Tag: liquor licenses

Bushwick Bars Given Midnight Curfew on Sundays by Community Board

Suddenly, CB4 in Bushwick seems to going through a lot of the growing pains that CB1 went through 10 years ago or more. Around that time, CB1 tried to institute a moratorium on all new liquor licenses in the Northside (yes, nightlife was once primarily restricted to the Northside). That had no effect, and it is pretty much guaranteed that Sunday curfews will have the same effect.

If CB4 wants to control hours or other aspects of operations, they need to negotiate those restrictions with new licensees and get those restrictions into the methods of operation of the liquor licenses. Just say no doesn’t work with SLA.

[via Wyckoff Heights]

Beer Here – September Liquor License Applications

08/29/2012 | Comment

Community Board #1 – new liquor license applications


The above is a map of the 34 new applications for liquor licenses that are on the agenda for Community Board 1 at its September 12th public hearing (click on the dots to find out the information on each application). This month’s agenda has 98 liquor license applications in total, including renewals, license changes, etc. – a particularly large number because the board hasn’t met since June (actually, the number of new licenses is not that large, considering it covers three months of applications – perhaps we have reached the alcohol saturation point?).1

1 I put this together mainly as a way to play with CartoDB (the pop-ups work a bit better if you go directly to the CartoDB map, rather than trying to click around in the portal above); all of the information is from the CB1 agenda for the September meeting – errors or inaccuracies may be my fault, may be their fault or may be the fault of the various filters and encoders the data had to go through to get this map. In other words, trust, but verify (as soon as CB1 posts the September agenda).

Also, if you are looking at a world map (rather than one of Williamsburg and Greenpoint), you’ll have to zoom in manually. Some browsers (Safari, e.g.) seem to do it automatically, others (pretty much anything else I’ve tested), not so much. Sorry.Problem seems to be solved – must have been something with CartoDB.↩

The War on Brunch

It seems that many local restaurants are flouting laws prohibiting brunch operation of sidewalk cafes before noon on Sunday, and that has some people in the community calling for a crackdown.

This is bulls—, it’s not good,” said Lokal owner Gino Kutluca

What he said.

It Is Still Safe to Drink in Williamsburg

05/06/2011 | Comment

CB1’s Public Safety Committee held a very long meeting tonight, which ended with a discussion of the “moratorium” (apparently it started with that too, but I missed the opening hour). CB1 Chairman Chris Olechowski presented some recommendations from the Board’s Executive Committee that were based on guidelines used by CB3 in Manhattan. They were, for the most part, pretty common sensical – using the 500′ rule more, not approving rear yard uses in residential districts, limiting approvals on residential streets. It’s not clear how those rules would fit into the reality of CB1, but the Committee agreed that they were worth further study.

And so, no moratorium (this month).

Backlash Against Bars

04/19/2011 | Comment

After linking to Greg Hanlon’s piece on liquor license moratoriums last night, I came across a very similar piece by Sumathi Reddy in today’s Wall Street Journal (via Brownstoner).

Both Reddy and Hanlon do an excellent job of highlighting the futility of actions like the proposed liquor license moratorium. Past experience at CB1 in Brooklyn (years ago) and CB3 in the East Village (much more recently) shows that moratoriums have no effect.

For those that think that there are too many bars, the SLA is not the answer. As an SLA rep told Hanlon, “the general presumption of this agency is that it’s going to be approved unless there’s a reason not to approve it.”

For those (like myself) who believe that we need to do more to rein in problem establishments, the SLA is only part of the answer. Stopping problem places before they happen (and they are usually pretty easy to spot) requires a lot of proactive work on the part of the Community Board. Making the case against specific applications or specific locations. Following up with state and local electeds, City agencies and the SLA. Going to hearings. Addressing problem places after the fact requires a lot more of the same, and ultimately, getting local agencies such as NYPD, NYFD, Consumer Affairs, DOB and the like to take action.

In other words, it is a lot of work and requires a lot of follow through.

Williamsburg To Go Dry?

04/08/2011 | 9 Comments

On Tuesday, the Executive Committee of CB1 Brooklyn voted unanimously to institute a moratorium on new liquor licenses in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and the rest of North Brooklyn. The vote was a response to what the leaders of CB1 see as an over saturation of liquor licenses in the area.

The Board’s Public Safety Committee, which reviews liquor license applications, met last night to discuss the issue, and left with more questions than answers. The Committee did not vote on a moratorium, but the issue is sure to come at next Tuesday’s full board meeting.