E-mail savenycjobs@gmail.com
Website: Savenycjobs.org
Media Advisory
Contact: Steven
Barrison
For Immediate
release Barrisons@aol.com savenycjobs@gmail.com
June 8, 2021
212-750-5560
Immigrant Small Business Advocates Angered by AOC Endorsements.
AOC Endorsements A Grave Insult to Desperate Immigrant
Family
Owned Businesses and
To All True Progressives.
Dateline NYC June 8, 2021: The city’s last true immigrant small business
advocate, Sung Soo Kim*, is deeply disheartened by Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez endorsement of Maya Wiley for Mayor and Councilman Brad Lander
for Comptroller. He fears both are a potential danger to the future of
immigrant families.
Kim fears either’s election would mean
the end of any hope to save our city’s immigrant family owned businesses.
Contrary to NYC lawmakers using the purposely misleading term of “minority
small businesses,” usually followed with “women owned businesses,” to reference
small businesses, while, the
majority owners of NYC small businesses are in fact multi
generational immigrant family owned (64-68%).
For accuracy, black owned businesses are
less than 3% in NYC with the majority being immigrant owners from the Caribbean
islands. The majority of women owners are from immigrant families. Why
the deception?
The reason is a massive dishonest
campaign to cover-up the injustices, abuses and true dire state of our immigrant owned and run businesses produced by a handful of unethical ambitious
lawmakers. Corrupt lawmakers who have conspired and colluded with the
real estate lobby to rig the system for over a decade to deny economic justice
to our immigrant owners, which has made their now extreme crisis worse. These lobby crony lawmakers are our
Democratic leadership at City Hall. Their betrayal of our immigrant
families has resulted in the most anti immigrant business environment in the entire Nation, one that has been destroying immigrant’s American Dream
in record numbers.
Why is this relevant to AOC’s endorsements?
Because both her endorsements are directly connected to people
who played a major role is denying economic justice, rights and a real
lifeline of survival for our immigrant family owners. AOC with
her social progressive platform can profess a profound ignorance of basic
economics. But while she was working in a small business in NYC
during this hyper real estate speculation period, she cannot claim willful
ignorance of the dire crisis all businesses
faced when their leases expire and the owners having no rights.
She must have walked by many empty stores
on her main street where once thriving businesses were. AOC could likely
name a dozen businesses she patronized that were forced to close due only to having no rights while landlords demanding insane
rent increases or unfair lease terms, and that was BEFORE COVID. Why
didn’t AOC ever wonder who at City Hall was
responsible for allowing this unjust and insane economic policy to happen and
then deny a real lifeline to the victims?
Nevertheless, here she is, AOC is endorsing one (Brad Lander) who played a key role
in throwing immigrant owners under the bus for his own political ambitions. She is
endorsing another (Maya Wiley) whose policy director (Lena Alridi) also played
a key role in stopping a vote on the only real lifeline to save immigrant
businesses and went further to collaborate with Lander to then substitute a landlord’s bill to kill the Jobs Survival Act and end
any hope to save our immigrant businesses and jobs.
Does AOC want her followers to believe
she carefully screened her endorsement’s backgrounds to assure they were true
progressives who would fight for progressive legislation needed to change a
corrupt government and save the victims of unchecked greed? The truth is
her endorsements of Brad Lander
and Maya Wiley, if helped get elected, would continue the policies of the big
New York real estate lobby that were destroying the “backbone of our
economy, our immigrant family businesses and jobs” for a long time.
Her endorsement of Brad Lander for Comptroller is an
insult to every informed immigrant family, good government, and
to true progressive values. CM Brad Lander
gives new meaning to the word “hypocrite”. I have direct eye witness and
a thorough investigation of Lander’s shameful record of disrespecting,
discriminating against and betraying our city’s hard working immigrant
families. The despicable betrayal of democracy and of our immigrant
community is far too long to go into detail now, but
these links* show the truth of this progressive fraud
and the damage to our economy as well as the suffering to many immigrant
families he has caused by his abandoning progressive values and his abuse of
his office. https://www.savenycjobs.com/part-v
https://www.savenycjobs.com/brad-lander-leads-rigging
A disgraceful record of lack of integrity and betrayal.
The key to unlocking this fraud’s true
blind ambition lies with an independent study of immigrant owned businesses*
and his testimony at a hearing on finding a real solution to our small business
crisis.
