Quote:A coalition of 100 Staten Island and Brooklyn restaurants are planning a class-action lawsuit to force the city and state to reopen indoor dining in New York.

“It feels like the government is moving the goal posts,” said Thomas Casatelli, who owns four restaurants in the two boroughs including the self-described “taco joint” Ho’Brah in Bay Ridge and West Brighton.

“We were supposed to be open July 6, now we’re hearing from the mayor we can’t open until there’s a vaccine. Who knows when that will be,” Casatelli said Thursday at a Staten Island press conference with other restaurateurs, their lawyers and local elected officials.

“The business owners that are here today, they did what they were told to do. They did what they had to do to help flatten the curve,” said Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis at the event.

“We met the metrics, so why are we being discriminated against as a municipality?” she asked.

The city’s positive testing rate is under 1 percent and every other county in the state allows indoor dining at partial capacity.

Indoor dining was part of Phase Three of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus reopening plan. New York City entered that phase in early July, but the governor and the mayor have only allowed outdoor dining within the five boroughs.

De Blasio said during a City Hall press conference Thursday there’s no timetable to fully reopen local restaurants because “we have to see a lot more improvement in fighting this virus.” Earlier this week, de Blasio said indoor dining might not return until there’s a coronavirus vaccine.

“We are putting together a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the Staten Island and Bay Ridge restaurant owners against the mayor, against the governor on the basis of they’ve completely exceeded their authority and stepped on the Constitution of the United States,” Lou Gelormino, attorney for the eateries, said at the press conference.

His co-counsel, Mark Fonte, said the suit will be filed in Staten Island Supreme Court within the next two weeks.

“What put the restaurateurs over the edge was [the mayor’s] announcement the other day that there will be no indoor dining until there’s a vaccine. Enough is enough. These restaurant owners simply can’t afford to shut down for the winter season,” he said.

Andrew Rigie, head of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, is not a party to the suit, but also doesn’t oppose the legal action.

“We’re reviewing our options and we will review this lawsuit. We still hope to work cooperatively with Governor Cuomo to open restaurants up indoors, but as I said yesterday, many restaurant owners have had enough and now the court may have to decide this issue.

“It’s unfortunate it had to get to this point,” Rigie said.

His group surveyed city eateries and found that 83 percent couldn’t make their full rent in July.

A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment on potential litigation and referred to de Blasio’s recent remarks on the issue.

Reps for the governor did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks

Quote:Mayor Bill de Blasio bluntly said he has “no plan” for the return of indoor dining in New York City, citing a link between eating inside and a resurgence of the coronavirus in other parts of the world.

“Indoor dining, there’s not a plan right now,” de Blasio said on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” Friday.

A Manhattan caller named Sharon had asked the mayor if there was any possibility that restaurants would be fully reopened this year. Right now, they’re only allowed to have outdoor seating or takeout.

“There’s not a context for indoor dining. We’re never saying it’s impossible. But we do not, based on what we’re seeing around the world, we do not have a plan for reopening indoor dining in the near term,” de Blasio said.

He cited COVID-19 resurgences in Hong Kong and Europe linked to the activity.

Andrew Rigie, head of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, was infuriated by Hizzoner’s answer.

“It’s jaw-dropping that there’s no plan for the more than 25,000 eating and drinking places and 300,000 workers in our city,” Rigie said.

“If there’s no plan to reopen in the near term while the rest of the state is open indoors, what’s the plan to support New York City’s small businesses and workers while they’re shut? Where’s the rent relief?” Rigie asked.

Jake Dell, owner of the famed Katz’s Delicatessen on East Houston Street in Manhattan, predicted “a lot of places are going to go under without any sort of path forward.”

“It would be nice to at least know what the game plan is,” Dell said.

Chris Barish, who owns Black Tap and is currently operating a pop-up burger joint called Singles and Doubles in Soho, called on Hizzoner to do better.

“We need leadership, and Mayor de Blasio needs to step up and act now,” Barish said.

Some 100 restaurants in Brooklyn and Staten Island are planning a class-action lawsuit to force the mayor and the governor to immediately reopen their eateries.

Only about 10,000 of the city’s 25,000 dining establishments are participating in the city’s outdoor dining program, and even with that, 83 percent couldn’t pay their full rent last month, according to a survey by Rigie’s group.

Over half of the hospitality industry workers in New York are jobless, according to Eater.

City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Staten Island) also slammed de Blasio for not even having a timeline while eateries go under.

“This administration is going to put restaurants in our city out of business if it does not allow indoor dining. It is absolutely unacceptable that the mayor has no plan and no ideas on how to make this happen,” Matteo said.

“Allow indoor to open now with the proper protocols in place — restaurants literally cannot afford to wait anymore,” he said.

Quote:A day after the head of New York City’s EMS union warned the city was preparing to eliminate hundreds of emergency medical responder positions amid its COVID-induced budget crisis, Mayor Bill de Blasio did not deny the layoffs were possible.

Speaking at his daily briefing Thursday, de Blasio emphasized he didn't want to lay off a single city worker. There's been too much job loss already, he said.

"But we're getting to the point where we're running out of options," the mayor said.

Barring a federal stimulus, state-approved borrowing power or alternate cost-saving measures, de Blasio has said the city may need to cut as many as 22,000 employees as it grapples with ongoing economic devastation from the pandemic. He stressed Thursday that discussions were ongoing and no final decision had been made -- and warned that next year could be even worse on the layoff front.

Union members were apoplectic. The city’s EMTs and paramedics responded to record call volume in March and early April, peaking at some 6,500 calls a day. They weren't immune to COVID, either. At the worst of the crisis, nearly one in four were out sick. Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS local 257 said that nine union members had died from COVID as a result of working during the pandemic.

"Even with the threat of a second wave of COVID-19 looming and two recent outbreaks in Brooklyn, Bill de Blasio and his team at City Hall wants to balance the city's budget on our backs, eliminating some 400 emergency medical responder positions and placing every New Yorker’s life at risk," Barzilay told NBC News.

"Yesterday, we were praised as heroes, essential workers saving lives. Today, the city government treats us like zeros," his statement continued. "New Yorkers who lived through this deadly pandemic know otherwise."