Nov 17, 2007 8:45 am US/Eastern
Local Business Praying For Broadway Breakthrough
Dining Discounts In Full Effect As Sides Get Back To Table
By Dave Carlin, CBS 2 HD News
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Theatrical Protective Union - Local No. 1 member walks the picket line outside a theater on Broadway in November.
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
The great hope on the Great White Way is that picket lines leave and chorus lines return.
They gotta do something," theatergoer Celeste Harwell said.
Added Mike Hylton: "I wish it would be over."
Six days of this. Tens of millions of dollars in lost profits. Barbetta Restaurant closed Tuesday and cancelled lunches every day. Now it is one of 25 restaurants offering 15 percent discounts on meals for Thanksgiving week, boosting business until Broadway is back.
"Help support the restaurant district," said Anne Nickodem, who was visiting from Washington D.C. "We could easily cook indoors but we decided we'd rather come out."
Barbetta owner Laura Maioglio said the idea right now is to behave as if everything is normal.
"We want to preserve the image of a Times Square that is lively and fun and not depressed."
Actors like Lance Bass, who is starring in "Hairspray," other theater workers and theater lovers are betting on a Broadway breakthrough, perhaps Saturday.
"I hear things are going well and they are supposed to have a good talk tomorrow," Bass said Friday. "Hopefully Broadway will be back on this weekend."
Leaders of the striking stagehands of Local 1 will be at the bargaining table at 10 a.m., where they will meet with top lawyers for the producers who flew in from California.
Producers say they want to stop stagehands from getting more workers than a show actually needs. Stagehands say producers want them to take what amounts to a 38 percent pay cut. The new negotiators from Disney have a lot to sort out before the masses are back in Midtown.
More than 25 restaurants are participating in the special discount program, designed to draw diners to restaurants that usually see most of their business from theater crowds.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg remains optimistic a deal will be worked out soon.
"While we hope that an agreement will be reached as soon as possible, I encourage New Yorkers and visitors to take advantage of this great deal and help support restaurants that have been affected by the strike."
The list of restaurants is available by
by clicking here.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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