Free Food at the Boathouse
$196,000 in free meals were given away by a restaurant under franchise with the city in Central Park, and there's no record of who actually got them, according to an audit from City Comptroller Bill Thompson.
An attorney for the restaurant, the Central Park Boathouse, said the meals "are not only common in the restaurant industry, but are integral to the restaurant's business development and financial growth," according to the audit.
-- Azi Paybarah
The situation seems worse in fact. When you read the audit you see that since 2001, the boathouse gave away $450,000 in meals.
The Boathouse has a contract to operate in Central Park. Why would it have to disclose who it gave free meals to? Is that a requirement for operating in a public park?
Who lobbies for them? That's the missing link.
Whether or not giving food away is legal or helps business, there should be a record of whose receiving these "free" gifts.
$450,000 in 1 year seems like a lot of money to just "give away"
so how many meals did benepe get comped
Foodie: That seems like chump change when compared to the $3.6 million taken from an account managed by the Comptroller...who probably didn't know about it until it hit the papers this morning. Maybe the Auditor needs to be audited.