Section 22-201. Legislative findings

The  council  hereby finds that the
  fulton fish market, the center of New York's wholesale seafood  industry
  located in lower Manhattan, has for decades been corruptly influenced by
  organized  crime;  that  organized  crime's  corrupting  influence  over
  certain functions in the market, including  the  unloading  and  loading
  functions,  has  resulted  in  the  commission  of  numerous  crimes and
  wrongful acts there, including but not limited to physical  violence  or
  threats of violence, property damage, and thefts; that organized crime's
  corrupting influence over the market has fostered and sustained a cartel
  that  has  forced  seafood  suppliers  and  truckers  to  use particular
  unloading crews at fixed prices in an anticompetitive  scheme  that  has
  been  censured  by  a  federal  judge; that organized crime's corrupting
  influence has resulted in retailers parking on  city  streets  and  city
  property  nevertheless  having to pay high fees to private loading crews
  whose principal function  has  been  to  provide  "security"  for  those
  vehicles  and  their contents while retailers have purchased fish in the
  crime-ridden market area; and  that  these  corrupting  influences  have
  further  resulted  in  higher  prices  for  wholesale seafood than would
  otherwise have to be paid in the absence of this activity.  The  council
  further  finds  that  despite the repeated efforts of law enforcement to
  prosecute  crimes  there  and  the   presence   of   a   court-appointed
  administrator  for the market, the problem of organized crime corruption
  in the market has persisted. The council further finds that the market's
  businesses, including wholesalers,  seafood  deliverers,  unloaders  and
  loaders,  have  not  been  effectively regulated by the city in the past
  under existing laws  and  regulations  governing  public  markets,  even
  though  they  often  operate  on  city  property, albeit without leases,
  licenses and registration.  The  council  further  finds  that,  in  the
  absence  of an effective regulatory scheme, wholesalers have established
  a "gray market" in tenancies at rates in excess of those being  paid  to
  the  city  and  have  thus deprived the public of its rightful return on
  city property, and further,  that  unscrupulous  businesses  have  taken
  advantage  of  this  absence  of  regulation  to  engage  in  fraudulent
  practices,  such  as  the  creation  of  "phantom   wholesalers"   whose
  businesses disappear from the market before payment can be obtained from
  them  for  seafood  they  have  received  from  suppliers, and that such
  practices have discouraged suppliers from utilizing the market area.
    The council therefore finds and declares that in order to provide  for
  the  more  efficient and orderly conduct of business in the market area,
  to ensure that any such activities are lawfully  conducted,  to  promote
  the  economic vitality of the market and to protect the public interest,
  it is necessary for the commissioner of small business services to  have
  expanded  authority  to license and/or register businesses in the market
  area and to regulate the conduct of such businesses. In particular,  the
  council   finds   that,  in  order  to  achieve  these  objectives,  the
  commissioner of small business services should be  authorized  to  issue
  requests  for  licensing  proposals  to  provide  unloading  and loading
  services in the market area and, at his or her discretion, issue one  or
  more  unloading  and loading licenses based on the review and evaluation
  of responses received pursuant to such requests. In the  event  that  no
  appropriate  responses  are  received to such requests, the commissioner
  should be authorized to arrange for the  department  of  small  business
  services  itself  to perform unloading or loading services or to arrange
  that they be performed by a contractor or a designee of the department.
    The council recognizes  that  complaints  have  been  made  about  the
  conduct  of  seafood distribution activities outside the market area and
  finds further that the conditions which have given rise to corruption in
  the market area can exist in  other  areas  where  there  are  wholesale

  seafood  businesses  or  concentrations  of such businesses. The council
  also recognizes that representatives of such businesses have  threatened
  to  move  their operations elsewhere and that some may relocate to other
  parts  of  the city. The council thus finds and declares that it is also
  necessary for the  commissioner  of  small  business  services  to  have
  authority  to regulate seafood distribution in areas of the city outside
  the market area in which such seafood businesses may concentrate.
    Application of this chapter will enhance the city's ability to address
  organized crime corruption and to protect consumers and the many  honest
  business  persons  who  do  business  in  or with the market or at other
  seafood distribution areas. It is thus the council's intent  to  empower
  the  city  to  have  greater  regulatory  authority  over the conduct of
  business in the market and in other seafood distribution areas.