Chef David Daouda Diop’s Post

Working on expansion of the business this week and a few observations as I expand: 1) The bureaucratic red tape for a small business has continued to be a cumbersome element since I went into business in 2014. I get oversight to protect consumers and encourage consumer confidence but not to such a determinant that simply moving an established business within your city has there same challenges as establishing a new one. City of Orlando claims to be "small business friendly" but I think their definition of small business is Publix. 2) The equipment offerings have certainly certainly expanded since I opened my first location in 2014. Whether in response to the needs of a more digital age or a competitive market, the price point and offerings for flooring and equipment has actually improved in the last ten years. 3) Signage costs have grown significantly since I opened in 2014. Pricing seems to be pretty consistent across the market and all companies seem to practice a lack of itemized clarity when sending you quotes. 4) The commercial real estate market in Central Florida, especially in the zip codes I was trying to keep my business, are a mess right now. Over pricing the market and/or inattentive landlords are the norm now in commercial real estate. I was lucky to get in at a reasonable price point for a long term lease but small businesses like myself are getting priced out more and more. 5) Finding the right vendors to complete the necessary changes to the space (Paint, moving, etc) was actually very easy. I would attribute that to the relationships I have made in the community; however, I think there is a lot of work out there for those who want to work.

Mayor Eric Adams's proposal, "City of Yes for Economic Opportunity," aims to reinvigorate New York City's economic landscape by updating zoning regulations that have been static for over six decades. The proposal seeks to facilitate business operations by allowing new types of commercial activities in residential areas and mixed-use buildings. This includes permitting bodegas on residential corners and enabling various services like barber shops and pharmacies to operate above ground floor levels in buildings that house apartments. However, this plan has encountered substantial opposition from both left- and right-wing members of the City Council. Critical concerns include potential increases in traffic and disruptions in residential neighborhoods, inadequate enforcement capabilities by the city, and the risk of proliferation of unregulated businesses, including illegal marijuana shops. Council members fear that these changes could degrade the quality of life in quiet, residential areas. Key components of the opposition include worries that the plan does not consider the unique needs of more suburban boroughs like Staten Island. While parts of the proposal have gained traction—such as removing restrictions on live entertainment in small venues and promoting "clean manufacturing"—there is a strong call for major revisions to ensure that the changes are beneficial and appropriate for all communities involved. Despite resistance, there is a tentative consensus that the plan may pass by the end of May if significant modifications are agreed upon. Mayor Adams's initiative is part of a broader "City of Yes" series, which also includes efforts towards carbon neutrality and improving housing opportunities through less restrictive zoning laws. This ongoing debate highlights the tension between fostering economic growth and preserving neighborhood character and quality of life in one of the world's most dynamic urban environments. #CityOfYes #EconomicOpportunity #NYCZoning #UrbanPlanning #CommunityConcerns #MayorAdamsInitiative #NYCBusinessGrowth #ResidentialImpact #CouncilOpposition #ModernizeNYC https://lnkd.in/eu3DcXmj

Is Your Home Business Legal? Check Your Local Zoning Laws Did you know that 99.7% of all U.S. businesses are considered small businesses, and half of these are home-based? The numbers are similar in Canada. According to Forbes, looking beyond 2024, the trend of home-based businesses is likely to continue growing. Navigating City Zoning Challenges One area of operating a home-based business is the concern of city zoning bylaws. While more cities and municipalities are working to accommodate this trend, many are still stuck in time. For most cities, zoning ordinances were enacted in the 1960s and 1970s, as the post-World War II era and the Baby Boom growth saw significant urban growth and suburban expansion. I wrote about this zoning trend in my book, as it’s an area of operating a home-based business that is not often considered, and unfortunately, there are consequences. As a result, not all businesses comply with zoning laws, leading to closures. For instance, not far from where I live, a woman had to shut down her home-based hair salon due to municipal bylaws and subdivision restrictive covenants. Adapting to the Pandemic's Impact Since the pandemic, cities are having to accommodate this growing trend. In Nashville, musicians won the battle to allow home-based recording studios. In Florida, lawmakers passed a bill to allow home-based businesses to operate in residential zones. New Jersey's Progressive Zoning In the latest news, the state of New Jersey is leading the way with the "Home-Based Jobs Creation Act," supporting entrepreneurs by updating outdated zoning ordinances. The New Jersey Assembly bill (A2623) permits home businesses under these guidelines: • Compatibility with residential areas • No visible signs of business operations • Limited traffic and deliveries • No excessive noise or waste Have you checked your local city bylaws for zoning to ensure your home business is within the law? ♻️ Share this with your network of home-based entrepreneurs to help them stay informed! #HomeBusinessTaxSecrets #Entrepreneurship #HomeBasedBusiness

