010398 NYC Meatpackers Under Political Assault?March 31, 2001The New York Post - The businessman stood next to the garbage truck like a grieving widower as $500,000 worth of his meat was trashed under the watchful eye of federal investigators. Other businessmen in Manhattan's Meatpacking District looked on like pall bearers. To them, the area is under assault. They swear that the folks with money and political influence want to hasten the slaughter of the market to make room for condos, swanky restaurants and art galleries. They say the final salvo came last week when an elite team of USDA inspectors swooped in to investigate allegations of widespread corruption in the area's meat-inspection program. They shut down Plymouth Beef on West 14th Street, along with two other wholesalers the U.S. Department of Agriculture wouldn't identify. The media then unfairly associated the crackdown with mad cow and foot-and- mouth diseases, an issue that has no relevance to the market because the USDA inspectors check for unsanitary conditions and proper handling of animal parts. The two diseases have to be detected before meat reaches the Manhattan market. "I think there is something political going on," said one 41-year-old market owner. They might just be paranoid, but it's easy to see why they're worried. Plymouth was the last surviving meat market north of 14th Street between Ninth Avenue and West Street. Plymouth's new neighbors are the Lotus nightclub, an art gallery and a high-fashion clothing store called Jeffrey, where a T-shirt costs 185 bucks. The USDA says only that Plymouth was forced to throw out its inventory because of "unsanitary conditions," but some say the inspection team allegedly found rodent droppings next to a box of frozen meat. Market workers said they try their best to keep rodents out, but nearby construction keeps disturbing the nests and the critters scramble to the meat markets. The Manhattan inspectors, workers say, are a rotating team of 20 who have office space in each market, are constantly conducting spot inspections and sometimes order a business to destroy a full pallet of boxed meats because one box was invaded by a rodent. "We've always heard about corruption for years," said one longtime market worker operating a forklift. "You see that place Plymouth, we knew something was going on in there because every time I went in there you could see the dirt. Some inspectors are aggressive; others are laid back." Lenny, a man identified as Plymouth's owner, refused to talk. The company has just finished building a new facility at the Hunts Point Market in The Bronx and was planning to move anyway because its Manhattan landlord didn't want to renew the lease. Joe Nemecek was offered a new lease but his rent jumped from $10,000 a month to $10,000 a week at his store on Washington Street. The new landlord is renovating the building to make way for offices and lofts. "[The landlord] didn't want my kind of people," said Nemecek, who now operates out of another market. One new tenant in the area, a 32-year-old graphic artist who wanted to be called Tom, said he's happy to see Plymouth leave. He complained about the dirt, the grime-filled puddles and the chunks of meat and animal fat that get stuck inside the treads of his customers' shoes. "The smell of discarded carcasses is not too appealing to my clients," he said. Jo Hamilton doesn't mind new tenants like Tom, as long as their coming doesn't change the character of the Meatpacking District. She's a member of a grass-roots campaign called "Save Gansevoort Market" has initiated a drive to declare the area a historic district. "It's a piece of New York industrial history," she said. And from the looks of things, history is what it's about to become.
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