Yeah, I'll BET Otto's "Makes Donations To The Village".

Law Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.

John J. Tormey III, PLLC
1578 Third Avenue, PMB 188
New York, New York 10128 USA
(212) 410-4142 (phone)
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
https://www.tormey.org
 
Monday, July 6, 2026
 
VIA FAX: 1-845-364-2628, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
RCDOHAdmin@co.rockland.ny.us
Commissioner Mary P. Leahy
Rockland County Department of Health a/k/a

Rockland County Health Department (RCDOH)
Robert Yeager Health Complex
50 Sanatorium Road, Building D
Pomona, New York 10970 USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-845-364-3777, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
obcmain@co.rockland.ny.us
BuildingsAndCodes@co.rockland.ny.us
Director Ed Markunas
Rockland County Office of Buildings and Codes (OBC)
Robert Yeager Health Complex
50 Sanatorium Road, Building A
Pomona, New York 10970 USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-845-364-8961, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
rcftc@co.rockland.ny.us
Christopher G. Kear, Director
Rockland County Department of Fire and Emergency Services
Fire Training Center
35 Firemen’s Memorial Drive
Pomona, New York 10970 USA
 
Re:      

Otto’s “Full Service” Restaurant

505 Piermont Avenue, Piermont, New York 10968 USA
 
Dear Commissioner Leahy, Director Markunas, and Director Kear:
 
I am writing each of you to ask that your respective offices please carefully examine health and safety concerns regarding the Piermont, New York restaurant known as “Otto’s Full Service” and its apparent proprietor, manager, spokesman, or representative, one David Kaliff.
 
Comments from Mr. Kaliff and local Piermont public officials were put on public record on June 16, 2026 at the Village of Piermont Board of Trustees Meeting (“June 16 Meeting”). I believe these comments will concern each of you. The comments definitely concerned me. Perhaps you are already apprised of these same comments. The full transcript of the June 16 Meeting minutes (“Transcript”) can be found attached and enclosed to this letter, and also here at these electronic links:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2026/07/incorporated-village-of-piermont-board.html
https://www.piermont-ny.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_06162026-113
 
Specifically:
 
Item #3 (“Department Reports”) and Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”) cite a lengthy history of at least a year-and-a-half, regarding the rear of the Otto’s property and access and parking concerns. In the Transcript, you will read how so-called “valet vehicles” of the restaurant’s “valet operations” were repeatedly left to obstruct a sprinkler connection, a fire hydrant, and a fire lane otherwise reserved for ladder truck emergency access. While Item #3 (“Department Reports”) explicitly mentions notification of these alarming problems to a Piermont Village Fire Inspector, to the Piermont Police Department, and to one Phil Griffin, I see no mention therein of any notification of these problems to Rockland County or New York State authorities.
 
Hence this letter.
 
Additionally, colloquy transcribed in Item #3 (“Department Reports”) appears to suggest that fire zone signage in the Village of Piermont is insufficient or defective. It also appears that, for some reason at least through the date of the above-linked June 16 Meeting, Otto’s “valet parking locations” had yet to be moved to allow for the legally-required fire lane and emergency access. Worse yet, it is astounding that for some inane reason, Village of Piermont officials think of themselves as beholden to a private citizen in the form of Mr. Griffin in order to deter vehicles from blocking fire zones. See Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”). It is difficult to imagine a weaker manifestation of local government, than this.
 
You will also please note that Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”) leaves uncertain the extent of Mr. Kaliff’s own responsibility vel non for the parking and fire zone problems at Otto’s. Mr. Kaliff does acknowledge that he purchased the subject property, yet it is unclear whether he may have sold the property since as some social media posts previously indicated. See Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”).
 
In any event, the fact that Mr. Kaliff apologized on the public governmental record, for “the incidents that occurred” over the weekend of what was presumably June 12 through June 14, 2026, does suggest that Mr. Kaliff maintains at least some control and accountability therefor. See Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”). Yet in the self-same June 16 Meeting session before the Piermont Village Board of Trustees, as you will see in the Transcript, Mr. Kaliff proffered the excuse that “the valet company frequently sends different employees” – his lame attempt at justification for why fire lane and emergency access has been repeatedly blocked behind the Otto’s property in clear violation of code and law. See Item #3 (“Department Reports”).
 
