Mayor de Blasio & Chirlane McCray dine at Melba's in Harlem (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)
Miriam Milord, the Black owner of BCakeNY in Brooklyn, had to completely reimagine her custom dessert business when the coronavirus pandemic hit New York. She usually served events of around 75 to 100 people, but, with social distancing guidelines, customers cancelled those gatherings. All of her orders disappeared.
“So that stopped, you know, from one day to the next pretty much,” said Milord. “So not only were we not selling cakes, we also were actually returning deposits.”
Milord is one of many Black small-business owners in New York City who have faced unique challenges because of COVID-19, but also experienced new waves of support with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Although 2.2 million small businesses operate in the city, only 2 percent of businesses of any size are Black-owned, according to city and federal government data.
Small businesses have faced immense challenges because of mandated pandemic-related closures like lost revenue, laid-off staff, and access to funds. But Black-owned businesses, according to a recent report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have lower revenues, hire fewer employees, and are more vulnerable to a crisis like COVID-19, on average, than their white counterparts.
The city, state, and federal governments, local chambers of commerce, and other entities have implemented a range of policies, grants, loan programs, and other services to help small businesses during COVID-19, including targeted programs for Black-owned businesses. These solutions have met varying degrees of success, with some Black business owners leaning on aid and others struggling to access it, leading some entrepreneurs to use other strategies to stay afloat.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce report says 95 percent of Black-owned businesses in the U.S. are sole proprietorships with no paid employees, compared to about 70 percent of white-owned businesses that have no paid employees. Black entrepreneurs are also almost three times more likely than white entrepreneurs to have their business impacted by a lack of capital. Lower family wealth overall means Black entrepreneurs have a harder time accessing personal and family savings to start a business. The report also says lack of “human capital,” or experience and mentorship, also discourages the creation of Black-owned businesses.
As the pandemic unfolded, 41 percent of Black-owned businesses nationwide closed in April, compared to 17 percent of white-owned ones, according to a study by the University of Santa Cruz. In a July MWBE report conducted by the office of New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, 85 percent of minority- and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) said they could not survive for six more months.
Many Black business owners have welcomed extra sales from those involved in or supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement. Milord said she lost more than half her staff in the first few days of the city shutdown, although the city allowed her to stay open because she sold food.
With her remaining employees, Milord said she changed her business concept so her customers could design from home and shifted the sizing options for her desserts to accommodate smaller groups, like two-person weddings. With the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, she said she sees more support on social media and remains optimistic that new customers will return.
“We received a lot of genuine support as well, just people ordering a cake, like when you put your money where your mouth is, you’re actually really supporting,” said Milord. “I think everyone’s temporary discomfort can result in a lot of growth and good for everyone.”
Government Policies and Aid
The city, state, and federal governments have passed several policies and started many loan programs aimed at small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.
At the end of March, Mayor Bill de Blasio initiated a small business relief program in a public-private partnership between Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, Tapestry Inc.'s Coach Foundation, and Pursuit that would provide loans of up to $75,000, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. Due to overwhelming demand, the fund stopped accepting applications. According to the July report by the city comptroller’s office, only 40 MWBEs applied for the New York City Business Continuity Loan, of which just six were approved.
The most sweeping small-business survival program during the coronavirus crisis has come from the federal government in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), launched on April 3 by the U.S. Small Business Administration and implemented in two phases for a total of almost $660 billion. The PPP aims to help small businesses stay open and keep their employees on payroll, though it, along with other federal measures, did not prevent millions from losing their jobs due to the pandemic recession.
Although the PPP has helped more than 300,000 small businesses in New York State, according to SBA data, others struggle to access it, especially Black entrepreneurs. Small, Black-owned businesses frequently lack a human resources manager or administrator beyond the owner to gather extensive paperwork in a short period of time.
Mikey Cole, owner of Mikey Likes It Ice Cream in Harlem and the Lower East Side, said he lacked guidance on how to apply and is currently on the waiting list for the loan.
“If someone tells you, ‘Hey we gave you this fund to help your business survive’ but then you have to come up and show a mountain of information,” said Cole, “it’s like, how do you expect us to get all these records all at once so fast?”
Some business owners who have received the PPP, while grateful for the money, said they felt confused on how to spend it to obtain loan forgiveness, especially with changing guidelines. A bill approved by Congress in the first week of June changed the spending period for forgiveness from a mandatory eight weeks to an optional eight weeks or 24 weeks and lowered the amount that had to be spent on payroll from 75 percent to 60 percent. It also extended the period a business owner could rehire staff.
