Amann and Blake at Odds Over Eli's Outdoor Patio Request

By Brian McCready, Milford Patch Editor

And now we have a good idea as to why former Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Speaker of the House James Amann recently abruptly resigned his position on the Milford Democratic Town Committee.

Amann authorized a blistering prepared statement that criticizes Democratic Mayor Benjamin G. Blake and the Democratic controlled Board of Aldermen. (Amann’s full statement is below)

Amann, who is working as a paid consultant for Eli’s Restaurant in downtown Milford, blasted Blake and the city for not approving a sidewalk patio area for Eli’s.

Amann in the statement says numerous local downtown businesses have a patio area but Blake disputed Amann’s remarks and released his own statement on the patio issue.

“This is more like an old fashioned “game of telephone” where information is passed along so many times that what comes out the other end bears no resemblance to the original facts,” Blake said in response to Amann.

“I understand Mr. Amann’s role is that of a paid political consultant hired by Eli’s, however, respectfully, this is not a political issue. This is a community issue. The City of Milford must fairly represent all of our downtown businesses and stakeholders, not just those able to pay for political lobbyists.

Responsible government cannot simply solve one problem by creating three new ones. Before we consider leasing or selling City property, we must first ask for the support of the broader community, including the surrounding property and business owners. Despite Mr. Amann’s claims, several surrounding businesses and community members continue to strongly object to the proposed lease.

Still, I remain optimistic and will continue to be engaged to ensure all downtown businesses feel respected and heard. I will also continue to work on enhancing downtown parking so that patrons of Eli’s, as well as our many other restaurants, shops, and businesses will have plenty of places to park when they come to visit our beautiful downtown,” Blake said in his statement.

Here is Amann’s full statement, in which he compares the situation to “playing Whack-A-Mole.”

Former Connecticut General Assembly House Speaker James Amann, a long time Milford resident and local Democratic Party political leader, compared recent efforts to work with the City of Milford’s mayor and Board of Aldermen on behalf of the owner of a well-known downtown restaurant to gain city approval for a side-walk patio to “playing Whack-A-Mole.”

“No sooner do you agree to accomplish and then overcome one obstacle, up pops another, completely unexpected obstacle,” Amann said in a prepared statement. “If this is the kind of obstruction that desirable, revenue generating restaurants, merchants and other businesses in Milford’s downtown business district are encountering, we are going to need to find another way to ensure Milford is all that it can be. We should be welcoming good business growth in our town, not discouraging it.”

Eli’s is seeking to have an outdoor patio for customers. Amann was speaking on behalf of Richard Ciardiello, the owner of Eli’s Restaurant, in his role as a business consultant.

Amann explained that Eli’s Restaurant’s attempts to add a patio date back to 2005 when the restaurant, then known as Daniel Street Tavern, was owned by Richard Conine. Conine attained the necessary approvals from the city that year to build the patio. He sold the restaurant, however, before ever beginning construction. The restaurant has since passed through three other owners. The right to build the patio has passed with the lease and each subsequent owner, subject to final city approval.

Ciardiello bought the restaurant in 2013 and has been attempting to exercise his right to build the patio ever since. The restaurant re-opened in August 2014 without a patio, despite a successful year long effort by Ciardiello to meet various Milford agencies’ construction requirements and approvals and the City of Milford’s mayor’s own conditions for his approval, which he later rescinded with no explanation, Amann said in his statement.

Despite multiple City of Milford assurances from the point leading up to completion of Ciardidiello’s purchase of the restaurant to the present, that approvals for the patio would be forthcoming, Ciardiello’s attempts to build a patio for Eli’s continues.

Ciardiello engaged Amann to continue his efforts to work with the City of Milford to win final approval for the patio, a formal process, Amann said, that “should be thorough, but not defeating, as long as all appropriate requirements are met.”

“We’ve achieved everything the Board of Aldermen and Milford’s mayor has asked of us,” said Amann. “We won the approval of all nearby neighbors, with the exception of one, we have a growing petition with some 270 signatures of patrons desiring the patio. In the meantime, we’ve already met conditions of Planning and Zoning and won a building permit to construct inside improvements. And, we have a lease in place that allows us create a patio.

“It is very frustrating to me, as a taxpayer of Milford,” continued Amann, “that a profitable, small business is being treated this way. Eli’s is a well known, well liked, establishment whose owner has invested more than $2 million in improvements already –a significant investment that helps keep business alive in our downtown. That they would be treated in this manner – especially with no reason given – is as appalling as it is unfair. Every other restaurant has a patio, why shouldn’t Eli’s?”

Amann said that he appealed to the Board of Aldermen directly in June after an unproductive meeting with Milford’s mayor and was assured that this issue would be raised at the July Aldermanic meeting.

The aldermen failed to place the item on the agenda. Amann said he has discussed the failure to raise the issue at July’s meeting with several aldermen and has been assured by Alderman Brian Bier that the issue would be placed on the agenda for August’s meeting.

“I’m happy to report that Alderman (Brian) Bier has committed to me to try to get this issue on August’s agenda. We’ve done everything that’s been asked of us. It’s time to put Whack-A-Mole away and act in the best interests of our downtown businesses. I’m appealing to the Board and the Mayor to do the right thing,” said Amann.