New Yorkers know that the City’s streets are its lifeblood. We cherish the ability to grab a newspaper or a snack on the go during busy work days or on the weekend. More importantly, these vendors are the kind of small businesspeople who have made the City great. A smart economic vision for New York City must protect, support and develop small businesses.

That’s why this weekend I urged Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council to set aside their so-called “street furniture” law, which would force up 70 newsstands out of business and create a lottery that would allow giant corporations to replace them. Under the Bloomberg plan, the City will take over all of the newsstands in the five boroughs, award them to the highest bidding mega-franchise, tear them down, and then rebuild them as larger “kiosks.” The Mayor’s plan is an anti-small business, pro-big business initiative that would sell these New Yorkers’s livelihoods to the highest bidder.
 
This is why I believe that New York needs a mayor who will stand up for the smallest of small businesses. And it’s why I’ve put forward a four-point plan of my own that supports the small business ethic that has enabled hundreds of New Yorkers to make an honest living for so many years.
 
What Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t seem to realize is that handing over New York to big business is not the answer and that being a good Mayor is not the same as being the CEO of a large corporation. Working with small businesses requires creativity and attention to the needs of all New Yorkers and, as Mayor, I will never reduce the livelihoods of New Yorkers to numbers.

— Anthony Weiner