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July 11, 2014- The Commercial Observer reports on the story BP.TV previously covered about P.J. Clarke’s taking on Brookfield for trying to smoke them out. Of course, the Observer fails to give BP.TV credit in their article written 24-hours after ours (of note, the Observer makes it nearly impossible to contact their editors as the steal and aggregate content from others in anonymity).
The article states, “The Battery Park City restaurant’s more than 75 employees are raging about the constant jackhammer noise in the bar, the rotating temporary entrance in front of the eatery and the scaffolding that’s blocked off parts of the patio adjacent to the Hudson River, and with primary owners Phil Scotti and Arnold Penner alleging business has fallen by 50 percent since construction started at Brookfield Place two years ago, the workers expressed solidarity during a rally for employees of the seven-location chain Wednesday night.
“I’ve seen it before the recession, after the recession and now through the Brookfield-imposed recession,” said David Meyer, 33, the restaurant’s manager for seven years, who says the conditions have scared away regulars. “We don’t see them back. The amount of familiar faces coming down here has diminished.”
Mr. Meyer, investor Tommy Boyan and the chain’s executive chef, Mike DiFonzio, called on the roughly 100 employees at the gathering to show a strong united front against their landlord, with Mr. DiFonzio pulling a $1,000 donation to the restaurant’s legal fund from his own pocket to the cheers of the staff. Business began declining around the time potential customers started navigating a snaking route along makeshift corridors in unfinished Brookfield Place to locate the restaurant, say employees, who are serving specials called the “Renovation Rebate” and the “Construction Combo.””