[RP TownTalk] WHACK A MOLE

[Jonathan Ebbeler]

James

The impossibility of addressing anything you present is that every question is premised upon an assumed conclusion of fact that has always proven to be foundationally inaccurate.  Innuendo, rumor, and conspiracy theories on secret agendas and straw man arguments don't work for me.  So let's deal with the core facts and inconvenient truth:

-For quite some time the restaurant was plagued with inconsistent service and quality - i.e. not executing on core fundamentals
-Shortly before the housing meltdown the business partners split.  The owners over-leveraged their  business and property  to buy out one of owners
-The housing market collapsed and the remaining business partners were left debts that exceeded 3-4xs what the property even was worth
-The properties were lost in bankruptcy
-The restaurant continued to be plagued by inconsistent service and quality issues
-The owners continued to owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt not discharged during bankruptcy
-The owners were renting from the new building owner yet not able to capture the original spirit of the restaurant where revenues could outpace liabilities

Let's take a look at what the town has done over the last two years to try to help:
-Economic development committee meetings were held at the restaurant (with the owner trying to pick up the check and only after staunch refusal allowed me to personally pay a tab of hundreds dollars not billed back to the town)
-Proclamation written and presented recognizing the restaurant for its many decades of operation
-Restaurant and proximity to new development always discussed during interviews with the Post and Gazette
-Contacted multiple shows and producers including Restaurant Impossible to try to help the owners turn operations around
- Grant money towards leasehold improvements offered but not applied for or pursued by the owner
-Support for a Special Entertainment permit offered but not pursued by the owner
-On multiple occasions I spent hours and hours with the owners outlining changes to pricing, changes to offerings, and tweaks to their business operations, that were never pursued or implemented
-Many dinners with my wife and friends although the prices never justified the quality (with the owner always trying to pick up the tab and always having to get into arguments with wait staff to pay)
-A private sale at the last minute fell through that the town certainly would have green lighted and supported


The restaurant closed due to a bad balance sheet not due to any forgotten 'prior discussion' or regulatory issues.  They over-leveraged themselves with a bad financing decision and were never able to recover or address the hundreds of thousands of dollars owed even after losing the property.  This is an example of free market economics at its finest and the outcome is predictable.  Have more debt than your revenues can support and it is not a matter of if but when you will close.  Economics and Finance 101 and free market theory at its best.

Again, I renew my call for you to step up to the plate.  You seem to have an idea on how you want the town to be governed (or not governed at all) so I think it is time you served a tour of duty.  I know your CM only continues to serve because no one expresses an interest in doing the work.

In the meantime please work with your Councilman on your specific constituent questions - I know after talking to him yesterday that although you lit up Town Talk you did not call him or send him a personal email on the matters at hand.  I am sure he would love to see your face at the meeting on Monday so your comments are part of the official public record, which Town Talk is not.

Best,

Jonathan
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