Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hurricane Relief Resources for Commercial District Managers


As a New York-based organization, our heart goes out to the millions affected by Hurricane Sandy. In Jackson Heights, Queens, where our offices are located, the effects were minimal. Many trees fell, but miraculously there was little damage to structures. 

Across the City, Business Improvement Districts are now mobilizing for recovery as many of local businesses continue to feel the impact of the hurricane. In our local BID,the 82nd Street Partnership, a number of signs and awning have been damaged that will need repair. But other than that we fared pretty well. 

See below for a good overview of resources, sent by the Flatiron BID District this morning.

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New York City, including the Department of Small Business Services (SBS) and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), is coordinating a set of services to assist small businesses in recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Below is an outline of available programs and relevant contact information. 

New York City Business Assistance Programs

For small- to mid-sized businesses that have experienced business interruption
Emergency loans will be available, patterned after similar programs deployed in past emergencies. Loans will be capped at $10,000. Please click this link to contact an NYC Business Solutions Account Manager or call 311 and ask for NYC Business Emergency Loan.

For mid- to large-sized businesses that need to undertake rebuilding
An emergency sales tax letter from New York City Industrial Development Authority (IDA) will be available allowing businesses to avoid payment of New York City and New York State sales taxes on materials purchased for rebuilding. IDA will also waive all fees and, while following State law, look to streamline its normal procedure. This program is expected to offer economic benefits to reconstruction projects costing $500,000 or more. Please contact Shin Mitsugi atsmitsugi@nycedc.com for further information on this program.

For any business that is temporarily displaced from its space
Short-term "swing" office space at Brooklyn Army Terminal available free of charge for the next30 days. NYCEDC has approximately 40,000 square feet of warehouse space at the Terminal that can be used for this purpose. Please click this link to contact an NYC Business Solutions Account Manager or call 311 and ask for NYC Business Solutions.

For any business in need of other emergency assistance
The SBS Business Outreach Team and Emergency Response Unit's Large Scale Response Team will be deployed after the storm to help all impacted small businesses. This team is currently on-call for any storm-related business inquiries and is closely coordinating with the NYC Office of Emergency Management. Please click this link to contact an NYC Business Solutions Account Manager or call 311 and ask for NYC Business Solutions

Federal Aid Programs for Disaster Recovery

Click here for information from the Federal Small Business Administration on disaster recovery assistance.

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