Small-business owners testified at the City Council yesterday that unfair fines – such as the one levied on a coffee company for producing coffee odors – are driving them to New Jersey.
The beleaguered businessmen told a joint hearing of the City Council Committee of Economic Development & Waterfronts that they feel left out of the city’s economic planning.
“Nobody seems to care,” said Donald Schoenholt, president of Gillie’s Coffee Company in Brooklyn, who was slapped with a $400 ticket because the aroma of his coffee products could be detected from the sidewalk.
“They could come back any time and give us a fine or even close us for having a very ordinary fragrance that most human beings consider to be very fragrant. [There isn’t] any other municipality in the world that uses their Clean Air Act against already roasted coffee beans,” he added.
David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) said in the last few years the city has lost 100,00 manufacturing jobs.
“We’re gone from having 350,000 jobs to 250,000. These are jobs that pay people a living wage. It is tough to do business in the city,” he said.
Yassky proposed that the city partner with non-profits to manage industrial space following the model of the successful Brooklyn Navy Yard.
He also suggested developers pay into a conversion fund that would help relocate small manufacturers.
Bloomberg administration officials failed to show up.