Alicia Glen suggests protecting “funky” NYC shops

Deputy mayor for housing calls for protecting mom-and-pop shops from rent hikes

From left: Gale Brewer and Alicia Glen
From left: Gale Brewer and Alicia Glen

Alicia Glen, the city’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development, is hoping that the city stays “funky.”

Glen supports the principle of protecting what she calls the city’s “funky” mom-and-pop businesses from unaffordable rents and the threat of chain stores, according to Crain’s.

“We do not want to become a city that is bland and uniform,” she told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer on Friday. “We want to be the cool, funky New York that makes us the greatest city in the country.”

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Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer proposed a plan that gives businesses that are being priced out of their locations the option of extending their lease with a no more than a 15 percent rent increase to help transition to a new place more easily, the publication reported. Glen, on Friday, didn’t endorse that plan. She told the radio host that she received the beep’s plan late last week.

“We’re reviewing it,” Glen told WNYC. “Over the next couple months, we’ll be announcing some initiatives and working with (Brewer) to address this problem head on.” [Crain’s] and [WNYC] — Claire Moses