Assemblyman William Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) led a successful press conference to save our local restaurants which took place September 16, 2020, at  Il Centro Italian American Cultural Center together with his Community Relations Director Nancy Tong, the Federation of Italian American Organizations of Brooklyn, the Bath Beach, Bensonhurst & Gravesend Alliance, the Chinese American Social Service Center, the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn, and the owners of Mama Rao’s Restaurant, Gargiulo’s Restaurant, Homestretch Pub, La Bella Pizza Express, and many others.

“The public points of view were discussed regarding guidelines for safe indoor dining in NYC to save restaurants. Restaurant owners and community leaders had expressed a number of concerns. Many of them want to know what safe guidelines are and if they can rely on any assistance from the government. Their concern is that 25% of indoor dining capacity is simply not enough to stay in business especially in the winter. Small business owners fear that they will be forced to close the doors for good in the neighborhood. We cannot allow that to happen. They need our support as much as we need our local restaurants to stay in business. Assisting our restaurants to get back on their feet and run as they did in the past, will tremendously boost the economy and this is what our country desperately needs,” Colton stated.

“The second event which was also hosted by me in the afternoon at Golden Imperial Palace. The restaurant owners pointed out the lack of help with back rent and relief from property taxes and mortgage payments for building owners as the two most important obstacles of saving neighborhood restaurants,” Colton said.

“The conclusion is that we can’t just sit and wait. Therefore, we are demanding further action from our Governor and Mayor.  The elected officials must listen to our neighborhood restaurants to understand what essential assistance is needed to save them. We will continue to fight for our local restaurant owners and workers. We simply can’t allow more people to lose their jobs and go on unemployment as was caused by COVID-19,” Colton added.