If You Can Make It Here

The Manhattan Institute's Steven Malanga has a depressing though sadly unsurprising account of the innumerable ways that New York City thwarts and harasses small business:

Doing business in Gotham has rarely been easy for the nearly 200,000 small firms that form the backbone of the city's local economy. Virtually everyone who runs a business in New York has long had to deal with uncompromising inspectors, unsympathetic city bureaucracies, and complex regulations, to say nothing of profit-crushing taxes. But over the past few years, small businesses' woes have worsened significantly, say many entrepreneurs and business groups. Taxes, fees, and fines are worse than ever; city departments have stepped up inspections and enforcement; city agencies have stymied efforts to cut red tape; and at a time when the national and city economies are struggling, commissioners have promoted new social policies that have added to businesses' burdens. "In 25 years, this is the worst I've seen things," claims Ramon Murphy, owner of two bodegas and president of the city-based Bodega Association of the United States.