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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jeff Brosi, Owner/Operator of Rockaway Hotel, on Intro 991-B
2:24:00
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83 sec
Jeff Brosi, owner/operator of the Rockaway Hotel in Queens, testifies in opposition to Intro 991-B, focusing on the bill's restrictions on third-party contractors. He emphasizes the challenges of staffing a small, seasonal hotel in an area with limited transportation options.
- Brosi describes his hotel as a community-based, 53-room boutique establishment that employs locals.
- He highlights efforts to develop a hospitality training program to address staffing shortages, which were ultimately unsuccessful.
- Brosi stresses the importance of being able to expand and contract staff seasonally for the hotel's survival.
Jeff Brosi
2:24:00
Hi, Hawaii.
2:24:00
My name is Jeff Brosium here from the Rockaway Hotel in Rockaway Queens.
2:24:05
We're a small boutique hotel with fifty three rooms, and we literally are residents of Queens born and raised put our livelihoods on building this boutique hotel.
2:24:15
We're a community based hotel that employ locals, and we oppose this bill for many reasons.
2:24:22
The biggest reason is the 3rd party contractors that are not allowed to be into into this bill.
2:24:27
And the reason is we just do not have the staff to get out there.
2:24:31
Rockaway is a literally desert for transportation for people to get to and from.
2:24:36
We've tried multiple different ways from simply we developed our own hospitality program to educate people on what hospitality is and getting into the hotel business and working.
2:24:47
And we literally developed a program that was 7, 8, 9 weeks long, that we invested our own money to find staff and train them.
2:24:55
And we still did not find enough.
2:24:57
The other option the concern that we have is that we're a seasonal hotel.
2:25:00
So the expanding and contracting of business is extremely important to us.
2:25:05
And for us to be able to survive, this turn of business from seasonality and not having the staffing to be able to expand and contract will be detrimental to us to survive.
2:25:17
I beg you and I please to do take out any of these 3rd party contracts out of this bill.