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Anthony Weiner Cooking Up Way To Give Back To Rockaways

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Anthony Weiner is cooking up a new way to give back to the Rockaways.

Anthony Weiner Cooking Up Way To Give Back To Rockaways

A published report Thursday said former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is planning to open a restaurant in the Rockaways.

Weiner's name was also listed as one of the principals for the Rockaway Restoration Kitchen, described on Idealist.org as a "social entrepreneurship that operates a healthy, sustainable restaurant in a hard luck community to provide training, on-the-job apprenticeship and placement in the culinary and food service sector for unemployed New Yorkers."

Weiner says the restaurant project is in its very early stages and intends the eatery to have a nutritious menu, be locally-sourced and provide a training ground for locals to make them more employable, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.

"On the Rockaway Peninsula, it really is something of a food desert there. There are a lot of fast food places, a lot of Chinese take-away restaurants, but not a lot of choices when it comes to good, nutritious food that's sustainable, locally-sourced, the kind of food that we might take for granted," said Weiner.

Weiner represented the Rockaways in Congress and said he might not have been elected if not for their votes.

"I really want to see if we can give something back," Weiner said.

But Weiner cautions starting a restaurant and a non-profit are both difficult and says this is a long way off.

Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011, after he acknowledged sending lewd Twitter photos to women. He returned to the political spotlight last year when he launched a mayoral run, but a new round of sexting revelations caused him to collapse in the polls.

He ultimately lost the primary to now-Mayor Bill de Blasio in September.

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