Lady Gaga’s dad Joe Germanotta is rallying his neighbors to take on “unruly migrants” living near both his restaurant and home in Upper West Side, New York.
The 66-year-old says they are flooding his ritzy neighbourhood and even bring hookers and other bad behaviour into the area. It comes after the Stratford Arms Hotel, a residential hall for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, down the block from his home was transformed into a shelter for hundreds of migrants.
Germanotta is now compiling a dossier of local residents’ concerns about behaviour stemming from the building. He then plans to take it to the NYPD and other law makers.
The businessman has lived in The Pythian building on West 70th Street for 35 years, it is where he raised his daughters Stefani – best known as Lady Gaga – and Natali. He opened a restaurant in the area in 2012, reports the New York Post.
Germanotta said: “If it was like this when my girls were growing up, I wouldn’t be living in New York
“There’s now 500 migrants living in that dormitory. That’s when all the mayhem began.
Since the transformation, Germanotta says life in the local area has taken a hit, with impromptu block parties lasting into the early hours of the morning, prostitutes in the area, and girls as young as 14 being catcalled.
And residents in the building, of which he is board president, along with three other addresses, are now calling on police to do more to monitor the hotel.
Germanotta continued: “The worst part’s at night. The noise. It starts at about 10 o’clock, and it’ll go until 4 in the morning. Playing music and racing their motocross and motorbikes up and down the streets.
“I don’t mind having them there. They’re gonna be there for three years. That was the contract, I understand.
But at least manage it. Put the proper security in place, have a police presence and a code of conduct. They’re guests in our neighborhood, and they have basically taken over.”
He says the sidewalks were previously clean. But over the past few weeks says he has noticed an increase in needles lying on the floor.
The popstar’s father also says he has met officials from New York City Health + Hospitals Corporation [HHC]. He now wants to meet New York Mayor Eric Adams’ advisor and the Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.
The restauranteur criticised Adams for his way of handling the migrant crisis. “In my opinion, you should have just suspended “sanctuary city” status until we had enough housing and then said, ‘Yeah, OK, you can send some more,’” he said.
“It’s a joke. Why doesn’t he get one of the cruise ships? The cruise ships hold more people, and it’s a more controlled environment.
“The city is spending a tremendous amount of money that could be spent towards building affordable housing.”
Germanotta says West Side Councilwoman Gale Brewer has now arranged for the NYPD to police the area 24/7. He says she has also helped confiscate e-scooters that were being misued.
City Hall officials have not yet commented publicly on Germanotta’s claims.
