New York City supermarkets, bodegas and other small retail businesses would be eligible for cash grants to beef up their security systems under a bill set to be introduced in the City Council this week in response to a local surge in shoplifting.
The Small Business Protection Act, authored by Bronx Councilman Oswald Feliz, will be formally introduced during the Council’s stated meeting on Wednesday, he said in a recent interview.
The legislation, a copy of which was exclusively provided to the Daily News, proposes to create a city government program that would dole out grants to small retail businesses for purchasing security equipment like cameras, plexiglass windows and panic buttons. Any retail store that operates on the ground floor of a commercial space and qualifies as a small business under federal regulations would be eligible for the grants, according to the bill.
“Small businesses are the heart of our economy, and we must protect them from threats that hurt their ability to operate — including retail theft and burglaries,” said Feliz, a Democrat who’s the chairman of the Council’s Small Business Committee. “We must ensure our smallest businesses have access to tools that will deter conduct that could harm their business and workers.”
Feliz’s measure doesn’t include a dollar figure for how much money a small retail business owner would be able to receive under the program. The bill also doesn’t spell out which city agency would be tasked with administering the program.
He said those omissions are by design, as he envisions such specifics will be hashed out in the legislative process.
For his part, Feliz said it’d be reasonable for the city program to cover half of what it costs a business owner to do security upgrades, with a cap on the total allowable amount. He said he has spoken to bodega owners in his district, which covers Morrisania and other Central Bronx neighborhoods, who’d be able to install top-notch security camera systems in their stores for about $8,000.
Mayor Adams’ support would likely be required for Feliz’s bill to become law.
Charles Lutvak, an Adams spokesman, did not offer support for Feliz’s bill off the bat, but said it dovetails with the mayor’s crime-fighting agenda.
“We appreciate the Council’s partnership in building on this record of success and supporting Mayor Adams’ efforts to protect retail workers and local businesses, and we will review the bill when it is introduced,” Lutvak said.
Feliz’s legislative push comes as retail theft remains a pressing issue across the five boroughs.
New York City saw a 64% spike in shoplifting offenses in 2023 as compared to 2019, the largest increase out of 24 major U.S. cities surveilled in a study by the nonprofit Council on Criminal Justice.
At an event in Queens earlier this month, Gov. Hochul said $4.4 billion worth of goods were shoplifted statewide in 2022, with most of those offenses happening in the city. That translated to a loss of $176 million in sales taxes that year alone, she noted.
Feliz argued combating shoplifting is about more than protecting small business owners.
“These threats have costly impacts, and can contribute to a decline in jobs, neighborhoods and communities,” he said.
