Landlords rally against eviction ban | The Daily Gazette
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ERICA MILLER/THE DAILY GAZETTE
Landlords hold their signs outside the steps of Governor Andrew Cuomo s mansion on Eagle Street as landlords protest lifting the eviction ban in New York State in Albany on Thursday, February 18, 2021.
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Dandeago “Romeo” Budhoo, owner of 18 rental units across 10 buildings, mostly in Mont Pleasant and Hamilton Hill neighborhoods of Schenectady, said he is owed about $30,000 in rent that should have been paid by now.
The landlord, a native of Guyana, said he has six delinquent tenants that won’t pay up, and there’s nothing he can do about it due to the moratoriums on evictions that were put in place due to the the COVID-19 pandemic.
The financial losses reach into the millions at the establishments familiar to everyone: Duffâs Famous Wings and Santora s Pizza Pub and Grill.
But the losses in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars are every much as crushing to the smaller restaurants better known in their own locales, like Londa s Diner in Depew and Raphael s in Hamburg.
Two dozen Buffalo area restaurants â big and small, with offerings from pub food to Italian cuisine, but all under an indoor-dining ban â submitted court affidavits this week detailing more than $10 million in financial losses for 2020 and 856 job cuts since March. They re among the 70 restaurants that signed on to a State Supreme Court lawsuit seeking a relaxation of state Covid-19 safety precautions.