Mayor Adams Eliminates 30 Small Business Violations and Reduces the Fines for 49

By Yehudit Garmaise

A year and a half after the city aggressively targeted Brooklyn’s small businesses owners for countless violations during the pandemic, Mayor Eric Adams eliminated 30 violations, reduced the fines for 49 violations, and provided first-time warnings and cure periods for 39 violations.

The reforms and rollbacks followed up the mayor’s January executive order that required city agencies, such as the Department of Health, to review the city’s business regulations and ensure local businesses face fewer needless fines and penalties.

After conducting “listening sessions” with nearly 1,000 small business owners, connecting with Chambers of Commerce bids, Merchants’ Associations, and industry partners, Small Business Services Commissioner Kevin Kim recounted “a working group reviewed 232 violations to see how we could reduce the regulatory burden on small business owners: resulting in the reforms of 118 violations, which will save NYC small business owners approximately $8.9 million per year.

"From the earliest days of my administration, I made clear that the city would be a partner to the small business community, which is the backbone of our economy,” said Mayor Adams, who said he is “putting in place a plan of action to help fill their needs.”

“As part of the process [of creating the reforms], we received direct feedback from small business owners to hear firsthand the impact of the penalties and enforcement practices that New York City,” said Small Business Services Commissioner in Koreatown, where his parents opened a small business 50 years ago.

“So many of the city’s neighborhoods have been transformed into ‘destination corridors,’ thanks to the hard work of countless immigrants from around the world: pursuing their American Dream in New York City,” said Kim. “We are cutting red tape, reducing burdensome regulations, supercharging our recovery, and paving the way for an equitable, five-borough economy.”

Photo: Flickr