Risky business

Hani
Shuaibi, owner of a city corner store, already has security cameras that can
replay events up to three days old. And soon, that may not be enough to keep
him in business. Shuaibi stood in front of fellow business owners and city
officials at a public forum Monday, June 14, to express concern about pending
legislation that could dramatically stiffen the regulations governing city
businesses.

            We want our streets to be safe, the
25-year-old father of three said, but pressuring business owners won’t make
that happen. The audience spontaneously clapped in support.

            Shuaibi, like a number of
small-business owners in the city, is frustrated by proposed city legislation
that would make it more difficult to obtain a Certificate of Use. The
certificate grants people the right to operate a business in the city. The
documents are now issued for the life of the business, for a $25 fee.

            But legislation proposed by Mayor
Bill Johnson would require business operators to be screened and subject to
police background checks before receiving their certificate. Anyone guilty of
tax delinquency or crimes related to business operation may be denied.

            Operators also wouldn’t be able to
leave town for more than a month with a manager or other employee at the helm.
Operating without a certificate would cost $100, $300, and $600 per offense
compared to the $25, $35, and $65 currently charged. And that certificate, now
good for the life of a business, would need to be renewed annually for a $100
fee.

One bad
business in a commercial strip can cause consumers to boycott the whole area, says
Neighborhood Empowerment Team Director Rod Cox-Cooper. “The problem of
illegal businesses is of such a magnitude that we have to do something about
them for the sake our neighborhoods,” he says.

            Joan Roby-Davison, executive
director of Group 14621, supports the legislation because it “closes a lot
of loopholes.” The law as it stands, she says, is tilted to protect the
rights of business owners over members of the larger community.

            The legislation also calls for more
businesses to be covered by certificates of use. About 900 food stores,
restaurants, bars, and drug stores are now required to have them, but that
would be expanded to include hair and nail salons, barber shops, laundromats,
liquor stores, small retail stores, and smoke shops. In all, nearly 2,200
businesses would be required to gain certificates.

            A $100 certificate renewal fee,
then, would generate up to $200,000 per year in revenue for the city. (And
there wouldn’t be any double-dipping: 230 businesses operating with
entertainment licenses, which can cost upwards of $400, would be exempt from the
$100 fee.) Money generated from certificate renewal would pay for new staff to
support the program, Cox-Cooper says. One full-time inspector, three part-time
inspectors, and two clerks would be hired.

Some business
owners see these added inspections as superfluous. Mohammad Tahir, who owns S&A
Market on Child Street, says he already has Food and Drug Administration and
Fire Department inspections each year. “So what kind of inspection does
the NET office need?” he asks.

            Tahir returns to his home country of
Pakistan every few years, sometimes staying for two or three months at a time.
In the past, he left his manager to run the store. He worries that the
legislation would prevent him from taking these trips. “We try to run our
own business so we’re free. This means we have no freedom,” he says.

            At Monday’s meeting, Cox-Cooper
assured business operators that they would be able to leave for extended
periods as long as they told the NET office in advance.

Now that city officials have heard the
public’s input, the legislation could go before the council at its next full
meeting on June 22. Or it could get tweaked based on the suggestions of those
who spoke, and voted on at a later date.

Roby-Davison has suggested that people
who trigger more calls for service could be assessed at a higher level, she
says, so that law-abiding businesses aren’t stuck with a flat $100 renewal fee.
The annual fee is one of the most contentious pieces of the legislation.

Still, even if the fee stays,
Roby-Davison hopes the legislation is adopted. “I don’t think anybody’s
happy about the fee,” she says. “But I think we all pay a lot of different
costs, not because we do anything that’s particularly negative. It’s just the
cost of operating or doing business in a civilized society.”

This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2004.