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Comptroller Suggests Loans for Businesses Hurt by Closure of St. Vincent's Hospital

By DNAinfo Staff on September 21, 2010 8:07pm  | Updated on September 22, 2010 6:08am

By Tara Kyle

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GREENWICH VILLAGE — For the many small businesses hurt by the closure of St. Vincent's Hospital, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli offered hope Tuesday in the form of loans.

Many businesses are reporting profits down by 40 to 50 percent in the blocks around the old hospital site, according to Lauren Danziger, executive director of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce (GVCCC). In the case of one business, revenue had fallen 80 percent, she said.

"The community has come through tough times," DiNapoli told DNAinfo after a luncheon meeting with the local Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. "It's not easy. Certainly this is a resilient neighborhood, and it will continue to be a resilient neighborhood."

Addressing about 30 members of the business group at the Philip Marie Restaurant, DiNapoli described an array of tools for small business owners, including the Office of Unclaimed Funds. Here, New Yorkers who have forgotten about a utility deposit, mortgage insurance refund or other lost financial resources can pick up their share of $9 billion in unclaimed monies.

But it was DiNapoli's mention of small business loans available through the comptroller's New York Business Development Corporation Program that GVCCC President and Chairman Tony Juliano said gave business owners the most hope.

Juliano said he would take DiNapoli's information to local storefronts after he investigated "how easy it is for a small business that's in trouble to get one of these loans."

These days, Juliano said that virtually all of the GVCCC's activities are planned with an eye toward bringing life back to the blocks around St. Vincent's, which are hurting from the loss of business once brought by 3,500 hospital employees, plus patients and visitors.

Amid all the talk about the urgency of bringing health services back to the Village, Juliano said that he is sometimes frustrated by insufficient efforts to restore economic activity.

"I feel like sometimes we're one voice in the wind," Juliano said. "We need some resources and attention focused on the area so that we understand what needs to be done to help our small businesses, now and in the future."