They’re being treated like “Second”-class citizens!
Second Avenue Subway construction is choking East Harlem small businesses — and the MTA is acting like a gang of “brutes” that does not care who gets steamrolled, furious shop owners told The Post.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s nearly $8 billion project will bring the Q train deeper into East Harlem by 2032 — but merchants said the agency is treating the neighborhood’s small businesses as expendable casualties of the massive project, ruthlessly choking off stores with fences, construction equipment and mounting legal challenges.
“They’re brutes. They have no respect, no nothing,” said Jimmy Mateus, owner of Casa Ricardo’s Steakhouse on Second Avenue near East 111th Street.
“They’ll blast these pile drivers in front of your restaurant, they could care less. They’ll chop up your sidewalk. Total brutes,” he said.
Mateus said the MTA’s work has shrunk the sidewalk outside his restaurant from 15 feet to 6 feet — making it harder for customers to wait outside and driving sales down about 40% this year.
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.
“They send you these lawsuits that are 4-inches thick,” Mateus said. “You don’t even want to complain because you don’t want these people on your bad side. I’m worried they might try to make my life more difficult.”
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.
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 for a pickup area for customers hauling bulky orders.
The MTA said its outreach team met with business owners in the construction zone, but didn’t address the accusation that they have since ghosted Nicaj.
“East Harlem has waited generations for this project, and we’re committed to being consistent, accessible neighbors as we deliver it,” a spokesperson for the MTA said.
But Nicaj said it’s now just radio silence.
“MTA promised me so many options and ideas that could have helped,” said Nicaj, who claimed he has laid off three workers and is now hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
“I was a successful functioning business until the MTA came along and they destroyed everything,” he said, adding that the spot has served the neighborhood for more than 35 years.
At Go Donut, a new shop at Second Avenue and East 119th Street, owner Solomon Fresh claimed he’s seen sales plummet 70% since the MTA work moved in front of his shop four months ago.
He’s contending with fencing blocking his sidewalk while also dealing with roaring generators that cause customers to put their hands over their ears.
“People can’t find my store because the blockage is so high,” said Fresh, 38, who opened last year. “Sometimes you can’t even hear yourself talk because it’s so loud.”
Fresh said he supports the new subway line but feels abandoned by the agency building it.
“Eight billion dollars, but you don’t have any budget for businesses that are going through suffering while you’re building?” he said.
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.
“I’m 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’m upset,” Fresh said. “I’m mad.”
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