A tiff over restaurant tables on the boardwalk

The City of Long Beach is hoping to head off another clash with Brian Braddish, owner of the popular Riptides restaurant, only a year after the city and Braddish fought over the placement of LGBTQ and other flags on the boardwalk near the eatery.

That issue was settled, but the newest one revolves around the placement of tables and chairs on the boardwalk near Riptides and four other boardwalk establishments — Beach Burger, Marvel, Shakers and Shuckers, and Skudin Surf.

On Dec. 6, the city notified the establishments that it was revoking their permits because city code did not permit them to have tables and chairs on the boardwalk.

On Monday morning, Braddish held a news conference denouncing the city, and saying that its move would put him out of business.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Braddish, who was in attendance, said he believed the city had a vendetta against him and his family going back to the fight over the flags in the summer of 2021.

But even before Braddish spoke, council President Karen McInnis said Long Beach was seeking to settle the matter. McInnis said she had asked Corporation Counsel Rich Berrios “to prepare an amendment to our code for this council, to enable concessionaires to place tables and chairs, within reason, on the boardwalk. In this way, boardwalk concessionaires and the city can agree upon terms and this issue no longer lingers or gets misinterpreted by anyone.”

In July 2021, Riptides and the city negotiated an agreement on the restaurant’s lease after Long Beach asked the establishment to move its Gay Pride, American and POW/MIA flags off city boardwalk property and onto the restaurant’s property.

The dispute enraged the LGBTQ Network Center in Hauppauge, which held a news conference on the boardwalk. The organization was joined by other groups, including Long Beach’s Police Benevolent Association, whose leadership at the time was feuding with the new police commissioner, Ron Walsh.

That dispute was settled with Riptides, which agreed to pay $100 per year per table on the boardwalk. On Monday morning and at the City Council meeting, Braddish said that the city was reneging on that agreement.

“I work my ass off,” Braddish told the council. “I’m not walking away from this. I will settle. Otherwise, we’ll see a lawsuit.”

He was cheered by a crowd that had packed the City Hall hearing room. (Many had come to hear the council approve a deal to allow part-time city Civil Service Employees Association workers to be represented by the union.)

McInnis acknowledged that “the city could have done a better job of explaining the bigger picture of what we are trying to accomplish here before we sent the letter to all five boardwalk concessionaires.” She explained that city code prohibits tables or chairs anywhere on the boardwalk, and that this had been the rule since 1985.

But, McInnis added, “any exceptions to this rule must be codified for the sake of efficiency and clarity,” which, she said, is why she asked Berrios to prepare a proposed amendment to the city code.

In an apparent reference to Braddish’s news conference the day before, McInnis said that “one concessionaire took an additional sensationalist approach, even while their lawyers were conducting negotiations with the city’s staff.”

Denis Kelly, the attorney for Riptides and Braddish, said, “We’ve never received that letter directly from the city. It was one of the other vendors who forwarded it to my client, who then put me on notice.”

Tables and chairs would still be permitted under an awning on Riptides’ premises, which extends a few feet onto the boardwalk, but they would not be allowed to encroach on the northernmost walking lane.

The new lease with the city that Braddish signed last year, which includes the $100-per-table fee, expires in September 2025.

One resident, Ron Paganini, supported Braddish. “It seems to me the city screwed up,” Paganini said. “You made a contract and then you made a mistake. You blew it. This is a lawsuit” coming up. “Who is going to pay for it? We all are. You’ve got to eat this.”

Another resident, Kevin Heller said, “I am up at sunset. Mr. Braddish is already there, doing his job, alongside our kids. They are learning hard work. They are learning not just what to do, but are being shown how to do it.”

McInnis said she regretted that “the issue has been inflated to such proportion.” She said that an amendment to the code should be added at the next council meeting in January.”