As of June 30, about $130 million in nationwide PPP funding remains unallocated, according to a new report by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Locally, the New York City Council passed several bills on May 13 to aid small businesses, like capping fees from third-party food delivery apps, suspending indoor and outdoor cafe fees, prohibiting threats from landlords to commercial tenants, halting enforcement of personal liability provisions in commercial leases or rental agreements, and delaying renewal requirements for licenses and permits from city agencies during the duration of the emergency.
Deputy Mayor of Strategic Policies Initiatives and Co-Chair of the mayor’s Racial Inclusion and Equity Task Force J. Phillip Thompson said small businesses owned by people of color have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and are among those most struggling to survive.
“The bills signed today will give small business owners in our hardest-hit communities the support they need to get through this pandemic, and help ensure a fair and equitable recovery in New York City,” Thompson said when de Blasio signed the legislation into law on May 26.
On May 22, exactly two months after the state ‘shutdown,’ Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the $100 million New York Forward Loan Fund, which provides flexible and affordable loans for small businesses, especially for those owned by people of color and women (often referred to as MWBEs, or women- and minority-owned business enterprises).
“Minority-owned businesses face a far greater risk and have received less in federal relief,” Cuomo said during a briefing. “We're going to focus on MWBEs that did not receive federal assistance and focus on really small businesses.” The state assigned five community development financial institutions to start reviewing applications on June 1, and they will distribute funds on a rolling basis, according to the Empire State Development website.
The city’s Department of Small Business Services, or SBS, oversees various economic initiatives for entrepreneurs across the five boroughs. When the city entered phase one of reopening under state guidelines on June 8, SBS also released new resources that included a small business hotline, digital resource fairs, face covering distribution sites, and plain language industry guides that relay mandatory guidelines and best practices.
The mayor started the Small Business Emergency Grant Program on June 4 with $500,000 of initial funds from SOMOS Community Care. The grant provides up to $10,000 to small businesses, with a focus on MWBEs, as well as those with less than $1.5 million in annual revenue, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
On June 11, de Blasio announced Signature Bank would donate $750,000 in funds to the grant to further support small business owners across the five boroughs who experienced damage to their storefronts during recent looting. The program was to start in the Bronx, which saw one night of looting in a concentrated area home to many MWBEs.
The same day, de Blasio also initiated the Restaurant Revitalization Program. The plan provides restaurants with short-term payroll support for restaurants, up to $30,000 each to pay subsidized employees wages of at $20 an hour for at least six weeks, according to a press release. The statement also says it prioritizes the city’s hardest hit communities as well as those restaurants that commit to paying the minimum wage with tips on top and race and gender equity among employees within three to five years. The mayor also announced a collaboration with the advocacy organization One Fair Wage for the launch of the High Road Kitchens program in the city, which made $1 million available for local restaurants with up to $35,000 per establishment, according to the press release.
On June 18, Mayor de Blasio signed an executive order easing sidewalk cafe laws and rules, and encouraged business owners to self-certify through the city’s new Open Restaurants program, allowing more outdoor dining as the city eased some restrictions.
Melba Wilson, owner of Melba’s Restaurant in Harlem and the board president of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, a trade advocacy group, said she always wanted to have tables outside but the process seemed too taxing before the mayor’s executive order.
“It literally took us all of four minutes to self-certify,” said Wilson. “And you know, nothing really happens that quickly with the city, right?”
Wilson’s restaurant became the first recipient of the DineOut NYC program, a partnership between David Rockwell’s Rockwell Group and the NYC Hospitality Alliance to build pro bono outdoor seating. DineOut NYC will create outside arrangements for four other Black-owned restaurants, one in every other borough, according to Wilson.
Mayor de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, tested out the new sidewalk seating at Melba’s by eating outdoors, right after the city entered phase two of reopening, which allowed restaurants outdoor dining on top of the takeout and delivery they had been allowed to continue throughout the shutdown.
Chambers of Commerce
Local chambers of commerce can serve as on-the-ground conduits for businesses to access resources, and some of the five borough-based chambers have especially focused on Black-owned businesses during the current crisis. Chambers help provide financing, connect members to each other, answer questions about running a company and provide other services. Several chambers reported they’ve employed an adaption of their “Chamber on the Go” program during the pandemic.
The program usually involves an on-site assessment of a member’s business to recommend SBS, chamber, and local resources or instantly provide support, but some have shifted to phone calls to survey their members’ needs.
After monitoring their businesses, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which serves the borough with the most Black businesses according to the Center for an Urban Future, launched their Bring Back Brooklyn Fund in April. The initiative provides no-interest loans of up to $30,000. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce earmarked 65 percent of the money towards MWBEs, according to a press release.
The chamber found in an April survey that 90 percent of Brooklyn MWBEs had not received funding from the federal PPP. By the end of June, the chamber raised almost $230,000, according to a press release, and as of this past week, four small businesses received a total of $28,000 in funding, said Tondalaya London, Vice President of Business Services at the Brooklyn Chamber.
