IT’S THE NEW
Tribulations befall Brooklyn’s
BY BEN BRACHFELD & JADA
INSIDE
Your entertainment
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Police Blotter ..........................8
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COURIER L 2 IFE, OCTOBER 8-14, 2021
CAMILLE
Rowdy customers, businesses
fl outing mandates, and
even outright brawls — that’s
what’s befallen Brooklyn’s
bars, restaurants, gyms, and
theaters in the two weeks that
the city’s vaccine mandate for
indoor venues has been in effect.
At Juliana’s Pizza under the
Brooklyn Bridge, a video of an
unvaccinated man confronting
staff members about their vaccine
policy was widely disseminated
on social media, showing
the science-skeptic angrily
yelling at employees on Sept.
14, just one day into enforcement
of the new regulation.
“So you’re refusing to serve
us? Are you refusing to serve
us,” the man, who goes by the
name Ray Velez online, asks.
When the staff member
states that he must have a vaccine
card to dine inside, Velez
prods further.
“So you’re going to enforce
segregation?” he asks. “Because
we just told you that
we’re religiously exempt.”
Matthew Grogan, company
partner at Julianna’s, says the
employees were simply following
the New York City vaccine
mandate that those who plan
on dining indoors must have
proof of vaccination and in
some cases, an ID.
“We’re simply following
the mandate that the city put
on us and all the other restaurant
venues,” said Grogan,
who added that the city did
not authorize the restaurant to
accommodate exemptions regarding
religion.
“The only accommodations
that the city is permitting us to
offer guests that are unable to
provide proof of vaccination is
to order takeout or eat outside,”
said Grogan. “They’re not allowing
any other exceptions for
religion… they made that crystal
clear in their communication
with the restaurant.”
While the city’s vaccine
mandate in restaurants does
not provide for a religious exemption,
the city’s Human
Rights Commission has put
out guidance noting that operators
must provide reasonable
accommodations for employees
who claim religious exemptions.
The same does not exist
for customers.
In Manhattan, a brawl at
Carmine’s on the Upper West
Side over proof-of-vaccination
led to the arrests of three Texas
women, and a hostess being
sent to the hospital. Both parties
are now claiming contradictory
theories of the event.
In Bay Ridge, several local
businesses are openly fl outing
the mandate, most notably
Pasticceria Rocco, a bakery
on Fourth Avenue and 94th
Street that also has a location
in Greenwich Village. Rocco’s
last month hung a sign in
their window reading, “We do
not discriminate against ANY
customer based on sex, gender,
race, creed, age, vaccinated or
unvaccinated. All customers
who wish to patronize are welcome
in our establishment.”
Rocco’s is also one of the lead
plaintiffs in a lawsuit against
the city and Mayor Bill de Blasio,
brought by a number of restaurants
organized under the
umbrella of the Independent
Restaurant Owners Association
Rescue (IROAR), aiming
to squelch the mandate which
it claims is arbitrary and in
violation of the Constitution’s
equal protection clause.
A judge rejected IROAR’s
request for an injunction to
stop the mandate on Sept. 10,
A protestor holds an anti-vaccine mandate sign. REUTERS/Stephen Zenner
which allowed it to go into effect.
The judge has not yet issued
a fi nal ruling.
Rocco’s continues to hang
the sign though, as do other
businesses, which are being
encouraged by local Republican
politicians including City
Council candidate Brian Fox,
who has handed out smaller
versions of the antivax poster
seen at Rocco’s to other Bay
Ridge businesses.
Kensington’s Korner Pizza,
a half-century-old pizzeria on
Church Avenue at East Third
Street, is one such business
displaying the sign in their
window, and on their Instagram
page. Reached by phone,
a manager at the store said it
has stopped doing indoor dining
since the implementation
of the mandate, limiting business
to only takeout and delivery,
rather than ask for proof of
vaccination at the door.
“We have to get somebody
to stand at the door,” the manager
said. “That’s not coming
out of my pocket. If the city
wants that they should be supplying
some money, send some
money and they can be at the
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