Marni Halasa is running to represent New York City Council, District 3.

View this email in your browser Marni For Council 2021 Friends, Politics is never what is seems -- until you look underneath the surface. When you peel back the layers, you truly see what is happening : the power brokers have rigged the mechanisms of our Government to tip the scales to favor the real estate industry. People with dishonest motivations hide behind false narratives micromanaged to appear like politicians are helping people -- when they are not. This is grotesque, corrupt, and not how the New York City Council should be run. Your favorite small business never had to close. Take for instance what City Council did with the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA), one of the most vetted pieces of legislation to come before the City Council. The SBJSA is necessary for the survival of small businesses. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, small businessed had been in a crisis, with over 1,200 businesses closing each month, taking 8,000 jobs with them. I'm told half of these businesses were immigrant-owned. The SBJSA would have given all small businesses in the City a long term lease renewal at an affordable rent. This would have been the solution to the crisis of closings and job loss. Instead, City Council did everything it could to stop the SBJSA from moving. But you would never know it from politicians’ rhetoric. This is what rigging looks like. Procedurally, this is what rigging looks like : (1) Councilmember Corey Johnson quietly taking his name off the SBJSA when he became speaker in 2018 ; (2) appointing Councilmember Mark Gjonaj, a non-supporter of the bill, to lead the Small Business Committee ; (3) passing a slew of do-nothing legislation as inferior substitutes, none of which would actually save a small business from closing ; (4) Council rallies shining the spotlight on regulations and water/sewer fees rather than the largest expense for owners (and the most profitable for landlords) : the rent. Most recently, the SBJSA has been watered-down by Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, so small businesses located below 96th Street and above the ground floor would not be eligible for protections. But even with this real estate-friendly change, the City Council is silent. Donate $10 now ! Often, they can’t even make a phone call. That’s why my primary opponent couldn’t even make a phone call to Sugar Deli’s landlord last December, when the beloved Hells Kitchen bodega/supermarket went out of business. Sugar Deli, on 9th Avenue and W. 36th Street, was run by a Dominican family for 28 years in Hells Kitchen. They were emotionally shattered when their new landlord, Gorjian Real Estate Group, increased their rent from $4,000 to $60,000. And although both parties eventually negotiated the rent down to $35,000, it was still too expensive for the family, and Sugar Deli closed. It’s telling then that my primary opponent, who knew the landlord, encouraged Sugar Deli’s owners to back down, saying to them that, "That’s the going rate for midtown," adding that he was not going to make a phone call in their support. By not moving the SBJSA intact, and by watering it down to being flawed and useless, The City Council has let small business commercial rents become unaffordable, a situation that the Coronavirus pandemic has exposed. Now, the only way for the original SBJSA to help small businesses would be a companion program to offer rent vouchers, as I've already announced. The neglect and abdication of responsibility that the City Council has shown small businesses is not the type of leadership we need for our City. If you agree that we need new leadership, then I'm counting on you for support. We deserve better. Donate $10 now ! Follow me on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to keep-up with my campaign, I invite you to follow my Facebook page : Marni Halasa for NYC City Council 2021 and my Twitter account : @Marni4Council. Please also visit and bookmark my campaign Web site. I am putting forth the plans to change the direction of New York City. If my ideas appeal to you, then I ask you to support my campaign, so we can make our shared vision of the future a reality. We are in this together, Marni Halasa Paid for by : Marni For Council 2021 Copyright © 2020 Marni for City Council, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Marni for City Council 440 W. 34th Street, Apt. 9A New York, NY 10001 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.