Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Doors at the New Deal Café are locked, table and chairs have been taken inside and food sits rotting in a quiet kitchen in Greenbelt.
The co-op café, located in Roosevelt Center, was closed May 13 by its board members, after months of contractual negotiations continued to stagnate between the board and the café's manager Abdul Karim Kmaiha, board member Bill Wilkerson said in an e-mail.
Advised by an attorney to close the Lebanese restaurant, Wilkerson said the issue was "primarily financial" and hoped the matter would be resolved quickly. Kmaiha could not be reached for comment.
New Deal café members, who pay $50 a year to be part of the co-op, were stunned by the news and found out through e-mails, or e-mail messages. Some didn't learn about the café's closure until they found the doors locked.
On May 21, a group of more than 30 residents, former employees, volunteers and musicians met outside the restaurant, with one goal in mind: the re-opening of the café.
"Keeping these doors locked is not making us any money," said member Peggy Barott, of Berwyn Heights, at the meeting.
A petition was drafted that would establish a no-confidence vote in the current board, call for board members' resignation and the installation of a temporary board to oversee the café, which would open immediately if the board was overthrown, members said.
The petition, which will require 20 signatures from dues-paying members, will be posted on the front door of meeting organizer Laura Holman's home at 16B Crescent Road, since other petitions and notices taped to the café's front door have been torn down.
City Councilman Konrad Herling said May 18 that he was disappointed contractual differences were not able to be resolved.
"A vibrant, well-run café business is essential to the well being of the Roosevelt Center, still operating without an occupant for the former post office space," Herling said.
The café was closed for three months in spring 2008 for the addition of a new kitchen, funded by Kmaiha. The renovation helped revive the café, which nearly closed in September 2007, due to mounting loan debts.
Former café employee Deborah Taylor remembers a time before the café had a kitchen. Taylor, a chef for the restaurant from June 2000 to February 2008, cooked food at a rented satellite kitchen and would walk it over to the café.
In January, Kmaiha reported stagnating sales and said he had seen a 25 to 20 percent drop in business since September. However, it seemed the café was turning things around. In April, the café housed 53 performances, such as jazz bands, solo singers and even belly dancers, up from just 10 performances in April 2008.
Greenbelt Mayor Judith F. Davis said she has been to the café many times for dining and group activities.
"The closing of the New Deal Cafe is disturbing to all citizens of Greenbelt as it has been a valuable asset to our Roosevelt Center," she said. "It is hoped that the contractual disagreement is resolved soon by the membership, Board of Directors and restaurant manager of the New Deal Café."