Many small businesses have also faced difficulty in rehiring employees. Owners have said their staff feel unsafe returning to work or want to continue collecting unemployment, which sometimes pays them more than their job had. The current pandemic unemployment compensation includes an extra $600 a week under the federal CARES Act, which President Trump signed on March 27, and which will last until July 31.
To address workforce issues, the Queens Chamber of Commerce is trying to partner with local colleges, universities, and trade schools to act as a liaison between students or recent graduates who need jobs and small businesses who need employees, according to President and CEO Tom Grech. He said that of the QCC’s 1,150 members, about 90 percent have fewer than 10 workers.
“I think the chamber, and we, have a moral imperative to retrain all those folks who have lost their jobs,” Grech said. “Now it’s time to really work together. The new normal is not whatever the normal was in the past, right?”
As small businesses push further into phase three of reopening, they may need to adjust their operations to survive through the pandemic. The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce announced their “Pivot to Win” program at the end of June, which will offer small and medium-sized businesses support through webinars, training sessions, large-scale marketing efforts, connections to corporate suppliers and vendors, and time with expert mentors that will help them rethink their business model.
Chamber President and CEO Jessica Walker said the program will especially target Black-owned businesses and other minority-owned firms.
“Right now, we need to help businesses through the long haul,” said Walker. “So really what we’re trying to do is provide resources that a lot of big companies have and make sure small businesses are empowered to really run an efficient, profitable, competitive business. I do think there’s so much creativity that has not been tapped or maximized.”
Business Adaptations
Black small-business owners have had to adapt to the setbacks all small businesses are facing right now during COVID-19, but also confront their own set of challenges. Small businesses in the city have dealt with drops in revenue and staff as well as less access to loans or grants. But Black-owned small businesses have also contended, historically, with less financial capital than their white counterparts, less of a savings cushion to fall back on, and a greater lasting impact on their communities from disasters, according to the 2020 report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Without the PPP, Cole implemented different ways of selling his ice cream that focused on the close community bonds he has formed over the years. He said he prepackaged pints of ice cream for pick-up, and would also personally deliver his product to his customers.
“As the weekend came I would jump in the vehicle and deliver the stuff myself,” said Cole. “People were happy like, ‘Wow, Mikey, it’s actually you!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna give you the scoop, it’s gonna be just like how it is when you’re in the store.’”
Wilson, of Melba’s, said she furloughed two-thirds of her staff and lost 85 percent of her revenue within the first few weeks of closing her comfort-food eatery. She now manages to make 75 percent of what she once did before COVID-19, but that means expanding service by six hours, increasing social media outreach, creating new family-style food packages, and introducing liquor takeout (made legal during the pandemic), she said.
“We had to be creative,” said Wilson. “We had to pivot and I think that’s what you do, when times are different, you have to pivot.”
Business owners are also banding together to convince the government to implement policies that lessen the challenges caused by the coronavirus. The NYC Hospitality Alliance, a non-profit organization representing restaurant and nightlife establishments, pushed for the simplified sidewalk cafe process, the cap on delivery fees through third-party food delivery apps, and takeout alcohol, according to Karl Franz, board member of the Alliance and owner of the Harlem cocktail bar 67 Orange Street.
With the Black Lives Matter resurgence, Franz said the Alliance is also focusing on finding access and recognition opportunities for Black business owners, including connections to capital, awards, and media exposure.
Black Lives Matter’s Influence
As Black-owned small businesses grapple with a string of challenges, they also feel the effects of the Black Lives Matter movement. The protests have heightened calls for racial justice and have also ushered an influx of support for Black-owned businesses. Social media posts, articles, and online spreadsheets have lifted word of local and online Black companies where people can spend their dollars. Crowd-sourced tools like Shop Black Owned by Coast, a workplace productivity app company, and Janet Gardner, a copywriter and creative strategist, have mapped businesses in the city for consumers to locate potential places to shop.
Milord said she saw an increase in new customers ordering her custom cakes.
“I definitely feel like we had calls and emails from people who usually wouldn’t call and email,” said Milord. “So overall I think it’s great. Obviously, there’s lots of work to do but I definitely appreciate progress.”
While anecdotally Black entrepreneurs have noticed a boost in customers, it remains difficult to quantify. According to Franz, at the end of May, 67 Orange Street generated 40 percent of its usual revenue. By the end of June, that number increased to 66 percent, but this rise may be attributable to a variety of factors, such as Franz’s use of his PPP and EIDL funds, phase two of reopening, or new government policies, not only Black Lives Matter supporters’ consumerism.
