Politicians join lawsuit against Cuomo for not allowing indoor dining

Restaurant owners have blasted Gov. Andrew Cuomo and NYC mayor Bill de Blasio over their refusal to let indoor dining resume in the city as two local New York politicians have joined the hundreds of owners looking to sue.

And as restaurateurs look for compensation for their losses, their once-loyal employees are now flocking to Long Island for better work opportunities. 

State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and New York City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo joined onto the $2billion lawsuit that already includes 350 eateries, claiming that they have ‘tried to reason with the mayor and the governor’. 

The Republican politicians have added that they have been left with ‘no choice but to proceed with legal action,’ Yahoo News reports. 

‘New York City meets the coronavirus reopening metrics like every municipality in the state, yet restaurants are being prohibited from having any indoor dining, and there’s no justification for this,’ Malliotakis declared.    

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday said he would not reopen indoor dining in New York City despite the infection rate being less than one percent for weeks in a row now because, he said, it would double the number of bars currently open and there is no one to enforce social distancing standards. 

The reasoning came after a conglomerate of bar and restaurant owners sued the state for $2billion in damages, claiming they were being unfairly shackled and stopped from making money. 

‘Governor [Andrew] Cuomo, Mayor [Bill] de Blasio, open us up right now so that we can feed our families,’ Rob DeLuca, owner of Staten Island’s DeLuca’s Italian Restaurant, said, the New York Post reports.

‘Enough is enough,’ DeLuca added. ‘We feel like we’re being discriminated against. We’re being bullied, and my mother always told me, always stand up to bullies.’ 

One worker, a 46-year-old named Felix, told the New York Post that he left the city for Long Island. He said he has been earning $300 a week more since he started working at Blu Mar in Southampton in July after being let off from Serafina in the Upper East Side in March. 

But the new job requires extensive travel and a difficult adjustment as Felix must be away from his 16-year-old son for several days in the week so that he can work. 

‘I am worried that I won’t be there for him although I can help with homework on weekends,’ Felix explained. ‘But I have to keep working in the Hamptons or I won’t be able to feed my son.’ 

Mexican immigrant Luis was once making $1,800 a week after taxes working at Cafe Boulud but has since had to find work at the Calissa in Water Mill. 

And while he has to miss out on being around his four kids, Luis expressed thanks that he was able to find work at all. 

‘I don’t know what I would have done with my life without this job. I brought other employees here from the city,’ he said. ‘This was their only chance to work. Everyone has families and kids and they need jobs. It is far, but we are just thankful to work.’  

New York City – which has more bars and restaurants than any other city in the US – remains the only metropolis in the world that is yet to resume indoor dining. 

It is also the only place in the state of New York that has not been allowed to welcome diners inside again. 

As colder weather approaches, outdoor dining – which has only been an option for a small percentage of the city’s establishments – will end. 

With no plan to let people back inside, the industry is under an unprecedented threat. 

On Tuesday, Cuomo said he would not allow it to start up again unless the city – ie Mayor Bill de Blasio – came up with a unique task force to enforce the rules. 

De Blasio has put forward no such plan. 

‘We have seen that opening bars has created a compliance and enforcement nightmare.  

‘From our experience Upstate, opening indoor dining caused issues. I beseeched the local governments to help and they did not. 

‘I would need additional enforcement capacity. It could be a local police department or it could be local health inspectors,’ Cuomo said at his briefing. 

New York City’s infection rate has remained below 1 percent for more than a month now – far below the national average of 5 percent and much less than the 13 percent in Florida. 

Despite the dwindling infection numbers, it still has some of the toughest lockdown rules.

Restaurant and bar owners in NYC have been crying out for some form of break for months. 

First, it took months to allow outdoor dining. Then, Cuomo starting forcing people to buy a ‘substantial amount’ of food whenever they sat down for a drink, which deterred people who did not want a meal. 

Even those that could accommodate some people on an outdoor basis are calling out for indoor dining to resume because the season for it is so limited. Some have not had the space to allow outdoor dining. 

A New York State Restaurant Survey on September 3 revealed that a staggering 64 percent of restaurants say they will not be able to stay open if indoor dining is not allowed soon. 

Among them is Lady Gaga’s father, Joe Germanotta, who owns an Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side. 

Joanne Trattoria – named after his late sister – has been able to offer outdoor dining but Joe, like other restaurateurs, say he will be in trouble in the fall if he can’t let people inside again. 

‘Once the weather gets cold, we’re pretty much out of business.

‘We’re able to have about 20 seats out front now. I’ve got a patio with a couple of seats on the back, but without the indoor dining, I’m just about breaking even.

‘It’s going to be tight especially when the winter hits,’ he said. 

His attorneys are demanding an injunction and say they want to the city to prove to them why indoor dining can’t happen. 

‘If they’re not going to give us the indoor dining, we’ve got to go out and get it ourselves and that’s the bottom line. We have to force them to show us the science.’ 

‘Manhattan right now has one of the lowest infection rates in the state. It is ridiculous that New York dining indoors in Manhattan is not allowed and we’re going to have to go get it ourselves,’ his attorney, James Mermigis, said.

Cuomo’s PR team defended his decision. 

‘The bottom line is that New York City was hit the hardest and the Governor took action to reduce infection. 

‘We understand that some people are unhappy, but better unhappy than sick or worse,’ Richard Azzopardi, chief spokesman for Cuomo, said.