New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to save family-owned restaurants by pledging just $3 million in funds, just weeks after infuriating struggling small business owners when he insisted they were ‘hanging on’ during lockdown.
De Blasio proudly announced the launch of New York City’s Restaurant Revitalization Program in his daily press briefing Thursday, saying he was ‘saving’ just 100 of the roughly 27,000 restaurants in the Big Apple.
The mayor said the money will cover wages for 1,000 restaurant workers who have lost their jobs during the pandemic – providing relief to a meager 0.6 percent of the 167,000 New Yorkers who rely on the industry for a paycheck.
The announcement has been met with outrage from experts who say the mayor is ‘dangling short term monetary relief to financially devastated restaurants in exchange for long term financial disaster’, weeks after he insisted small businesses were prepared to stay closed for ‘months’ as the city’s lockdown rumbled on.
Devastating research from the Independent Restaurant Coalition is now warning that a staggering 85 percent of all independent restaurants across the US could be out of business by the end of 2020, as the effects of the pandemic linger.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (pictured in the press conference Thursday) has promised to save family-owned restaurants by pledging just $3 million in funds, just weeks after infuriating struggling small business owners when he insisted they were ‘hanging on’ during lockdown
The mayor’s wife and head of the coronavirus racial taskforce Chirlane McCray joined de Blasio at the press conference to unveil the plans that they said would support family-owned restaurants and ‘unemployed and underemployed restaurant workers’.
The program will direct a $3 million investment into saving 100 restaurants across the city, with the funds coming from NYC Opportunty, Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC and One Fair Wage.
The 100 chosen restaurants – which are being selected based on whether they offer free or reduced cost meals to New Yorkers affected by COVID-19 – will have access to a grant of up to $30,000 each to subsidize wages of $20 per hour for at least 6 weeks.
This will pay for the salaries of around 1,000 restaurant workers who lost their jobs when restaurants were forced to shutter during the pandemic.
Restaurants must commit to $15 minimum wages on top of tips within five years of returning to regular business under the program.
Workers at the restaurants can also apply for a one-time grant of $500.
‘For the mom and pop stores, the family businesses and the businesses that have been there for so many generations – it defines something so powerful,’ de Blasio said of local NYC restaurants.
‘[They’re] where people go to and feel connected to everything they hold dear… we know it goes a lot farther than the food.’
The mayor’s wife and head of the coronavirus racial taskforce Chirlane McCray (above) joined de Blasio at the press conference to proudly announce the launch of New York City’s Restaurant Revitalization Program
The program will ‘save’ just 100 of the roughly 27,000 restaurants in the Big Apple and cover wages for 1,000 workers who have lost their jobs during the pandemic – providing relief to a meager 0.6 percent of the 167,000 New Yorkers who rely on the industry for a paycheck
‘As we move closer to reopening the city economically we must tend to the small businesses at the heart and soul of our neighborhoods especially our restaurants,’ added McCray.
‘These are family neighborhood places where personal history has been written. When you’re there it feels like you’re in your own kitchen.’
But experts have denounced the program as ‘shocking’ and blasted the mayor for pushing the ‘political agenda’ of the Restaurant Opportunities Center – a nonprofit that was plagued by controversy back in 2007 when it was sued by its worker-owners for forcing staff to lobby for its own political causes.
Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, told DailyMail.com Thursday that the wage requirements of $20 – $5 higher than the minimum wage – put an additional burden on already struggling restaurants.
‘It’s shocking that the Administration is pushing the political agenda of the controversial Restaurant Opportunities Center by dangling short term monetary relief to financially devastated restaurants in exchange for long-term financial disaster, by forcing them to sign on to their misleading wage campaign, which has been rejected by restaurant owners and workers throughout the city and state.’
Rigie added that the move would saddle small restaurants with heavier financial burdens in the long run.
‘It’s pay to play politics with an organization that has a very controversial history in the restaurant industry,’ he said.
Dudley’s bar and restaurant in New York is shuttered due to the pandemic. The mayor’s announcement has been met with outrage from experts who say the mayor is ‘dangling short term monetary relief to financially devastated restaurants in exchange for long-term financial disaster’
Restaurant workers in Little Italy offer takeout and delivery to try to keep Caffe Palermo afloat. Devastating research is warning that a staggering 85 percent of all independent restaurants across the US could be out of business by the end of 2020
‘Like so many who have stepped up to support local restaurants during this crisis, the Administration has also made very important efforts lately but today’s announcement sets restaurants back.’
A new report from the Independent Restaurant Coalition also warned Wednesday that – unless urgent action is taken – a staggering 85 percent of independent restaurants will be out of business by the end of the year.
It states that the lingering effects of the pandemic are ravaging mom-and-pop diners, neighborhood joints, and local fine dining staples across America – which contribute $760 billion to the economy and directly employ 11 million people.
Independents, which comprise 70 percent of all restaurants, have been hardest hit by the closures over the last three months because they rely more heavily on dine-in service, it added.
For New York City restaurant boss Amanda Cohen, the troubles continue to rage on.
‘I think it’s going to be a long haul to get back to where we were,’ Cohen, who runs vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy, told Business Insider.
‘I still have most of the same bills that I had before I closed. I still have to pay electricity and gas and purveyors. And I don’t think I will have enough customers to keep my business going.’
De Blasio’s one-time cash injection of $500 will also do little to support individual New York restaurant workers – many of whom have been out of work since mid-March when restaurants and bars shuttered across the city.
Closed Tartine in Manhattan’s West Village. De Blasio sparked outrage in may when he insisted small businesses were prepared to stay closed for ‘months’ as the city’s lockdown rumbled on
A closed sign on a restaurant in New York. Hundreds of small New York businesses joined together to form a coalition to reopen the city back in May as lockdown continued
While New York has an eviction moratorium meaning tenants cannot be evicted from their rental properties if they are unable to pay, rent has not been forgiven so many are faced with the impossible task of making back payments for missed months.
In the city, average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $2,909 in May – something a $500 grant will not even put a dent in.
Hundreds of small New York businesses joined together to form a coalition to reopen the city back in May as lockdown continued amid the rest of the state reopening, with some defying the ongoing stay-at-home order to try to salvage their ailing businesses.
While desperate business owners told how they were struggling to survive, de Blasio fueled further outrage by insisting he had spoken with many local businesses who said they were prepared to stay closed for ‘months’.
In an interview with WNYC radio on May 22, de Blasio claimed: ‘I’ve talked to lots and lots of business leaders, especially the smallest businesses.
‘They’re very worried about their futures understandably, but they also are hanging on and they know it can be a matter of months until they’ll be back in action.’
The mayor was blasted a ‘liar’ by furious business owners while Senator Simcha Felder, the Democratic State Senator for New York’s 17th District, said: ‘Small business owners are bleeding and dying.
‘I have yet to hear the Mayor’s explanation. Small businesses cannot last another day let alone 6 months. Maybe if I was renting out 2 Park Slope homes I’d understand.’