Call, write and email Smith College President Carol Christ and Northampton Mayor Claire Higgins and ask them to keep their promises to save Green Street Cafe.
Carol Christ, President
Smith College
College Hall 201
Northampton, MA 01063
413-585-2100
Mayor Claire Higgins
Northampton City Hall
210 Main St. Room 12
Northampton, MA 01063
413-587-1294
mayor@northamptonma.gov
Friday, December 19, 2008
Chronology
2004 Smith College said that they would have to relocate Green Street Café
2004 –Smith College stopped doing business with Green Street Café that included catering and hosting private parties and other dinners. Loss of business estimated at $80,000 annually.
2006 – Smith offers Green Street Café $65,000 to relocate. True costs are more than $300,000.
Spring 2007 – Smith begins work on the $100 million Ford Hall, the new science and engineering building.
March 2007 – Green Street Café closes March 1st following suspension of their liquor license for fire code violations. The code violations were the responsibility of Smith College who owned the building, and the restaurant suffered irrevocable damage from the closing.
July 2007 – Green Street and Smith go to mediation. Smith offers $50,000 as "take it or leave it", or we’ll see you in court for the next three years. Sielski and Dozmati were given 24 hours to decide. They told Smith it would take $300,000 to reopen the business, but took the settlement of which $15,000 went to legal fees and then the attorney dropped them. Mayor of Northampton met with Sielski and Dozmati and said they could take out $300,000 in federal SBA loans and not to worry about paying them back.
July 2007 – Green street and Smith reach an agreement and Smith issues a press release that quotes John and Jim saying the settlement was "favorable, generous and conducive to a successful restaurant business." They claim that they were forced to agree to the press release under duress and with the promise from Smith that they would fix the problems at the building which they have not done. Terms of the lease are til 2012.
October 2007 - They were able to reopen in Oct. 2007 by offering their customers pre-paid dining memberships totaling $12,000 as they traded food for electrical work and plumbing work and reopened with lots of debt.
2009 Outlook – The financial future of the Green Street Café is grim as Smith continues to try and force John and Jim to sign agreements to takeover their parking lot so that Smith can finish work on the entrance to the new Ford Hall. John and Jim have not signed anything. The lot has 16 spaces and an outdoor garden area for dining.
2004 –Smith College stopped doing business with Green Street Café that included catering and hosting private parties and other dinners. Loss of business estimated at $80,000 annually.
2006 – Smith offers Green Street Café $65,000 to relocate. True costs are more than $300,000.
Spring 2007 – Smith begins work on the $100 million Ford Hall, the new science and engineering building.
March 2007 – Green Street Café closes March 1st following suspension of their liquor license for fire code violations. The code violations were the responsibility of Smith College who owned the building, and the restaurant suffered irrevocable damage from the closing.
July 2007 – Green Street and Smith go to mediation. Smith offers $50,000 as "take it or leave it", or we’ll see you in court for the next three years. Sielski and Dozmati were given 24 hours to decide. They told Smith it would take $300,000 to reopen the business, but took the settlement of which $15,000 went to legal fees and then the attorney dropped them. Mayor of Northampton met with Sielski and Dozmati and said they could take out $300,000 in federal SBA loans and not to worry about paying them back.
July 2007 – Green street and Smith reach an agreement and Smith issues a press release that quotes John and Jim saying the settlement was "favorable, generous and conducive to a successful restaurant business." They claim that they were forced to agree to the press release under duress and with the promise from Smith that they would fix the problems at the building which they have not done. Terms of the lease are til 2012.
October 2007 - They were able to reopen in Oct. 2007 by offering their customers pre-paid dining memberships totaling $12,000 as they traded food for electrical work and plumbing work and reopened with lots of debt.
2009 Outlook – The financial future of the Green Street Café is grim as Smith continues to try and force John and Jim to sign agreements to takeover their parking lot so that Smith can finish work on the entrance to the new Ford Hall. John and Jim have not signed anything. The lot has 16 spaces and an outdoor garden area for dining.
Plight of the Green Street Cafe, Northampton, Mass.
Green Street Café, 62 Green Street, Northampton Mass has been located on the grounds of Smith College for almost 20 years and is a well known Pioneer Valley restaurant and good community neighbor. In 2003, before the problems began with Smith College, the restaurant earned not only local but national recognition in Gourmet Magazine, Bon Appetit, Yankee Magazine, The New York Times, National Geographic Travel Channel, many New England guide books and Frommers Travel Guides. The restaurant is co-owned by John Sielski and his husband James Dozmati.
Smith has been at odds with the Café over the past few years whose owners say that Smith is trying to muscle them out of the neighborhood to accommodate the new $100 million science and engineering center scheduled to open in 2009. Sielski and Dozmati claim that Smith’s actions have resulted in their loss of $400,000 in the business and a mountain of debt, loss of their retirement income, loss of their credit, health insurance and their home. There is no way that the restaurant can survive under the current time frame of the lease as they have too much debt for their capacity and the number of years left on the lease that ends in 2012.
They are very concerned that they will have to close the restaurant due to the uncertainty over their future and the financial loss they have accrued over the past few years because of the closing of the restaurant and Smith’s unwillingness to make them whole. Northampton and the Valley would lose another small business that befits the character of the city and has provided local residents and students with jobs, good food, and a welcoming environment.
They are seeking from the President of Smith College Carol Christ the promise to fulfill the promise she made publicly and repeatedly to keep whole the Green Street Café. This promise was also echoed by Mayor Claire Higgins.
Smith has been at odds with the Café over the past few years whose owners say that Smith is trying to muscle them out of the neighborhood to accommodate the new $100 million science and engineering center scheduled to open in 2009. Sielski and Dozmati claim that Smith’s actions have resulted in their loss of $400,000 in the business and a mountain of debt, loss of their retirement income, loss of their credit, health insurance and their home. There is no way that the restaurant can survive under the current time frame of the lease as they have too much debt for their capacity and the number of years left on the lease that ends in 2012.
They are very concerned that they will have to close the restaurant due to the uncertainty over their future and the financial loss they have accrued over the past few years because of the closing of the restaurant and Smith’s unwillingness to make them whole. Northampton and the Valley would lose another small business that befits the character of the city and has provided local residents and students with jobs, good food, and a welcoming environment.
They are seeking from the President of Smith College Carol Christ the promise to fulfill the promise she made publicly and repeatedly to keep whole the Green Street Café. This promise was also echoed by Mayor Claire Higgins.
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