The Elephant Calls City's Punishment Unfair, Pointless

Last week, news leaked that East 1st Street Thai restaurant The Elephant was shuttered after serving an underage auxiliary police officer. Today, a manager confirms the news to EV Grieve noting that she's "sure the guy was over 35." However, she says if they go to court over it, they risk getting shut down for two months and paying a hefty fine of $15,000. The penalty they've accepted, shuttering for one week now and one week in May is hard enough:

...they don't let you work and improve the place while you are closed. This is like kids, you do something bad and they send you against the wall for two hours... the only difference here, we are talking about a business with families, children, etc. who depend on them...

She also makes this pretty good point, "Everybody knows where all minors go for drinks with their fake ID, why the police don't spend their resources with better efficiency than coming to a small restaurant to shut you down..." True. If any East Villager were to compile a list of where the 19 year-old NYU kids are going to drink, The Elephant probably wouldn't rank high up there. A final weepy note to conclude, "The worst part is, I'm not sure if we are going to survive with this two-week agreement anyway."
· The Elephant: We Are Truly Good Neighbors [EVG]
· All Coverage of the Elephant [~ENY~]