BURLINGTON — A dispute between a restaurant owner and a landlord has catalyzed a discussion about diversity and equity in Burlington that spilled into a protest outside the two businesses Tuesday evening.
“We are a diverse community, but there’s not a lot of places to go and eat ethnic food,” said Houda Musanovic, who is from Morocco and one of 30 people who lined up outside the building that houses Little Morocco Cafe and Hinsdale Properties offices on North Winooski Avenue. “We need to have diversity in business.”
With two other protesters, Musanovic held up the Moroccan flag — a green star on red.
Meanwhile, a Development Review Board hearing on a proposed zoning change to turn the space into a bar was deferred at the request of applicant Sam Nelis, Barr Hill Gin’s beverage director, who is exploring the possibility of using that space for a future business.
Nelis did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. On Monday, he told VTDigger he had not known about the rent dispute and was “dismayed” to learn of it.
[Moroccan restaurant owner claims Burlington landlord is pushing him out]
Protesters Tuesday said they came to support a small BIPOC-owned family restaurant that they characterized as pitted against a powerful white landlord who is proposing a dramatic rent increase in an effort to oust a business that has become a part of the Old North End community.
Many protesters held handmade brown placards with slogans in support of the restaurant, which opened its doors in December 2018: “O.N.E. residents say Little Morocco is here to stay,” “Protect minority-owned businesses,” “Hinsdale: Do the right thing.”
The restaurant’s five-year lease for the 1,600-square-foot space ends July 31. Property manager Jacob Hinsdale said Monday that he had proposed increasing the restaurant’s rent from $2,000 — which is about market rate — to $5,000 because of multiple issues with the tenants, ranging from poor communication to code violations over the past few years.
If the restaurant owners wanted to renew, he said, it had to be “at a price that is worth it to me to be putting up with this.”
Restaurant owner Ali Amrani said on Monday he could not afford a 150% hike in rent and would be forced to close by July 31. He said he listed the restaurant for sale after it became clear that Hinsdale did not want him to renew the lease, alleging on the cafe’s website that Hinsdale told him he “did not want the ‘likes of us’ renting his property.”
Hinsdale said Amrani is misrepresenting the comment and that he just wants a good tenant. Neither responded to requests for comment on Tuesday.
A post on the restaurant’s website thanked the community for its support and said, referring to Nelis, “we have absolutely nothing against the prospective new tenant who we believe is just a fellow Vermonter who is trying to do better for himself and the community.”
Standing outside the restaurant, several protesters spoke to racial power dynamics and politics in Burlington and the state.
“Vermont constantly praises itself for including people of color and being diverse and being welcoming … but this is the only Moroccan spot in the whole state, one of the few people-of-color-owned businesses in the whole state, and you’re increasing the rent 150%? That doesn’t sound all that welcoming to me,” said Kiran Waqar, a local resident whose family is from Pakistan and who spoke at the protest.
“This is especially horrible in the middle of Ramadan in a state that claims to love and welcome us,” she said.
Muslims across the world, including Little Morocco Cafe’s owners, are currently observing the holy month, during which they eat and drink only before sunrise and after sunset.
The matter was so important to Waqar and Musanovic that they showed up two hours before breaking fast instead of spending time cooking with their friends and family, Waqar said.
Inside the restaurant, staff were already busy serving dinner at 5:30 p.m. A special table was set up in the middle for those who wanted to break fast with them.
Musanovic is a regular customer at Little Morocco Cafe and said she enjoys the lamb shank tagine.
The rent increase sends a message to residents, especially residents of color who are struggling to survive the current housing crisis, Musanovic said. “If this can happen to restaurants, what’s going to happen to us renters?” she said.
One of the event’s organizers, Julie Macuga, noted that Hinsdale is married to Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast, who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs. Macuga argued that the same principles found in “The Color of Law” — a book on housing policy and segregation that the senator keeps “prominently displayed” in her committee room — should also apply to local businesses.
“We have seen so many people forced out of Burlington by powerful landlords and rent hikes,” Macuga said at the event. “If Hinsdale Properties can raise their rent by 150%, then how long can any of us afford to stay in Burlington?”
Corrections: An earlier version of this story misstated Sam Nelis’ status at Barr Hill Gin. And due to an editing error, it misspelled Julie Macuga’s name.
