Checks still not in the mail for struggling shops
One year after the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation said it would help small businesses floundering on construction-choked streets, businesses have not yet received any money.
“I will not believe it until I see it,” said Aleks Misyuk, owner of My Optician at 88 Fulton St. He applied for a grant three months ago and heard recently that he would get $12,000, which he would put toward advertising and trying to increase foot traffic to his business. He said his sales are down 30 percent since much of Fulton St. closed last year for the replacement of a 150-year-old water main.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which put out the first details of the grant plan last July, launched the $5 million Small Firm Assistance Program in February and made the formal announcement in March. Twenty-nine businesses have applied so far, but while the L.M.D.C. initially expected businesses to receive their first checks by May, the businesses still have not gotten them.
Mike Murphy, spokesperson for the L.M.D.C., said the agency messengered over six applications on Monday to the city, which will cut checks for a total of $120,000. But Kara Alaimo, spokesperson for the city Department of Small Business Services, said Wednesday that the city hadn’t received anything from the L.M.D.C. She said when the applications arrive, her office would review them and send them to Comptroller William Thompson, who would put the checks in the mail. That will take another four to six weeks, she said.
