The Occupy Wall Street movement, which says its goals include improving the economic lot for 99 percent of Americans, may have some explaining to do to some cafe workers now out of a job.
Mark Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe at 40 Wall Street, just let 21 employees go.
The reason? The barricades police have set up throughout Wall Street as a consequence of the ongoing demonstration.
In June, he opened the New York branch of the Boston shop, which has a 30 year history. Epstein says he leased the space on Wall Street because it was next to a pedestrian plaza – and his was the only restaurant along that plaza.
“The opening was perfect,” Epstein told CBSNewYork.com. “The food was delicious, the customers were happy, and the line was out the door.”
Customers kept coming back, Epstein said.
Then the Occupy Wall Street movement launched.
Six or seven weeks of marches and occasional clashes between police and protesters, barricades remain in place.
“The end result of it is that it completely destroyed the pedestrian traffic on Wall Street. Completely destroyed it,” Epstein said. “It is a desolate, police-controlled area.”
The cafe has a capacity of 150 seats. At the height of lunch hour Tuesday, Epstein estimated the shop was half full. With those sorts of numbers, he’s had to let people go.
“We eliminated 21 positions in the company,” Epstein said. “First time in 30 years I’ve laid anybody off.”
They’ve also cut back their hours at the New York location, closing now at 3 p.m. instead of 9 p.m.
However, Epstein doesn’t lay all the blame at the feet of Occupy Wall Street.
“I think this is an issue of both Occupy Wall Street and the city officials.
There’s protest and how you react to protest,” Epstein said. “If the barriers do not come down, I do not see how we can survive. This has got to become like America again. You have to be free to walk around.”
“Everybody should understand the consequences of their actions,” he said.
Epstein says he’s brought his plight to the attention of city officials and police and has been met with empathy. But the barriers are still in place.
“Everybody’s empathetic and they’ll have lots to say at my eulogy,” he said. “I don’t want to be eulogized. I want the barriers down.”
COLlive note: This article does not endorse or verify the kashrus of the restaurant
I can’t see this society going back to the old “free” days. Between the Muslims, the “minorities,” and of course the Leftists, our freedoms will slowly but surely vanish.
Agree to the first part of your comment but not the 2nd. They are in a prime location and need to be able to cover their expenses. The way you do that is by charging quite a bit for food.
Maybe if he served only Chalav Yisroel & Pas Yisroel & lowered his prices a bit he would get more business
This is BS, he has good excuse now. The place is and was really packed during lunch hours and is/was not during other times and he hired ppl to work there from 7am to 9pm, not to mention the colossal rent of this huge place right across NYSE. I think this protest is such a minor ingredient to his problem – he himself said his main target are local professional and residents – occasional pass-by tourist is just minor addition. In addition, did barricades really reduced traffic on Wall st. The crowd in remaining space does feel like everyone were… Read more »
I really want to try your food…
But is it safe to go with young children?
getting out my air violin as we speak because obviously a handful of minimum wage jobs are soooooooooooooooo important that an entire movement needs to stop/be blamed. nice one sided reporting……