The City Island Chamber of Commerce (CICC) has joined our coalition in support of extending a sunset that expires this year tied to "joint bidding" in New York City. Thank you to CICC's President Paul Klein for joining us. Stay tuned for additional updates. The CICC was established over 100 years ago as the Board of Trade. The Chamber represents the businesses of City Island in the Bronx (NY), from its restaurants and unique shops to nautical enterprises and real estate offices, from its service business to its organizations and community associations. It's important to note that the CICC is one of many companies and organizations supporting this effort and are asking the state Legislature to act to extend the law. Joint bidding allows the New York City to bid public work and utility work under one contract by requiring construction bidders to provide a single bid for both the municipal and private work required to accomplish public works projects, thereby eliminating the additional delays and at the same time allowing the open market to establish the price for the private work. Despite what a small group of contractors are reporting, the law has been successful since it was enacted city-wide in 2014. New York City reports the law saves the city $100 million per year, mostly related to time savings. We see the law helping avoid extended delays and inconveniences to city residents and business owners when projects lag when there are disputes between contractors and the companies with facilities in the streets. With joint bidding in place, project delays are avoided restoring street conditions quickly with less inconvenience to residents and businesses. Plus, New York City works to ensure that contractors are getting a fair price for their services. In fact, each time Joint Bidding pricing was updated, there was an 8% increase. We shouldn’t return to the prior situation that required City and utility work to be bid our separately, often requiring the street to remain open longer, or reopened, causing more nuisance and traffic delays for all New Yorkers. We're looking forward to discussions with state Lawmakers to get the sunset extended.

New Post: Mayor Michelle Wu’s ‘Wutopia’ has no cars, empty skyscrapers -No cars. Empty skyscrapers. Fossil fuels banned. Major businesses fleeing the city. Vacant downtown. This is the Wutopia that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants, her vision to transform the city. Mayors like Kevin White, Ray Flynn and Tom Menino helped build Boston, and she could be presiding over its dismantling. Wu is overseeing a commercial... No cars. Empty skyscrapers. Fossil fuels banned. Major businesses fleeing the city. Vacant downtown. This is the Wutopia that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants, her vision to transform the city. Mayors like Kevin White, Ray Flynn and Tom Menino helped build Boston, and she could be presiding over its dismantling. Wu is overseeing a commercial decline unlike any the city has seen in recent memory, with over a billion dollar hole in the budget due to declining tax revenues. And bike lanes don’t generate revenue. Her response? Shut out the business community and titans of industry and raise taxes. The ultra-progressive circle of advisers she’s surrounded herself with figures Wu won the mayor’s office without business leaders’ help, so why reach out to them now? Her proposal to raise the commercial tax rate beyond the current limit was met with stiff opposition by business leaders and could get a chilly reception on Beacon Hill, but so what? Between the commercial tax hike and new restrictions on fossil fuels, it’s making it difficult for major new development. Wu is spinning the proposed tax hike as a tax cut for residents, arguing the late Mayor Tom Menino did the same thing when he was in charge. She talks about “re-imagining” the city, jacks up greens fees at the city’s two historic golf courses so they’re less affordable for average residents, and shells out grants only to her various progressive causes. The attempt to compare Wu’s tax hikes with Menino’s is not valid, critics argue, because the city’s empty downtown has never seen the decline it faces now. And though Menino was criticized for his heavy-handed tactics, he was always accessible to most business leaders. Business leaders say Wu is taking the city down a dangerous path toward self-destruction the way some other cities have imploded. “This is a time unlike any other in the last 30 years, and piling more financial burdens on a struggling industry is no solution at all,” Greg Vasi, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board said. “We are deeply concerned that increasing commercial tax rates to recoup lost revenue will only take us closer to the urban doom loop being seen in many other American cities.” And if the economy starts to go south, it’s only a matter of time before it affects Boston’s great institutions like hospitals and universities. Wu’s plan to re-imagine Boston comes as she’s scored a string of policy and political victories. A year and a half before the next Boston mayoral election, there are no challengers

This is the high price of ceding local ownership to the sprawl barons. The board of a publicly traded big box store doesn’t give a shit about the appearance of your community or whether or not they build something that makes you proud. Exactly the opposite. Their concern is the bottom line and the less they have to spend on aesthetics and context and wages, etc, the more they earn. Their interests are diametrically opposed to the well-being of your town. The sooner that we understand this, the easier this is going to be. And everyone can stop with all the arguments about how great these businesses have been for your town. These businesses prey on low standards. Their business model is low standards. If they can lobby council to remove any barriers to development they will. If they can spend less on design, they will. If they can scare people with lawyers or calling them anti-business, they will. They count on getting local legislators to lower their standards by promising the world or scaring them that they might bypass town. I’ve got news for you. They showed up for a reason and they aren’t leaving if they know they can make a buck. Why the hell should your community drop its standards for an outsider? Shouldn’t the national chain meet your standards if it wants to come to your town? Those carpetbaggers want to put in as little effort and money as possible in hopes of keeping up earnings. They want nothing more than to erode your standards so their earnings can rise. It’s a bad look bad deal. The cost is too high because standards fall easily, and they are a hell of a lot harder to lift.

So many thoughts on this: There needs to be a balance. There needs to be some “skin in the game” for the retailer. Landlords are putting up significant cash allowances and oftentimes delivering spaces in turn-key conditions. There needs to be a balance. We are asking developers to take risks with small start up, incubator Tenants. As someone who champions these types of Tenants and also works for many institutional Landlords and capital partners, I find a way to mitigate my Tenant’s exposure, while still finding a way the Landlord and their Lender can get comfortable. How will a developer get his Lender onboard if the retailer can just walk away? They should talk to a much larger group of stakeholders.

