Jerry's Newsstand Gets Two Weeks to Plead Its Case

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Finally, some good news for Jerry Delakas. The newsstand operator, who has run the Astor Place kiosk for 26 years until the city padlocked it in December for improper licensing, has been granted a two-week reprieve by the city's law department to appeal to Bill de Blasio. DNAinfo reports that Delakas is pinning his hopes on compassion from the newly minted mayor to get him back in the stand and keep new operators from coming in.

"If someone else gets in that would be a big mess," said Arthur Schwartz, an Advocate for Justice attorney who has taken on Delakas's case. "He will only get his license back if the mayor intervenes."

The license in question is in the name of the stand's former operators, for whom Delakas took over in 1987. Schwartz said that the family of the license holder has tried to transfer it to Delakas's name several times, but has always been blocked by the city. The mayor's press secretary said earlier this week that "we are working to reach a better outcome."

Delakas appealed to the mayor in person earlier this week, when he showed up at the Gracie Mansion open house with a cardboard representation of his stand. At the time, de Blasio said the situation was "a great injustice."

"I never thought it was a problem," Delakas told DNAinfo. "I didn't know it would turn into something like this."
· Embattled Newsstand Operator Gets Two Weeks to Strike Deal [DNAinfo]
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