Metropolitan Transportation Authority has filed papers to evict Joe Germanotta's ArtBird and Whiskey Bar over his refusal to pay rent until authorities dealt with its homeless problem.
- March 17, 2020
AceShowbiz - Lady GaGa's dad has been ordered to shutter his Grand Central Terminal restaurant and move out over his refusal to pay rent due to the station's homeless problem.
Metro-North bosses have threatened Joe Germanotta with eviction, claiming he owes them $260,000 (£212,000).
But he insists vagrants in the food concourse has really affected business at his ArtBird and Whiskey Bar, and he's refusing to pay until Grand Central Terminal authorities help clean up the place.
On Monday (March 16), the transit agency chiefs filed papers requesting an eviction to shut down Germanotta's business.
"I have been extremely vocal about the situation in the Concourse and it is clear that my actions have drawn a retaliatory and harassing response from the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), instead of the effective remedial action that we were seeking," Joe told the New York Post.
He's also annoyed that the eviction threat came down on the same day New York City officials ruled that Big Apple restaurants, including his, could only serve take out food amid the coronavirus crisis.
"It's reprehensible that this restaurant operator, who stopped paying rent long ago, would try to use a public health crisis to justify his absurd position," MTA spokesman Tim Minton said in a statement. "We hope that by the time New York returns to normal the public will have a quality rent-paying tenant in place."