*https://www.savenycjobs.com/latin-chamber-study
In April 2009, the largest study of Hispanic
businesses showed conclusively a crisis existed for businesses. A crisis caused
by years of unchecked real estate speculation on Main Streets forcing the rents
to insane levels. A crisis immigrant owners could never hope to survive without
government intervention to give them rights when their leases expired.
Upon the release of the study’s findings,
then Chairman of the Small Business Committee David Yassky in public proclaimed,
“that is what is at stake if we lose our small businesses we lose the jobs …
….. the one thing we cannot do in the face of this Crisis is nothing”.*
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiLyhVe6jDQ
Brad Lander read this study and agreed
with all the progressives “you cannot do nothing in the face of a crisis.” Brad
Lander would testify at the hearing on what he thought the government should
do. June 29, 2009 a hearing was held to find a solution to our city’s
small business crisis.
I testified at this hearing and listened
carefully to all the testimony given. I especially liked what I heard from Brad
Lander who also had an opinion on what government should do to stop the
closings of businesses. As well as predicting what would happen to small
businesses if they did nothing.
At the June 29, 2009 hearing he testified
supporting the Small Business Jobs Survival Act. Lander, “I
believe that one (solution Jobs Survival Act) being proposed here today of
a fair lease renewal process comes out high up at the top (to
preserve small businesses) and I strongly support it. As
you know, the challenges facing small business have grown from a
problem to a real crisis in the city. But you're still seeing
a stunning number of places where when a lease renewal comes up,
what people are being forced to do is absurd. If we
don’t do something about it soon we're going to lose them more and more and
more. The City's Department of Small Business Services, as we've heard,
have many fine programs, but the evidence is before our
eyes, they just aren't working to save mom and pop businesses in our
neighborhoods. So something new and serious is needed. I just
think the evidence is there before us if we let the free market reign, we
know without any additional regulation what it's going to continue to give
us. In two years, three years, five years, we'll be back here with
fewer of the small businesses that make our neighborhood great, with fewer
of the jobs that we have here today. So let's put in place this
one very reasonable additional regulation.”
I waited and shook Brad Lander’s hand
after his testimony. Not only because of his support for our bill but because
of what he said about making a priority to stopping the illegal extortion of
immigrant owners. Earlier in the testimony, then CM John Liu called out
the SBS for ignoring the study’s findings that 31% of immigrant owners
had been demanded to pay cash in order to remain in business, and SBS
did not even care. Brad Lander was aware of this shameful act
against helpless immigrant owners and gave his objections.
Brad Lander made the strongest statement
on the illegal extortion of immigrant owners by calling for an
investigation of the extortion:
BRAD LANDER: “I might just add one
thing that was very clear from the testimony and the conversation earlier is
the need for some enhanced investigation. I don’t know who it is
here that needs to step in and investigate, whether it's the IRS, whether
it's the state attorney general, whether it's a city investigative agency.
There are clearly things going on ….the survey that was done is
obviously one great step, but having a government agency in is critical.”
Brad Lander’s reply to my thanking him on
behalf of immigrant owners being extorted was, “it is the right thing to do,
landlords robbing these owners must be investigated and stopped.”
After the hearing if AOC
were to have endorsed Brad Lander then as a true progressive,
I would be the first in line to agree with her. But not today, not after
Lander used his office and influence to keep the status quo for landlords and
stop any law giving rights to immigrant owners when their leases expired.
Rights needed to have a fighting chance to negotiate fair leases and make a
reasonable profit for their hard work. Rights needed to stop the illegal
extortion and short leases of sometimes month to month or one year.
When Lander left that hearing, that was his last words or acts to help
small businesses in a true meaningful way. He would never again even mention addressing the illegal extortion of immigrant
business owners!! His testimony was disingenuous like every time a media event
happens to highlight a closed business and he appears crying crocodile tears
and gives a “let’s save our businesses speech.” While the majority of
time as the Council’s deputy in charge of policy, he would collude with the fat
cats, who would later donate to his campaign, to keep the status quo and never
even attempt to find a true solution to save a single business or job. The
SOLUTION he so eloquently testified to in 2009, supporting and ending the crisis,
he will never mention! Despicable! Lander was always pledging to do
something, but never meaning it. Lander a true phony, a pretend
progressive in campaigning only.
