The Future Of Small Business In Hoboken Post-Pandemic:

This is a paid post contributed by a Patch Community Partner. The views expressed in this post are the author's own, and the information presented has not been verified by Patch.

It has been twenty months since “lock down”. Twenty months of businesses enduring closed doors, capacity restrictions, hiring difficulties and supply chain disruptions. Twenty months of operating with fewer customers and substantially less revenue than before the pandemic. I was unlucky to open Play! Hoboken, a much needed indoor entertainment center featuring golf simulators, pool tables, board games and more, just months before the pandemic.

While I don’t expect there to be another lockdown, the true end of the pandemic’s impact is nowhere in sight. Many people, my family included, will continue to be cautious indoors. It could be months or even years before there is a return to normal foot traffic for Play! Hoboken and other small businesses. What does the future hold for these businesses? As a long-time Hoboken resident and business owner, a husband and a father, my livelihood depends on my ability to understand where things are and predict where they might go.

Should survival of the fittest apply now? I typically believe that businesses survive based on how well they meet a need and how well they are run. However, the pandemic is different. Businesses were forced to make sacrifices to keep communities safe. For many businesses, this turned out to be the ultimate sacrifice. Your favorite restaurants and coffee shops, the movie theater and Mile Square Theater, Gravity Vault, your fitness center, the bookstore and other small businesses are part of what make Hoboken such an amazing place to live. If we want to have these amenities when the pandemic is over, they need special support during the pandemic.

Government financial assistance at the federal, state and city levels (including Hoboken) while welcome (and at times even generous) was not as effective as it could have been. Most Hoboken businesses struggled through the pandemic, but a minority are thriving like never before (mostly supermarkets, ecommerce businesses, delivery businesses, etc). As government assistance was not based on need, less was available to those businesses that needed it most. One time (or two time) cash injections/grants make it difficult, if not impossible, for small businesses to manage expenses that come weekly (payroll) or monthly (rent and other bills) and are ongoing. Not knowing how long the pandemic will last and how much assistance will be available often means not hiring or delaying a lease renewal. Predictable, regular monthly assistance would have allowed more businesses to survive with the same exact level of total government funding. Hoboken has lost numerous businesses already and more may fail the longer the pandemic continues. It isn’t too late to change this. Additional grants to cover a fraction (perhaps 15%) of business overhead (rent, utilities, insurance, labor) for impacted businesses from now until the pandemic is truly over would go a long way to ensure that good businesses who have made it this far into the pandemic make it all the way through. Other countries (Canada for example) have given assistance based on rent/overhead for small businesses and have made that assistance ongoing (presently through 10/23/2021).

There is no guidance on air flow, HVAC upgrades or temperature checks: all difficult things for small businesses to do correctly without government or professional guidance. Air flow is the key to reducing transmission of COVID-19. That’s why there is almost no transmission outdoors - it’s tragic so little emphasis was placed on improving air flow and HVAC filtration inside businesses. Government guidance on exhaust fan installation (how much is sufficient?) and help with installation would have helped businesses keep people safe. At my own business we run two large exhaust fans almost non-stop (I know they work, since they overwhelm both my heating and cooling, but there isn’t a way for me to know how well they work to prevent COVID-19 transmission - I need an expert for that). Our police station does temperature checks at the door (as does my business) - but it felt like I was just guessing on how this should be implemented.

The Mayor and City Council have done relatively well in the handling of the pandemic from a public health point of view, but it feels somewhat contradictory that while schools and businesses in town have opened, Hoboken City Hall is still closed. City Hall should not only be open but it should be a model of how businesses can adapt, improve air flow, use temperature checks, vaccinations and masks to ensure it is safe for the public. A closed city hall is a disservice to Hoboken residents, but also a terrible example of the possibility of safe behavior at local businesses. COVID-19 is likely to be with us for a long time, and if the city can’t serve as an example of how society can function safely, how can we expect small businesses with much fewer resources to function?

What can be done better to help and keep the small businesses that make Hoboken great? The most powerful thing is to vote. On November 2nd, Hoboken residents can vote for Mayor and three at large city council positions. I will be one of ten candidates on the ballot for city council. I decided to run, to ensure there is diversity of opinion and ideas in our local government. The mayor is running unopposed on the ballot and is trying his best to fully control the city council by eliminating competing voices and ideas from our local government. The mayor hired a sitting council person (Vanessa Falco) to a taxpayer funded newly created city position to open a spot for an ally, and is including a candidate on his ticket who previously indicated he doesn’t really want to continue (Jim Doyle). It does not appear to me that our Mayor and his slate are even in favor of democracy: It was difficult to even get nominating petitions with City Hall closed, the city clerk then attempted to deny me, Cindy Wiegand and Manny Rivera access to the ballot after we’d handed in sufficient petitions and time had elapsed for challenges. If that wasn’t enough the Team Bhalla campaign hired an attorney to try to fight to keep us off the ballot in a Hudson County Court hearing (The judge decided we should all be on the ballot). Team Bhalla acted against the interests of Hoboken constituents and wasted city resources (city clerk’s office, corporation counsel’s time), Hudson County judicial resources (to perform the hearing). Fighting to keep residents off the ballot is not appropriate behavior for an elected official who has a fiduciary responsibility to put the interests of their constituents before their own.

I hear many constituents who are unhappy with the Mayor’s behavior lamenting the fact that he is running unopposed, but there is a choice: you can write in. If the cumulative effect of “personal choice” votes denies Mayor Bhalla more than 50% of votes required - there will be a runoff with Ravi Bhalla running head to head against the top receiver of personal choice votes. This would make a much more interesting election and since there isn’t any opposition candidate: nothing is lost by writing in your personal choice. You can count a write in vote as a vote for democracy no matter who you write in.

As a councilperson, I pledge to always put the interests of my constituents first. I’m not going to be swayed by other elected officials to make choices against the interests of my constituents. Not only will I support local businesses, I will also bring my years of experience running a business to the job. I will bring a set of skills to the city council that it currently lacks. There isn’t anyone else running who can better represent local business owners: not a single sitting council person has had to go through opening a business as complicated as mine in Hoboken. I have experience working with the city, working through hurdles and getting things done.

Please research all candidates and choose who you think are the best three candidates. My ballot position is 3H. I’ll be voting for myself, Cindy Wiegand (13H) and Manny Rivera (1H), the three candidates who I believe best represent the interest of all Hoboken constituents.

This post is an advertorial piece contributed by a Patch Community Partner, a local brand partner. To learn more, click here.