real Estate Board of New York plans on pushing Albany to lift a cap that has long limited the size of new apartment buildings in New York City, the trade group’s president said Thursday.

Current state rules restrict the square footage of a residential building to 12 times its lot size. While this has resulted in plenty of tall Manhattan apartment towers, developers have the capability to go much higher. Commercial office buildings are routinely built to twice this density, and some of them have later been converted to apartments.

Unlocking greater density in transit-rich areas could help chip away at the city’s housing crunch and provide affordable housing, said REBNY President John Banks, who represents many of the landlords and developers who would construct the buildings.

Banks envisions allowing buildings to exceed the cap if they are rezoned, which would require going through the public-review process and including affordable housing. It is a concept that both REBNY and others have embraced in the past. Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested nixing the density cap in his 2014 housing plan. And the Regional Plan Association included the idea in its Fourth Regional Plan. In the coming months, RPA is separately planning to release a study and start a push of its own to get rid of the limit.

Mom & Pops Have No Friends at City Hall, says Korean-American Business Leader

Sung Soo Kim, who endorses Sal Albanese for Mayor, is a leading small business advocate (see below) in Queens for three decades, now accuses the Real Estate Board of NY (REBNY) a powerful lobby, of “killing our democracy” by “taking control of our city’s Democratic lawmakers and the election process.”

The outspoken Kim charges “When New Yorkers vote shortly, they will be unaware they are really voting for which lobby or union will be empowered to make policy at City Hall, which will impact their lives, economy, jobs, taxes, and their democratic rights.”

In a statement from NYC’s Small Business Congress, an independent small business organization, Kim states, “When it concerns economic policy and jobs, REBNY controls the positions and platforms of all incumbents Democratic candidates through:

• REBNY’s influence with media
• huge campaign funding
• threats of supporting opponents
• rewards with government jobs
• promises of future business for political consultants
• sway with party bosses in the selection of a new Council Speaker
• control of the biggest high salary jobs’ revolving door with bureaucrats
• and most importantly, being viewed as the only pathway for Democratic career politicians to higher offices.”

Kim believes that the above “permits REBNY to dictate the issues and debates of our economy and jobs in the city’s elections. REBNY is the 800-pound gorilla you don’t see or hear of in the election. REBNY’s influence with lawmakers and the Democratic Party has made the topic of our city’s economy and jobs a non-issue in the past two elections.”

He further explains, “In 2009, REBNY created a bogus legal roadblock to stop a vote on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, a bill to stop our small businesses from disappearing by giving rights to commercial tenants. The bill had seemed certain to pass, with all members of Small Business Committee and 32 Council sponsors.”

“But REBNY then apparently managed to get the leading outspoken champions of a populist bill, which gave rights to commercial tenants and regulated landlords, to ‘flip.’ And once flipped, to persuade them to either join in rigging the system to stop any future vote on legislation giving rights to business owners and remain silent on the rigging against mom & pop owners facing a struggle to survive, yet still referring to them as “the backbone of the economy.”

“While powerful lobbies in Washington have the influence to hand pick committee chairs and exert influence within government agencies on regulations and policy, no modern day lobby in the city has the power like REBNY to control the city’s economic policy and hand pick entire committees to assure no challenges to that policy.”

“A walk down any NYC main street shows the outcome of REBNY’s stranglehold on City Hall, with empty storefronts, sometimes for years, where once long established vibrant businesses were. Some landlords demand “cash under the table” from immigrant owners. Tenants are turned into virtual indentured servitude when given only short term leases, sometimes a year or month to month, receiving a notice from their landlord to “vacate in 30 days.”

“The single biggest cause of long established businesses closing are the exorbitant rent increases being demanded in a manipulated, speculative market. The NYC Courts evict on average 500 commercial businesses each month. Over 1,200 businesses close each month and over 8000 jobs every month lost since Mayor DeBlasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito came into office.”

