Community Corner

New City Plan Will Cut Red Tape for Business Startups

Bloomberg announces the Business Customer Service initiative, a new major effort to make it easier for businesses to deal with government as they grow and create jobs.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Thursday the launch of the City’s Business Customer Service initiative, a new way for entrepreneurs and business start-ups to get going and get legal with a lot less bureaucracy.

“We’ve made huge strides in making it easier for businesses to deal with government, but there is still more red tape to cut, and we’re committed to cutting it," Bloomberg said. "This new initiative is multi-faceted and far-reaching, and it will go a long way toward making sure City government gets out of the way of entrepreneurs who are trying to create jobs and grow our economy.”

The Business Customer Service initiative will centralize some of the more critical, legal and technical aspects of getting on your feet as a new business owner by cutting out all of the layers.

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This includes new efforts to enable businesses to pay license, permit and other fees, including taxes, online; new efforts to make it possible for businesses to apply online for the necessary licenses, permits and other credentials they need to open their doors and operate legally and safely; new efforts to make easy-to-understand information about how businesses can navigate City government readily available; and new efforts to improve the regulatory climate for business by reducing the number of agencies involved in permitting for things like sidewalk cafés.

The administration promises to work closely with a group of advisors made up of local business leaders with expertise in business operations and customer service and will report on progress on these initiatives every 90 days from now until the end of 2013.

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For more information on the Business Customer Service initiative, go here.


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