A famous eatery in New York City is faulting leaders with the decline in the quality of life due, in part, to rampant crime and migrant issues.
After three generations of running Junior’s Restaurant, with locations in Times Square, Manhattan and Brooklyn, the Rosen family has seen conditions in New York City plummet, with owner Alan Rosen decrying the current atmosphere as the worst he has ever personally seen.
“This is not a cheesecake. The product of New York City needs to be polished. It needs smoothing over. It needs a little shine,” he told the New York Post, comparing the Big Apple to his family product. “You need to change the narrative. You need to change reality. We need the city to deliver a better product.”
The 55-year-old third-generation owner told the outlet that “he’s concerned about the safety of his workers when they leave the job at night, and noted his daughter was assaulted at random in Bushwick last summer.”
(Image: YouTube screenshot)
“Rosen said his restaurants — often visited by heavyweight pols including former President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — close before midnight during the week, while they were previously open into the wee morning hours before the COVID-19 pandemic,” The Post noted.
He decried the city’s lax crime laws, with cashless bail, and the designation as a “sanctuary city” have contributed to this decline.
“When did it become OK to shoplift a pharmacy? In what society is that OK? People shouldn’t be able to shoplift at CVS,” Rosen said. “Enough! There are no consequences. That’s part of the problem.”
“We feel uneasy. We feel unsafe. We want our city back,” Rosen said.
Calling out the “disaster” cashless bail law, Rosen said,“Give judges the discretion to put people back in jail,” adding, “We’re letting a few bad apples spoil the bunch.”
He called out the mistreatment and disrespect of law enforcement, telling The Post, “Our police have been handcuffed. Hire more police! We need to refund the police, not defund the police.”
(Image: YouTube screenshot)
Rosen also criticized the current policies favoring illegal migrants in the city, leaving long-time residents feeling pushed aside.
“It can’t be a free-for-all. I don’t know what else you would call it,” he said. “Look how much we’re spending to house migrants in hotels who have no jobs instead of hosting visitors. It’s not helping anybody. We need to take care of the people who have been here first. People who have been here longer don’t feel they have been recognized.”
“I spend more waking hours in New York than anywhere,” Rosen, who lives in nearby Westchester, told the newspaper.“I want to encourage people to come here. I like to see the positives go up. The trend is down now in New York City.”
He criticized plans to introduce a $15 congestion toll for anyone driving into midtown Manhattan.
“You want to charge people to drive to the theater? That’s ridiculous. It’s expensive enough to come into New York. We should want more traffic in the city — people traffic,” he said.
He believes things were better when Mike Bloomberg was mayor, though he didn’t directly criticize current Mayor Eric Adams. He told the paper he has thought about running for office himself.
“I have thought about it. I might be persuaded,” he said.
“I’m not a politician. I talk too honestly. I want to get sh—t done,” he told The Post, noting how things need to change.
“We need to get in front of the problem. If there’s a problem in my restaurant, we address it right then and there,” Rosen said. The city needs to be managed for regular people. It’s obvious we’re not doing the best we can. We can do better.”
