#Jumaane Williams’ old restaurant had money and city troubles, records show

During his days as a restauranteur, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams racked up 11 health violations and more than $10,000 in New York taxes — and still owes the state after nearly a dozen years, public records show.

As Public Advocate, Williams is the city’s No. 2 two elected official, behind only Mayor Bill de Blasio. Many of his progressive and far-left allies are urging him to take a stab at the top job in 2021. And his profile has only grown with the Black Lives Matter protests in New York City, where he has emerged as a movement leader.

But a man who could one day run the city seems to have a hard time with his own fiscal and legal responsibilities.

Williams’ Earth Tonez Cafe in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood opened at the start of 2008 and closed before the end of the year, but the vegetarian place cooked up trouble for much of that time.

During two inspections in 2008, one in January and one in May, inspectors for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found eleven violations — including insects in the kitchen, a missing toilet seat and no valid food service permit, according to department records.

Inspectors slapped the restaurant with a host of sanitary infractions during the first inspection.

“Toilet facility not properly maintained in that employees’/patron unisex toilet facility in rear of establishment was observed with toilet seat absent,” read one violation from January.

“Sewage and liquid waste not carried to sewer or sewage disposal system so as to prevent contamination of the premises,” stated another.

The May inspection found 15 fruit flies buzzing around the food, one of four instances when inspectors found “facility conditions conducive to the existence of pest life,” records show.

When health officials showed up in December for a third inspection, Earth Tonez Cafe was shuttered.

“Like many other small business owners, the Public Advocate experienced challenges when he opened a restaurant more than a decade ago, which he‘s been open about and many New Yorkers can relate to — including these violations which were addressed at the time,” a spokesman for Williams told The Post.

The restaurant had more than $10,000 in state taxes two years ago, according to public records. Today, the amount has dropped to $2,151.03 outstanding, according to a New York Tax Department spokesman.

The public advocate has other money problems. A two-family house he owns in Brooklyn, now in foreclosure, has $1,462.03 in delinquent water and sewer charges, according to public records — a more than $250 increase from when The Post first reported the charges in March.

At the time, Williams told The Post that the bill and other issues with the house would be “resolved in the foreclosure process.”

Williams also hasn’t paid two speeding tickets from 2018 — totaling $150, records show. He has been busted for speeding at least 27 times since 2013.

“Financial profligacy and fiscal irresponsibility are hardly problems for progressive primary voters,” GOP strategist Luke Thompson told The Post.