SBJSA: A Wasted Effort or the Creation of More Williamsburgs?

      As a factor that impacts a lot of people and their livelihood, gentrification is a multifaceted double-edged sword. Concluding that it may relate to the displacement of people out of their houses, this then expands to these people’s small businesses. Small businesses are an essential component of a diverse community; not only do they employ a large amount of this country’s workforce, they also provide the means of innovation and creativity, characteristics that have been implied to only exist in the presence of the “creative class” (Curran 1). In her research paper “In Defense of Old Industrial Spaces: Manufacturing, Creativity, and Innovation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,” Winifred Curran explores Williamsburg, a central mecca of small manufacturers and businesses, and how its players have adapted and survived amidst the entry of new industrial spaces, amidst the gentrification. She argues that policy has greatly ignored these small industries’ flourishment and prosperity fueled by their social networks and flexibility (Curran 875). While in her other paper, “‘From the Frying Pan to the Oven”: Gentrification and the Experience of Industrial Displacement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,” Curran concluded that gentrification suffocates the success of small business and leads to its shutting down, Williamsburg’s small businesses were able to adapt and co-exist with the effects of gentrification by allowing their “charm” to attract their entering audience. Curran considers that this could have to do with Williamsburg’s location, its close proximity to 4 out of 5 boroughs. However, she largely attributes this success to small manufacturers’ resilience through the initial hardships which led to the creation of the unique character of Williamsburg through “authenticity” of small businesses, and eventually, the goal of customers truly interested, gentrifiers. In fact, some business owners thank gentrification for its generation of dollar signs (880). Curran concludes that “resurgence” can have a positive effect on the businesses of small manufacturers, as long as policymakers do not disrupt its natural occurrence with rezoning laws (882).  

   In his article, “How can cities save their small businesses?,” Patrick Sisson hits on the long-term solutions that should be proposed to solve these issues. While acknowledging that small businesses attract residents (by providing authenticity and connection the neighborhood), he stresses the importance of supporting these businesses through organizations as larger institutions bring them down (Sisson 6). In New York City, during a year where hundreds of businesses have been displaced, there is currently an act being debated, the Small Business Job Survival Act (SBJSA), which provides owners of these businesses with support during “lease renewal and renegotiation” (Sisson 11). This act would greatly help these mom-and-pop shops, but its progress has taken years. Proposed in 2016, the SBJSA is still circulating and has not left City Council. Marni Harasa, a former council member candidate, states that if the bill was to continue to be renegotiated so that its main propositions are washed down, then this effort was again one destroyed by the many agendas present in government (2). Despite Curran’s argument that small businesses can thrive in coexistence with gentrifiers, the rising rents due to the incoming developers counteract that social and economic progression. If the SBJSA was to successfully pass and allow these businesses some form of rent relief, perhaps this social connection can be further observed in all communities being gentrified, outside of Williamsburg.

 

Works Cited:

Curran, Winifred. “’From the Frying Pan to the Oven’: Gentrification and the Experience of Industrial Displacement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.” Urban Studies, vol. 44, no. 8, 2007, pp. 1427–1440., doi:10.1080/00420980701373438.

Curran, Winifred. “In Defense of Old Industrial Spaces: Manufacturing, Creativity and Innovation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 34, no. 4, 2010, pp. 871–885., doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00915.x.

Halasa, Marni. “’Modernizing’ the Small Business Jobs Survival Act? Or a Trojan Horse?”Metro US, 29 Mar. 2018, www.metro.us/news/local-news/new-york/small-business-jobs-survival-act-op-ed-marni-halasa.

Sisson, Patrick. “How Big Cities Are Working to Preserve Their Small, Independent Businesses.” Curbed, Curbed, 17 Oct. 2016, www.curbed.com/2016/10/17/13291184/small-business-gentrification-historic-preservation.