Just yesterday the Socialist Mayor of NYC, the Honorable Bill DeBlasio, issued a “rare apology” to the Jewish community for the way the city has been responding, and said “we absolutely need a positive reset”.
Keeping to his word, the Mayor has “reset” the out-of-control inspections in Boro Park and Flatbush: YWN is being inundated with reports that inspectors from the NYC Buildings Department are once again flooding the Jewish communities of Boro Park and Flatbush.
Inspectors are not only visiting Yeshivas, but going into one business after the next, harassing businesses that are already on the verge of going out of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic
On Tuesday evening, NYC Chaim Deutsch tweeted a video of a store owner (a deli) who was issued a summons for “having his door open”. This business-owner had his store doing takeout only, and when a customer stood in the doorway to place his order, an inspector pounced on him, and gave him a hefty fine.
Another business (in Flatbush), Sophie’s Bistro, hung a sign on their dairy restaurant saying they are being forced to temporary close due to “Deblasio’s and Cumo’s anti-Semitic restrictions”. The store-owner tells YWN that he has had inspectors visit his establishment multiple times each day this week – despite only doing takeout and curbside delivery.
Meanwhile, one city employee pushed back and told YWN that the enforcement is not only in Boro Bark’s Jewish community, but in other areas as well. Another source told YWN that “not one summons was issued by NYC on Tuesday”, but that appears to be a blatant lie. YWN is in possession of a stack of summonses that were issued on Tuesday to small-businesses owners – nearly all of whom were following the rules exactly as required.
Here are three summonses issued on Tuesday to Yeshivas – two of which were CLOSED. One Yeshiva was given two summonses. One for $1,000 and one for $15,000.
At a news conference Tuesday morning Mayor de Blasio said: “I think we absolutely need a positive reset. We really took our time to talk through everything that happened from the beginning of the pandemic and how painful it’s been for everyone and how confusing it’s been. But I think what the meeting really helped me to appreciate is that so many people in the community have suffered and they need to know that we, as the city government, understand their suffering, understand the difficulties the community has gone through, understand the fears that people have rightfully of discrimination, and that we need to hear each other more and understand each other more.
“I did express my regrets… I look back now and understand there was just more dialogue that was needed. I certainly got very frustrated at times when I saw large groups of people still out without masks, but I think more dialogue would have been better. So I certainly want to express my regret that I didn’t figure out how to do that better, and obviously, you know, that one night in Williamsburg, I let my frustration and concern get away with me and I should have been more careful in my language. I’ve expressed my apology for that before, but I think it was a good, honest conversation about how hard it is to get people in the community to understand in an ever-changing environment why the information coming from the government is something they can have faith in when there’s been so many changes.”
Thanks for the “reset” today, Mr. Mayor.
PHOTOS BELOW OF “SOME” INSPECTORS SEEN BEFORE 10:00AM AROUND BORO PARK:
SOURCE: (YWN [Yeshiva World News] World Headquarters – NYC)