Fran's Countdown

Some interesting intel from Andi, who spent last Friday night at Fran's:

I also met Ramona Joyce, an Army veteran and volunteer who is intimately familiar with the goings on at Fran O'Brien's. She and I had a long chat and I enjoyed talking to her. On this evening, she was more than perturbed with Brian Kelleher. According to Ramona, while the cameras were rolling, Brian Kelleher greeted the troops. So what? Well, she says that it was the first time that he's ever done that. She's not the only one with that complaint. Larry Gill, a wounded OIF veteran and friend of Hal and Marty, tells us to stay tuned to CBS tonight for more. This should be interesting.

Update: The comment she was referencing came from Larry Gill

Well, To let you all know: I had an email from Hal saying he and Marty were scheduled to have another meeting with their lawyers and with the Hilton. I also know everyone who has come to bear attention to this matter has done some good. About 10 minutes ago, on the CBS evening news, they showed a news clip of my fellow wounded soldiers while at one of the Friday night dinners. The CBS clip said, " These are not your everyday customers, But the participants may be losing this....." "Tune in Monday and we'll tell you why." I am anxious to see this. Please pass the word to everyone, and if anyone reading this has connections with CBS, tell them thanks for helping.

CBS could do a hell of a story if they wanted.

Among the many groups supporting Fran's is the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Buzz Patterson sent the link to their latest:

Thank you for the literally thousands of e-mails generated to the management of the Hilton Hotels Corporation on behalf of Fran O’Brien’s Stadium Steakhouse and the troops. You were so effective that they closed the e-mail addresses we published. You can still reach them through the Hilton Honors website - hhonors@hilton.com

In the meantime, Hilton has been hitting the “Reply” button. Some of you received a note that comes partially from a message posted on the Hilton website - “For strictly business reasons related solely to the inability to reach a new lease agreement, the Capital Hilton has elected to terminate the lease with the operator of Fran O’Brien’s restaurant at the hotel. This decision was not at all related to the Friday night dinners for disabled veterans but rather a result of lease negotiations that failed.”

This requires illumination. As we pointed out, the restaurant is not ADA compliant. JINSA talked to (for now anonymous) management at the Capital Hilton (not the corporate people in Los Angeles, but in the actual building). The manager said, “The (wheelchair) lift is in the 2007 budget. We’ve taken three bids for the elevator.” Since Fran O’Brien’s lease was up in 2005, any agreement they could have reached would have required the restaurant to agree that the elevator not be installed for a minimum of 12 months.

The lawyers among us please enlighten us, but our understanding is that since ADA was passed during the span of the previous lease it didn’t require immediate repairs, but a new lease would have kicked in the upgrade. A “negotiation” predicated on the owners agreeing to maintain a dangerous, and perhaps illegal, situation is a) not serious and b) bound to fail. “We compromised on just about everything else, but we said, ‘You have to do the lift,” owner Hal Koster told a journalist. It seems, then, that Hilton decided to terminate the lease, leave the building empty until 2007 and then find another tenant.

The Hilton’s missive also said, “The hotel offered to host and sponsor the May 5, 2006 dinner and expressed interest in working closely with the veterans to continue the Friday night tradition.” Illumination: The original message on the Hilton’s website said, “sponsor,” and they had talked about letting the soldiers use an upstairs room for a price. Only after we pointed out that there are already “sponsors” that pay for the dinners - including a great many of you - did Hilton add the word “host” as in “pay for.” And only once. And “working closely with the veterans” doesn’t mean much; the veterans are guests of the restaurant, not the organizers of the event.

Fran O’Brien’s isn’t about food and Hilton doesn’t get it. Italian Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta gets it. As many of you know, the Finmeccanica companies of Italy and North America have been among Fran O’Brien’s most important sponsors. The Ambassador has offered his Embassy and his personal chef. Talk about good allies and good friends!

Hal and Marty have ensured that the soldier dinners will continue even if the venue changes - but there is still (limited) time for the Hilton to do the right thing.

Dear Fort Hood area Hilton Family managers,

Fran O'Brien's is a steak restaraunt that has hosted steak dinners for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for years, at the owners' expense. It is losing its lease from the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C. The Hilton Corporation's spokesperson, Lisa Cole, explains that it is purely for business reasons, as upgrading the restaraunt's ADA compliance would be too expensive.

Fran O'Brien's is famous throughout the military community for its impact on the recovery of our wounded service members. Further details are available at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401572.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/15/iraq/main1501137.shtml
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060420-085600-3103r.htm

Please review any or all of these sources. The Hilton Corporation's business decision is receiving national attention, with national consequences. Fran O'Brien's has thrived for over ten years at its current location, and performs an invaluable and unique service for our veterans who have paid a high price for their service to our country.

I will be working with other veterans in our area to publicize the Hilton Corporation's decision and their lip service to community support. I hope that you will agree that this will be a problem for you in the Fort Hood community, and you are welcome to bring it to the attention of your corporate headquarters. Military members, contractors and veterans visiting the Fort Hood area have a choice about where to spend their lodging dollars.

Peyton Randolph
Gulf War Veteran, U.S. Army

The Philadelphia Inquirer weighed in over the weekend

This was all dreamed up by Jim Mayer, Vietnam vet, Department of Veterans Affairs employee, and Walter Reed volunteer. In fact, Mayer is Milkshake Man. He asked fellow Vietnam vet Hal Koster and Marty O'Brien, co-owners of O'Brien's, to offer the dinners. No problem.

Koster and O'Brien originally picked up the tab, but then others - the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Wal-Mart, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the Italian company Finmeccanica Inc. among them - wanted to contribute. Donations are now handled by the Aleethia Foundation (www.aleethia.org), which pays for more than meals - say, if a family member needs airfare to D.C.

All this is related matter-of- factly by Koster, though frequently punctuated by the word wonderful. He uses it mostly for the troops, but also for the volunteers, the doctors, the rehab specialists. Even the Defense Department VIPs who regularly show up on Friday and run interference on transition and bureaucracy issues.

In the same steady tones, Koster says this Friday will be last call for O'Brien's. The owners and the Hilton couldn't come to terms on a new lease. Koster was insisting on an elevator. "The troops never complain about it," Koster said. "But I'm embarrassed to run them through the coatroom to the service elevator. They deserve better."

Hilton is getting an earful from O'Brien's supporters who see the closing as a slap at the troops. Hilton (http:go.philly.com/hilton) says this is a business decision unrelated to the Friday-night dinners. It's a dumb decision. (You can tell them so at 310-205-4656.)