However, other products, such as books, are easier to link to Black Lives Matter’s influence. Wilson said all of her cookbooks sold out, which she attributes to the lists of Black entrepreneurs shared online. (Broadly, books related to Black Lives Matter, race, and similar themes have been selling in large numbers through many avenues and by several metrics.)
While business owners generally welcome the support, they feel wary of its sustainability. Milord said stores like hers have existed for years, and she questions whether new supporters will treat buying from Black-owned businesses as a short trend or a more permanent habit. Others like Cole said while many do come in with the intent of supporting the cause, the quality of his ice cream will compel them to return.
“I love it if someone comes in and says ‘Is this Black-owned?’” said Cole. “But at the end of the day, what did you come here for? You came here for some good ice cream? Just come and see if we have good ice cream. Let the product speak for itself.”
Phase Three Moves Ahead
Although the city has now moved into phase three of reopening, which opened nail salons, massage centers, spa salons, tanning salons, and tattoo shops, Black entrepreneurs must still address new and ongoing setbacks.
While many restaurants implemented outdoor dining options during phase two, sidewalk seating offers less room for customers than usual. After seeing the apparent negative impact of indoor dining on coronavirus infection rates in other states, de Blasio and Cuomo decided to delay it indefinitely in the city to prevent an increase in COVID-19 cases.
“If you open your eyes, you see the citizen compliance slipping. You see government compliance not correcting it,” said Cuomo during a July 1 briefing. “What's going to happen? The virus is going to spread.”
De Blasio decided to try to alleviate some of the impact of this decision last week by introducing 22 new locations designated for further expanded outdoor dining. This initiative combines the Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs and will extend restaurant seating onto car-free streets throughout the five boroughs, according to a July 2 press release.
“I hope to see this program expand in the coming days to areas in Brooklyn that have not historically been prioritized for safe streets and economic development initiatives, like East New York and Canarsie,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
Rent also poses an immense challenge to Black business owners. In a June 2020 survey by the NYC Hospitality Alliance, almost three-fourths of landlords did not waive rent in relation to COVID-19, but only a fifth of respondents reported paying their full rent. Franz said more people have started to pay attention to the economic disparities that always existed in Black communities now that COVID-19 has devastated them.
“It’s increasing the awareness of things that, if you’re a Black or brown entrepreneur, you knew all along, you’ve been yelling about all along,” said Franz. “Just like George Floyd revealed the reality of what policing in Black communities is really like, the reality is, when you look at the economic disparities that exist in Black communities, the fact that you have these things happening makes a lot more sense.”
Franz said he wants to see the city and state eliminate interest on all past tax-related debt, which he has seen burden Black-owned businesses because of lack of funding, and provide access to capital for struggling businesses with the fewest strings attached.
Along with rent, Black business owners in particular have spoken out against what they see as racially discriminatory enforcement. Borough President Adams joined Bronx City Council Member Fernando Cabrera, The Black Institute, and Black and brown business owners on July 3 to demand a halt to what they called “overly punitive enforcement on Black and Brown businesses” by the NYPD, the New York State Liquor Authority, and other city and state entities, according to a press release from Adams’ office. Business owners spoke out against steep fines, required changes to a business’s method of operation like shorter hours, and liquor license revocations.
“I am calling for an immediate moratorium on the issuance of summonses and violations except in egregious circumstances, and for the New York Attorney General’s office to immediately conduct an investigation into whether this enforcement is being applied in a racially discriminatory manner,” said Adams.
Another issue that disproportionately affects Black and other minority-owned businesses is contract procurement. Through June 18, the city has registered over $3 billion in contracts to businesses to address the COVID-19 crisis, including for food, personal protective equipment, temporary staffing, technology, medical supplies, and building testing centers, according to Comptroller Stringer’s office. In its July MWBE report, the comptroller’s office found that although 325 of the 500 MWBEs surveyed said they were ready and able to receive these city contracts, only 62 could compete due to what the comptroller’s office called “onerous restrictions and non-responsiveness from the City.” Only 10 of those who competed received contracts, according to the survey.
While more businesses can reopen, owners must still secure PPE for their workers. SBS offers small businesses five face masks per employee through partner organizations throughout the five boroughs, according to their website. They also created a list of non-medical PPE manufacturers and suppliers if companies want to buy additional PPE.
Chambers of commerce have also stepped up to provide PPE. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce found in a June survey that nearly half of MWBEs in the borough lacked PPE, although 70 percent would reopen. The chamber partnered with NY Presbyterian and unveiled a $500,000 grant program so businesses could buy masks, gloves, shields, contactless payment devices, and deep cleaning services, according to a June press release. It will source PPE and cleaning services from “local small businesses and vendors, a majority of which are minority, women or immigrant–owned businesses,” the press release said. As of early July, 18 local small businesses have been approved for PPE grants totaling about $25,000, according to BCC Vice President of Business Services London.
