Bye, Bye Butch

Lawyers for Nassau's longtime concessionaire Butch Yamali yesterday filed papers in State Supreme Court, asking Justice Vito DeStefano to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the county from booting Yamali's business, Dover Gourmet Corp. out of Nassau parks.

It's kind of late.

Yamali's lawyer said in his court papers that "hundreds of Dover vending machines" will be treated as abandoned property and "will be forcibly removed by the county beginning Feb. 1, 2020."  That's tomorrow. A Saturday.

By the time DeStefano rules on the motion, the machines-- and Yamali--are likely to have been evicted.

Yamali, who has been Nassau's exclusive provider of food service and vending machines in county parks for two decades, has been in court fighting Nassau's efforts to terminate his last contract, awarded in 2010, on Dec. 31.

Yamali argued that former Deputy County Executive Rob Walker had extended his contract through 2021. The adminstration of County Executive Laura Curran doesn't recognize that extension.

In fact, Lessing's Hospitality Group was already advertising on its website on Jan. 9 that the Barn at Old Bethpage Village Restoration was its new event venue. That same day Nassau notified Yamali that they had selected Lessing's Inc. to replace him.

A week earlier, the county told Yamali his lease was up and to move out.

But Yamali says in court papers that he will have to lay-off 15 or more full-time employees if his contract is terminated.

"Some of the affected full-time employees have worked for Dover for more than 10 years, " Yamali says in an affadavit. "They have spouses and children and depend on their jobs to support their families. They are in a panic mode."

He added, "The ongoing harm to my business is truly irreparable. No amount of money -- even if my loss of business could be calculated -- could make up for the damage to Dover's reputation."