LOWER MANHATTAN — THE CITY COUNCIL’S COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS will convene a hearing Monday afternoon regarding City Councilmember Susan Zhuang’s Red Tape Relief Act.
Zhuang will join the committee ahead of introducing her bill next week. The act would direct the mayor to establish a new interagency inspection coordination program with the goal of significantly reducing the time it takes to open a new business in New York City. This bill would require the agencies to coordinate their inspections and plan reviews simultaneously, reducing the time entrepreneurs spend waiting to open their doors.
Under current city practice, opening a new restaurant or small business often takes at least six months, which Zhuang blames on a fragmented process of sequential reviews across multiple agencies, including the Fire Department and departments of Buildings, Environmental Protection and Health and Mental Hygiene.
Zhuang’s bill is modeled after the New Business Acceleration Team, which then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg established in 2010 in coordination with then-Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Zhuang stated in a release that the NBAT generated $9 million in additional tax revenue for the city before being phased out gradually. She added that no comparable initiative currently exists.
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