NYC restaurant destination turned into ‘war zone’ after MTA plants porta potty outside front doors
Welp, this stinks.
A Forest Hills restaurateur said his business has gone down the toilet since an MTA construction project plunked a stinky portable toilet outside his adjoining eateries’ front doors.
Paul Singh has lost his entire life savings after a monster fence cut his once-flourishing White Radish and Daikon Sushi Bar storefronts off from view and the chaotic project at the neighborhood’s Long Island Rail Road station transformed Ascan Avenue into a “war zone.”
“I’ve lost my mental peace,” Singh said during a Wednesday interview. “This has destroyed my lifestyle and put my family in financial crisis and security. I can’t sleep. I have so much on my head.
“I’ve lost the ability to work the way I’m supposed to work.”
The frustrating saga began last April when the MTA put up a massive fence blocking off the main entrances of Singh’s businesses as part of an extensive project to make the station ADA-compliant — a tale similar to a construction project causing hell for some businesses in the Bronx.
The Forest Hills fencing was briefly taken down when congestion pricing, and the funding it would have brought, was halted last summer.
The fence reportable bathroom sits right outside the White Radish’s doors, despite an underpass with no storefronts lying just several feet away.
The White Radish, which also encompasses the Daikon Sushi Bar, is one of the 2,400 businesses approved to set up outdoor dining this season — a plan Singh said the MTA’s construction is totally destroying.
Customers are already edged off the sidewalk on the west side of the street, leaving little room for Singh to place the outdoor tables, chairs and equipment he claimed he sunk $20,000 into back in 2022.
So far, there have been no customers interested in dining next to the dumpster, toilets and construction, he said. The transit agency has declined to move the portable toilet and dumpster, according to the business owner.
“When these guys are working, how somebody’s going to sit outside when there is a big noise going on? They’re using the jackhammer, all these wine bottles are falling on my customers. They say we don’t want to sit here, we don’t want to dine here,” Singh griped, adding that he’s lost several wine bottles after the constant rattling caused them to fall off the racks.
“Dust is one of the reasons. Then we have these fumes coming out of these big trucks. They’re coming in and out all day. The customers don’t feel comfortable.”
He’s noticed a considerable drop in traffic in the last three months, with one customer even telling him that they had to move a lunch meeting to another location after their client couldn’t find the White Radish behind the massive fencing.
Although the MTA initially told Singh the project would be short-term, it is now estimating it would be wrapped up by 2027, with the fencing expected to be cleared by next spring, a spokesperson told The Post.
Singh, however, doesn’t believe he’ll last that long.
The businesses have bled an estimated $300,000, forcing Singh to scale back his shops’ hours and cut his full-time staff from 24 to 14, he said.
Singh is playing catch-up with his sales tax, payroll tax and three months of rent — and the father of one hasn’t taken home a salary for himself in nearly a year.
“It’s frustrating. I feel really bad for my employees … It’s my responsibility to look after my family, they are my family, basically, right? They are behind on their paychecks, their morales are down. I feel bad. I don’t want to face them,” Singh railed.
He and a friend, acting as his pro-bono lawyer, have tried to reason with the MTA, but claim all the city has relented to was allowing him to hang signs for his businesses on top of the massive green fencing.
The situation is extra frustrating for Singh because he supports the project and the goal of making the LIRR more accessible for his neighbors.
“They’re going to just step on the small businesses, destroy them. It’s better for others, but not for someone who has worked all his life, all his hard-earned money is being invested, money is been borrowed and invested … and he’s just gonna lose everything — that’s not fair,” Singh said.
“MTA doesn’t care just because they have a back from the city and they can do whatever they want to do because they don’t care, nobody can sue … They just think they have the authority and they are sitting on a high chair.”
An MTA spokesperson said the agency would continue to work with businesses to “ensure impacts from construction are limited.”
“The MTA has plans to make the Forest Hills Station more accessible for all including seniors, caregivers with strollers, and people with disabilities and is working to advance that project,” the MTA told The Post in a statement.
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