De Blasio is Right to Defend Small Business

August 2, 2012 | Queens Chronicle

Ticket first, ask questions later. That's city policy when it comes to minor code violations at small businesses, according to Public Advocate Bill deBlasio and other officials, civic leaders and mom-and-pop shopkeepers themselves. It makes you wonder if the Bloomberg administration is actively trying to destroy small business in the city.

Bloomberg gave Goldman Sachs tax breaks worth more than $200 million to keep the financial services giant in lower Manhattan. He gave FreshDirect a $128 million package of tax breaks and subsidies when it moved from Long Island City to the Bronx, to ensure it didn't leave New York.

But small businesses just get hit with more and more tickets each year. Revenue from fines for code violations has increased from about $485 million to nearly $820 million during Bloomberg's tenure, according to de Blasio.

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