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Subway Work on 2nd Avenue Hobbles Stores: |
A version of this article
appeared in print on October 5, 2010, on page A1 of the New York edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/nyregion/05second.html?_r=1
The noise, dust, barricades and occasional explosions associated with
construction of the long-awaited Second Avenue subway are driving away
customers from businesses along the avenue and plunging many shops and
restaurants into deep financial trouble, two dozen merchants said.
In July, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce counted 29 shuttered
storefronts between 63rd and 96th Streets - a once-bustling stretch where
the subway’s first three stations and the connecting tunnel are being dug.
Since then, at least two other businesses have closed. And while the
anemic economy has surely taken its toll, many merchants say business has
declined 25 percent to 50 percent over the last three years because of the
hurdles posed by construction.
"Second Avenue has become a place that shoppers avoid," said Jeffrey
Bernstein, the chamber’s chairman. "People don’t want to come. It’s
difficult to maneuver."
The disruption is far worse than many of the merchants had expected when
work finally resumed on the subway tunnel on the East Side of Manhattan in
2007, after decades of stop-and-start planning and construction.
The resulting damage to the local economy is also far worse than they had
expected, store owners said. In particular, restaurants and local service
stores that depend on sidewalk traffic, like dry cleaners and pet stores,
have been hit hard.
"New Yorkers don’t go out of their way more than a block and a half for
service, so if you make it impossible, they retreat to another location,"
said Faith Hope Consolo, chairwoman of retail leasing and sales at
Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Even landmark businesses like the 74-year-old Heidelberg Restaurant and
Dorrian’s Red Hand, a 50-year-old bar, are suffering because construction
has gobbled up entire blocks of parking.
Chris Cunningham, a manager of Schaller & Weber, the 73-year-old purveyor
of bratwurst and other German specialties, said business was down 30
percent because customers who left Yorkville for the suburbs and who drove
in could not double-park to pick up their bags.
The construction has taken away at least one traffic lane along several
long stretches where stations are planned, and chewed off five to seven
feet of sidewalk in some spots. The work will not be finished until 2017,
and many merchants said they doubted they could hold out.
Many say they were misled at meetings about the damage construction would
wreak.
"I think they painted a picture at these meetings, and then they delivered
something else," said Joe Pecora, an owner of Delizia 92 pizzeria and
restaurant at 92nd Street, who formed the Second Avenue Business
Association two years ago because of the construction’s impact.
Officials say they have honored commitments they made to minimize
disruption and mitigate noise and dust. Lois Tendler, a vice president for
government and community relations at the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, said the agency had met regularly with merchants and had signs
on its Web site and at Lexington Avenue subway stations urging people to
"Shop Second Avenue."
Shopkeepers say they need financial help and compensation. But an effort
to provide tax relief and grants was vetoed last year by Gov. David A.
Paterson.
"We have been incredibly responsive to every feasible request," Ms.
Tendler said. "Where we part company with shop owners is that we do not
have the ability to pay them for the lost income. We use public money, and
we do not know of any government entity that pays for lost business."
A Second Avenue subway from 125th Street to the Wall Street area to
relieve crowding on the Lexington Avenue line has been on the city’s
agenda since the 1930s. A tunnel section in Harlem was dug in the 1970s,
but halted during that era’s fiscal crisis.
The current construction phase stretches from 100th Street to 63rd Street
and Lexington, where a station connects with the existing Q line. New
stations are being built at 96th, 86th and 72nd Streets. The
transportation authority has postponed the completion date to 2017 from
2013, and increased cost estimates to almost $5 billion, from $3.8
billion.
A few stores - including a hardware store and restaurant, whose sites will
be used for subway entrances or ventilation - were closed by eminent
domain and the owners compensated. Since then, Mr. Pecora said, he has
seen a pharmacy, liquor shop, two dry cleaners, three delis and a tool
store cease business.
Two restaurants, CiaoBella at 85th Street, which closed on Wednesday, and
Cinema Cafe at 70th Street, which closed at the end of July, say they shut
down after losing a large chunk of sidewalk to construction barriers,
which prevented them from putting up outdoor tables, a major source of
earnings. Their losses were not reimbursed. Dust, noise and ugly views
also deterred customers.
Khalid Ziouti, an owner of O.K. Falafel House, a 15-year-old nook at 92nd
Street, said much of his trade consisted of drivers of taxis and
ambulances who parked or double-parked in front, ran in and picked up a
pita meal. With head-high construction barriers sealing off the traffic
lane, those drivers go elsewhere, and business is down 35 percent, he
said.
Peter Ahn, the owner of Ivory Cleaner near 85th Street, said earnings were
down 10 percent because customers told him they were dropping clothes off
on more pleasant commercial avenues. Orest Lapan, manager of the Pet
Market in the 72nd Street area, said business was off 45 percent and the
store was considering closing.