How progressive is a lawmaker who knows immigrant
owners are targeted for extortion of their life’s savings and that is
acceptable. Why is it acceptable to AOC to support a candidate who knowingly does
nothing to stop this shameful act against immigrant owners? Worse, who
willingly joins in the rigging at City Hall to stop any vote on the only real
solution to save the immigrant businesses and stop the extortion and other
landlord abuses against immigrant owners? In no major city in the world would
the routine extortion of cash from owners in order to remain in business be
tolerated. Yet, under Lander’s leadership as Council’s deputy in charge of
policy, this deplorable act is allowed to occur unabated.
Once Brad Lander gained a leadership role in the
Council he never once called for a vote on the Jobs Survival Act or any law
giving actual rights to immigrant family businesses. Former
Chair Yassky’s statement, “the one thing we cannot do in the face of this
Crisis is nothing”, is exactly the opposite of what Brad Lander did under his
leadership, nothing to save even one business or job. By Lander
maintaining the real estate lobbies’ policy of protecting the landlord’s
wealth, our small business crisis grew out of control to every main street in
NYC. Under his watch as policy director a severe crisis became
worse and yet, not once did he call for an honest hearing to find a
solution to stop the closings. Brad Lander played a major role in rigging the
system to protect big real estate and thus is responsible for helping to create
our city’s empty store blight.
Under Lander’s watch NYC Courts issued
warrens to evict on average 470 businesses each month for 10 years.
An estimated 1,300 businesses closed each month in NYC creating the
empty store blight. Brad Lander did nothing but collude to cover up this
anti small business environment and crisis destroying our small businesses.
*https://www.savenycjobs.com/nyc-court-evictions-
As the council’s policy man, Lander could not feel
good about the city’s empty stores on every block during an economic
boom. Exactly what he predicted in his very own testimony in
2009 was happening under his watch! Yet, he did nothing! Can you
be anymore two faced than that?
Yet, AOC thinks it’s a good idea to put
Brad Lander, who is policy chief and oversees the largest small business
destruction in America, in charge of the City’s pension funds and has investigative
powers. Really! Every city in America has small businesses that
were prospering under a ten year economic growth. While in NYC only
the landlords were prospering while long established small businesses
were closing in record numbers. Brad Lander played a key role to deny
them rights and a real lifeline to survive. Why would AOC think this lawmaker
with a shameful failed record is worth endorsing? Did AOC or her staff or
advisors bother to investigate truth, facts, of the real Bogus Brad?
Lander continues rigging for lobby!
Because of the empty store blight, a hearing was
finally given to the Jobs Survival Act in Oct 2018. Would
Lander step up to testify like he did at the last hearing and call
for support of the progressive legislation the Jobs Survival Act? No,
instead Lander would remain silent to the greatest anti immigrant and
sham hearing ever held at City Hall. The entire hearing was turned over to the
real estate lobby to orchestrate a total charade to deny economic justice to
desperate immigrant owners. This sham hearing had only one purpose, to stop
a vote on the only real lifeline to save our small businesses. This disgraceful
hearing could never have taken place without the knowledge and full support of
the Council’s deputy policy chief, Brad Lander and another impostor
Speaker Johnson.
Lander then to continue the scheme like a good
charlatan he promotes a substitute
bill to kill Jobs Survival Act and all hope for immigrant owners to survive!
The final betrayal of our immigrant family owners
by Brad Lander came in late 2019. At the 2018 hearing, Speaker
Johnson pledged to amend the Jobs Survival Act to exclude any protections to
Fortune 500 type big businesses, and then move it to a vote. This should
have required changing the language of one paragraph concerning the scope of
the bill. With the Jobs Survival Act having 29 sponsors and a growing
crisis citywide this simple task, which was not opposed, should have taken a
few hours at most, and a quick easy passage at the next Council
session.
Speaker Johnson had no intentions of keeping his word
and amending the Jobs Survival Act. The real estate lobby’s strategy
was to stall a vote on the bill, and let it expire Dec 31, 2021.
The key player for this despicable anti
democracy agenda was CM Brad Lander. If there was any doubts about whom
Brad Lander really served, that was put to rest with his appalling rigging in
plain sight.
No effort was made to move Speaker
Johnson along to amend the Jobs Survival Act. The reason was simple, the
real estate lobby had a team working in secret behind closed doors. There was
no rational reason to not support the Jobs Survival Act and give
small business owners the rights needed to survive. Therefore, the lobby must
create a substitute bill and have City Hall leadership lie and tout it as a viable bill to save small
businesses. Brad Lander was not a sponsor of the Jobs Survival
Act but would eagerly promote a new bill influenced by the real estate
lobby to substitute for the Jobs Survival Act. His new bill, was a
violation of the Councils own rules of never having similar bills with the same
intent.
