NYC, SF, and Chicago announce new policies and proposals to benefit small businesses

Support for small businesses is sweeping across US cities: This month, leaders in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago announced new small business policies and proposals that remove red tape and simplify ownership of brick-and-mortar spaces.

New York City: Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently announced his administration’s Overhauling Procedures and Expanding Navigation (OPEN) package, which includes over 50 regulatory reforms that cut down on the permits, paperwork, and fines for small businesses. Though the mayor’s office said the reforms will affect “nearly every type” of small business, 25 of the reforms particularly concern food service and food retail shops. OPEN also updated the city’s Business Owner’s Bill of Rights and made it more accessible.

“Today we are not only announcing reforms, we are building the machinery to find and fix more,” Mamdani said in a press release, “so that a small business owner in this city is finally treated as someone [the] government works for, not around.”

San Francisco: On the other side of the country, District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan also wants to increase the municipal tools available to small business owners in the city. Chan announced legislation recently that would help small businesses with landlord disputes and aid workers in purchasing businesses from their owners. The goal, she said, is to insulate businesses from rising rent and other costs, and Chan has labor unions behind her.

“We want a lot of small businesses to continue to stay in our corridors, because that is really the backbone of our local economy and really helping our community thrive,” Chan said at a news conference. The San Francisco Chronicle reported she plans to introduce legislation in September.

Chicago: Perhaps following in New York’s footsteps, a coalition in Chicago has formed behind a proposal for a “Small Business Bill of Rights.” The proposed resolution would lower costs for businesses and give them more time to comply with local regulations, Block Club Chicago reported.

“Now is the time to make changes to support small businesses, allow them to grow and foster economic development in communities throughout the city,” Small Business Advocacy Council President Eliot Richardson said, per Block Club Chicago. “Some of this can be done by simple internal changes in the city’s processes, and some of it can be done via ordinance.”