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Corinne Ramey at Wall Street Journal on the decrease in laundromats in NYC

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Image courtesy of WSJ article
Image courtesy of WSJ article

Laundromats Shrink From Parts of NYC
Do-it-yourself service becoming scarce in higher-rent areas such as the Upper West Side
Corinne Ramey | Wall Street Journal

Self-service laundromats appear to be a vanishing amenity in some New York City neighborhoods even as their numbers overall in the city have slightly increased.

In neighborhoods like the Upper West Side, where retail rents are higher compared with much of the city and many newer apartments have in-building laundries, residents say laundromats are becoming scarce.

On a recent Sunday, neighbors mourned the final day of operation of Laundry Room Plus on Columbus Avenue between West 85th and 86th streets.

“This was like the perfect laundromat, darn,” said Charles Addison,44 years old. The next laundromat “is a long walk from here.”

Jaylieen Camacho, 13, sat waiting with her mom. “I’m sad because we’re probably going to have to drive and that’s a lot of work,” she said.

In an attempt to save Laundry Room Plus, a handful of Upper West Side residents circulated a petition and brought the issue to the attention of local officials. “It’s really, really distressing for the community as a whole,” said Mimi Timell, 56, a laundromat regular, who tried to keep the business from closing. “A lot of people don’t really realize the magnitude of it.”

 

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Josh Dawsey at Wall Street Journal and the City’s fine reduction

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Image courtesy of WSJ article.
Image courtesy of WSJ article.

Fines on Small Businesses Drop Sharply
Josh Dawsey | Wall Street Journal

New York City slashed the total amount of fines to small businesses by more than half in fiscal 2015, focusing on warnings instead and addressing a long-standing complaint that it had taken a too-strict approach in the enforcement of consumer laws.

For the fiscal year that ended June 30, the city wrote $15.7 million in fines, down from $32.5 million a year earlier. The city issued 11,923 violations in fiscal 2015, compared with 19,409 the previous year, according to city data.

As a candidate, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city should be more lenient in writing fines because it had been too aggressive in raising revenue off small businesses—particularly in outer boroughs—for what he characterized as trivial violations.

“If a bodega was selling peaches, and they didn’t have individual pricing on every single can, they were fined per can for a very large multitude of cans,” said Julie Menin, the Department of Consumer Affairs commissioner. “We’re trying to distinguish where there is consumer harm and where there isn’t. There were onerous fines for very minor infractions.”

Ms. Menin said the city, under Mr. de Blasio, has written more fines for violations such as selling cigarettes to minors and expired medicine.

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Ana Nieto at El Diario writes on debt collection agency case

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Image courtesy of El Diario article.
Image courtesy of El Diario article.

NYC manda un aviso al sector de créditos abusivos
By Ana Nieto | El Diario 

Las primeras cartas ya han siendo enviadas. En los próximos días varios miles de residentes de Nueva York van a recibir una comunicación en la que se les explica que tienen derecho a una compensación por haber sido víctimas de una agencia cobradora de deuda, National Credit Adjusters (NCA), que trataba de recobrar dinero debido a entidades que hacían préstamos abusivos.

Estos créditos, de elevadas tasas de interés, son conocidos como pay day loans y está prohibido hacerlos y cobrarlos en Nueva York y 14 estados más. Aún así muchas firmas los ofrecen a través de Internet. La tasa anual de los préstamos que NCA ha cobrado e intentaba seguir cobrando rondaba el 782%.

El Departamento de Consumidores (DCA en sus siglas en inglés) del Ayuntamiento de Nueva York llegó hace unos días a un acuerdo con este cobrador de deudas para quedevolviera $962,800 a unos 4,663 personas en la ciudad. Desde el ayuntamiento se buscan más víctimas para asegurar que todos cobran lo que se les debe. Según la comisionada del DCA, Julie Menin, “tiene que cobrar este dinero quien sea víctima desde 2007, independientemente de su estatus migratorio que no se contrasta al abonar el dinero”.

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NYT on the Jerry Delakas Case

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On a Changing East Village Street, a Source of Continuity Fights for His Job
By Colin Moynihan | New York Times 

…

[Jerry Delakas] ran the stand for 26 years without ever obtaining the required license, and in December the city closed the cramped, cluttered stand.

Mr Delakas began running the newsstand in 1987, paying weekly fees of $75 and up to the license holders, first Stella Schwartz and later her sister, Katherine Ashley. Although Mr. Delakas said that he saw nothing wrong with the arrangement and never tried to hide it, officials at the Department of Consumer Affairs said it violated the city administrative code, which states that newsstands may be operated only by those with licenses and that licenses are not transferable without approval. When Ms. Ashley died in 2006, her will bequeathed the newsstand license to Mr. Delakas, but rules at the time allowed transfers only to family members, officials said. So the department instead turned the license over to Ms. Ashley’s husband, Sheldon Ashley, who allowed Mr. Delakas to continue running the newsstand.

After Mr. Ashley died in 2010, Mr. Delakas applied for a license to run the stand. City officials declined his request and a judge upheld their decision, noting that Mr. Delakas had engaged in a ‘fraudulent arrangement’ with the Ashleys. In December, the city padlocked the stand, saying it had been operating illegally.

“Four separate courts have rejected Mr. Delaka’s claim that he is entitled to this newsstand,’ Katyusca Abreu, a spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, wrote in an email, adding that the agency “will now be able to offer the newsstand to licensed operators who have been displaced” from other areas.

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SI Advance on Gender-Pricing

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Laundering shirts? Staten Island women will pay more
Malena Carollo | Staten Island Advance

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In an informal survey the Advance conducted of 30 laundry and dry cleaning shops in the borough, 19 charged more to launder and press a woman’s Oxford button-down shirt than for the same man’s Oxford.

Pricing based on gender is more than just frustrating at the register — it’s illegal.

Chapter Five of Title 20 in the New York City administrative code outlaws different pricing per gender and requires all prices be posted.

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) enforces fair pricing.

“The most basic consumer right is one and the same with the most basic civil right: you cannot be treated differently based upon who you are,” DCA spokesperson Katyusca Abreu said in an email.

“That’s why Consumer Affairs is so vigilant about ensuring that all prices are posted,” Ms. Abreu said via email, “so people are all charged the same thing, and that those prices not be based upon a person’s gender.”

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NYDN on Small Business Fines

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Business owners on Intervale Ave. in the Bronx complain of petty ticket blitz
Some say the summonses target Latino and black shopkeepers who don’t have the money or strength to fight. City says fines are for trash. 
Tanay Warerkar | New York Daily News

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Store owners in the poor and majority minority neighborhood allege they are being targeted unfairly in a money-making scheme by city agencies because they don’t have the means to defend themselves.

A Department of Consumer Affairs spokeswoman denied the city was unfairly targeting the neighborhood.

“There is no truth to this at all,” said agency spokeswoman Katyusca Abreu. “Every retail business in the Bronx, and throughout the city, is subject to the same legal protections (the department) enforces to protect New York consumers.”

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