Last Sunday, as the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks were winning their respective division championships to score a spot in the Super Bowl XLIX game (February1, 2015), there was a war of the off-turf sort about to start at 2031 Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors, home to Sidelines Sports & Video Bar.
As you can imagine, when the AFC and NFL Championship games are airing, it’s a big day for a sports bar—one of the biggest of the year. Little did Jen Mojica realize when she showed up just after noon that she was about to enter a combat zone. Those in the know will remember that Jen is the longtime wife of Laurie Whittaker, Sidelines owner. With Laurie in bed with the flu, it was Jen who got the short straw to cover the business, and keep the patrons happy.
At 12:30 p.m., customers were already staking out their stools for a good seat to watch the contests. But, they were hardly the only ones at the scene. As Jen tells it, “our landlord and property owner, Anthony De Reggi (known as Tony Dee), decided it prudent during this time to have two workers there to scrape off the black marks that appeared on the sidewalks in front of our building (as well as the adjacent building, of which he recently purchased).
“The two workers utilized two electric generators, parked them in the alleyway between the two buildings and ran electrical cords from the front of this area to the back alley.” This is the area that Sidelines uses as its smoking patio. Jen thought that the cords posed a safety hazard, to say nothing of the racket that the generators were making behind the bar.
“Because of the noise factor, several customers left the area because they weren’t able to enjoy their time there,” Jen continued. “Now, we are aware that this is a civil matter and are taking strides to address & adjudicate these issues. But, we felt it important to document the incident to show yet another form of “tortuous interference” of our business, and another form of “harassment” by Tony Dee.”
This isn’t the first time that TD and LW have gone to the mat over landlord issues. According to Jen, Tony Dee took it upon himself to move planters in this smoking area that Laurie had positioned to act as a sound barrier for her long-suffering neighbor behind the business.
“This has been reported and documented by Officers Cox (case #43-1501-000761) and Ramirez, who also called in the Code Enforcement Officer on duty, J. Wolf,” Jen added. “Mr. Wolf advised us that there was nothing he could do.”
Fortunately for Sidelines on playoff day, the workers hired by the landlord agreed that they would stop their sidewalk cleanup at 3 pm, just as the games were commencing.
Jen sent a email, obtained by the Agenda, concerning the disruption to Wilton Manors Mayor Gary Resnick and Vice-Mayor Tom Green, as well as City Commissioners Julie Carson, Scott Newton plus Police Chief Paul O’Connell.
“Ladies & Gentlemen,” Jen wrote, “I did not spend this morning writing this email to expect you to ‘do’ anything, I simply wanted you to know what occurred and if possible, help us in the future.
“We are not aware of Mr. Dee’s ‘agenda’ here, but our customers strongly feel that there is one. We do not believe it is one of money, as he seems to have enough money, but maybe he wants to be the ‘Mayor of Wilton Drive,’ ‘Captain of Industry,’ who knows?”
The next voice you’ll hear from is Tony Dee….Until next week….
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