In the Transcript, Mr. Kaliff proceeds to indicate that 500 people dined at Otto’s on Mother’s Day, presumably meaning Sunday, May 10, 2026. This statement led Piermont Mayor Nathan Mitchell to rightfully query Mr. Kaliff: (A) regarding the RCDOH-mandated maximum occupancy of 180 at Otto’s including its outdoor seating, and (B) regarding how Otto’s could possibly have approximately 300 seats nevertheless. See Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”).
 
While in response Mr. Kaliff acknowledged on record that “the restaurant cannot legally exceed the Department of Health’s occupancy limit” and that “operating beyond the permitted occupancy would be illegal and could result in enforcement action by the [Rockland County] Department of Health” - the question to each of you is whether these were merely self-serving ipse dixit statements on the part of Mr. Kaliff and therefore Otto’s, intended as summarily exculpatory. 

After all, there is already sufficient evidence in the Transcript alone that the valet parking and fire access problems at Otto’s have occurred on a repeat basis, particularly given Mr. Kaliff’s express apology therein for those multiple incidents, and his admission on record therein that “Sundays present[]… the greatest challenge”. The Transcript also makes it clear that concerns regarding fire access behind the Otto’s property have subsisted for at least one and one-half years – and for whatever it is worth, Google’s AI mode indicates that “Otto's Full Service has provided valet parking since it first opened its doors in July 2022”. See also Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”).
 
Moreover, and the most troubling aspect of the Transcript in my view - there is now at least one Kaliff-uttered insinuation on record, that Mr. Kaliff and Otto’s somehow believe that they can effectively buy themselves out of these serious safety concerns - with money:
 

“Mr. Kaliff also discussed the property tax, stating that he pays approximately $36,000 annually in Village taxes and has made donations to the Village.” 

[Emphasis supplied]. See Item #9 (“Review Parking For Otto’s Restaurant”).

 
The first and most obvious questions here are, how much money in “donations”, “donations” when, “donations” to whom, and “donations” for what stated purpose at the time? Was this cash in an envelope, or was it a documented money-trail? Is Mr. Kaliff suggesting that the silence of the Village on fire code violations has already been well-bought by sufficient price? 

And for that matter, since when did “donations to the Village” constitute any form of substitute for providing for and assuring the health and safety of those human beings who dine at Otto’s – particularly those innocent patrons who might have had no prior knowledge of the manner in which Otto’s “valet parking” has apparently obstructed fire lane and emergency access repeatedly, and therefore repeatedly put previously-unsuspecting Otto’s patrons at risk?
 
The health and safety of restaurant patrons at Otto’s in Piermont, as well as anywhere else, is a grave and solemn responsibility. It’s Mr. Kaliff’s responsibility, by his own acknowledgment in the Transcript. It’s the property owner’s responsibility. It’s Otto’s responsibility. It’s the Village of Piermont’s responsibility. And as far as I am aware, and with all due respect, it’s your responsibility as well, as the senior officials in Rockland County with jurisdiction over the matter in part or in whole.
 
Yet the comments put on public record on June 16, 2026 by Otto’s Mr. Kaliff, and by the public officials in the Village of Piermont, afford no confidence whatsoever that the health, safety, and fire access problems with Otto’s “Full Service” will be properly rectified anytime soon.
 
Accordingly, I am asking each of you to please intercede, provide oversight, and carefully examine the situation - since this problem thusfar appears to be well beyond the candlepower of the individuals in Piermont responsible for fixing it. A mass casualty incident of 500 people, 300 people, or even 180 people, would be a totally unacceptable catastrophe - not to mention totally preventable relative to Otto’s vainglorious and wholly-unnecessary boast of “valet parking”.
 
I am certain that each of you are already well-aware of past health-related problems at Otto’s “Full Service” noted previously:
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/05/ottos-full-service-in-piermont-insects.html
https://unhandpiermont.blogspot.com/2025/05/ottos-out-of-service-piermont-new-york.html
In fact, my next step will be to update my prior FOIL requests seeking all health-related and safety-related records of Otto’s through the present day and publish them, as it is clearly in the interests of all intended restaurant patrons to know about these things in a more comprehensive fashion.
 
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
 
Respectfully submitted,

John J. Tormey III, Esq.