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the Bronx Times Reporter, 3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com.
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Note that the address and telephone number will NOT be published and the name will be published or withheld upon request.
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER,OCTOBER 2-8, 2020
13
BTR
BY PETER MADONIA
My name is Peter Madonia
and I’m providing testimony on
behalf of the Belmont Business
Improvement District in the
Bronx, of which I am chair. I am
also a small business owner and
bring a unique perspective to
the bills being considered today
as I have served as Chief of Staff
to Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
First Deputy Commissioner of
FDNY, Deputy Commissioner
at the Department of Buildings,
and Chief of Staff to the Deputy
Mayor for Operations.
My family business just celebrated
100 years operating in
Belmont. Also known as the
Bronx’s Little Italy or Arthur
Avenue, our district features
New York City’s best, mostauthentic
Italian restaurants,
butchers, bakers, fi sh markets,
delicatessens, pastry shops, artisan
shops and specialty stores.
Local businesses along Arthur
Avenue are many times owned
and operated by the same families
that founded them nearly
a century ago, as is the case of
Madonia Bakery.
Outdoor dining has been a
lifesaver and game changer for
the restaurants in the neighborhood.
With the launch of
Piazza di Belmont this summer,
our fi rst-ever, piazza-style
al fresco dining plan between
East 188th Street and Crescent
Avenue from Thursday to Sunday
nights, we’ve been able to
accommodate both our retail
businesses during the day and
our restaurants with this dedicated
outdoor dining plan. In
the district, 48 locations have
participated in outdoor dining
on the sidewalk and/or street.
For our Piazza di Belmont, 22
restaurants have been participating.
While outdoor dining
only contributes to a portion of
a restaurant’s revenue, which
already has slim margins, continuing
outdoor dining yearround
will only help our restaurants
to stay afl oat and give
customers the option to dine
both indoors and outdoors
during the winter months.
I applaud the Mayor, the Administration
and City Council
for pushing to extend outdoor
dining throughout the year
and for proposing the allowance
of portable propane heaters,
which are a necessity in
New York. However, my biggest
concern with the proposed bill
is that it does not amend the
fi re code to delete the requirement
that the responsible party
obtain a Certifi cate of Fitness
through the FDNY. It’s not feasible
for over 20,000 restaurants
throughout the fi ve boroughs to
have already beleaguered small
business owners obtain this
certifi cate. I don’t see the requirement
as a safety measure
but an unnecessary administrative
burden. The fact is that
anyone can walk into a Home
Depot and buy an outdoor propane
heater and immediately
use it. Why is a permit necessary
for what every homeowner
who has a barbecue manages
without any oversight? We need
clarity on this issue and ask that
the city waive any certifi cates,
permits or inspections to use
propane heaters during these
unprecedented times.
Regarding Intro 2096, authorizing
the Department of Consumer
and Worker Protection
to issue temporary operating
licenses to sidewalk café applicants
and the pre-considered
bill allowing for the preparation
of plans in connection with
petitions for revocable consents
for sidewalk cafes, we also need
clarity. What do the various
agencies want from restaurant
and café owners? We need a
simple application process that
is easy for the average person
to understand. Or better yet, a
self-certifi cation without an application.
If the City no longer
requires a licensed architect or
engineer to submit plans, restaurant
owners need clear instructions
on what they need to
submit and how. We still haven’t
seen these guidelines.
I commend Mayor de Blasio,
the Administration and
City Council for their efforts
to expand outdoor dining and
extend sidewalk café licenses,
but ask that you make the process
as streamlined and userfriendly
as possible. Restaurant
owners are already in a
crisis and can’t interpret dense
compliance information.
Our restaurants, which are
critical to our City’s identity
and vitality, are in survival
mode. According to The New
York Times, COVID-19 has resulted
in one-third of our small
businesses closing forever, costing
520,000 jobs. Nearly a third
of those businesses that have
closed are restaurants. The city
can’t operate as business-asusual
when our businesses are
vanishing. We need the Administration
to be as fl exible as possible
and let restaurants safely
operate without the bureaucratic
applications and approvals
that require interpretation.
I thank you for your
consideration.
Testimony of Peter Madonia
at a joint hearing of the New
York City Council Committee
on Transportation and Committee
on Consumer Affairs and
Business Licensing.
Dear editor,
In his latest opinion piece,
the COMACTA mouthpiece
accused the Democrats of pursuing
“personal and party
goals and loyalty, despite the
massive harm” to the nation.
A stunning example of projecting
the Republican agenda
to those gosh darn Democrats!