"A lot of people think we’re already closed because they can’t see us
behind the barriers," Mr. Lapan said.
Ms. Tendler of the transportation authority said that with the weak
economy, stores had been doubly hit. But merchants say that the economy
slackened before construction began on their blocks, and that the harm
from construction was far worse. Mr. Lapan, the manager of Pet Market,
said five other Pet Market locations in the city were thriving.
Merchants assert that they often get a runaround when they complain to the
city. Officials of the Bloomberg administration say an outreach team from
Small Business Services has taken steps to make sure stores are
accessible, extend utility payment plans and check that signs advise
passers-by where obscured businesses are located.
But Giorgio Manzio, manager of the three-year-old CiaoBella, which had 25
employees, said that in the months before it closed, the restaurant was
ticketed for having tables on too narrow a sidewalk - a sidewalk narrowed
by construction.
Abigail Lootens, a spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs,
said permits had to be revoked for 13 outdoor cafes along the construction
zone, with refunds given.
One businesswoman had to call in family for help. Young Yoo, a Korean-born
widow who opened Buddha BBeeQ, a narrow Asian grill near 92nd Street, a
few months before ground was broken for the subway in front of her store,
has exhausted her savings and is three months behind in rent, her son,
Peter, 38, said.
A year ago, she brought in Peter, who quit his job as an editor in
Binghamton, N.Y., and her daughter to work without pay. He said the family
was trying to keep the business alive until April, when Mrs. Yoo, 64, can
qualify for Social Security.
"Instead of being a prosperous restaurateur, she’ll end up being a
penniless person waiting for a check," Mr. Yoo said. "That’s what Second
Avenue did to her. It created a pauper." |
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Time Out New
York: |
| 2010:
"While you need not be a hard-core Yankees fan to hit this narrow,
wood-paneled sports dive, you’d better pretend to be one if you hope to
commandeer one of two gas grills stationed on the back deck. (At the very
least, refrain from announcing you’re a lifelong Red Sox obsessive.)
Reserve it ahead of time by ringing up the bartenders, who pour potent,
sports-themed martinis on Wednesday nights, like the tart A-Raz ($8), made
with Stoli Razberi vodka and blue raspberry and cranberry juices. Or maybe
just go for a beer." |
|
ourtownny.com: |
| 2010:
"Tradition trumps trends at Reif’s Tavern. Drink beer, play pool, throw darts, or if
you call ahead, you can BYOM—Bring Your Own Meat—for the outdoor grill on
the backyard patio. The tight-knit regulars welcome a new face but it
might be wise to keep your Red Sox shout-outs to yourself at this sports
bar." |
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thousandbars.blogspot.com: |
2005:
"Now this bar, at 302 East 92nd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues,
is the real deal, opening in 1942 and looking as though it hasn’t
changed much since. There was an old wooden bar with a foot rest. The
chairs looked fairly new, dark wood with black vinyl seats and somewhat
fancy backs. The back bar is fairly simple, several large plain mirrors
with tiered shelves above old wooden coolers and drawers and metal ice
chests holding bottled beer and vodka. A couple of chalkboards had beers
and beer specials written on them. Dusty rose walls above the mirrors.
The brick wall opposite the bar had narrow mirrors above a narrow ledge
with stools in front. Pictures of old baseball players and customers
hung on the wall above the mirrors. There is a decent sized back room
that had a nice pool table and a Black Buck Hunter game.
A couple of old regulars were in there talking about their health, the
heat, and the cost of funerals. Somehow this led to a discussion of
Ocean’s 11, Monty Python, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Elvis imitators
(they knew one) and Frank Sinatra. One of those conversations you
generally only get into over a drink or two. I enjoyed myself." |
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sheckys.com: |
|
2003:
"Although you could walk past this place a million times without
knowing it exists, this cash only establishment has been at the same
location for over 60 years. Equipped with a back patio for grilling your
own food, as well as seven televisions connected to four satellites,
this place is a haven for a neighborhood crowd that doesn’t mind
watching a Yankee game with an NYC cop or firefighter. With five beers
on draft and no happy hour specials, the family atmosphere at Reif’s
Tavern is a nice change from anyone sick of wading through layers of
bridge and tunnelers just to get a drink." |
|
2002:
"Reif’s is a solid neighborhood dive where the life stories of
the locals pour as freely as the shots. Pass by once and
there’s a good chance you’ll become a regular. It’s the sort of
place where talking shit is not only expected, it’s encouraged. There
are two grills on the back patio where you are welcome to cook your own
food. Against all odds, the twentysomethings
have discovered this gem and hang around the back room playing pool and
darts on the weekends." |
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On your way to Reif's, make sure you pick up a
slice from Claudio next door at
Delizia! See
their website for a menu. |
Reif's Tavern 302 East
92nd Street, btw 1st&2nd Ave. New York, NY 10128 212.426.0519
open noon - 4am, 7 days a week

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