Bay Ridge Restaurant Owner Speaks Out
View this post on Instagram
If you read this blog, you know I am not a fan of Nicole Malliotakis. But I have to hand it to her today – she’s letting business owners be heard.
I went to the virtual townhall held by Senator Gounardes and Councilman Brannan. It was awful. Business owners were not allowed to speak freely, although they called it a “townhall.” Zoom was set to webinar mode with chat allowed. At exactly one hour, the two politicians shut down the Zoom video – just like how Dan Donovan used to end meetings – like it was a bother to them. During a time when people could take the time to speak to each other, Brannan and Gounardes acted as if they were too busy to LISTEN.
The restaurant owner is well-loved in Bay Ridge. Yet, he talked about facing retribution for speaking out about what is going on! No one should fear speaking the truth about what is happening.
What he is saying is not uncommon here.
I speak with a lot of business owners in our area. They aren’t being supported by politicians – even before Covid-19.
I don’t think Brannan or Gounardes can hear the owners. If they heard them they wouldn’t be tweeting and writing so much junk on social media. They politicians should be coming up with solutions to the problems. Instead the two are insulting Mayor de Blasio – because de Blasio is no longer running for a position. The insults don’t change things for people.
Other neighborhoods closed the streets and let the businesses have a socially distant event. When a Ridgite did that for the neighborhood, Brannan and Gounardes did not promote it or attend – even just to give out masks. Their offices were closed and no one was assisting business owners. We’ve seen some close already. In September, more will close because the rent reprieve is over.
At one point, a BID was being pushed on 3rd Avenue business owners, instead of letting them work together. Some business owners voted for the BID because they were afraid of being shunned by other businesses. Thankfully, there were enough people who voted with the NO BID Group and support for the BID wasn’t there (that’s why they didn’t form after working on this for over a year). $30,000 was wasted on that planning when it could have been used in our community. Anyone calling for more government to be involved in small businesses should not be representing a community.
NYC changed the rules on these businesses more than once and businesses complied so they could be open.
Covid-19 has not grown here, so these businesses should be allowed to do indoor dining at 50%.
Gounardes and Brannan take pictures and post stories in the local paper, but the work is not being done. They have become the same politicians we voted out two years ago. How do we know? Both leaders should have delivered the Fall plans to our business owners by now as the weather will change fast. If they don’t have the plans, then they should have brought their bosses to the area to speak to the owners.
Thank you to Tommy for boldly speaking out for the businesses in this area! I hope Nicole Malliotakis will make sure he and his business do not face retribution.
Channel 1 News carried this story and stated that the business owners in Staten Island were thinking of filing a class action suit.
Hugs,
marlene
Topics: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
August 24th, 2020 at 2:02 pm
Are the zooms allowed to go over their allotted time? I’ve been on some and the moderators seemed to be very conscious of their schedule and wrappinbg up on time. Maybe they get in trouble if they go over (or try to?)
August 24th, 2020 at 2:22 pm
I’ve been on ones that have gone over and the moderator will make a new Zoom, post the link in the chatroom of the old chat (where everyone is) and continue there.
I’ve seen several leaders do this because people were interested in talking with them.
The Zoom our local politicians had was not one which displayed the merchants and allowed them to ask questions.