Whitney Hu testifies on behalf of Small Business United urging commercial rent stabilization

Now I will call.

The first panel, Whitney Hu, Ki Sang Yi,

Francesca Bruce.

Francesca Bruce.

And I'm here.

Amoris Grulin.

Whitney, you begin.

Oh, yeah.

You're going to kick me off.

Okay.

Thank you so much, Chair.

My name is Whitney Hu.

I'm here on the behalf of the Action Lab, which is working with a coalition of small business owners.

I'm actually going to read a quick statement from our founding steering committee member, Adam Glenn.

He is the owner of Jimmy's Corner, which is one of the longest running bars in Times Square, is black owned, and it is actually in a process of possibly losing their space.

He wrote, while we appreciate the New York City Council and Committee on Small Business working to support small businesses, if we want neighborhood businesses to survive in New York City, we have to deal with what's driving so many of us out, the rent.

We were disappointed that Resolution 496 was pulled from today's hearing.

Small Business United, SBU, had organized business owners from across our coalition to come testify.

Because this issue matters that much to us.

The Small Business Rent Stabilization Act is the kind of systemic solution small businesses have been asking for.

Small business owners need stability and predictability so we can plan for the future, grow our businesses, invest in our workers and communities, and not have everything we've built threatened by unpredictable and unsustainable rent increases.

Commercial rent stabilization is...

isn't just about keeping today's businesses open.

It's about making sure the next generation of small business owners can afford to open their doors in the first place.

Without that stability, we're not just losing businesses, we're making it harder for new ones to get started.

Small business owners are telling the council what we need to survive.

We need our leaders to listen and take on the issues that will determine whether we're still here 5, 10, or 20 years from now.

For too many of us, the question is whether we'll even make it through the next year.

And I would just add Small Business United.

I think all the bills presented today were wonderful.

And Councilmember Brewer would love to talk to you about your bill.

But I think for us, Resolution 496 and the fight that's about to happen on the state level is really important to us.

Thank you.

Next.