Chelsea voters anxious over election
fallout but brave weather and waits to vote
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
In Chelsea, voters waited in shorter
lines to cast their ballots in this year’s
presidential election between former
Vice President Joseph Biden and President
Donald Trump compared to those that
early voters endured last week.
Some poll workers attributed the shorter
wait time to massive voter turnout during
the state’s nine days of early voting and the
use of absentee ballots. Over a million New
York City residents voted early this year
after waiting in hours-long lines, according
to the city’s Board of Elections.
Emotions ran high on Tuesday with
many Chelsea voters relieved Election Day
had fi nally arrived while remaining anxious
over what is yet to come.
“I couldn’t sleep all night,” said Chelsea
resident Nicole Fasolino, 40, while waiting
in line to vote outside of Visions at Selis
Manor, a rehabilitation center and housing
complex for the blind on W.26th Street.
Fasolino teared up as she looked at a row
of businesses across the street with plywood
covering their windows. Manhattan
business owners began boarding up windows
on Friday in anticipation of riots after
election results.
“ I can’t believe this day is fi nally here,”
she said. “What are we in for?”
Chelsea residents wait in a sociallydistanced
line outside of Visions at Selis
Manor, a rehabilitation center and housing
complex for the blind, to cast their ballot
for the 2020 presidential election. ( Photo
by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech)
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
“I’m slightly scared of people’s reaction
on either side… If Trump wins–fuck. If
Biden wins–fuck,” said Paulo Pizeu, 22,
a Chelsea resident who works in fi nance.
Pizeu said his co-workers are so worried
about potential election-related unrest that
many have taken the rest of the week off
from work in order to avoid setting foot
outdoors.
One colleague told Pizeu that he does
not plan on stepping out of his building
for at least a month if that’s what it takes
to avoid getting caught in clashes between
protesters and police.
Lines kept moving smoothly and safely
at IS 70 on W. 17th Street Tuesday. Before
polls opened at 6, a block-long line snaked
around the school as Chelsea residents
faced the cold to perform their civic duty.
Poll workers reported that, despite the wait
and the weather, voters were excited to
vote. The line of cheery voters disappeared
by 8:00 a.m.
Jaqueline Lara, 57, brought her son,
daughter and wheelchair-bound mother to
vote in person at IS 70. Like many of her
neighbors, Lara and her family decided to
risk COVID and long lines due to a lack of
confi dence in the Board of Elections’ ability
to properly print absentee ballots and fear
the Trump administration would interfere
with mail-in voting.
In September, the New York City
Board of Elections sent nearly 100,000
absentee ballots with the wrong name or
addresses printed on return envelopes
and President Trump has said that he
would refuse to accept election results
from mail-in votes.
One Fair Wage advocates say the
time for tipped labor to end is now
BY MARK HALLUM
Tipped workers in New York City are
saying that now is the time push
through legislation that will emancipate
servers from not only poverty but
the power dynamics stacked against them.
In front of City Hall on Monday, advocates
called for One Fair Wage to be passed
at the federal level to grant servers standard
workplace protections and city lawmakers
said they had their own plans to deliver
equity to those now deemed essential workers
in the ongoing pandemic.
While One Fair Wage has been debated
in Albany, Councilman Antonio Reynoso
says a City Council authorized surcharge
on restaurant patrons to support the industry
amid economic setbacks may need
to be shared with workers as additional
legislation is pushed forward as well.
“We are going to be introducing legislation
at the next stated meeting that will
allow for tipped workers to receive $15 an
hour if a business or a restaurant decides
if they’re going to charge a surcharge.
It’s going to be $15 plus tips,” Reynoso
Councilman Brad Lander advocates for One Fair Wage legislation as restaurant
industry workers detail the hardships of earning a sub-minimum wage
and continuing to deal with sexual harassment.
said, before conceding. “All we’re doing
is putting Band Aids on it until we get to
the ultimate goal of a one fair wage at the
state… I think the surcharge would be even
more successful if New Yorkers knew that
the money is going to the workers.”
Damani Varnado, a server with 30 years
of experience, said a restaurant worker’s
strike should be in order for the increased
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
level of workplace harassment from customers
and employers they have had to
endure on top of the pandemic which has
forced more responsibility on them than
usual.
“Restaurant workers are having to be
health marshals now by coming in and
taking your temperature, making sure
you’re wearing your mask and essentially
fi ghting with customers who they depend
upon to give them a tip to make up for that
sub-minimum wage,” Varnado said. “We’re
in the middle of a moment where we can
rebuild the fabric of the industry.”
Restaurant workers speaking at the rally
described the sexual harassment they have
experienced from customers as New York
City has reopened for business and now
allows 25% indoor dining. Most of the
comments were mask related and lecherous
in nature.
Councilman Brad Lander explained his
vote against the surcharge bill in September
as well as the feeling of regret that while
the city acted to protect other essential
workers, such as those in the healthcare
industry, no action was taken to protect
sub-minimum wage tipped workers.
“Not only did we not make sure restaurant
workers earn the minimum wage,
we added insult to injury by passing the
surcharge bill that lets owners add a
surcharge that they don’t have to share
with workers and that we knew was going
to reduce tips that workers are getting,”
Lander said. “I was one of a handful – I
think there was only one or two of us – that
voted against that surcharge bill because
adding a surcharge without protecting the
workers and raising the wage was the opposite
of cheering for essential workers on
our stoops.”
4 November 5, 2020 Schneps Media