The columnist conveniently
overlooks the obsequious deference
of Republican politicians
to the will and “policies”
of the current (mal)administration.
They displayed,
in stunning fashion, their
party loyalty, by refusing to
allow witness testimony during
the impeachment trial of
their dear leader, by remaining
mute as he violated, on a
daily basis, Article 1, Section
9, Clause 8 of the Constitution,
and by rubber stamping approval
of his many unqualifi ed
and/or ethically challenged
nominees for important government
posts (Scott Pruitt,
Ryan Zinke, Tom Price, Alex
Acosta, et al.) More recently,
many Republican Senators expressed
support for Trump’s
Supreme Court nominee BEFORE
knowing who the nominee
was! Space limitations
prevent a full listing of the
harm caused by Republican
party loyalty.
Mr. Vernuccio also faults
the Democrats for “creating
racial animosity,” ignoring
the near constant gasoline
poured on the fi re of racial
discord by Trump, who has
urged duly elected non-White
members of Congress to “go
back” to their countries,
called Mexicans rapists, decried
the infl ux of immigrants
from “shithole” Black majority
countries, retweeted video
images that supported White
Power and expressed support
of Confederate monuments
erected for the sole purpose
of intimidating Black citizens.
Once again space limitations
do not permit a full listing
of the damage caused to
race relations by the current
White House occupant and
his lackeys.
COMACTA is alleged to
be a “think tank.” It seems
the ideas spawned by this
entity are created by magical
thinking, much like the
birth of Athena, who sprang
fully grown from the forehead
of Zeus.
– Pasqual Pelosi
Dear editor,
I want like to share with
your readers something that
was sent to me a few years ago
that we should all be concerned
about. It was regarding Saul David
Alinsky who was a writer
and generally considered to be
the founder of modern organizing.
He wrote the book, “Rules
for Radicals.”
From that book, he was purported
to convey his thoughts
on how to create a social state.
There are 8 levels of control that
must be obtained before you are
able to create a social state. The
fi rst being the most important:
1. Healthcare: Control
healthcare and you control the
people.
2. Poverty: Increase the poverty
level as high as possible,
poor people are easier to control
and will not fi ght back if you are
providing everything for them.
3. Debt: Increase the debt to
an unsustainable level. That
way you are able to increase
taxes and this will produce
more poverty.
4. Gun control: Remove the
ability to defend themselves
from government. That way you
are able to create a police state.
5. Welfare: Take control of
every aspect of their lives, food,
housing, and income.
6. Education: Take control of
what people read and listen to,
take control of what children
learn in school.
7. Religion: Remove the belief
in God from the government
and schools.
8. Class warfare: Divide the
people into the wealthy and the
poor. This will cause more discontent
and it will be easier to
take (tax) the wealthy with the
support of the poor.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Now, the Democrats are so
desperate for control they want
to: abolish the Electoral College,
give citizenship to illegal aliens
so they can vote, pack the Supreme
Court, make Puerto Rico
and Washington D.C. States
(more votes in Congress) and
soon would like to give voting
rights to brain washed 16 year
olds. Get the picture?
Sincerely,
Ron Summers
P.S. I have said my piece and
it is time for other readers to
give their views, whatever they
may be.
To the BTR editor,
I see the Bronx’s leading
Marxist is still at it, making
statements without providing
any context. Most political
violence is perpetrated by
right-wing organizations? I
can’t speak to what is taking
place worldwide, but here in
the United States — where my
major concern lies — anyone
with even a modicum of intelligence
and intellectual honesty
recognizes and willingly
admits that it is Antifa, Black
Lives Matter and those associated
with these two LEFTIST
organizations who are today
perpetrating the violence
that is ravaging the inner-cities
while conducting “peaceful”
protests. Thinking people
will also recognize the left’s
new claim that these protests
are being infi ltrated by “rightwingers”
and that the latter
are causing the violence for
the lie that it is. Were the violence
taking place at the hands
of those NOT approved by the
Democratic party, Joe Biden,
Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer
and all the rest would have
long ago called for President
Trump to send in the 101st
Airborne to crush the burners,
looters, and, in some
cases, murderers all across
the country.
Regarding Charlottesville,
the POTUS never claimed that
neo-Nazis, in that city or anywhere
else, are “very fi ne people.”
A full review of what the
President said reveals that he
spoke about the “very fi ne people”
on both sides of the overall
debate to remove statues of
Confederate fi gures from public
venues. He was not talking
about neo-Nazis, the Klan,
Antifa, BLM, or any other domestic
terrorist group. To say
otherwise is just more devious
deception (I’m being polite.)
Respectfully,
Michael A. Chmieloski
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