Milord interacts with customers behind a shield, a drastic change from sitting down with her clientele to design custom cakes. She said she feels hopeful as people start making plans again.
“In situations like that you learn a lot that you can later implement going forward, so we’re working on that silver lining to take the positive from it,” said Milord. “It’s definitely getting busy again, which is great.”
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by Melissa Lent, Gotham Gazette
@melmollyrose @GothamGazette
Council Member Helen Rosenthal (photo: John McCarten/City Council)
New York City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, a Democrat from Manhattan, is dropping out of the 2021 race for Comptroller, she told Gotham Gazette in an interview Friday morning.
Next year, the entire city government – the mayor, comptroller, public advocate, five borough presidents and 51 City Council seats – will be on the ballot. Rosenthal is currently serving her second term representing District 6 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and cannot run for reelection due to term limits. She was among several Democrats seeking to replace outgoing Comptroller Scott Stringer, who is also term-limited and is running for mayor.
Rosenthal said she no longer sees a path to victory. “I think the campaign was going very well in 2019. We were very well received and it was very encouraging,” she said of the initial phase of her run. “But at the beginning of 2020, I knew that I had to hit some pretty significant benchmarks in order to have a viable campaign. And I knew that there was going to be a lot of work involved and I was going to have to really invest a lot in the work. And the way 2020 unfolded, it became very clear that I wasn’t going to be able to hit those marks.”
Rosenthal said she needed to make community-based and political connections throughout the city that she did not pursue earlier this year, instead staying fully focused on her work as a Council member. She also lags behind other candidates in fundraising and was going to have to make that ground up throughout this year and into next ahead of the June 2021 primary that is all but certain to choose the next Comptroller, the city's chief fiscal officer, given Democrats’ seven-to-one voter registration advantage over Republicans.
Having previously served for seven years in the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, Rosenthal has particular concerns about the city’s current budget and fiscal situation and said she was able to use her candidacy to elevate those issues.
The city had to fill a $9 billion revenue gap to balance the recently approved $88.2 billion budget and Rosenthal was among those who expressed support for a proposal put forward by Mayor de Blasio to allow the city to borrow funds for operational expenses. Though that idea has not yet been approved by the state Legislature, the city may still need that recourse if revenue deteriorates further and the federal government does not bail out the city, she said.
“Especially in the lead up to the passage of the fiscal 2021 budget, I was able to amplify my calls for borrowing, for opportunities for the state to pass laws to raise money, in particular from the Stock Transfer Tax rebate, and it’s given me the platform to talk about the investments that the city has to make in order for the economy to recover,” she said.
Rosenthal voted “no” on the budget because, owing to the lack of borrowing power, the city was forced to make cuts to services and programs for the most needy. “I think over the next six months, we have to bring together support for borrowing in the city,” she said. In her remarks when voting no, she critiqued Stringer for his opposition to the city borrowing, which appears to have had some impact on the state’s hesitance. Rosenthal also said the budget did not go far enough to cut funding from the NYPD and invest in youth services.
Rosenthal hasn’t decided yet whether she will throw her support behind another candidate. “It’s very much too soon and we’d have to be much closer to the election,” she said. “Given everything that’s going on around us, I think the field is still in evolution.”
Other candidates include fellow City Council Member Brad Lander from Brooklyn, Manhattan State Senator Brian Benjamin, and Assemblymember David Weprin of Queens. State Senator Kevin Parker from Brooklyn has also filed initial papers to run but his campaign has not shown any activity. There are currently no Republicans who have declared a comptroller campaign.
As of the last campaign filing, all the way back in January, Lander had $250,914 in campaign cash, Benjamin had $252,225 and Weprin had $84,927 (he also owes the city Campaign Finance Board $320,000 from past fines). Rosenthal had just $13,808 (she has raised $136,520 and spent $122,712). Parker has yet to raise any funds. None of those totals take into account the public matching funds that will eventually be available to qualifying candidates. A new campaign finance filing deadline is imminent, the numbers from which will provide information about fundraising and spending thus far this year.
Rosenthal said she hopes that the remaining candidates will pay attention to her campaign platform. “I laid out some pretty good ideas and a clear path to balancing the city’s budget in a way that doesn’t hurt people, and that story’s not going to end for the next at least two or three years,” she said.
With eighteen months left in her term, Rosenthal said she has “a lot of work ahead of me.” Along with her focus on fiscal and budget matters, which has included a lot of attention on contracting and nonprofit service providers, Rosenthal has also led the Council’s Committee on Women, which under her leadership has in part focused on deficiencies in how the NYPD handles sexual assault.
Rosenthal said she does not have any immediate plans for what comes next, though she wants to remain involved in public service. She does not intend to run for another elected position in 2021.
