By Michael Hill
Correspondent
A steamy stroll of Secaucus’ small businesses to find out what they need and what the Small Business Administration can offer.
Headlining the walking tour — Congressman Bill Pascrell.
Pascrell introduced the SBA’s district director — Al Titone — to the owners and operators of mom and pop shops.
At Filomena’s — which shares the same name with the beloved Washington, D.C. eatery — the congressman served a side dish of the Affordable Care Act.
“A lot of myths produced. Get a chance, at your leisure, take a look at it. And Al, from SBA, he’s going to leave you this. There are a lot of programs the SBA has. I was telling the mayor, in Hudson County alone, close to 30-million-dollars in small business loans last year. Good rates. Never know when you’re going to need it,” he said.
The owner of this Filomena’s says he could use a loan that the SBA arranges with a lending institution.
When asked what he would do with the loan, Patrick Decesare said, “Equipment and maybe a little cosmetic improvement on the store.”
At Jankolovits Optometrist, the congressman reminisced about taking the optometry test.
The congressman says the SBA doesn’t advertise so he does it for it.
Without these SBA loans where would some of these Hudson County business be, Pascrell said, “They wouldn’t be here. In fact, start-up programs, which is the main target of the SBA, helping people getting started in business. This is what we want. This is the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people.”
The SBA says it wanted to spread the word that it was more than just loans, more than just money, that it can offer technical advice and a whole lot more to small businesses.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of very good businesses out there that don’t need SBA’s services,” Titone said. “But, everybody could use help and the beauty of it is it doesn’t cost them anything out of pocket. You know it’s government services. I tell people all the time you’ve already paid for it, you should be use this.”
To help small businesses here, the congressman and crew invested in the lottery when they heard one store has some good luck.
“Let me see how hot you are,” Pascrell said.
“You may not be a congressman in a few weeks,” said Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli.