{"id":358767,"date":"2026-09-28T13:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358767\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T13:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:14:12","slug":"businesses-in-nycs-east-harlem-say-mtas-endless-construction-is-crushing-them-total-brutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358767\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses in NYC’s East Harlem say MTA’s endless construction is crushing them: \u2018Total brutes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

They\u2019re being treated like \u201cSecond\u201d-class citizens!<\/p>\n

Second Avenue Subway construction is choking East Harlem small businesses \u2014 and the MTA is acting like a gang of \u201cbrutes\u201d that does not care who gets steamrolled, furious shop owners told The Post.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority\u2019s nearly $8 billion project<\/a> will bring the Q train deeper into East Harlem by 2032 \u2014 but merchants said the agency is treating the neighborhood\u2019s small businesses as expendable casualties of the massive project, ruthlessly choking off stores with fences, construction equipment and mounting legal challenges.<\/p>\n

East Harlem businesses say MTA construction is crushing them. Google Maps<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re brutes. They have no respect, no nothing,\u201d said Jimmy Mateus, owner of Casa Ricardo\u2019s Steakhouse on Second Avenue near East 111th Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll blast these pile drivers in front of your restaurant, they could care less. They\u2019ll chop up your sidewalk. Total brutes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mateus said the MTA\u2019s work<\/a> has shrunk the sidewalk outside his restaurant from 15 feet to 6 feet \u2014 making it harder for customers to wait outside and driving sales down about 40% this year.<\/p>\n

The restaurateur said he has also spent more than $1 million on fines or fighting MTA-related legal disputes, including access fights over vibration monitors that the MTA stuck on his property.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey send you these lawsuits that are 4-inches thick,\u201d Mateus said. \u201cYou don\u2019t even want to complain because you don\u2019t want these people on your bad side. I\u2019m worried they might try to make my life more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blocks away, Eagle Tile owner Lu Nicaj said construction barriers have wiped out nearly 90% of the contractor business his Second Avenue store depends on.<\/p>\n

The 60-year-old said the MTA took over his loading zone, blocked access with barriers and equipment and then ghosted him after promising to make space<\/a> for a pickup area for customers hauling bulky orders.<\/p>\n

Local business owners said they have seen their sales drop up to 70%. Google Maps<\/p>\n

The MTA said its outreach team met with business owners in the construction zone, but didn\u2019t address the accusation that they have since ghosted Nicaj.<\/p>\n

\u201cEast Harlem has waited generations for this project, and we\u2019re committed to being consistent, accessible neighbors as we deliver it,\u201d a spokesperson for the MTA said. <\/p>\n

But Nicaj said it\u2019s now just radio silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cMTA promised me so many options and ideas that could have helped,\u201d said Nicaj, who claimed he has laid off three workers and is now hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a successful functioning business until the MTA came along and they destroyed everything,\u201d he said, adding that the spot has served the neighborhood for more than 35 years.<\/p>\n

Lu Nicaj, owner of Eagle Tile and DH Eagle Plumbing, said MTA construction of the 2nd Ave subway has choked off access to the East Harlem business, driving away about 90% of contractor customers. Haley Brown\/NY Post<\/p>\n

At Go Donut, a new shop at Second Avenue and East 119th Street, owner Solomon Fresh claimed he\u2019s seen sales plummet 70% since the MTA work moved in front of his shop four months ago.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s contending with fencing blocking his sidewalk while also dealing with roaring generators that cause customers to put their hands over their ears.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can\u2019t find my store because the blockage is so high,\u201d said Fresh, 38, who opened last year. \u201cSometimes you can\u2019t even hear yourself talk because it\u2019s so loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fresh said he supports the new subway line but feels abandoned by the agency building it.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cEight billion dollars, but you don\u2019t have any budget for businesses that are going through suffering while you\u2019re building?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fresh, born and raised in East Harlem, said he opened his donut shop to set a good example for his community, but the MTA is dashing his dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to bring something different to my neighborhood and I have kids that look up to me. I want to show them that we can do something different than music or basketball or football. You can start a business and make it flourish, so I\u2019m upset,\u201d Fresh said.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m mad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019re being treated like \u201cSecond\u201d-class citizens! Second Avenue Subway construction is choking East Harlem small businesses \u2014 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6808,469,57,141,9,56,63,65,64,4025,615,58],"class_list":["post-358767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-east-harlem","tag-harlem","tag-metro","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-second-avenue-subway","tag-subway","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}