Tuesday, May 17, 2011

CB3 highlights: East Village Brewery and Beer Shop postponed; 200 Avenue A denied

Several readers provided some quick feedback on last night's CB3/SLA meeting.

Applications within Resolution Areas

• To be determined, 14 Ave. B (op)

This is the proposed East Village Brewery and Beer Shop that we reported on yesterday.

POSTPONED

The committee postponed a vote on this because, as one resident told me, "the secret investors were not present, they couldn't identify where they were going to get the stuff to build the brewery and they had no brewmaster!"

Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades

• To be Determined (Not A Bookstore LLC), 200 Ave A (trans/op) (Superdive)

The art gallery bar idea.

DENIED

Plenty of drama on this item. Board member David McWater quickly called for a vote, so residents in attendance didn't need to speak out against the applicant. Per an attendee: "In an unprecedented feat a transfer was denied. Something that almost never happens." (Shawn Chittle has more on this vote in the comments.)

• To be Determined, 500 E 11th St (trans/op) (Angels & Kings)

DENIED

Updated:

Eater has more meeting coverage here.

9 comments:

  1. 200 AVENUE A

    Stopping SuperDive II or as they put it so hilariously "a farm to table restaurant" (with hours and full liquor till 4am, sure!) was easy.

    Their absolutely delusional "presentation" was only topped by a hilarious "student/food blogger/theater producer" who spoke in support. It was right out of SNL.

    David McWater smartly called for a straw poll to spare the 20+ people that signed up to speak against it the time and trouble. The straw poll was a smart move, as was hilarious "consult your clients better!" to the lawyer representing them.

    Thanks David!


    133 ESSEX

    The larger issue that night was 133 Essex, also known as Mason Dixon. The residents of that building (all owners of their apts so far as I know) were duped and that bar went in after they bought. Suffice to say, it has not been even remotely tolerable. The stories of 3am door buzzer bingo, broken bottle fights, and confrontations at all hours of the night sounds like no place to live or invest in.

    Mason Dixon was finally shut down by the NYPD, and the owner wants to open up something new in the same space.

    Every. Single. Resident was against it. Yet the board voted to approve. It's just the most bizarre thing. How can a "Community" Board vote against every single resident? Is it a "Bar" Board or a Community Board?

    I hope those residents of 133 Essex regroup and heed some advice. The fight is not over:

    1. Band together more strongly. You appeared as a disjointed group.

    2. Make colored t-shirts and wear them "VOTE NO ON 133 ESSEX!"

    3. Bring lots of signs and wave them all about.

    4. Sit together.

    5. It's fine you ask for reduced hours, but you are not going to get this, so go for outright denial. Do not appear that you want to compromise. That's how you lose.

    6. Speak at full board and tell full board what you told SLA sub-committee. I have full faith you will prevail and get a denial from people not easily influenced by the two ONLY bar-owners on the SLA sub-committee.

    Good luck.

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  3. @Shawn - Any back story on the denial for Angels & Kings?

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  4. That sounds about right Shawn but to make McWater look like a decent guy is wrong. Part of the reason the neighborhood has gone to shit has everything to do with him. The Superdive space is something that he has no personal ties to. It's kind of like he gave in on this one in order to make himself look good so that he could get what he wanted for the other proposals. I've seen him do this before.
    The nightlife people and real-estate developers are one in the same. These people from Essex Street got screwed once again. The applicants from the Mason Dixon space offered the residents $200,000 to agree to the hours. The fact that community board members supported these people is a disgrace and David McWater and Ariel Palitz were pushing for them. Unbelievable. These people live directly above the establishment and have been terrorized and the community board condones the proposal and refuses to reduce the hours for a restaurant which will be open till three thirty. How did restaurant hours become like club hours. McWater and Ariel the two pro- nightlife members on the SLA committee are setting the hours.

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  5. The woman said $200,000 dollars each and I couldn't help but think that that's like a million dollars. There were about five of them. This was all very telling about how big money people back places like this and how everyone is taking cuts through bribes.
    Not these people from the condo above Mason. Eeveryone else. It starts with the real estate people and trickles down.

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  6. Lisa I am not sure. I was not there for Angels & Kings as I had to run and attend to other affairs. I knew my neighbors would do a great job and they did. Have not read the debrief just yet. Will share with EVG when I know more.

    I hope its becoming clear to some potential bar owners and landlords that while we as a community still have a long to go, getting past us is not going to be easy.

    Try Midtown, I hear they love everybody.

    Anyone on CB3 who votes for ANOTHER bar in a resolution zone, like David McWater and Ariel Palitz (who are bar owners themselves) clearly do not have the best interests of the neighborhood in mind. I still to this day stand by my conviction that allowing bar owners to serve on the board when they are allowed to direct matters which financially benefit them is AGAINST the Community Board policy (PDF Page 152, section 2604(b)(3)).

    But there they sit.

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  7. @Shawn - Thanks, appreciate the reply. And glad you liked my comment on another post re LES Jewels!

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  8. interesting how some transfers are approved and some not. interesting how some residents are respected and some not.
    cb3 is gambling with its credibility at the SLA level as the supposed "community benefit" that allows a license when there are 2 or more within 500 feet is different on a case by case basis. since essex is an extension of avenue a how can mason dixon be allowed to transfer when it was CLOSED by NYPD ( as was Angels and Kings) yet Superdive wasnt.
    as for the Superdive space and others like it, if other transfers are allowed and those aren't be rest assured an Article 78 will be brought to rectify the situation, and a fair jurist will conclude that it is unequal treatment, and force the SLA to do the right thing.
    mark my words.

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  9. Not a Bookstore was in fact not a transfer. Their license expired on 4/30 and was not renewed, so it was, in fact, an application for a new full liquor license in a resolution area that is within 500 feet of 19 other liquor licenses.

    Re Angels & Kings, they denied it because the potential owner didn't have a solid plan, had no experience running a restaurant, was presenting a restaurant idea in a space that has no real kitchen, and could not answer questions about some of the legalities that any good business owner would know when researching a new investment.

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