StatenIslandChamber

Business reps check in along Forest Avenue

Business owners and managers along Forest Avenue, from Manor Road to Barrett Avenue, got some special attention on Oct. 13, when they received visits from City Council member Debi Rose (D-North Shore) and members of her senior staff; representatives from the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce (SICC); Victoria Larsen Cerullo, the Staten Island representative from Mayor Bloomberg’s office; Bernadette Nation, director of the Business Outreach Team for New York City Small Business Services, and Robert Myers, senior account finance manager at the Staten Island center of New York City Business Solutions.

HOW’S BUSINESS?

“How is business? Is there any issue that we can help you with?” asked Roseann Castellano, membership director for the SICC, as she walked into shops and offices.

A manager of the Cake Chef’s Cookie Jar at 1226 Forest Ave., who lives in Castleton Corners but did not want to be named, complained about “speeding cars on Forest Avenue,” and Verizon trucks that have taken up parking spaces in front of the shop “every day, for months” as work is carried out. “They told us it will be months longer before they are finished,” she said. “Customers come in already irritated because of this,” she said.

For John Lucchese, of Metro Pizzeria & Restaurant at 1218 Forest Ave., “business is good, I’m not complaining,” he told Mrs. Castellano.

OVERTAXED

“These are very tough times for businesses, and we’re oversaturated with taxes,” said Gregory Cicero of the CPA firm Cicero & LoVerde at 1336 Forest Ave. Tax increases make it difficult for small businesses to survive.”

Cicero, who lives in New Dorp, made clear that he was referring to city and state taxes, as well as those at the federal level.

He also railed against fines and penalties that city and state agencies impose on small businesses, citing the recent experience of one of his clients, a small, service-industry business in Sunnyside.

“They had to pay a $468 penalty to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance because the quarterly sales-tax return — due on September 20th — was postmarked one day late,” he said. “They paid in full the $5,000 in sales tax that they owed, and did not get even one day’s grace. We all must comply with the law, but this is just crazy,” he remarked.

FREE SERVICES

Myers, of the Staten Island office of New York City Business Solutions, clued in Forest Avenue entrepreneurs about no-cost services offered for bank and alternative-lender financing; legal assistance; business courses, and employee recruitment and pre-screening. The phone number for the center, at 120 Stuyvesant Pl. in St. George, is 718-285-8406.

Site visits to local business districts, such as last week’s, are coordinated by the SICC’s Membership Committee, chaired by Ken Schneider of P.A.C. Plumbing, Heating & A/C.

“These visits are extremely important because they help build awareness about all the Chamber does and has to offer to both members and non-members,” he said. “We let businesses know that the Chamber is a valuable resource for them, and we are here to help in any way possible.”

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Categories: Chamber in the News