Outrage grows around conditions at closed Indianapolis restaurant
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Community members said Tuesday they aren’t done yet with the recently closed Jordan’s restaurant.
A Marion County health inspector suspended the operating license for the restaurant on the northeast side, the Marion County Public Health Department told News 8 on Monday. The department received a complaint Sunday evening about Jordan’s Fish-Chicken-Sandwiches, 4175 N. Post Road. That’s at the southeast corner of 42nd Street and Post Road.
Prior to the shutdown, video was circulating of a mouse walking on the floor around food being prepared. Community members say it’s an example of how low-income communities are often ignored.
The video itself says a lot, but longtime far-east side resident Jamie Gonzalez put her feelings into words: “Unbelievable I don’t know who would do that.”
She says it’s tough to think about what else might be wrong.
Hitting her even harder was knowing the business had multiple violation with the Marion County Public Health Department. “This that we saw. I don’t know how it went on that long.”
Violations outside along with the complaints forced the health department to shut down the restaurant.
LaKeisha Jackson, a Democrat on the Indianapolis City-County Council, told News 8, after the conditions came to light on camera, constituents began coming forward saying they’ve been sick after eating here.
Gonzalez said, “I’m going to be working with Counselor Jackson to get them to not just get this place another slap on the wrist but closed down. Goodbye.”
Jackson said, “These conditions, deplorable. Our children, our community, our babies. Food off the ground as though they were animals.”
The councilor says the community near 42nd and Post has long been considered a food desert. So, access to quality food can be challenging. For families who use Electronic Benefit Transfer support, Jordan’s and places like it help provide a warm meal. Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, is the electronic distribution of benefits to Indiana families who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program.
Jackson said, “If this wasn’t an undeserved area, if this was Carmel or Fishers, somewhere, I have no doubt that they wouldn’t have even tried the foolery that they did and have been doing.”
The community rallying around the issue is a step, but Jackson still can’t shake thought about what areas mothers must be feeling. “The crying of mothers more than anything got me. Oh, to know that you served your babies food off the floor with mice eating out of it, and they were OK with that.”
There’s no word yet in if this restaurant will open again or if the community will be welcoming.
This location is registered to Omar Siedahmed. News 8 on Monday went to his home, but no one answered the door.