“Once, both were outspoken champions of the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, but upon election both abandoned their progressive SBJSA stance in favor of REBNY’s money and political influence. Both, along with other “progressive” lawmakers who apparently sold out to REBNY for their own political careers, “flipped” and joined the rigging to keep the status quo favoring only big real estate.”
SBJSA advocate Kim says there are three things voters can do to “challenge REBNY’s power and influence over our city’s government:

1. Elect candidates running for public office especially against an incumbent who refuse campaign funding from REBNY.
2. Ask for a call for an honest public hearing to find a real solution to end the crisis destroying our small businesses.
3. Hold elected leaders responsible for all the businesses that have been forced to close and jobs lost.

Know that if re-elected these lawmakers who have done nothing to save a single business or job will continue to work to keep the status quo favoring only their campaign contributors, REBNY.

All the incumbents are telling the voters they are proud of their progressive record as landlords are robbing the city’s struggling small business owners of their American Dream. Our Democratic lawmakers have betrayed the principles of Democracy, respect for our city’s entrepreneurs, art community, immigrant families who own the majority of small businesses, all workers, the hard to employ, seniors on fixed incomes, and New Yorkers who love their neighborhoods."

About Sung Soo Kim:
Mr. Kim consulted in the original and all subsequent versions of the SBJSA. He founded the Korean American Small Business Service Center 32 years ago, refusing city funding support. He is creator of the Small Business Bill of Rights, rejecting a Business Improvement District. He has negotiated more than 50,000 commercial leases. Kim served without salary as Chairman of the Small Business Advisory Board, appointed by Mayors Dinkins and Giuliani. Reach him at Small Business Congress, at savenycjobs@gmail.com

Telling it like it is

Ray Rogers condemns NYC's rezoning policies as REBNY policies that benefit fat cat developers like Rob and Jerry Speyer (Tishman Speyer), Jed Walentas (Two Trees Management), Gary Barnett (Extell Development Company) and Daniel Brodsky (The Brodsky Organization). Rogers says REBNY is run by "bullies and racketeers" while speaking at Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer's rezoning hearing in East Harlem (7-13-17).

Where are you, Jimmy Van Bramer?

From Progress Queens:

The office of New York City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Woodside) is keeping a lid on its reaction to a planned demonstration by a group of grassroots activists, who are objecting to his refusal to strongly oppose the over-development of real estate, amongst other charges. The group, the Queens Anti-Gentrification Project, has announced a protest march against over-development, and the protest march is planned to pass in front of Councilmember Van Bramer's District Office in Woodside, Queens. The march is scheduled for the early evening of Thursday, 20 April, according to an event posted on the group's Facebook page. For this report, Councilmember Van Bramer did not answer an interview request made by Progress Queens.

As previously reported by Progress Queens, Councilmember Van Bramer has had meetings with real estate developers, sometimes under the guise of cultural affairs work. Amongst the meetings he has had were with unidentified executives from the development firm Tishman Speyer and with the developer Bruce Ratner. In 2016, Councilmember Van Bramer attended the annual dinner of the Real Estate Board of New York. Information about these meetings were contained in records obtained by Progress Queens as a result of a request made under the State's Freedom of Information Law. According to Government reform activists, Councilmember Van Bramer's entreaties to real estate executives is explained by reports that he is running a campaign to become the next Speaker of the City Council. City Councilmembers seeking to negotiate support for legislative leadership positions attempt to establish close working relationships with real estate developers, who are a source of significant campaign contributions and who direct other elected officials to support preferred candidates for leadership. Candidates for legislative leadership positions are also known to make campaign donations to their peers in exchange for support. The role of money in politics, generally, and the role of large real estate donations, specifically, explains why few zone-busting real estate projects are ever defeated by the community. The last time a community-crushing project was defeated, in part, by community activists was in 2005, when a clash between the competing interests of State and Municipal officials ultimately led to the rejection of the planned West Side stadium supported by then Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R-New York City). The lack of democratic control over major land use issues is the subject of criticism by Government reform activists, and elected officials with close ties to real estate developers have refrained from reforming the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or the ULURP process, the review by which most major real estate projects win approval.

