Jerry’s Newsstand Is Officially Coming Back
Photo via Howard Simmons/NYDN
Just a happy follow-up to last week’s news that Bill de Blasio took a vested interest in saving Jerry’s Newsstand, a longtime downtown stalwart that had been unfairly evicted by the Bloomberg administration: the stand is expected to re-open today, after the city agreed on Friday to issue an official license to owner Jerry Delakas.
In exchange for the license, Delakas agreed to pay $9,000 in back fines over the course of the next year, and said, “It feels great. Without this I would stay home, lay down and want to die.” His lawyer added, “It wouldn’t have settled without Bill de Blasio. I think we can say that this is the first of the callous Bloomberg actions toward the little guy in New York, toward the other New York, that have been reversed by Mayor de Blasio.”
De Blasio’s press secretary said of the decision, “We are glad we could reach an outcome that ensures Jerry’s will remain a part of this community for years to come.” We’re still smarting from this week’s unexpected loss of that other downtown stalwart, Milady’s, but this is great news nonetheless.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.
