Restaurateur, Joe Germanotta, who is pop star Lady GaGa’s father, blasted “filthy” and crime infested New York City and says that crime has caused his businesses to lose money.
“I think the city is a mess,” Germanotta said on Fox Business Network on Wednesday. “It looks horrible. People coming from Connecticut and Long Island may go to Lincoln Center for a show — then they’re walking around, it smells like weed everywhere,” the New York Post reported.
Lady Gaga’s dad Joe Germanotta slams ‘horrible’ NYC: ‘Smells like weed everywhere’ https://t.co/jOiboN8sda pic.twitter.com/hIlJH6Etfj
— New York Post (@nypost) February 10, 2023
The Joanne Trattoria Italian restaurant owner reiterated that the city looks worse than it did just four years ago, and added, “It’s dirtier, there’s a lot more people out on the street. It seems filthy.”
The 65-year-old entrepreneur has noted that crime, the disheveled state of the city, and the growing homeless problem is a major problem for the business community. Back in 2020, he refused to pay his rent for his restaurant at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal because so many homeless people had encamped near his Art Bird & Whiskey Bar that his customers stopped patronizing the establishment. He has since closed the location.
“I want to stay,” Germanotta said at the time. “I just can’t afford to under these conditions.”
“The homeless go in there to stay warm. We’re compassionate, but it affects our customers,” he told the Post. “When the homeless invade our areas, it becomes a less attractive place.”
Crime in the Big Apple soared by 22 percent last year, the New York Daily News reported, citing data published by the New York Police Dept. Though murders and shootings decreased from the year before, crimes such as felony assaults jumped by 12 percent, robberies by 25 percent, and car thefts by 32 percent, the data shows.
The NYPD stated in October they documented an increase from last year of teens committing crimes while also being the victims of crime, PIX11 reported.
Meanwhile, homelessness and an influx of illegal aliens has taxed the city well past its limits to address the issues.
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