“I will be looking for a job where it’s a good fit, where the skills I bring can be meaningful and used as a public service. And we’ll see where that takes me,” she said.
[Read: 2021 Comptroller Candidates Offer Differing Ideas for Addressing City's Fiscal Woes]
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
Corey Johnson, with Bill de Blasio watching (photo: John McCarten/City Council)
Speakers of the New York City Council don’t fare well when running for citywide office. Melissa Mark-Viverito, who previously held the job, was unsuccessful in a crowded 2019 special election for public advocate. Christine Quinn, the speaker before her, placed third in the 2013 Democratic mayoral primary that saw Bill de Blasio advance toward the mayoralty. Gifford Miller, Quinn’s predecessor, similarly lost in the 2005 Democratic mayoral primary to Fernando Ferrer, and Peter Vallone came in third in the 2001 Democratic primary.
Corey Johnson, the current City Council Speaker, is hoping to buck that trend as he pursues his own mayoral bid in 2021, when both he and de Blasio will be term-limited out of their current offices. But like Council speakers before him, his leadership of the city’s 51-member legislative body is likely to be a double-edged sword.
Johnson has been able to achieve major goals and advance populist ideas that could serve as the foundation of a fruitful campaign platform. But, by nature, his position requires consensus-building among a large, diverse group of lawmakers and compromising with the mayor. That was the case when he brokered the recently approved $88.2 billion city budget and found himself balancing the positions held by Council members and the demands of a movement against police brutality, and delivered a compromise that broadly angered people on the left and the right, and which even he admitted he was disappointed with.
“I love being speaker,” Johnson said in an interview earlier this week, discussing criticism he’s received, including from others in government. “I can't speak to other people's jobs, but as speaker I'm able to have a big impact on policy and legislation and the budget in New York City, and I'm grateful for that. It's a challenging job that requires me to take positions on issues on almost a daily basis. And there's an upside to that but also a downside to that because some of these things are complicated, nuanced, and politically fraught but still exciting and you still have the ability to impact the city and public policy in a significant way.”
Johnson’s potential mayoral opponents, particularly Comptroller Scott Stringer, had harsh words for the budget deal, especially with regard to the NYPD picture.
“Politics is politics sometimes,” Johnson said. “I don’t think it’s anything new that potential opponents are going to try to use issues and votes and the budget process against me or other Council members. That’s probably happened for time immemorial so I don’t think it’s unique to me. But, at the same time, being speaker, I actually have to negotiate a budget. I actually have to negotiate legislation, I have to support members who are negotiating land use deals. These things are much more under the microscope and politically electrified than what other elected officials have to deal with on a daily basis.”
In past interviews, when asked about the trend of City Council speakers struggling to become mayor, Johnson has pointed out it is a small sample size and that no comptroller has become mayor in decades, while no borough president has become mayor since David Dinkins won in 1989. Along with Stringer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is the other current elected official expected to run for mayor in the 2021 election.
With the city facing a $9 billion revenue gap, Johnson faced the toughest budget that the Council has had to deal with in his time as speaker. The city had been flush with cash for years through a robust recovery after the Great Recession, allowing for massive increases in spending. Now, the mayor was proposing cuts to social services, youth development, education, and more. There was also a growing demand from police reform advocates that the city cut $1 billion from the police department’s nearly $6 billion annual operating budget.
Even as Johnson embraced that advocacy, he could not obtain the level or types of cuts he was pushing for as he cobbled together the votes for the budget. It was ultimately approved 32-17 just past the midnight deadline for the July 1 start of the 2021 fiscal year. It included pledged cuts to police overtime spending with no specific plan to achieve them, a small reduction in officer headcount, and hundreds of millions in costs shifted by moving school safety back to the purview of the Department of Education.
The pieces added up to what the mayor called $1 billion but were marked by the sort of gimmicks that incensed advocates and Johnson acknowledged did not hit that target. (Even the school safety shift isn’t expected to happen within the new fiscal year, a detail that didn’t emerge until after the budget was approved.)
“From the moment George Floyd was murdered at the end of May till when we passed the budget in the hours leading up to July 1, we were able to do a lot while also recognizing you can't do everything in five weeks,” Johnson said.
There has been speculation that the budget vote will come back to haunt Johnson’s mayoral prospects. A bargain frustrating the most fervent activists and made with de Blasio before a change election where each candidate is seeking to differentiate themselves from the two-term mayor could be challenging for the speaker. It’s somewhat reminiscent of what worked against former Speaker Quinn in 2013, who had been an ally of then Mayor Bloomberg and was running to some degree on a continuation of his policies and the broad success of the city. But Quinn, who hasn’t ruled out a 2021 mayoral run, was in part done in by her deal with Bloomberg to extend term limits over the will of voters.
