Everyone would like to see the popular Dug's Dive restaurant stay open during the winter. The owner of the waterfront restaurant, Tucker Curtin, announced he will be closing up on November 1st like in past years. The dispute between Curtin and the NFTA is over who will pay the heating and snowplowing bills...
Most of the difference was over who would pay for the additional operating costs, such as snowplowing and heating, that would come with keeping Dug’s Dive open during the late fall and winter.
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Most of the difference was over who would pay for the additional operating costs, such as snowplowing and heating, that would come with keeping Dug’s Dive open during the late fall and winter.
Curtin offered a deal to pay for some — but not all — of the added costs. The NFTA said Curtin had to foot the whole bill, because as a public agency, it can’t be subsidizing a private business.
“It’s probably a few thousand dollars. It’s not a big deal,” Curtin said. But he was reluctant to make more concessions because winter sales likely will be much lower than during the summer.
Normally, I would be dead set against the NFTA. Their stranglehold on waterfront growth and development goes back decades. However, using just the facts as they have been presented, I feel the need to side with them. The NFTA is a public entity. Why does the owner expect them to pay the restaurant's bills? Hoak's restaurant is a popular Hamburg restaurant on the Waterfront. I never heard of them asking the government to heat their building or plow their lot. It sounds like the owner does not want to take the financial risk of operating during the winter. That's his choice. Unless I'm missing something here, the NFTA is under no obligation to heat a private building unless it is my house. If they want to pay my heating bills, then I'm all for it.Share|
