WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES AUGUST 5, 2021 13
LETTERS AND COMMENTS
THE GOVERNOR
SHOULD RESIGN
— NOW
Attorney General Letitia James
gave her fi nal report on Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, which I was watching on television.
The attorney general’s report
stated that Gov. Cuomo engaged in
widespread sexual harassment of
women in his offi ce. The report detailed
allegations included running his
hands down the body of a state trooper.
There were many women that were
interviewed who accused Gov. Cuomo
of inappropriate behavior.
I fi nd this most appalling and sad.
Women deserve respect and especially
in the workplace.
If this report is held as fact, the governor
should resign — and that means
now.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Bellerose
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OP-ED
Restaurants need more help
BY AMANDA COHEN
Restaurants and bars around New
York appear to be coming back to
life. I look up from my station and
see a dining room full of people talking,
laughing, eating and celebrating, and
my world feels alive for the fi rst time in
over a year. Vaccinations and loosening
government restrictions appear to have
resuscitated the nation’s local restaurants
and bars and yet our industry is
far from making it through the pandemic.
Neighborhood restaurants and bars
are dying in plain sight.
Independent restaurants and bars
have scratched and clawed for the past 16
months — doing everything possible to
continue serving our communities. I had
to fi re my 30 employees and re-invent Dirt
Candy as a fast casual restaurant, serving
sandwiches and salads, doing takeout and
delivery, serving my guests on the side of
what’s essentially a highway, sometimes in
the middle of weather so cold I had to wear
a snowsuit to bring them their food. I did it
all with a staff of six. But I’m lucky. Many
restaurants I know had to do more with
even less. But our pandemic-long battle
has come at a cost — restaurants and bars
have lost over $280 billion since the start
of the pandemic.
For many of my colleagues, the immediate
fi nancial hardship imposed by the
pandemic was simply too much to keep
their businesses afl oat. Over 90,000 had
no choice but to close their doors, but
those of us who are still open are barely
hanging on. Thirty-nine percent of
restaurants cannot pay their June rent
— these missed supplier, rent and utility
payments are creating a mountain of
debt that will soon come due.
Many restaurants are still struggling
with headwinds brought on by the pandemic.
Guests are still hesitant to return
to the dining room as 36 percent of diners
will not resume their regular dining
behavior until at least aft er September
2021. Costs necessary for running a restaurant
are rising. The prices of many
food items increased between April
and May of 2021, such as beef and veal
(10.5 percent), grains (25.7 percent) and
cooking oils (9.3 percent).
Even if our dining rooms are packed
night after night, our low margin businesses
will not be able to climb out of the hole
the pandemic has placed us in. Back rent,
purveyors bills and all the debt that has accrued
over the past year is coming due. We
will have no choice but to close our doors,
causing a New York economic crisis that
threatens New York’s $51.6 billion economy,
50,153 small businesses, and the 966,600
leisure and hospitality workers we support.
There is hope for New York’s restaurants
and bars. Earlier this year,
President Biden signed the Restaurant
Revitalization Fund (RRF), a $28.6 billion
federal grant program based on the
RESTAURANTS Act, a $120 billion grant
program designed by the neighborhood
bar and restaurant owners from the Independent
Restaurant Coalition to help businesses
like mine survive the pandemic.
The RRF was massively successful
and widely popular. In just three and a
half weeks, more than 278,000 restaurants
and bars applied, requesting over
$72 billion. I was one of the many eager
applicants hoping this program would
provide my businesses with the relief I
needed to keep my doors open and continue
living my dream. Unfortunately,
my business was not one of those chosen.
Restaurants and bars always knew
that $28.6 billion was never going to be
enough. We asked for $120 billion last
year and one point of sale application
estimates that restaurants and bars are eligible
for at least $168 billion in RRF grants.
There is some hope on the horizon. In
both chambers of Congress, there is a
$60 billion bill that would refi ll the RRF
and it is rapidly gaining bipartisan support.
Our representatives need to fi ght
for our beleaguered industry now so
we can survive and continue to serve
our neighbors, energize our regional
economies and drive our supply chains.
Failing to refi ll the RRF will cause an
employment crisis that will disproportionately
aff ect single mothers, people
of color, immigrants, young people and
the formerly incarcerated, crippling
an industry that provides ladders of
opportunity without extreme barriers
to entry. I know Leader Schumer understands
what neighborhood restaurants
and bars mean to our communities.
That’s why he called the $28.6 billion a
down-payment in March. Now independent
restaurants and bars need him to
make our survival a priority and lead
our fi ght to refi ll the RRF.
I’m not a politician; I don’t think big.
I’m just a girl who owns a restaurant and
my biggest dream is serving dinner to
my guests, being part of the background
of their lives as they go on dates, fall
in love and celebrate their happiness.
That’s all. If Congress fails to refi ll the
RRF, there’s a very good chance that
I will close, and so will thousands of
small restaurants like mine. The RRF
will make us whole for 2020, keep us
from taking on even more debt, and
let us bring back the workers we need
at salaries that let them rebuild their
lives. If we close, our suppliers will lose
even more customers just when they’re
struggling to restart, our current staff
members will lose their incomes, and
our customers lose yet another place
that was a part of their lives before 2020.
Our representatives can save
thousands of small businesses, keep
Americans working and reinvigorate
the economy by refi lling the RRF.
Amanda Cohen is the chef/owner of
Dirt Candy in Manhattan.
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