[From the Save Jerry's Facebook page]
A long, contentious battle battle between Jerry Delakas and the city is over. There was talk earlier today that Delakas would be able to continue to operate the newsstand at Astor Place as he has done since 1987.
As Serena Solomon reports this afternoon at DNAinfo, the city has agreed to issue Delakas a license. One stipulation: He must pay a $9,000 fine over the course of the next year.
Per DNA:
"I think it shows a different stance on small business [under de Blasio], and a lot of those smaller businesses that have been set upon by city government should find this encouraging to fight back," said Advocates for Justice lawyer Arthur Schwartz, who is representing Delakas.
Delakas must pay the city $1,000 for a new license before he can reopen, plus the first $1,000 out of a $9,000 fine, according to legal documents.
He has to pay another $3,000 in May, $2,000 in August and $3,000 by Nov. 1, according to the documents.
The newsstand could be back open as soon as Wednesday.
As we first reported on Dec. 10, the city shut down the newsstand he has run the past 26 years for "operating illegally." Delakas never had the license transferred to his own name after the city blocked numerous attempts by the family who held the license to do so.
On Jan. 5, Mayor de Blasio promised to have his aides look into the situation with the newsstand.
Previously on EV Grieve:
City shutters Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place for 'operating illegally'
The story about the city shutting down Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place actually gets worse
More about saving Jerry's Newsstand
Helping Save Jerry
That's De Blasio 2, Bloomberg 0 after De Blasio on his very first day in office changed Bloomberg's heartless homeless regulation which had said that homeless families who had previously not qualitfied for a shelter were not allowed in even on freezing cold nights when they and their kids could freeze to death.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who says elections don't matter or that De Blasio won't change things needs to pay attention, because he already has helped the same kinds of people the former mayor saw as roadblocks to the billionairization of New York.
So Glad that Jerry gets to stay, and sorry for the people who feel like newsstands area an inconvenience, looks like this one is here to stay.
WELL HUZZAH!!!!! CHALK ONE UP FOR THE LITTLE GUY!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeh! Makes Monday a bit brighter!
ReplyDeleteYaay for Jerry !
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the fine.
Excellent news! Suck it Bloomberg!
ReplyDeleteWin.
ReplyDeleteFinally, some good news out of the EV, after what was a very bad week. Sorry, sistah, you'll have to keep walking around the old guy and his news stand on the way to buy your $20 cocktails and $700 shoes. Don't like it? Go home!
ReplyDeletehard to believe what a difference a new mayor has been... hope it will continue for EV. glad we can breathe a little easier for jerry and his newsstand.
ReplyDeleteWhat Giovanni said.
ReplyDeleteYour header should read: "City says Jerry Delakas can operate Astor Place Newsstand, but Squeezes Him For $9,000."
ReplyDeleteIt's GREAT that Jerry's getting his newsstand back, that he PAID for when the city forced him to demolish the old green wooden stand in that spot, but WHY the fines?
How/why does he/should he owe ANYthing to the city that cost him who-knows-how-much in lost income by shutting him down BEFORE a scheduled court hearing?
If anything, he ought to sue the city for DAMAGES, not grovel to get his business back....
how many magazines to you have to sell to clear $9,000?
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm happy that Jerry will get to operate, why should he bear a $9,000 fine? The city has received it's licensing fee every year, as far as I understand.
ReplyDeleteThe guy works long hours every day for 26 years... and the thugs in cityhall think they deserve a $9,000 extortion fee?
First they demand a ridiculous $37,000... and now they reduce it to $9,000 and some people chalk it up as a win?
What did he do for which he deserves to be fined $9,000 ?
Meanwhile the city/state uses your tax money to run ads in other states touting NY as a "Great place to do business!". Maybe they should feature Jerry's story in one of the ads?
Victory for every Lover of New York.
ReplyDeleteSo, he's going to need some fundraisers?
Apart from Bloomberg, the rapacious crusader for Billionaires, Jerry's been hurt by the internet.
So, let's get over to his stand as much as possible and buy some hard copies of the news, 'til the fine is retired.
BT said...
ReplyDelete"While I'm happy that Jerry will get to operate, why should he bear a $9,000 fine? "
Well, I'll start buying magazines from Jerry; I think it's great that he gets to stay in business!
(True, it sucks about the fine, but he'll more than make it back.)
Jerry is going to need a cash mob soon. Someone set this up for him, I don't have the patience but I'll participate!
ReplyDeleteI'll happily drop a fifty down to buy a magazine or better yet a newspaper and say "Keep the change" as a way of eating away at that unjust fine by the city - and I don't make that much that I can throw money around like that but I'll give up whatever to help this man in the name of human support. Perhaps this may catch on... drop whatever you can whenever you can.
ReplyDeleteIf all of you really want to put your money where your mouth is you can:
ReplyDelete- Go give him cash
- Use paypal.com to send your donation to:
savejerry@outlook.com
All paypal proceeds are (and will be) given to Jerry.
Your header should read: "After shutting down for operating illegally for multiple years, Jerry's newstand operates again."
ReplyDeleteThere must be multiple newstands that were shut down for operating illegally. Are the other newstands allowed to operate again, or it's only Jerry's newstand?
Hopefully the current administration is not only using this case to spread the word that they care more about the regular Joe's than the Bloomberg administration. If they really do, all other newstands that operated illegally should be reopened.