Mamdani Offers 50 Ways to Aid Small Business, From Barbershops to Bingo

Peter Freeman, 49, runs Brooklyn Farmacy in Carroll Gardens, a soda fountain housed in a former 100-year-old apothecary. Like many small businesses, he wrestles with credit card fees, inflation, supply-chain issues, payroll, and taxes—and he needs a specific frozen dessert permit to sell ice cream. His experience is at the center of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s OPEN plan, unveiled as about 50 proposals aimed at “cutting red tape” and streamlining permitting. Mamdani also wants to end New York State’s requirement for a separate ice cream permit and to revise bingo rules, removing the city’s $250-per-game and $1,000-per-occasion prize limits.