Is Bloomberg’s Restaurant Grading System an ‘A’ or an ‘F’?

How low would you go…would you dine at a restaurant rated with a “C?”

Starting in 2010, the Bloomberg administration has issued letter grades, “A,” “B” and “C,” to the 24,000 restaurants in New York City.

The Mayor, according to The New York Times, claims the grading system is responsible for reducing salmonella, other infections and also for an upswing in restaurant revenue since the system was installed 19 months ago.

As the grading system has been met with harsh criticism, Bloomberg told The Times that critics are “people that complain because they don’t want to keep their restaurants clean.”

Bloomberg expanded his thoughts:

“They think it’s O.K. to have mice and roaches and dirt and not have people wash their hands before they come back from the bathroom,” the mayor said, his voice rising. “That’s just simply unacceptable, and their complaints are going to fall on deaf ears, I can tell you that. We’re not going to change.” 

Irene LoRe, the executive director of the Park Slope Business Improvement District, is one of the Mayor’s critics.

In a statement she sent to the City Council which is holding a Department of Health oversight meeting on Wednesday, said that the grading system is not good for local restaurants:

“Small businesses with little individual power and not much collective influence are getting the short end of the stick,” LoRe wrote, who believes the system should be changed to a “pass/fail.” 

LoRe believes that the grading is not to help keep restaurants in check, or to ensure patrons are eating in clean, well-light places, but rather that it is a moneymaking scam.

“If I believed for one minute that anything the DOH is doing is related to public health, I would not oppose it. Unfortunately, the only goal seems to be to maintain the DOH as a profit center in the face of mounting deficits,” LoRe wrote to the City Council. “The restaurant industry in NYC is being assaulted by bureaucrats and an untrained army of young inspectors who do not seem to make discretionary judgments, have little common sense and know little about food or its preparation.”

What do you think? Does the letter grading system make for cleaner, healthier restaurants? Or is it just to make money?