NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — Frustrated with crime and quality of life in New York City, third generation Junior’s Restaurant owner Alan Rosen wants to apply his business acumen to a bigger project: Running the most populous city in the country.
A famed NYC eatery, Junior’s Restaurant has been specializing in cheesecake since Harry Rosen opened the doors at its original Downtown Brooklyn location in 1950. To Rosen, it seems that the family-fueled hospitality behind Junior’s would get him far in City Hall.
“My business experience and my philosophy on my business would make me the hospitality mayor, the mayor for all New Yorkers,” Rosen, 55, told 1010 WINS.
The restaurant owner confirmed that he has set his sights on a mayoral run—but only if New Yorkers express interest in his candidacy, and if he has a solid chance of winning.
“I’m certainly interested in running. What I was looking to do is gauge public support for my candidacy for the mayor of New York City,” Rosen said. “This doesn’t happen in a vacuum, I want to be smart and pragmatic about this, and if the people of New York would want me to run, I could be persuaded.”
Rosen told 1010 WINS that he considers himself a moderate Republican, someone who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal. But since his political aspirations do not extend past a potential mayoral bid, he said that he “would make the right decision for all New Yorkers every day.”
The main issues motivating Rosen’s run are public safety and quality of life, and he said that he would support measures like increased police funding.
“Those streets are not as safe as they once were. The city doesn’t feel as clean, doesn’t feel as safe, it doesn’t feel as hospitable, and that’s the fact,” Rosen said. “So I think you have to recognize there’s a problem, and you have to go after it and fix it. That’s how you run a business, that's how you run a city.”
While Rosen said that he has “no issues with Eric Adams,” he thinks that the handling of certain situations, like the migrant crisis and homelessness, by the current mayor are not up to standard.
“I think the use of hotels, you know, for migrants, is not the highest and best use of our real estate,” Rosen said. “I think that the way we deal with homelessness, in this city is not being handled in a way that I saw in the past under Mayor Bloomberg, for example.”
The New York Post reported that Rosen met with campaign strategist Hank Sheinkopf, Bill Cunningham and Mitchell Moss, who served as political advisors to Bloomberg, former three-term mayor.
While running with the Republican party may be a challenge in historically blue New York City, Rosen is hopeful that should he be on the ballot, he will be surrounded by experienced strategists.
“I'm no politician, but I'm hoping people who understand how to run government and run organizations and raise funds will get in touch with me and decide that this is a path we want to take together, and we will make a concerted effort to run for mayor of New York City,” Rosen told 1010 WINS.
Ginny Keenan contributed to this report.