VineRipe Grill Oust: Brookline Residents Push Back

BROOKLINE, MA — The message Thursday night for the commission that voted to bring a new restaurant to the Robert T Lynch Municipal Golf Course, rather than keep the one that's been there for the past 13 years was clear: Reverse course, and let the VineRipe Grill stay another year.

The hearing came after outcry following the sudden news of the grill's ousting last week.

People, including owner Lisa Wisel, were upset that not only did the Parks and Recreation Commission overlook VineRipe Grill in its bid to stay in its town-owned spot for another year, but the commission had not told the owner when a vote would take place, that it was planning to recommend another vendor for the space, or even thank her for her service to the town and let her know the result of the vote.

"This was short-sighted," said Jen Goldsmith, echoing the sentiments of a number of others who supported the grill.

Goldsmith, a town meeting member, was among the more than two dozen people —including president of the board of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce Leise Jones, the founder of the Brookline Teen Center Paul Epstein, and Philip Sandler the former head of the Rotary Club— who logged online and spoke in the grill's favor.

"Lisa and her family, who have toiled so hard and added so much to our community, they have earned and deserved a fair hearing," Epstein said.

Speakers lamented the commission's vote and expressed disappointment and confusion about the process that lead to ousting the popular woman-owned restaurant amid a pandemic, and then the handling of it afterward.

"I’m appalled at the process," Luisa Raposo said, I just can’t see why it’s the best thing you can do for Brookline to get rid of the VineRipe Grill," pointing out that it was a woman-owned business.

The Zoom meeting could only hold 100 attendees, and commission members said they were getting calls about dozens of people who couldn't get into the meeting.

To a person, speakers sang the praises of VineRipe Grill owner Lisa Wisel and her husband Danny, noting their civic-mindedness, commitment to the community, yearly gift of Thanksgiving dinners to those in need, in addition to the restaurant's food and service.

"Lisa is really the type of business partner we should be recruiting not removing," said Richard Segan.

Town Meeting Member Scott Gladstone agreed.

"It’s the town golf course, and we love it," he said and lamented the commission's decision "to go with a white, male out-of-towner without considering [what that looked like]."

Because it's a municipal property, when the rental contract ends, they must compete in a public bidding process to get selected again to stay. David Geanakakis, who oversees the bidding process for the town, said the town first asked for submissions for request for bids that would be advantageous to the town, but when they didn't get any, they moved to the truncated process, which the law allows.

Geanakakis said neither he, nor his office, has notified the successful vendor.

"But I anticipate it will happen shortly," he said.

The contract, which a five-person committee within the commission recommended before the commission voted, will be sent to the Select Board before it's officially awarded.

But Wisel said the Select Board is just a "rubber stamp" for the process, which she described as flawed from the beginning.

She had been asked by golf course leadership during their weekly meetings last year to implement a golf course employee discount, in addition to a 50 percent discount she gave to five employees in leadership roles.

She declined to do so amid the pandemic, she said, "fighting for my financial life," like many restaurants and businesses, and asked for that topic to be taken off the agenda. Later, she saw that the employee discounts across the board was made a requirement for the new contract. She called the move "vindictive."

Beyond that, Wisel said she was not aware of any issues or complaints about her food, service or anything else related to her business in the past 13 years. Business, she said, was increasing, as was outside recognition.

"This process has put enormous stress, anxiety and uncertainty to my livelihood. Having survived the pandemic," she said, "I never imagined the park and rec commission would be my undoing."

Wisel raised a number of questions about the process that lead to the approval of the Cambridge man's proposal that she wanted to see addressed, including questions on the timing and how they made the decision.

"The golf course has failed us, the Town of Brookline has failed us," she said getting choked up as she finished. "The procurement department has failed us and the Park and Rec department has failed us."

What else supporters said:

• "The golf course is an amenity for the town and comes up every year at the budget at town meeting," said Scott Gladstone a precinct 16 town meeting member. "The town meeting will have something to say if they think the resource is not being managed according to our values."
• "She’s been here for 13 years doing this job, doing it great, and all of a sudden we hear that she might not be doing it anymore, it was just shocking," said Bob Weintraub who is a town meeting member and the former head of Brookline high school.
• "When I first heard about this decision I was both disappointed and outraged, at a time when the Federal government is trying to support restaurants going through the worst year, our town is essentially [tossing out] a local, woman-owned business," Joe Bergantino a 36-year resident of Brookline said. "What were you thinking, why would you do this? This is not just a vendor at a golf course. Danny and Lisa have both done so much for Brookline. It’s like kicking someone when they are really down."
• “13 years of generosity is worth something,” said Gil Hoy, Town Meeting Member from precinct 13, former Select Board member, and former advisory committee member.
• "As a concerned citizen, and more importantly a concerned golfer, I would ask this commission please don’t fix something that isn’t broken," Ben Duggan said.

Previously: New Details About VineRipe Grill Oust: Brookline Sets Meeting