Councilman Brad Lander became the first NYC lawmaker
in 30 years to issue a petition to Save Small Businesses, and not mean it. CM
Lander in championing a new bill, Commercial Rent Stabilization, claiming it
will save small businesses by putting a cap on commercial rent. It is a
knowingly false claim and he knew his bill would not save a single
business or even one job. Why would you secretly
promote a real estate created bill that you know is grossly inferior to
the Jobs Survival Act? What happened to his 2009 testimony on
the Jobs Survival Act, “ at the top (to preserve small
businesses) and I strongly support it.?”
Kim, “ In the long 30 year battle over our
bill, never once has two bills been in play at the same time. Now policy chief
Lander thinks it is a good idea to introduce another bill, one that keeps the
status quo for landlords. How does a new bill appear after 14 months from
a hearing on the Jobs Survival Act, without collusion with the real estate
lobby? Yet 14 months after the hearing, with the Speaker repeatedly
claiming to be “tweaking and fine tuning” the Jobs Survival Act, the bill he
pledged to “move to a vote”, no changes were made.
Instead, those same proposed changes
(eliminate big business coverage) now appear in a new bill, which gives the tenants no
rights whatsoever! This is called
Rigging the system at City Hall. With a growing small business crisis now out
of control citywide, CM Lander should be ashamed of using his office to create
a policy that in reality is the real estate lobby’s policy to stop any law from
giving any rights to small business owners when their leases expire. CM
Lander’s actions are despicable and do not fool any small business owner
with his lobby created bill that was created with only one goal, to stop a
vote on the only real solution: Jobs Survival Act.
No honest progressive should trust him. But
one does, AOC.
Two key players, bad actors, who rigged
the system against immigrant families.
I went into great detail exposing this
fake progressive Brad Lander because he did not discriminate against and betray
our immigrant small business owners by himself. The real estate lobby put
together an "A
Team" of unethical cronies and opportunist
to protect their profits. A major player responsible for colluding with the
real estate lobby to deny economic justice to immigrant owners and who joined
with Lander in promoting this fake substitute bill was Lena Afridi, policy
director for Maya Wiley. AOC manages to endorse candidates with a proven
record of discrimination against immigrant family owners. This true
display of ignorance or plain outright hypocrisy is on its own shameful. This
is too critical at this point in time for NYC small businesses not to call out.
I will not go into the fine details
showing which side Ms. Afridi is on. Read these links to give facts which show
why I am alarmed Ms. Afridi could gain a position to influence small business
economic policy. It would be the end of any hope for immigrant businesses to
save their American Dream.
https://www.savenycjobs.com/afridi-betrayal-part-i
https://www.savenycjobs.com/lena-afridi-shameful-testimony
https://www.savenycjobs.com/commercial-rent-control-bill
My warning to all New York voters, do not
trust AOC's endorsement of candidates, Brad Lander or Maya
Wiley. Shame on CM Lander for losing his moral compass and betraying every
desperate small business owner. Shame on him for discriminating against
helpless immigrant families struggling to survive.
Shame of Maya Wiley for not doing her
homework and having an anti immigrant policy director formulate her small
business policy.
Sung
Soo Kim, recognized as the city’s leading small business
authority
and advocate for over 3 decades. The “Godfather of immigrant
businesses” is the founder of the oldest small business service center
in
NYC, the Korean American Small Business Service Center, and was Chairman
of the
Mayor’s First Small Business Advisory Board, appointed by Mayors Dinkins
and
Giuliani. He is co-founder of Small Business Congress and sole creator
of the Small Business Bill of Rights. He
has spent every working day for 34 years addressing the problems of
immigrant
small business owners. At its peak, Kim had 17,000 immigrant business
owners he
served under 8 Asian business associations. He never took a salary from
the government as Chairman of the Small Business Advisory Board nor in
consulting on
numerous regulations. He turned down offers to run a BID in Queens and
turned
down government funding for his business service center. In 34 years
he has personally negotiated and re-negotiated an estimated
50,000-55,000 commercial
lease for his Asian members. He has gone to court weekly for 34 years to
fight
for his members in court. He personally consulted in the drafting of the
original version of the Small Business Jobs
Survival Act and every version introduced by eight prime sponsors. He
organized 11 public hearings over 3 decades on the Jobs Survival Act.
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