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PHOENIX FA LL REA L ESTA TE/HOMECouncil Committee says Kent Commission Study IsBY LIZ KOCHWith conflicting reports on the condition of small business in New York City, the City Council%u2019s Committee of Economic Development is now looking at the issue to determine if they should take action on what some are calling a \ty's small merchants and others are describing as small-spread private business distress.The 15-member Mayor's Commission on Small Retail Businesses released its final report in June with the majority concluding that commercial rent pressures have not imperilled the overall prosperity of the city's retail sector and that consumers are not being adversely affected by the changing retail sector. A minority report issued by three members of the Commission disagreed with these conclusions.It was this disparity in conclusions that was the focus of the committee's summer public hearing in June, where Alan Altschuler, chairman of the commission, presented the majority report and Ronald Schiffman, director for the Center for Community and Environmental Development at Pratt Institute gave the dissenting minority opinion. Arthur Margin, vice president of the Real Estate Board of New York presented the organization%u2019s June report, an analysis of their case against commercial rent control. Steven Null, president of the Coalition for Fair Business Rents offered a different view of the needs of the retail community.Many of the members of the Council%u2019s Committee including Brooklyn Councilmember Abe Gerges, Manhattan%u2019s West Sider Ruth Messinger and lower Manhattan Councilmember Miriam Friedlander represent areas currently in the process of gentrification that are hit hardest by rising commercial rents and shortening leases. STUDY SAYS NO CRISIS\The survey does not indicate there is a crisis. Someindividuals face a crisis, but the question o f governmentinterference must be based on the magnitude o f the crisis.crisis,%u201d Altschuler said referring to the Louis Harris and Associates poll data that served as a basis for the conclusions drawn in the report. %u201cSome individuals face a crisis. But the question of government interference in this situation must be based on magnitude of a crisis,%u201d he added. Chairperson of the Committee, Jerome Donovan, who represents part of Bensonhurst and the northern end of Staten Island, asked Altschuler to compare the majority report with the proposal made by the former New York State Small BusinessAdvisory Commission for a commercial rent control several years ago.%u201cOur report was based on better evidence than was available in the past,%u201d Altschuler responded. %u201cThere was much more statistical evidence to show that there is no need to initiate these sorts of controls during a time of prosperity,%u201d he said. Donovan also questioned Altschuler on controls instituted in Berkeley, California. Altschuler pointed out that not enough time had passed to determine whether the Berkeley program would negatively impact on commercialprosperity. %u201cEven if one found that rent control there for 10 or 12 months did not have a negative effect on economic development, we right now are in competition for developers with close by states. Can we afford to take such an economic risk? The majority was doubtful,%u201d he said.NO EMERGENCYGerges, pointing out that the report said that no emergency condition existed for the small businesses, asked Altschuler why any action was required at all. The majority report had recommended a lease extension option that would entitle the tenant to a one year lease extension with a 15 percent rent increase if lease negotiations between a tenant and landlord failed and recommended a supply expansion rezoning option that would increase the number of available retail outlets by converting vacant space to retail use. Altschuler responded that a future emergency could not be ruled out and that intermediate actions protected small retailers from losing their lease on short notice. %u201cEven prosperity leaves victims in its wake,%u201d he said, adding: %u201cThere%u2019s a lot to be said for creating a process where the retailers have time to make a reasoned decision rather than losing their leases very quickly.%u201dGerges, voicing concern for neighborhoods whose character was threatened by escalating rents and turnover of stores, asked Altschuler to respond to this change. %u201cThe barber shop obviously cannot pay the same rent as McDonald%u2019s%u201d Gerges said. %u201cThey will have to move,%u201d Altschuler answered. %u201cWe cannot take a risk with the whole economy by freezing retail space.%u201dCouncilmember Ruth Messinger, who has proposed Council action that calls for binding arbitration similar to the minority report%u2019s recommendation, accused Altschuler of using scare tactics to %u201csuggest that no one will ever move again,%u201d and thats195 A TYPICAL FLIGHT.Offer includes Bigelow Antron 111 broadloom, padding of commercial grade hair-jute; and all installationcosts Price above fi%u00a3 a i TAf A k J 't is derived from a ! ^ A L rA J A n j13 -step staircase, C A R P E T .* 'th waterfall type installation A great buy. so step on it.R %u20ac M N A N TWAREHOUSEMAKING DROWNSTONE STAIRS 1 'LAST IONGER SINCE 1907 (Bet Nevins St 8. 3rd Ave,1 hROOKi YN Nf V. 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