Anyway, we posted this pic last night... Residents had "Enough is Enough" signs up while hearing about a sidewalk cafe for Percy's on Avenue A and 13th Street... The committee denied this request, and several others...
One other note... the folks looking to take over the Superdive space had to withdraw. As one meeting attendee noted, they came in "with this huge art complex idea of classes and gallery and grants for studio and a live-in artist in residence — oh, and of course a bar/restaurant that will be open until 4 in the morning."
They forgot one detail: Getting together with residents and neighborhood block associations before the meeting.
We'll have more later...
The Lo-Down and Eater have more on the Mason-Dixon portion of the meeting.
I was there for the first part of the meeting and was interested to see what Superdive was gonna say and the responses they would get. They were chosen to go first since they had the most people signed up to speak about them, but when called on one of their representatives said one of their partners wasn't there yet and asked to be called on later.
ReplyDeleteTiny Giant Sandwich shop went next and they had tons of people signed up to speak in support of their desire for a W & B license. Most of these speeches went like this:
Uhhh... I've been going to uhhh... Tiny Giant for a long time and I uhh..... think it'd be cool to have a beer there
Some were well spoken however and they ended up getting recommended for approval.
I wasn't there very long. It seemed like the board was gonna make the Superdive people go last, did that end up happening?
I couldn't make it to CB3/SLA to support my neighbors and friends due to work and sent my regrets.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all the folks that showed up and put in countless hours each week to keep the "village" in East Village.
And thanks to CB3/SLA for listening to its constituents!
I normally don't attend community board meetings, however I stood in the back for way too long at this one.
ReplyDeleteI can understand how CB3 member Ariel Palitz owner of Sutra Lounge is pro liquor licensing. After all she is called "Lady of the Lounge", and is also on the Board of the New York Nightlife Association. She tends to support the worst most despicable entrepreneurs and the most nihilistic proposals and establishments, but last night something else occurred to me. She said the streets are flooded with people in the late hours, and that between the hours of 2 am and 4 am it is a mad house as bar and club crowds spill out.
In other words... she's telling us something that we already know, something that many people in the community have been complaining about and are disturbed by. Something that has destroyed people's lives, caused people to relocate, lose their health, neighborhood, etc.
She admitted that in the late night hours the streets were swarmed with people. Isn't this the fundamental problem that people of the community have been fighting against. That there's just too much of a volume of people on the sidewalks and in the streets due to the proliferation of bars, lounges and restaurants.
This is in reference to a proposal for 175 East Houston Street formerly a foam mattress store. The man representing this proposal is apparently from some big San Francisco corporation. The proposal was for a huge two floor establishment with a bar/restaurant in the basement and a restaurant/coffee house/retail counter on the upper level. Both floors would be open for 24 hours, serving alcohol until 4 am. The lower level will also feature a wood burning oven for artisanal breads, pastries, pizzas and focaccia.
One of the community board members was pretty cynical about the endeavor stating that she didn't think that a corporate venture of this magnitude would be right for the community. I would have to agree. Another community board member said that it's not up to the community board to decide if a place is inappropriate. Well why not? Is that true?
A LES native and legend, the owner of Russ & Daughters was there to oppose this establishment. Ariel was in favor of the proposal stating that she would eat there. There was a lot of back and forth on this item, they finally made a motion in favor and were putting it in writing, and then Ariel changed her tune. Suggesting that perhaps it would be better if the establishment stopped serving alcohol at 2 am, stating that the neighborhood was like mardi-gras between
2 am and 4 am and that the coffee house would provide people with a place to go where they could sober up.
In other words, rather than addressing the very critical problem of over saturation by denying a full liquor license at a location that never had one to begin with, she advocated for the approval of another license, while at the same time proposing that this place would solve the problem of an over abundance of drunken people by giving them a place to go and sober up.
I love it. Solve the problem by creating more opportunity for asshole businesses.
More is more.