East Village bar Manitoba's has been saved from going under, thanks to a little help from its friends.
The Avenue B bar, helmed by Dictators' front man Handsome Dick Manitoba, has managed to raise almost $32,000 through Indiegogo—more than enough to cover the $25,000 lawsuit filed by Luigi Girotto, who sued the bar after finding that various aspects weren't ADA compliant: The bar, apparently, was missing the required exterior ramp, lacked accessible seating and was without proper wheelchair access to a downstairs game room. Court papers show that Girotto has sued 27 other businesses for similar failings.
Manitoba, the bar's namesake, is relieved that fans and well-wishers pooled the money to save his 15-year-old watering hole, but would have preferred to simply fix its shortcomings without the hefty lawsuit.
"A more just way—not that the world is just—would be to do what happened with the Health Department. They came a month ago, they made a list of ten things that needed to be fixed, I fixed them, and they came back to check up on me and they gave me an 'A.' And it cost me nothing," he said. "I wish someone could come to the bar and say 'These ten things have to be fixed for this to be ADA compliant,' and I would fix it. But some people in the world rub their hands and see situations, and how they can make out in these situations. And that's what happened."
Manitoba added that he has no qualms with making the necessary adjustments so that everyone, ambulatory and wheelchair-bound alike, can enjoy his bar. But this, he said, was different. "I have zero problems getting everything up to code—I would do it in a week, I would spend the money, no problem," he said. But he said Girotto's lawsuit "came out of nowhere."
"It was like 'Wow, I'm getting screwed," he said. "Oh man, am I getting screwed."