New 421a regulations will cause NYC to lose a lot of $

From DNA Info:

Developers have warned that Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to build 80,000 units of affordable housing would be in jeopardy without the state's 421-a tax break. But a proposed update to that law could actually cost the city billions of dollars in what advocates describe as a "wasteful giveway."

Under a new 421-a agreement up for approval by state lawmakers, the Real Estate Board of New York trade group that represents developers says it needs the program to put shovels in the ground for affordable and market rate rentals.

But an analysis from the Alliance for Tenant Power — a coalition of housing, community and legal service groups — said the new program would cost the city $2.4 billion a year in lost tax revenue.

That’s double the $1.2 billion the program cost the city in 2016, which only yielded about $100 million a year worth of affordable housing, the group said.

Legislators refuse to allow SBJSA to be voted on

From the Village Voice:

You'd think a law that would give small businesses a fighting chance against astronomical rents and the soulless chains willing to pay them would be an easy sell for a City Council chock-full of progressives and our supposedly liberal mayor.

Yet Mayor Bill de Blasio, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Public Advocate Letitia James, and Robert Cornegy, the chairperson of the council's Committee on Small Business, won’t even allow the legislation to go before a committee hearing, even though 27 councilmembers support it. Why?

In short, because it would supremely piss off the powerful real estate interests that all major politicians in New York City must answer to, which makes it a total nonstarter. Debating the Small Business Jobs Survival act would start a conversation about the future of the city that no ambitious politician actually wants to have.

At 9 a.m. Friday morning, a group of community advocates will hold a rally outside City Hall to protest the mayor and the council's willful inaction on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, which would give commercial tenants a ten-year minimum lease, as well as the right to renewal, and a right to go to arbitration to settle on a new rent.

The SBJSA has been kicking around in some form or another since commercial rent control died in New York City in 1963, and with it, the ability for a small business owner to have any sort of economic stability in New York City. Instead, they became subject to the whims of landlords and speculation, larger market forces that are able to take a vibrant, locally owned business district and completely clear it out, in just a few months.

"This isn’t a silver bullet of legislation," said Jenny Dubnau, an artist based in Long Island City, who’s a member of the Artist Studio Affordability Project (ASAP), an organization that aims to unite artists and small business owners who are each being displaced by commercial speculation. "All we’re asking for is some level of negotiating power. We need something to help us stop the bleeding."

Unlike rent-stabilized units, or rent-controlled apartments, under the SBJSA, there wouldn’t be state-dictated increases or freezes. However, the all-powerful Real Estate Board of New York has viewed even a discussion of the law as an affront to good manners, and gotten City Hall to label the proposed legislation as rent control.

Cuomo brokers 421-a deal

From Crains:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has brokered an agreement between the city's real estate lobby and the building trades union to revive 421-a, a controversial property tax break for developers that the city and many in the industry believe is essential for the construction of rental housing.

"The deal reached today between these parties provides more affordability for tenants and fairer wages for workers than under the original proposal,” said Cuomo. "While I would prefer even more affordability in the 421-a program, this agreement marks a major step forward for New Yorkers."

The deal was reached between the 100,000 member Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and the Real Estate Board of New York. Key to the agreement is a wage floor for certain construction projects. The revamped program would require average wages of $60 an hour including benefits for construction workers on Manhattan projects containing 300 or more rental units. The average wage for similar sized projects along waterfront Brooklyn and Queens communities would be $45 an hour.

"We applaud Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration for bringing all parties together to finalize an agreement on an important public policy that will allow for the development of critical affordable housing, and establishes wage standards for construction workers in New York," said Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council.

Cuomo had previously signed a 2015 law that extended the tax break and increased the amount of affordable housing that would be required in exchange for receiving it. But he held off putting it into place until developers and the construction trades union agreed on how much laborers would be paid at sites getting the tax break. The two sides were originally supposed to reach a pact by January, but negotiations stalled and dragged on until Thursday’s announcement.