Dunlop: everything other than the fire suppression and makeup air, everything else are
things we can and will take care of. The structure and the crack that is on Bayard. The
sidewalk is pitched toward my building, which causes water to go under my building
and the back part with the kitchen is an addition on a slab. The other part has a
basement. We have called the City numerous times to fix the sidewalk. As soon as I
saw the crack in the building I saw it. It was winter and they said there was nothing
they could do until the snow is gone. Joan made these calls. They had to take care of
potholes until the sidewalk is corrected, that’s what they said when we called again this
spring. I don’t want to fix anything until the cause of it is fixed.
The first picture I dropped off is taken from the service station into my kitchen. I have
three induction burners on the far wall and one to the left when you walk in the kitchen.
When we bought 12 years ago we painted the ceiling. Two different paints were used, it
is kind of white, so what looks like grease build up is the paint age differing. I’m not
saying there is no grease, it isn’t as bad as it looks. Where the induction burners are
is where it is white. As we talked in 2016, there is no open flame. The hottest it ever
gets above the oven, in that hood area, is 150 degrees. It is about six feet of space. I
think this is made into a much bigger—there are better things we could be spending
our time on. I included a copy of our menu. We have a course menu. We bake the
bread in the oven. The only other thing in the oven is a filet, rack of lamb, and a fish.
We also have a copy of our reports. We feed 30 people a day. We don’t have huge
volumes of food. I get we’re the only restaurant in St. Paul with this system and you
want everyone on the same page, but you’re asking me to spend $102,000 that I just
don’t have. That is the quote I received.
Moermond: I’m struggling with the paint situation. I can see where the inspector is
coming from. I hear what you are saying. It makes sense both ways.
Dunlop: I can do a new ceiling, but I can’t do that until the building gets fixed, and I
can’t fix the building until that sidewalk gets fixed. One thing that strikes me is that it
is a suspended ceiling. Could you do new tiles?
Dunlop: I could, but the framework is original and it is rusty. I could, it would be
temporary. When we called our contractor in February we had Niagara Falls coming in.
Where the building is sinking, that’s where the rubber was coming away from the side
of the building, where it was leaking. He thought he pulled a permit; he charged us for
it. Part of the problem is she sidewalk, we need to get that shored up.
Moermond: I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t see any photos of the sidewalk.
Dunlop: Laura took photos of the sidewalk when she was there.
Moermond: she did? I’ll look more carefully. Oh yes, I see that.
Dunlop: you can see where it pitches down. It is on a slab.
Moermond: it does look like some temporary fix will need to be put in there and maybe
a temporary fix if we can’t get a new tile put in there. I understand the Public Works
piece. You have a request in with them.
Dunlop: since February we’ve been asking. No one has even been to look at it.
Moermond: and you have an engineer?
Dunlop: no engineer. I’ve been trying to find someone. I’ve reached out but no one will
inspect and say what they think. They want a description of the work to be done but I
don’t know what that work is. As far as the fire extinguishers, they’re done. The hood
cleaning is being done tonight. I had a hard time finding someone to do that too.
Moermond: I need to find out more from Public Works to find out their schedule to put
