Entrepreneurs said they cannot get quick responses from the Buildings Department, which issues the permits that allow them to open. The Department of Buildings ranked as the most maligned city agency in the commission's recent survey of hundreds of local business owners. First on that list is a call for clear timelines for permit approval and measures to hold city agencies to them. The Red Tape Commission, led by the heads of two business improvement districts, offered 60 recommendations for improving local government's dealings with businesses, from reforming the commercial-rent tax to increasing services for non-English-speaking New Yorkers to online document filing.

Upon calling, he was told the application had not been received, but after two minutes on hold was told it had been approved, the report said. Many were left hanging longer than a year.įrank Franz, a Bronx business owner, waited nine months for an approval from the Mayor's Office for People With Disabilities, during which time he spent more than $30,000 on rent.

Thirty percent of small businesses surveyed by Stringer's Red Tape Commission, which was formed last year to examine the obstacles local establishments face, said city offices took six months or longer to process approvals they needed to open. City agencies dole out needed permits at a snail's pace while small businesses suffer, according to a new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

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