Plight of small businesses felt across New York City

New York City has many small businesses, but a business expert says city government often hasn’t a clue about their problems. According to Thomas Grech, executive director of the Queens County Chamber of Commerce, “The city doesn’t get the challenges of small businesses, such as paying a minimum $15-an-hour wage. It just thinks of small businesses as something to tax.” The problem, Grech added, is that most city officials have never run a business and have no understanding of how it works. “They don’t know what it’s like to meet a payroll and how to pay exorbitant medical costs.” He lamented that small businesses don’t have the lobbying power to organize.