New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s recent comments have sparked outrage in East New York, where local leaders say he falsely accused a respected Black and Veteran-owned restaurant of “wasting three quarters of a million dollars in taxpayer funds” on Department of Education–approved catering. The business, Fusion East, is now dealing with threats and reputational harm—despite years of providing healthy, affordable meals to more than 100 public schools, many in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The fact is, Fusion East is a ceritfied MWBE vendor, which means schools throiughout NYC go into the DOE vendor system and have the option to order from Fusion East or any of the many food vendors on the list. Schools choose to order food from Fusion East because he serves quality food at great prices. He earned $750k last year from orders from over 100 schools throughout New York City.
A Call for Help Turns Into a Public Attack
Fusion East owner Andrew Walcott says the trouble began when he contacted Lander’s office for help collecting nearly $20,000 in unpaid DOE invoices. Instead of assistance, he was sent back to the DOE and later saw his request turned into a public statement by the NYC Comptroller’s office, that painted his work as wasteful.
“It is angering that a citywide elected official, whose office has championed the need for increased spend between the city and MWBE contractors, who claims to care about our communities, would attack a well-respected local MWBE business with an exaggerated claim of waste, misrepresenting the work of a business with a years-long record of stellar service provision to several NYC agencies,” said Council Member Chris Banks, according to a media release on NYC Newswire. “Fusion East has provided tens of thousands of healthy meals to students, teachers, and first responders… at a cost far below the amounts allowed by Comptroller’s Directive 6 regulations. Comptroller Lander’s framing demonstrates a level of cultural incompetence of the foods our community values, resulting in at least one threat against the business. This is highly irresponsible behavior from a sitting citywide elected official.”
Banks added that the statement has the optics of “appearing racially based.”
Councilman Chris Banks, Assemblywoman Nikki Lucas, Fusion East Owner Andrew Walcott and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce CEO Randy Peers at Press Conference – photo credit: NYC Newswire
Local Leaders See Political Motivation
Assemblywoman Nikki Lucas, who represents the 60th Assembly District, said, “Brad Lander’s misleading statement is disgraceful. It seems to have fueled a racist firestorm that targeted a successful Black-owned business in East New York with hate, lies, and threats. It looks like a calculated attack to destroy Fusion East, a restaurant in my district that’s served good food at fair prices to over 100 schools.”
Lucas continued, “We need to support our local businesses, not make them targets of hate. Fusion East provides jobs and a much-needed dining option for the community. Yet Lander’s statement made it sound like Fusion East earned $750,000 from one school, a claim that’s simply false. This undermines the MWBE program he claims to support and exposes him as a hypocrite… The reality of it all is that you Brad Lander continue to benefit off the pain of Black people.”
She suggested the move may have been politically motivated, aimed at hitting Mayor Eric Adams over “Mayoral oversight” while ignoring the harm to a small business in her district. “A hit on a business in the district is a hit on the people in the district,” Lucas said.
Second Time Lucas Has Called Out Lander
This is the second time in recent weeks that Lucas has publicly criticized the Comptroller. Earlier, she called him out for remarks made on Errol Louis’s NY1 show, where Lander suggested that Mayor Adams might be on the Jeffrey Epstein list. Lander later claimed he was joking, but Lucas said that putting such a statement “in the air” went beyond humor. She now draws a distinction between that incident and the Fusion East controversy, noting that while one was framed as a joke, the other led to a small Black-owned business in her district being targeted — something she says was “obviously not meant as a joke.”
The Bigger Picture: Contract Inequity
While New York City’s budget tops $115 billion, Black-owned businesses receive less than 2% of city contracts. For Lucas and other leaders, this makes it more troubling when one such business achieves success only to be publicly undermined.
“Fusion East is precisely the type of minority and Veteran-owned business we want to elevate, not tear down,” said Randy Peers, President & CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “With their track record of success in delivering for the DOE when asked, along with their continued investments in Brownsville and East New York, Fusion East and its ownership didn’t deserve this negative publicity that only seeks to undermine much of the good they have contributed over the years.”
Hard Work, Not Handouts
Walcott says the attack is especially frustrating because his success is built on personal effort. “I hustle around going to multiple boroughs, sometimes delivering food myself, and it’s frustrating to do all that work and then get criticized for growing. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do in business? No one handed me anything to grow the company—it was all done on hard work, which turns into incoming calls,” he said.
Walcott also revealed that Lander left him a voicemail expressing regret that the restaurant was getting racist hate and threats, claiming his comments were aimed at “lack of Mayoral oversight” rather than wrongdoing by the restaurant. But, Walcott said, “he didn’t go as far as apologizing for the statement itself—it’s hard to have it both ways.”
Calls for an Apology
Lucas is demanding a full apology to Fusion East, its owner, and the East New York community. “This business is a point of pride for our district,” she said. “When you target Fusion East, you target East New York.”
Subscribe to East New York News for updates on housing, new developments, jobs, politics, events, dining and more.
Leave a Reply