WEINER STANDS UP FOR THE "SMALLEST OF SMALL BUSINESSES":

CALLS ON MAYOR AND COUNCIL TO SCRAP PLAN TO GIVE NEWSSTAND OPERATORS THE BOOT IN FAVOR OF HUGE MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES

 UP TO 70 SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WILL GO OUT OF BUSINESS UNDER CURRENT PLAN

New York City — Today, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens & Brooklyn) pledged as Mayor to set aside City Hall’s plans to put newsstand owners across the city out of business.  The owners of up to 70 area newsstands will go out of business under Mayor Bloomberg’s so-called “street furniture” law.

There are 281 newsstands in the five boroughs.  Many are owned and operated by solo proprietors—the smallest of small businesses.

But in October of 2003, Mayor Bloomberg pushed through his “street furniture” law—and now many newsstand owners are at risk of losing their livelihood.

Under the Bloomberg plan, the City will take over all of the newsstands in the five boroughs, award them en masse to the highest bidding mega-franchise, tear them down, and then rebuild them as larger “kiosks.”

Some newsstand owners will lose their business while being retained as operators of the new kiosks. 

Others will lose not only their business, but also their livelihood: under the Bloomberg plan, if there isn’t enough room to build a kiosk where a newsstand once stood, then nothing will be built—meaning that the former owner will be out of luck and out of a job.  

Today, Rep. Weiner, joined by newsstand owners, offered a “street furniture” plan that protects the small business owners:

Set Aside the Bloomberg “Request for Proposals” — Last year, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), asking mega-franchises to detail how they would operate the city’s newsstands.  The bidders have been whittled down to three: J C Decaux (a French firm), Cemusa (a Spanish firm), and Van Wagner.  As Mayor, Weiner will stop the process in its tracks by setting aside the RFP.

Make a Deal That Works for the City and the Newsstand Owners – As Mayor, Weiner will offer each newsstand owner the following deal: in exchange for bearing the cost of upgrading their newsstand to a kiosk, the City will allow them to post advertisements on the kiosk—currently they are prohibited from displaying advertisements. Advertising revenue will be split among the advertising company, the newsstand owner, and the City.

Have an Open Competition to Design the Kiosks — Rather than have identical kiosks popping up all over the city, as Mayor, Weiner will open up the competition and select 5 different designs for kiosks.  

Issue Separate Bids for Bus Shelters and Toilets — The Bloomberg plan lumps operation of bus shelters and public toilets in with the newsstand RFP.  As Mayor, Weiner will bid the bus shelter and toilet contracts separately to allow more companies to compete, driving up City revenue.

    “This is another example of how Mayor Bloomberg sees New York City as a place for big businesses and big pocketed developers,” said Rep. Weiner.  “It’s the little guy who pays the price.  Taking businesses away from small business owners, some of whom have spent a lifetime of energy and expense making them work, is never the right plan.  As Mayor, I’ll fight for the small business owner, not sell him out.”