James and Karla Murray Love GVSHP!
As 2015 comes to a close, we are thankful for the generous support of our members and all it has allowed us to accomplish this year. But we still need your help! There is so much more work to do in 2016 to continue the fight. Please consider GVSHP in your year-end giving!
In 2015 we lost great neighborhood shops and restaurants due to unsustainable rent increases. Too often we would hear of a thriving business closing just for the space to sit vacant as speculative landlords waited for another chain store to pay an above-market premium. In just the past year we have lost New York City icons such as Pearl River, La Luncheonette, Ess-A-Bagel, Market Diner, Cafe Borgia II , Avignone Chemists, Bicycle Habitat, Charlie Mom, University Place Deli, NYC Firestore, the original Palm – not to mention countless bodegas, laundromats, pharmacies, and shoe repair shops. Some of these businesses had been successful for 30, 50, 80 years – until they were lost to the cycle of hyper-gentrification and speculation.
James and Karla Murray are influential artists and small business advocates who were awarded GVSHP’s Regina Kellerman Award at our 2015 Village Awards. Here at GVSHP we are proud to support our local small businesses through our Business of the Month award and advocacy efforts. GVSHP would also like to thank blogs such as EV Grieve and Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, who publicize the activities of our small businesses.
Read what advocates James and Karla Murray have to say about GVSHP below, and click here to read what other community members have to say about GVSHP :
In 2015, GVSHP advocated for the Small Businesses Jobs Survival Act, which would provide stability to neighborhoods by helping small business owners attain fair lease renewal terms. We also recognized eleven small businesses as part of our business of the month program in 2015 including La Bonbonniere, East Village Cheese (since displaced by an expanding Duane Reade), bookbook, B&H Dairy, Greenwich Locksmiths, Cobblestones, Yakub Shoe Repair, Ray’s Candy Store, Mercer Street Books, Fresco Gelateria, and Li-Lac Chocolates.
What can you do to help?????
Click here to send a letter to our elected officials about the Small Business Jobs Survival Act