Andrew Rigie, who now leads the New York City Hospitality Alliance, an association that represents restaurants and nightlife venues, has been involved with efforts by every mayor since Michael R. Bloomberg to reduce fines and fees for small businesses.
Mr. Bloomberg introduced 14 measures to help small businesses comply with city rules. His successor, Bill de Blasio, eliminated fines for some first-time violations. After him, Mayor Eric Adams made supporting small businesses a major part of his platform, eliminating 30 violations and reducing fines for 49 others.
“Still,” Mr. Rigie said, “there’s a lot more to be done.”
Now, after just two weeks in office, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is joining his predecessors in tackling the 6,000 rules and regulations that small businesses say make it difficult for them to operate. On Wednesday, he signed an executive order that directed seven agencies — as well as any other agency asked to do so by the deputy mayor for economic justice — to create an inventory of fines and fees for licenses and permits and inspections, and to come up with ways to reduce and streamline them.
“The plight of small businesses is not new; neither is the recognition of that plight,” Mr. Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference in Brooklyn. “What has been missing, however, is the action.”
What makes this executive order different, Mr. Rigie said, is the indexing of all the fines and fees and the scrutiny from City Hall, which helps ensure that agencies are not allowed to police themselves.
“The city can’t treat small business like its own A.T.M.,” Mr. Rigie said, adding: “You can’t let the fox guard the henhouse.”
Mr. Mamdani has focused on small businesses since the inception of his campaign. One of his first viral videos featured interviews with halal cart owners who talked about the soaring cost of permit fees. “New York is suffering from a crisis and it’s called halalflation,” Mr. Mamdani said in the video.
The executive order also directs the Department of Small Business Services to complete an assessment of how long it takes to obtain licenses and permits to establish a new business and present a plan to the deputy mayor for economic justice to reduce that time.
Within 90 days, agencies must submit plans to eliminate, where possible, initial business fees. By July, the mayor will receive a report explaining which fines and fees require legislative action to be dismissed. Mr. Mamdani has ordered a report within a year on the feasibility of an amnesty program for small businesses.
Small business owners have long complained about the maze of fees and permits required to start a new venture. And once they’ve opened, business owners say they are hit with so many fines and violations that the cost cuts deeply into their bottom line.
A study released in December by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce found that among the violations that the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection issued from July 2023 to October 2025 (aside from those related to tobacco or cannabis), the most common was for not having a sign that explained a store’s refund policy. The second most commonly issued violation was for failing to display a price on the shelf next to each item.
Randy Peers, co-chairman of the Five Borough Jobs Campaign and president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, said the fines are frivolous and add to the pressure on businesses struggling to survive amid rising rents and insurance, labor and utility costs.
He said that while Mr. Mamdani’s proposal looked similar to previous mayors’ goals, its approach was nonetheless encouraging.
“If we all agree that this is not about tax revenue and that we shouldn’t be looking to grow the city budget or balance the city budget on the backs of small businesses,” Mr. Peers said, “then the only way you’re really, truly going to help them in this area is to give the enforcement agencies dedicated numerical targets to reduce the number of fines and violations.”
Mr. Mamdani said the effort to reduce fines and fees was a “central concern” of his administration and a part of his effort to make the city more affordable to New Yorkers.
Universal child care is also a part of the mayor’s affordability agenda. On Wednesday, he announced the opening of applications for the city’s prekindergarten program and preschool for 3-year-olds, known as 3-K, and released a video encouraging parents to apply. Mr. Adams, who made cuts to 3-K and then reversed them, faced accusations that the popular initiative declined during his tenure, with many families unable to find seats in their neighborhoods or any seats at all.
During a news conference with the schools chancellor, Mr. Mamdani said he was guaranteeing that every child who wanted a pre-K seat would get one and that the seats “would be far closer” to their parents’ work or home than they have been in the past.
Jeffery C. Mays is a Times reporter covering politics with a focus on New York City Hall.
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