Little Neck restaurant losing business to Long island sues state to restart indoor dining
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Il Bacco in Little Neck. Google Maps
By David Brand
The owners of a Little Neck restaurant who say New York City’s indoor dining prohibition has crippled their Italian eatery are suing the city and state to reopen for business, just like their competitors a few hundred feet away in Nassau County.
The Il Bacco Ristorante corporation filed the class action lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court Aug. 28, naming themselves as a representative for all “restaurants and bars that have been unconstitutionally shut down since March 16” as a result of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order banning indoor dining.
The state has lifted that ban on every municipality in the state except New York City. That exclusion means Il Bacco, located about 500 feet from the Nassau County border, has lost “all its customers” to competitors in Great Neck, Lake Success and elsewhere on Long Island, the lawsuit claims.
“If a restaurant patron travels five hundred feet east or one city block east from Plaintiff's restaurant, patrons are in Nassau County and can enjoy indoor dining in an air conditioned room,” the lawsuit states. “There is absolutely NO SCIENCE that will prove that ‘indoor dining’ is safer one city block east from Plaintiff's restaurant.”
Il Bacco “can no longer afford to remain open without indoor dining, as we approach September, the seventh month of the shutdown,” according to the complaint, which names Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Attorney General Letitia James as defendants.
In addition to the lawsuit, Il Bacco Ristorante owner Tina Maria Oppedisano has published an online petition “to show our Governor and Mayor that with following strict health guidelines, we can responsibly open up indoor dining to limited capacity.”
The petition had 1,138 signatures as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“I do feel like we are the forgotten people of the state right now, and the country, being that everyone else has gotten indoor dining except us,” Oppedisano said in a video accompanying the petition.
Cuomo’s senior adviser Rich Azzopardi said the governor “took action to reduce infections in the areas that were driving clusters in other large cities around the country.”
“We understand that some people are unhappy, but better unhappy than sick or worse,” he added.
The Attorney General’s Office referred questions to Cuomo’s Office. The city’s Law Department said they are reviewing the complaint.
Despite the reticence on the part of the governor and mayor, the effort to resume indoor dining in Queens has support from many local lawmakers.
“By not allowing indoor dining — especially when just over the border into Nassau County allows it and with the cold weather approaching — it will cripple many businesses,” said State Sen. Joseph Addabbo. “We need a plan to safely bring indoor dining back so our local restaurants and bars can not only survive, but thrive again.”
