AWARD WINNING EDITORIAL
AUGUST 23, 2021 VOL. 57, No. 34
I N CLU DI N G TH E H U DSO N VALLE Y WE E K LY S EC TIO N
E R U T U F TOUGH TAURANTS AS S E R R O F M O O L S H T N O M R E T N I W A I BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN
kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
Although the numbers are up for the Connecticut’s restaurant industry, they still aren’t good. “We’re still down by around 30,000 jobs since the pandemic,” Scott Dolch, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, told the Business Journal. “I keep hearing from different owners that they’re only 60 to 65 percent staffed. And we all know that food costs are up in general — frying
oil is three times more expensive than it was pre-pandemic, as are plates and paper. “The last thing we want to do is increase menu prices,” Dolch said. “But the harsh reality is that it’s getting harder trying to balance rising costs” with revenue. According to the latest figures from the Connecticut Department of Labor, as of July 15 the number of employees in the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes food services, stood at 129,900 — an increase from January’s 118,900 but just a 1.2% rise from June. Staffing has been a problem since restaurant capacity restrictions were lifted in March, not so
much due to employees’ safety concerns as it is to those potential workers’ relying on unemployment benefits — and the fact that so many jobs being available has increased competition among dining establishments. Dolch noted that the state’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which delivers up to $300 per week, expires on Sept. 4. Governors in 26 states suspended similar programs earlier than that, something the Connecticut Restaurant Association petitioned Gov. Ned Lamont for in vain. “You have to give 30 days’ notice to do that, so we’re already past it,” Dolch said. “But we’re hopeful that this will
» RESTAURANTS FUTURE
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westfaironline.com
Trump’s name trumped by condo owners
BY PETER KATZ
pkatz@westfairinc.com
t was a big deal when Donald Trump and some of his minions from the TV show “The Apprentice” came to White Plains to celebrate the grand opening of Trump Tower at City Center, the 35-story luxury building with 212 condominium units that opened on Sept. 21, 2005. Even the potholes in Martine Avenue on which the building fronts were paved with fresh asphalt so the street would look pristine for the occasion. Many of Westchester’s top business and political movers and shakers were
on hand for the opening party to bathe in the glow emitted by Trump’s celebrity, even though his germophobia was showing and he went out of his way to avoid shaking hands with as many well-wishers as possible. Developer Louis Cappelli, who built Trump Tower as part of his City Center retail and residential project on the site of a former Macy’s store, had worked out a deal to license Trump’s name for the building. The Trump Organization also was brought on board for marketing and building management services. Success was not only written all over the project but was a
practical reality as well. Fast forward to 2021, after “The Apprentice” had long faded from view, Trump had finished four years in the White House and support for Trump was paramount during an insurrection at the Capitol intended to block Congress from doing its job to formalize Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Times changed and changing times were felt within Trump Tower at City Center. A majority of the condominium owners came to believe that the time had come to remove the Trump identity from » TRUMPED
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