FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 5, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Neir’s signs fi ve-year lease to stay in Woodhaven
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Neir’s Tavern, the historic bar in
Woodhaven, signed a new lease on
Th ursday, ensuring the tavern will tack on
at least another fi ve years onto its 191-year
run in the neighborhood.
On Th ursday, Oct. 29, the landlords,
Ken and Henry Shi, and the tavern’s
owner Loycent Gordon signed the fi veyear
lease inside the bar, located at 87-48
78th St. Th e lease allows for an additional
fi ve years aft er the current lease ends
in 2025.
Th e oldest bar in New York City has
been the recipient of a great deal of community
support, dating back to January,
when the landlords threatened not to
renew the lease to Gordon. Th e call to
preserve the historic ale house – which
was once used to fi lm a scene in Martin
Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” – made its way to
the mayor, who came out in support of
Gordon and Neir’s Tavern.
On Th ursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio
again showed his support by attending
the lease signing. Several lawmakers,
including State Assemblyman Mike
Miller and Councilman Robert Holden,
also dropped by to see the bar, which fi rst
opened in 1829, into the future.
“We could all do something for the
comeback of Neir’s Tavern and also for
the comeback of the city of New York,”
Gordon said. “We all can do something,
and I think this is an opportunity to start
over. Th is is a new lease on life. Th is is an
opportunity in the middle of a pandemic.
We have an opportunity to start over
and strive to create connection and not
division.”
Th e bar also received support from
small business advocates, including
Th omas Grech, the CEO of the Queens
Chamber of Commerce, Jonnel Doris,
the commissioner of the New York
City Department of Small Business
Services, and Raquel Olivares, the executive
director of the Woodhaven Business
Improvement District.
While the wishing the bar continued
success, de Blasio urged New Yorkers to
buy local and support small businesses
like Neir’s Tavern.
“Everyone has a choice this holiday season:
you can go online, or you go down
the street to your neighborhood store
Photo by Dean Moses
and spend your money there,” de Blasio
said. “We can all get a new lease on life
if we buy local and help these extraordinary
businesses. Th ey are a part of the
heart and soul of who we are. Th is place
when you come in here you feel the spirit
of New York City. We gotta save it and we
can all be a part of it.”
Additional reporting by Dean Moses.
New Yorkers should avoid traveling during the holidays: Mayor
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
Mayor Bill de Blasio advised New
Yorkers to avoid traveling during the holidays
as COVID-19 numbers continue to
go up across the country.
Th e country reported 80,000 new cases
of the virus, setting a single-day record,
earlier this week, according to data from
Johns Hopkins University.
De Blasio said that the city would be
upping its enforcement of travel guidelines
that require those entering New York
City from high-risk states to quarantine
for two weeks.
“It’s tough and it’s painful. Th is hopefully
will be the only holiday season that
gets aff ected by this horrible disease,” said
de Blasio. Th e mayor, who normally travels
to visit family during Th anksgiving
and Christmas, said that his family did
not have any plans to leave the city for
the holidays.
Mayor de Blasio also urged the federal
government to enforce stricter rules for
those traveling during the holiday season
and to require those traveling by air
to show proof that they tested negative for
COVID at least 72 hours before their fl ight.
De Blasio said that the city will work to
increase already existing COVID-19 testing
eff orts at John F. Kennedy International
airport and LaGuardia Airport. “We want
to make it easy and clear that anyone coming
off of a plane should immediately get
tested,” de Blasio said.
Th e city has been working toward preventing
a second wave of the virus aft er
a number of COVID clusters popped up
in Brooklyn and Queens last month and
surpassed the 550 threshold of new cases
last Friday. On Tuesday, City Hall reported
that the city’s overall COVID positivity
rate is 2.48 percent; there are 528 new
cases based on a seven-day average; and
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
that total number of people hospitalized
for COVID-19 is 60. Th e numbers are
higher than average but remain lower the
COVID numbers for most other states.
“Th e best thing would be to keep it
local,” de Blasio said. “Stay nearby. Keep
it safe. It’s not easy, but none of this has
been easy.”
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