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Chamber Helps Save Oldest LGBTQ+ Bar in Queens
QUEENS CHAMBER NEWS FRIEND’S FOREVER: QCC HELPS SAVE TAVERN
BY EVAN TRIANTAFILIDIS
Friend’s Tavern will remain in Jackson Heights, where it has served the LGBTQ community in Queens since 1989, serving the community as the oldest gay bar in Queens.
Opened in 1989 by Eddie Valentin, Friend’s rented its location at 78-11 Roosevelt Avenue. With the help of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, elected officials and TD Bank, the bar was able to purchase the building after the owner nearly sold the place to another buyer.
Valentin credits the dedication and determination of his team and staff for creating an atmosphere of love and friendship, as well as a safe space for many of his longtime patrons and employees.
“When we opened up this spot 32 years ago, we never imagined how far it would get and how it would bring a community together,” said Valentin. “We learned that working with the community and helping our customers is much more rewarding than selling drinks and making a couple of dollars.
“We integrated ourselves with the community and our customers,” he added. “We became an asylum or refuge for many people, especially in Jackson Heights.”
Valentin was ill with COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic when he found out the landlord was trying to sell the building.
Nearing the end of his lease, Valentin reached out to Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, who then reached out to the Queens Chamber of Commerce. Chamber CEO Tom Grech then connected the Valentin with TD Bank.
Representatives from the Queens Chamber of Commerce, TD Bank and elected officials joined Friend’s Tavern owner Eddie Valentin to celebrate the purchase of the bar’s Jackson Heights building.
“When Eddie called me, the only person I could think of calling was Tom Grech,” said Cruz. “Not a city or government agency, but Tom, because every single time any of our businesses have needed help, it’s been Tom.”
Steven Garibell, TD Bank’s vice president for Business Development LGBTQ+, helped the business obtain a commercial mortgage after an attempt to secure a loan with another bank fell through.
“Thank god for the Queens Chamber of Commerce and Catalina Cruz for stepping up and introducing me to Steven Garibell,” said Valentin. “Just having somebody listen to me when I thought the whole world was closing in on me, it was a beautiful thing.”
Ralph Bumbaca, TD Bank Market president of New York City, said it was crucial to keep a local legacy going in the heart of Queens.
“We sat down with them and really understood what their goal was,” said Bumbaca. “They understood the business and understood the property. It’s all about the individuals. They showed determination, the will and a level of enthusiasm for supporting the community.” Valentin, who was born in Puerto Rico, says his business has long served as a safe space for his patrons. In 1993, Friend’s
Tavern helped sponsor the inaugural Queens Pride Parade and has continued to provide a nurturing environment to immigrants who find themselves in America for the first time.
“Their first steps are in Queens, because that’s where the two major airports are,” said Valentin of newcomers to the country. “From there, they start looking for a place of refuge, a place that is going to accept them as they are. Many of them are running from persecution in their home countries.
“They end up coming through our front doors and then it’s our job to help them and guide them,” he continued. “Not just telling them what the drink of the day is, but leading them to a nonprofit organization that can help them. If we know there’s a job opening somewhere, we’re letting them know about it. They come here and they’re always welcomed with a smile.”
EXPERT ADVICE THE REALITY OF PAYING BACK TAXES
BY WAYNE SCULLY
If you owe back taxes, you are likely going to end up paying every dime.
Despite what you hear on radio and television commercials from sketchy companies, very few people qualify for the reduced settlement program that the IRS offers.
Just for the sake of comparison, consider IRS data for 2020. Last year, the feds accepted 14,288 reduced settlement applications, but set up over 1.8 million payment plans.
That’s a huge difference.
And that was a pandemic year, during which the IRS shut down collection activity for several months. In 2019, the IRS set up over 2.8 million payment plans, while accepting only 17,890 reduced settlement offers.
If you’re one of the few fortunate souls that qualifies for the reduced settlement, we’ll fight on your behalf to get you the best deal possible.
For everybody else, our job is still to get you the best deal possible, but the goal is slightly different.
Wayne Scully is a certified public accountant. He can be reached at (718) 938-4601.
Here’s a brief summary of the process: 1. An in-depth analysis of your financial situation. 2. Categorizing living expenses “clearly allowable,” “maybe allowable” and “definitely not allowable.”
3. Positioning the “maybe allowable” expenses as allowable with the IRS in order to minimize your monthly payment. 4. Subtracting all the allowable expenses from your income to arrive at the monthly payment proposed to the IRS.
There are several other steps and considerations, of course, but for the majority of people this is what the process more or less boils down to.
The difficulty of the entire process is convincing the IRS to accept the “maybe allowable” expenses as “definitely allowable” expenses.
The most important factors in that process are what kind of tax you owe and how much. Business tax debts are a bit more complicated than personal tax debts, and the more you owe, the more complex things get.
For example, if you owe the IRS $10,000 or less in personal income tax, it’s a piece of cake. As long as you can afford a large enough payment to wipe out the tax debt within three years, these payment plans are easy to set up.
That’s why on many of those radio and TV commercials they tell you to call only if you owe $10,000 or more.
At the next tier, for tax debts in the $10,000 to $25,000 range, things get slightly more complex, but not tremendously so. Past $10,000, that three-year time requirement goes away, and you can do a longer payment plan.
As the amount of the tax debt increases from here, your specific facts and circumstances start to play a bigger role in determining how things play out.
Factors such as whether or not you’ve had tax debt before, whether or not the IRS assigns a field agent to your case, or whether you’ve responded to past IRS notices in a timely manner can start to impact how the IRS treats you and looks at your case.
Now that you know all this, you will still want to talk to a professional any time you owe the IRS money.
FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT A MWBE NAVIGATING A COVID ECONOMY
BY SHANNON GOINS
It has certainly been an interesting year and a half. As a small business, if we hopped on an actual roller coaster it probably would have been easier.
We are in the business of cleaning and cleaning the green way. We are huge advocates of the environment and the eco-friendly measures to protect human health. This is the heart of soul of our organization and has really allowed us to provide all businesses of all sizes a true solution when combatting COVID came into play.
Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t simple, but as a small business our priority was the small business. We educated, guided, and even offered free cleanings to help our fellow small businesses in need. We ran social media campaigns showcasing our dedication to small business and to keep thriving with eco-advocacy.
Our belief and message were being seen more than ever because the world was in peril, and this was an adoption truly that should have happened long before.
In the later part of 2020, we become certified as an MWBE in a multi-faceted way. What I mean by that, is we were awarded this certification from the state, city, Port Authority, and NYNJ Minority Supplier Development Council.
Now what? We were a dynamic small business with a fantastic capabilities statement, let the connecting begin! Except there’s a little more to it than that. Nevertheless, we continued navigating with enthusiasm.
Navigating in a way that we are in the last stages of development for an app that will change the way our vertical does business. It is a full-service communications tool to build a better way to service our customers. Incorporating the green way of life throughout.
We will utilize this technology to augment our value add, help us build an even better quality of service, and enhance our presence as a qualified MWBE in New York City.
The CEO that I have had the privilege to work for in this last
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Shannon Goins is Head of Strategy for ProCelanings.
