At
UN,
Privatized
White Tents
&
Stonewall on
Money, FDR and
Cafe Paranoia
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 28, updated
-- Weeks after
the UN closed
down its
cafeteria
and Delegates
Dining Room in
December 2011,
a series of
white tents
appeared
behind the
Temporary
North Lawn
building,
facing the
East
River. Nothing
was announced;
sources told
Inner City
Press the
tents
cost $170,000
and were for a
single gala
event by the
non-profit
CERES group.
But
then
the tents did
not come down.
Sources said
there was
consideration
of keeping the
tents up for
longer, to
host the
events
that used to
be in the
Delegates
Dining Room,
like
Venezuela's
celebration of
Hugo Chavez
Frias.
Having
been invited
to an event
"At the UN
Delegates
Dining Room,
East River
Tent,"
Inner City
Press decided
to ask the UN
spokespeople
these
questions:
"Please
provide
a) a list of
all the events
which have
taken place in
the
large tents on
the North
Lawn, b) who
authorized
such events,
c) how
much money
changed hands
for the
privilege of
holding events
on the
North Lawn,
and d) who
received such
monies."
This
answer
arrived, on
the day before
the evening
event:
"The
tents
on the North
Lawn Building
are a
commercial
space at the
United
Nations that
are available
to internal
and external
groups, just
like
the Delegates
Dinning Room
was
previously.
The tents are
managed by
Aramark.
Please refer
your questions
to Aramark."
Does
Aramark
pay rent, to
erect its
tents on the
UN grounds?
While the UN
spokespeople
don't say,
another source
said that
after CERES
paid for
the initially
construction,
"Aramark paid
to improve the
tents."
But for how
long?
One
close
observer
responded,
"the
implication
from the
non-answer
is that
Aramark gets
to keep all
the money it
charges for
events held
in those
tents. In this
period of
fiscal
austerity, is
Angela
Kane's
Department of
Management
allowing
Aramark to
fleece the UN
by
keeping all
revenue from
events that
take place at
the UN? It
could
be hundreds of
thousands of
dollars that
the UN is
giving away.
Where is that
money going?
Not to the
dozens of
Aramark
employees who
were laid
off."
Update:
click
here for
Inner City
Press on Feb
28 tent use.
Inner
City
Press also
asked the UN
spokespeople:
"please
state
when the UN
Cafeteria will
re-open, and
the status of
the
Capital Master
Plan and the
South Annex,
including as
regards the
Tax
Equalization
Fund monies."
This
question
drew the
following
answer:
"As
stated
in the note to
correspondents
we issued on
December 16,
2011:
'Beginning 26
December 2011,
the
Secretariat
Lobby will
undergo
renovation as
part of the
United Nations
Secretariat
Capital Master
Plan. As a
result of
these
renovations,
the entrance
to the Main
Cafeteria will
become
inaccessible.
Consequently,
the operations
of
the Cafeteria
will be
suspended from
26 December
2011 until 30
June
2012.'"
Aramark
laid
off many of
its workers at
the UN back in
December; now
they are
essential
sharing the
remaining work
in the UN
Coffee Shop
and Vienna
Cafe. Some of
them say
they've been
told the
cafeteria will
re-open
in April. But
the UN
Spokespeople
maintain it's
June 30, 2012.
Tents behind
the UN's North
Lawn building,
(c) MRLee
A
more senior UN
official tells
Inner City
Press the
reason the
South
Annex
building,
which holds
not only the
cafeteria but
also the
current
spokesperson's
office, is
being
re-evaluated
for safety, in
light of the
traffic ramp
off the FDR
Drive which
runs beside
it. If
the ramp is
not closed,
the official
said, the
South Annex
might not
be fixed -- or
remain
occupied.
Watch this
site.
, 