New Post: Mayor Michelle Wu’s ‘Wutopia’ has no cars, empty skyscrapers -No cars. Empty skyscrapers. Fossil fuels banned. Major businesses fleeing the city. Vacant downtown. This is the Wutopia that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants, her vision to transform the city. Mayors like Kevin White, Ray Flynn and Tom Menino helped build Boston, and she could be presiding over its dismantling. Wu is overseeing a commercial... No cars. Empty skyscrapers. Fossil fuels banned. Major businesses fleeing the city. Vacant downtown. This is the Wutopia that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants, her vision to transform the city. Mayors like Kevin White, Ray Flynn and Tom Menino helped build Boston, and she could be presiding over its dismantling. Wu is overseeing a commercial decline unlike any the city has seen in recent memory, with over a billion dollar hole in the budget due to declining tax revenues. And bike lanes don’t generate revenue. Her response? Shut out the business community and titans of industry and raise taxes. The ultra-progressive circle of advisers she’s surrounded herself with figures Wu won the mayor’s office without business leaders’ help, so why reach out to them now? Her proposal to raise the commercial tax rate beyond the current limit was met with stiff opposition by business leaders and could get a chilly reception on Beacon Hill, but so what? Between the commercial tax hike and new restrictions on fossil fuels, it’s making it difficult for major new development. Wu is spinning the proposed tax hike as a tax cut for residents, arguing the late Mayor Tom Menino did the same thing when he was in charge. She talks about “re-imagining” the city, jacks up greens fees at the city’s two historic golf courses so they’re less affordable for average residents, and shells out grants only to her various progressive causes. The attempt to compare Wu’s tax hikes with Menino’s is not valid, critics argue, because the city’s empty downtown has never seen the decline it faces now. And though Menino was criticized for his heavy-handed tactics, he was always accessible to most business leaders. Business leaders say Wu is taking the city down a dangerous path toward self-destruction the way some other cities have imploded. “This is a time unlike any other in the last 30 years, and piling more financial burdens on a struggling industry is no solution at all,” Greg Vasi, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board said. “We are deeply concerned that increasing commercial tax rates to recoup lost revenue will only take us closer to the urban doom loop being seen in many other American cities.” And if the economy starts to go south, it’s only a matter of time before it affects Boston’s great institutions like hospitals and universities. Wu’s plan to re-imagine Boston comes as she’s scored a string of policy and political victories. A year and a half before the next Boston mayoral election, there are no challengers

New Post: Mayor Michelle Wu’s ‘Wutopia’ has no cars, empty skyscrapers -No cars. Empty skyscrapers. Fossil fuels banned. Major businesses fleeing the city. Vacant downtown. This is the Wutopia that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants, her vision to transform the city. Mayors like Kevin White, Ray Flynn and Tom Menino helped build Boston, and she could be presiding over its dismantling. Wu is overseeing a commercial... No cars. Empty skyscrapers. Fossil fuels banned. Major businesses fleeing the city. Vacant downtown. This is the Wutopia that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wants, her vision to transform the city. Mayors like Kevin White, Ray Flynn and Tom Menino helped build Boston, and she could be presiding over its dismantling. Wu is overseeing a commercial decline unlike any the city has seen in recent memory, with over a billion dollar hole in the budget due to declining tax revenues. And bike lanes don’t generate revenue. Her response? Shut out the business community and titans of industry and raise taxes. The ultra-progressive circle of advisers she’s surrounded herself with figures Wu won the mayor’s office without business leaders’ help, so why reach out to them now? Her proposal to raise the commercial tax rate beyond the current limit was met with stiff opposition by business leaders and could get a chilly reception on Beacon Hill, but so what? Between the commercial tax hike and new restrictions on fossil fuels, it’s making it difficult for major new development. Wu is spinning the proposed tax hike as a tax cut for residents, arguing the late Mayor Tom Menino did the same thing when he was in charge. She talks about “re-imagining” the city, jacks up greens fees at the city’s two historic golf courses so they’re less affordable for average residents, and shells out grants only to her various progressive causes. The attempt to compare Wu’s tax hikes with Menino’s is not valid, critics argue, because the city’s empty downtown has never seen the decline it faces now. And though Menino was criticized for his heavy-handed tactics, he was always accessible to most business leaders. Business leaders say Wu is taking the city down a dangerous path toward self-destruction the way some other cities have imploded. “This is a time unlike any other in the last 30 years, and piling more financial burdens on a struggling industry is no solution at all,” Greg Vasi, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board said. “We are deeply concerned that increasing commercial tax rates to recoup lost revenue will only take us closer to the urban doom loop being seen in many other American cities.” And if the economy starts to go south, it’s only a matter of time before it affects Boston’s great institutions like hospitals and universities. Wu’s plan to re-imagine Boston comes as she’s scored a string of policy and political victories. A year and a half before the next Boston mayoral election, there are no challengers