“Chris Quinn...had the problem of being seen as too close to the mayor,” said Jessica Proud, a Republican consultant who helped run Joe Lhota’s 2013 general election campaign against de Blasio. “Corey doesn't necessarily have that problem but the duties of the job and the nature of the job, the decisions that come with it, pose challenges like any leadership position.”
While they have worked together on many things, Johnson has also repeatedly set himself apart from de Blasio and under him the Council has tried to exert its power more often than under former Speaker Mark-Viverito, whom de Blasio helped become the speaker for his first term. Though he has at times made significant concessions when de Blasio has taken issue with his proposals, Johnson has more often than not forged ahead with his priorities and forced the mayor to go along.
The recent passage of a bill criminalizing the use of chokeholds and other harmful restraining methods by police officers is testament to that, particularly as it almost invited the first ever mayoral veto by de Blasio before he begrudgingly agreed that he will sign it over the opposition of vocal police leaders.
It also remains unclear how many voters will broadly attribute the budget deal solely to Johnson or if it will even take center stage in a primary that will occur in the middle of another budget session and, current signs say, while the city is still on its way to recovering from the pandemic. The deal may have alienated some on the far left, but that isn’t far and away the only constituency in the Democratic primary and it's not clear that those voters will have another candidate to turn to given that Johnson has also been competing for the left among the current crop of 2021 candidates.
There are, of course, center-right Democrats, the kind who voted for Bloomberg, who may also be turned off by the NYPD cuts. Moderate and conservative Democratic Council Members including Robert Holden, Chaim Deutsch, Kalman Yeger, and Ruben Diaz Sr. all voted against the budget on those very grounds. As one Democratic consultant said, “I don't know yet if this mayoral race is going to be about, ‘We need a fervent socialist, progressive, Black Lives Matter mayor.”
Johnson believes that voters won’t focus on this one budget vote, but will be looking for a larger vision for the future of the city. He denied conjecture among political observers, reported by Politico New York, that he may opt out of the race because of the fallout of this budget, though as with other candidates, he has yet to officially declare his candidacy. That announcement will likely happen after the presidential election in November, he indicated.
Unlike some of the other declared and potential mayoral candidates whose focus has seemed more defined, Johnson says he isn’t carving out a specific niche for himself. “I’ve never really thought of my campaign for mayor with regards to trying to appeal to one lane or one subset of voters,” he said. But he is clearly running to the left on issues that affect the city’s most vulnerable residents, as indicated by his support for the calls of a $1 billion NYPD budget cut. “It’s really about coming up with big ideas and solutions for the future of New York City, being myself, and seeing if that connects with a broad electorate,” he said.
Stringer has long-standing ties to the political establishment but has been wooing the insurgent left, especially as he has endorsed several female candidates, particularly women of color, aligned and adjacent to the Working Families Party, Democratic Socialists of America, and other groups that have emerged as formidable forces in recent elections.
Adams, a Black former police officer and state senator, now Brooklyn Borough President, leans more moderate, and hopes to win over both Black New Yorkers and the white ethnic voters that helped elect Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Guiliani as mayor.
Loree Sutton, a retired Army Brigadier General and former commissioner of the city’s Department of Veterans Services, is also vying for the center-left, and advocates for a more fiscally restrained government and tougher law enforcement. Former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales (who left her job to run) has centered social justice issues in her campaign, including a major rethinking of how public safety is done and the need to create more opportunities for women to thrive and lead.
Former top Obama and Bloomberg aide Shaun Donovan has a lengthy resume as a public servant that has managed fiscal, health, and environmental emergencies. Maya Wiley, former counsel to Mayor de Blasio, is an accomplished civil rights attorney and activist whose campaign would likely target issues of criminal justice and racial inequity. She has been more outspoken of late, including in criticism of the city budget deal and in calling for the removal of NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Some who observed the budget process, or participated in it, had praise for Johnson’s leadership.
Longtime political consultant and former Mayor Ed Koch spokesperson George Arzt said Johnson did “an exceptional job” balancing the countervailing demands over the budget. “I think all in all, by next year, this will have been forgotten,” he said, noting that between now and the 2021 primary, there will be another budget modification in the fall, a presidential election and, hopefully, a vaccine for the coronavirus.
Arzt also noted that Johnson bore the brunt of criticism because of the public’s lower expectations from the mayor. “I don’t think there has been a mayor in recent times as unpopular as de Blasio, and he still has a year-and-a-half to go. So people look to Corey for leadership on major issues,” he said. “What the budget process showed is that he’s a person that people look up to for leadership and he can work to put together a stable government.”
