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A plea from NYC’s struggling restaurants
BY ANDREW RIGIE
Our city’s hospitality industry
has been fi nancially devastated
by the COVID-19 pandemic. More
than 130,000 New Yorkers previously
employed in eateries, cafes,
bars, and nightclubs remain out
of work and thousands of beloved
small businesses have been forced to
permanently close.
As restaurants and nightlife establishments
have been uniquely
and severely impacted over the last
eight months, so have New York
City’s working-class and immigrant
communities that are essential to
this industry’s workforce.
In 2018, more than 60 percent of
New York City restaurant workers
were immigrants. Right now,
New York’s unemployment rate is
13% and 15% for Hispanics, numbers
which will rise if indoor and
outdoor dining get shut down and
100,000 more industry jobs are
directly threatened.
From a statistical standpoint,
these fi gures are grim, and in reality,
they represent something undoubtedly
worse. Forcing workers
into abject poverty will have an indelible
imprint on their physical
and mental wellness and will carry
disastrous consequences for the
economic and social fabric of New
York City.
The failure of the federal government
to enact the RESTAURANTS
ACT and Save Our Stages Act, which
would provide fi nancial relief to our
city’s struggling restaurants and
nightlife venues to help them pay
rent, payroll, vendors and other expenses
BRONX TIMES R 12 EPORTER, DECEMBER 4-10, 2020 BTR
makes it more incumbent
than ever for our local government
to step-up.
There’s so much at stake for the future
of our city’s hospitality industry,
and to counteract the fi nancial toll of
the pandemic we are pleading with the
Mayor and City Council to enact the
following policies to help ensure the
survival of these businesses and critical
jobs during this challenging time.
For one, with some 88% of restaurants
and nightlife establishments unable
to pay October rent, the New York
City hospitality industry urgently
needs fi nancial support in the form
of cash grants and rent relief. The
City should convert the sales tax collected
by these businesses into cash
grants, as well as immediately reduce
property tax payments and create incentives
for landlords to give tenants
concessions on rent and fl exibility to
renegotiate leases.
Secondly, constantly evolving
edicts and requirements from all levels
of government make it nearly impossible
for business owners to keep
pace. They are often provided limited
time to prepare for the changes,
some of which can be costly, and
they are then hit with the threat of
violations and fi nes for non-compliance.
The City must provide as
much advanced notice as possible
for any changes to requirements,
and fi nes should only be levied as
a last resort. The City has begun to
do this, it’s working, and this policy
must continue.
Finally, it is critical that government
do everything possible to protect
the health and safety of all restaurant
workers and customers in
a proactive way. The overwhelming
majority of restaurants have gone
above and beyond protecting the
health and safety of everyone who
enters their doors, but the cost can
be onerous. Safety should not be
cost-prohibitive. It’s essential that
the City continue to provide PPE to
restaurants and bars at no charge
and should coordinate free COVID-19
testing for industry employees.
The fact of the matter is that New
York City will not recover economically
or socially unless our restaurants
and bars are at the core of our
recovery. The policies we’ve recommended
– the same ones we recommended
at this week’s Small Business
Committee Hearing in the City Council
— will be critical to saving small
businesses, protecting jobs, and preparing
our communities to come back
stronger in the future.
Andrew Rigie is the Executive Director
of the NYC Hospitality Alliance.
Mario’s on Arthur Avenue. Courtesy of the Belmont BID
Dear editor,
BTR’s resident “think
tanker” is rightfully
concerned about the potential
for fraud associated
with ballot harvesting.
It is worth noting
that the most egregious
examples of this type of
behavior have been perpetrated
by members of
the Republican Party.
In 2018, GOP political
operative Leslie Dowless
was charged with
conspiracy and illegal
ballot tampering in
connection with his efforts
to ensure a Republican
victory in a North
Carolina Congressional
race. In 2020 the California
GOP illegally installed
unoffi cial ballot
collection boxes, leading
to concerns that ballot
tampering was taking
place. Representative
Mike Kelly, mentioned
in the COMACTA column,
frets that millions
of citizens have lost faith
in the electoral system,
an unfortunate development
caused by President
Trump’s continuing
baseless assertions that
he actually won the election,
despite a mountain
of evidence to the contrary.
Trump’s meritless
legal challenges have basically
been laughed out
of court, but the damage
has been done.
The Gatestone Institute
is referenced later in
the column, described by
Wikipedia as “a far right
think tank” that has attracted
attention for publishing
false or inaccurate
articles.” No matter,
their fantasies support
the COMACTA narrative
of a fl awed election.
DHS has stated “There
is no evidence that any
voting system deleted or
lost votes, changed votes
or was in any way comprised.”
So who are you
going to believe, the Department
of Homeland
Security or the ideologue
who writes a weekly column
that requires a disclaimer
from the editor?
– Pasqual Pelosi
letters & comments
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