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The City’s New Motto, Ticket First, Ask Questions Later

by CrownHeights.info

Ticket first, ask questions later appears to be the new motto of New York City as untrained inspectors swamp Red Zone areas of Brooklyn.

The most recent story of abuse of power is coming from a small restaurant near the edge of the red zone in Flatbush, where an “inspector” decided to ticket the owner for the sin of having his door open, and “allowing” the inspector to walk in.

The story went viral Tuesday from Mixed Greens Restaraunt when an inspector entered the empty store and asked if he could sit down. The store owner told him no, as both indoor and outdoor dining is not allowed, and the store was open for outdoor dining exclusively.

So as the inspector sad down to write a summons for “allowing” him to enter the premises at all, the owner pulled out his phone and began recording.

“You know, I’m struggling here every single day. It’s hard for me and there was nobody inside the store obviously, because we don’t have dine in, we only have takeout,” the owner can be heard saying. “There was nobody in the store and I’m only getting a ticket because my door was open.”

The inspector’s response. “In the red zone, you’re only supposed to do pickup and delivery at the door.”

The video quickly gained nationwide attention, with a tweet by New York City Councilman Chaim Deutsch being retweeted thousands of times, and receiving a comment from government officials including Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli.

In response to the unfair targeting, the store found itself the center of an outpouring of support, fielding so many take out requests that they ran out of some foods.

Deutsch himself joined in the support, tweeting “I’ll be supporting this restaurant by picking up lunch here tomorrow. I welcome my friends and constituents to join me by ordering your lunch (as takeout!) from Mixed Greens Cafe, located at 2486 Coney Island Avenue.”

Deutsch also noted the complete silence from the Mayor’s office on what was occurring in the Red Zones, noting that he had only received a single call for clarification on the incident.

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