Council Member Antonio Reynoso was among the half-dozen or so members who voted against the budget because the NYPD cuts did not go further. “I think that the speaker is in an unenviable position,” said Reynoso, a Brooklyn Democrat running for borough president in next year’s election, noting that the speaker’s individual positions can’t override the majority of Council members, who didn’t want to defund the NYPD as aggressively.
“I don’t think there’s any other position in the entire city that has the same role as the speaker,” Reynoso said. “Everybody else – the mayor, the comptroller, the public advocate, borough presidents, and even Council members can all speak independently about what they want without having to be accountable to anyone except their constituents. He, on the other hand, has to be accountable to these elected officials, to these Council members.”
But Reynoso did say that the police funding issue will continue to be on the forefront if the Council and mayor fail to follow through on the promises made in this budget, particularly relating to changes in how school safety is handled. “If a lot of the stuff that [Council members] thought was going to happen doesn't happen this year, I could see a change in heart [from Council members],” he said, predicting that in such circumstances, there may be even more support from progressive members allowing for greater cuts to the police budget next year.
Advocates are also keeping a watchful eye to see that those pledges, however disappointing, are fulfilled. “We’re in this for the long haul, we're not going anywhere,” said Andréa Colon, lead organizer for Rockaway Youth Task Force, a member of the Communities United for Police Reform coalition.
Colon faulted all parties involved in the deal – the mayor, speaker, and the Council at large. “Even members of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus said, ‘This is a win for our community. This is a first step,’ but so many acknowledged that this doesn't go far enough. So if they’re able to acknowledge that, why vote yes?”
The night of the budget deal there was chatter among activists on Twitter that Johnson’s mayoral campaign was over.
“It was probably one of the most challenging budgets in modern municipal history,” Johnson said in the interview. Having spent weeks dealing with the varying crises the city faced, and having to triangulate what his members demanded and what the mayor was willing to concede, he appeared visibly exhausted and browbeaten in the hours before the budget vote. “My goal was to save as many programs that affect poor New Yorkers, communities of color, and covid-vulnerable communities as possible while at the same time recognizing this moment of national reckoning on police reform and racism and pushing as far as we can go,” he said.
Even as the full scope of proposed NYPD cuts weren’t realized, the speaker emphasized that the Council managed to save vital programs and services to the tune of about $700 million that were on the chopping block in the mayor’s proposal, besides the funding that was reallocated from the police. “The mayor wasn't there and the Council was divided,” he said on the NYPD budget. “So I had to try to find consensus. And I think we were able to do a lot of good in this budget, and I look at this as really the beginning, not the end.”
Ravi Gupta, co-founder and managing partner of Arena, a national organization that trains and supports progressive Democrats running for office and those seeking to work on campaigns, said that though Johnson could be hurt by carrying the weight of the budget vote, he can also benefit from it.
“I think given the trauma that this city has been through over the past year and even longer, superficial politics are going to be a thing of the past,” he said. “Straight rhetorical politics aren't really going to carry people very far. And [Johnson] will have a case to make that he has had to make tough decisions, which is not something that everybody in the race, either now or in the future, not everybody's going to be able to say that.”
He also noted that Johnson’s potential opponents will have to explain their own records. “Not all, but many of the people critiquing Corey don't have very long histories of being aggressive for reform of the police,” he said.
“The '$1 billion cut' to the NYPD proposed by the Mayor and the City Council is not a $1 billion cut—it's a bait and switch and a paper-thin excuse for reform,” Stringer said of the budget, though he had proposed a more modest NYPD cut than Johnson’s plan, and Johnson acknowledged before the budget vote that the deal did not include $1 billion in cuts.
Adams said, “The city is in crisis, inequality is deepening, New Yorkers are marching every day against injustice — and instead of forging change and lighting a path to a brighter future, this budget simply maintains the status quo.”
On Twitter, Wiley wrote, “Today’s deal isn’t a cut. It’s moving the deck chairs around. We have to stop tinkering and start transforming public safety.”
Morales, in a statement, said the budget “failed those whose lives have been lost at the hands of the NYPD and communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by violence and brutality.”
Johnson’s “greatest advantage,” Gupta said, is the various proposals he has advanced at the Council, particularly his Streets Master Plan (though that has been delayed because of the pandemic’s impact on the budget). “I think there's a huge constituency in the city for that kind of vision right now,” he said. Johnson was also successful in convincing the mayor to fund the Fair Fares discounted MetroCard program for low-income New Yorkers and in getting more funds to provide pay equity to early childhood educators. He has proposed major plans to address homelessness and food insecurity.
“This is an existential election for the city. So people are going to be looking for truth-tellers, not performers,” he said. “I think people are going to be looking for somebody that they trust. And I don't know who that person is yet but I certainly don't think that this past week has been disqualifying [for Johnson].”
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette