BATTLE OF BKLYN
businesses as vax mandate settles in
COURIER LIFE, OCTOBER 8-14, 2021 5
door. We did it on our own, because
we’re not checking to
see if people are vaccinated or
not.”
The manager, who declined
to provide her name, said that
the pizzeria is still getting
walk-ins from regulars but
that they’re losing out on potential
customers who want to
eat inside.
“Not that anybody’s against
what I’m doing,” she said. “It’s
just that there’s no indoor dining.
So it’s either stay outside
or to-go. Not that I have any
customers that are against
it. The customers are saying
also, it’s not right, everybody
should have their own rights
on where they should eat and
what they should do. Everything’s
just upside-down.”
Asked by Brooklyn Paper
earlier this month if the city
intends to make a searchable
database of businesses
that have faced sanction for
not complying with the mandate,
Mayor de Blasio said no,
claiming that the focus is on
compliance and not punishment.
“We’re not trying to do anything,
but get people compliant,”
Hizzoner said on Sept. 15.
“And what we’re hearing overwhelmingly
is positive compliance.”
As a result, some local
groups have taken matters into
their own hands.
The hosts of the hyperlocal
podcast Radio Free Bay Ridge,
for example, have been canvassing
the neighborhood recording
what businesses are
not complying, and compiling
them in a spreadsheet containing
both those publicly fl outing
the mandate and those which
are maintaining their ground
to enforce the new rule, even in
the face of unruly customers.
Dan Hettiex, one of the
hosts of Radio Free Bay Ridge,
said the group is only putting
businesses on the list if they
are putting out public statements
saying they are fl outing
the mandate, or if the anti-vax
sign is seen by a tipster in their
window.
“I fear our neighborhood’s
reputation as a safe place to eat
and shop is going to be dragged
through the mud,” he said.
“The city really needs to step
that up.”
Hettiex suggested the city
should incorporate whether
a restaurant is antivax into
their Health Department letter
grade as one possibility. He
also criticized Fox and fellow
Bay Ridge Republican, US Rep.
Nicole Malliotakis (who has
publicly supported the Rocco’s
lawsuit), as politicizing public
health.
“Public health should never
be a political issue,” he said.
“Bottom line.”
In response, Fox’s campaign
sent out an email last
week calling Hettiex’s spreadsheet
a “boycott hit list,” and
called for Councilmember Justin
Brannan to remove Hettiex
from Community Board 10. In
a statement to Brooklyn Paper,
he again criticized both Brannan
and Hettiex, arguing they
are “punishing” and “attacking”
Bay Ridge small businesses.
“Justin Brannan is arbitrarily
punishing small
Brooklyn businesses, and it’s
wrong,” Fox said, through a
spokesperson. “Science shows
that vaccinated New Yorkers
are just as capable of carrying
viral loads into restaurants as
unvaccinated people, making
this mandate both senseless
and punitive. His own Community
Board 10 appointee, Dan
Hetteix, is now attacking local
businesses, without proof, suggesting
that they’re not properly
enforcing the mandate
and urging public boycotts. Mr.
Brannan’s refusal to remove
him from the Board tells local
business owners everything
they need to know about his
priorities as a councilman.”
Brannan, in a statement,
argued that the majority of the
public is in support of the mandate
(a Siena poll this month
found 66 percent of respondents
supported the mandate
at businesses like restaurants,
versus 32 percent opposed and
2 percent with no opinion) and
that it’s important for public
health and safety. He also acknowledged
the challenges it
brings to small businesses.
“The overwhelming majority
of the public supports the
vaccine mandate, especially
because it protects the lives
of our neighbors and seniors.
There is a very serious disconnect
between reality and
Facebook,” Brannan said in
an emailed statement. “I completely
understand why small
business owners already feel
overburdened beyond belief,
and now they’re being forced to
be the front line enforcement
police yet again. That’s why,
now more than ever, small businesses
need our support, not
our ire. We should commending
the majority of local businesses
that are doing the right
thing in taking the health and
safety of their customers and
employees seriously — something
the vast majority of the
public supports.”
Politics aside, Randy Peers,
CEO and president of the
Brooklyn Chambers of Commerce,
believes the city needs
to do more to support businesses
burdened with enforcing
the mandate, while still
fi ghting to buoy themselves to
the other side of the pandemic.
“It’s not fair to our small
businesses,” he said. “They
shouldn’t have to be the vaccine
police. They shouldn’t have to
spend additional money to ensure
that customers are compliant.”
Peers added that other businesses
like catering halls have
had to bear an invisible brunt
of the mandate, noting one
business, El Caribe Caterers
in Mill Basin, lost six bookings
just after the mandate was announced.
“We focus quite a bit on restaurants
but think about catering
halls,” Peers said. “Think
about how many bookings that
catering halls have lost because
NYC has this mandate
but other areas, other counties
don’t have this mandate.”
El Caribe Caterers could
not be reached for comment.
Eight other catering companies
across the borough also
could not be reached.
Still, while various Brooklyn
business owners have vocally
opposed the mandate,
others have expressed enthusiasm
about the edict — which,
for some, hasn’t changed a
thing.
“I had always required
members to show proof of vaccination
so they can work out
without a mask on,” Michael
Carlin, co-owner of Slope Fitness,
previously told Brooklyn
Paper. “Although our politicians
said you can go on the
honor system … I never did
that.”
Caleb McMahon, a coowner
of the bar Salem’s Hour
in Prospect Lefferts Gardens
believes that checking people’s
vaccination status has made
his staff and patrons feel safer
dining and drinking inside.
The owner of the Nostrand Avenue
pub also instituted the
rule before it was mandated,
and says many patrons have
thanked him for it.
“A vast majority of people
are not only fi ne with it, but
are grateful,” McMahon said.
“They have reinforced that
this makes them feel safer
coming in, and that they wish
everywhere was as vigilant.”
The rule offi cially went into
effect on Aug. 16, with the Department
of Health authorized
to start fi ning non-compliant
businesses as of Sept. 13. To ensure
enforcement, nearly 600
people have been hired by the
city to check in on businesses
and canvass them with information
about the vaccine requirement.
The mayor has continued
to cite rising vaccination rates
as proof that the business mandate
— and others of its kind —
will be effective in stopping the
spread of COVID-19.
“I am absolutely certain
this is going to motivate a lot of
people to get vaccinated,” the
mayor said earlier this summer.
Meanwhile, the mandate’s
impact has been “all over the
map,” according to Andrew Rigie,
executive director of the
New York City Hospitality Alliance.
“For some restaurants it
hasn’t been an issue and for
some customers there is a level
of comfort knowing that everyone
is vaccinated,” he said,
“While for other restaurants
it’s been the cause of a loss of
business.”
Additional reporting by Ben
Verde