Michael Bailey, a Democratic candidate for New York State Assembly District 56, unveiled a three-part Neighborhood Business Preservation Plan after a May 30 candidate debate in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The plan calls for state-level support to help longtime Black, Caribbean, and immigrant-owned businesses stay in Central Brooklyn ahead of the June 23 Democratic primary.
Bailey, a lifelong Bed-Stuy resident, real estate attorney, and former construction company owner, said the plan responds to mounting commercial and residential displacement across the district. He said Bed-Stuy’s Black population dropped from roughly 75 percent in 2000 to about 40 percent in 2023, and that neighborhood businesses face the same forces pushing longtime residents out. “Residents see the displacement happening in real time,” Bailey said. “A longtime business closes, a storefront sits vacant, another family leaves the neighborhood. If we want to preserve the character of Black Brooklyn, we have to preserve the local businesses, economic opportunities and community institutions that make these neighborhoods worth staying in.”
Bailey told Caribbean Life, which first reported on the plan, that his work advising Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE), a state and city designation that unlocks procurement contracts, grants, and financing for qualifying business owners, showed him how few entrepreneurs can actually navigate the programs available to them. “Too often, support exists on paper, but small business owners do not have the time, staffing, or connections to navigate complicated government programs,” he said. “Government should be helping neighborhood businesses access opportunities, not burying them in bureaucracy.”
The first component, the Central Brooklyn Small Business Navigator Initiative, would connect local entrepreneurs with existing city and state resources, including MWBE certification, grants, financing programs, procurement opportunities, and technical assistance. The second, a Commercial Vacancy Reduction Initiative, calls for a review of long-term vacant storefronts and new incentives to bring empty commercial space back into use. Bailey said that initiative would prioritize locally owned businesses, first-time entrepreneurs, and businesses with strong community ties. “Every vacant storefront represents lost economic activity, lost jobs, and lost opportunity,” Bailey said. “We need policies that encourage investment while giving local entrepreneurs a fair opportunity to grow.”
The third component, a Neighborhood Business Preservation Initiative, would establish targeted support for longstanding businesses facing displacement pressures and rising operating costs. “When a neighborhood loses a business that has served residents for 20 or 30 years, we lose more than a store,” Bailey said. “We lose jobs, relationships, local knowledge, and a piece of the neighborhood’s identity.”
Bailey is challenging incumbent Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman and DSA-aligned candidate Eon Huntley, who also ran against Zinerman in 2024, in the June 23 Democratic primary for Assembly District 56, which covers Bedford-Stuyvesant and portions of Crown Heights. The May 30 debate where Bailey first outlined the proposals was held at the Magnolia Tree Earth Center in Bed-Stuy and also featured State Senate District 25 candidates Jabari Brisport and Marlon Rice. Bailey said the business preservation plan expands on remarks he made at that forum and is part of a broader campaign agenda focused on housing affordability, deed theft prevention, homeowner protection, and economic opportunity. “Regardless of politics, communities need affordable food options, safe commercial corridors, and policies that help neighborhood businesses survive,” Bailey said. “Politics should be about solving problems people can see on their own block.”
Featured image: Andre Carrotflower / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
