One-third of New York’s small businesses may be gone forever
It&#x27;s so disheartening to see both Cuomo and DeBlasio&#x27;s absolutely pathetic response to the pandemic - really on every level, but in the case of this article, the economic response.<p>Nearly every other city has taken major steps to make it easier for people to spend time outdoors, for restaurants and bars to serve patrons outdoors, assistance programs for local small businesses, and so forth. By contrast, DeBlasio has been chipping <i>away</i> at Open Streets, cancelled Summer Streets, and both he and Cuomo have been actively impeding restaurants and bars from adapting to serve food and alcohol outdoors.<p>They&#x27;ve insisted that bars cannot serve alcohol without serving &quot;real food&quot; (nachos doesn&#x27;t count), which is a huge blow to bars which don&#x27;t have a full kitchen. Even for restaurants and bars which do, though, they&#x27;ve been incredibly aggressive with issuing citations. Many have complained that, if a server clears the empty dinner plates before patrons are finished with their drinks, state inspectors will cite them because &quot;there&#x27;s no food&quot;, even though the bill shows that they were charged for dinner. Others have complained that the city has cited them for &quot;violations&quot;, but unlike the health inspectors, doesn&#x27;t actually provide a list of the offenses that need to be corrected.<p>In addition, they&#x27;ve provided ~zero financial assistance for small businesses - particularly bars and restaurants, which are hit the hardest. That&#x27;s in stark contrast to other cities in the US and elsewhere, which have given direct cash assistance to help them weather the crisis.<p>It&#x27;s a disaster all around, and neither the governor nor the mayor have shown any interest in taking meaningful steps to support the state&#x27;s largest economy. (Cuomo has done a better job at framing his actions to the press, but when you actually look at what he&#x27;s done, he&#x27;s done a really awful job).