Via the EVG inbox ...
The LES Dwellers, a grassroots community group of residents of the Lower East Side, released videos [yesterday] that illustrate how bad the Lower East Side's Hell Square continues as late night bars and clubs continue to foster a SantaCon-style environment of binge drinking, public urination and vomiting, brawls and arrests every weekend.
The rampant party and hoards of drunks in the area drains police resources, forcing them to focus their time and attention to thousands of people who descend on the Lower East Side every weekend to party without regard to the local residents and businesses.
What is depicted in the videos is not outside the norm but is the norm. The bars, lounges and "restaurants" in this area over serve alcohol creating a dangerous environment.
The LES Dwellers called on Community Board 3 to address the issue immediately by working with the NYPD, the State Liquor Authority and local bar and business owners to resolve the recurring problems in Hell Square, which is the area bordered by Houston and Delancey, and Allen and Essex streets on the Lower East Side.
"This weekend was an outrage — ranking as one of the worst on record: It was SantaCon without the costumes," the group said in a statement. "Assaults and crime are up in our neighborhood due solely to the proliferation of late night liquor licenses in the neighborhood. And what's worse, on a day when NYPD lost two officers, the last thing the city needs is for the police to spend time and resources policing a man-made mess of debauchery. Police resources are wasted every weekend to babysit a bunch of drunks," the group said.
One video, filmed for a continuous 11 minute period at 3:30 am EST on Sunday, Dec. 21 on Ludlow and Stanton Streets, features a group of drunks stumbling north on Ludlow street and approaching Piano's Bar to enter. They're told that the bar is closing and they can't enter, so they leave the bar yelling obscenities and stumbling into the wall when the cops show up. Disregarding the police presence, the group gets into a knock-down brawl in the intersection of Stanton and Ludlow and police arrest 2 of the fighters. The video's hashtag is #11minsofhell.
Dozens of police arrived at the scene where the video captures a woman who has fallen and hurt her leg on the street and is struggling to get back up, followed by music blaring out of the front door of the Dark Room bar. Then, as the police continue to deal with the fight, a man is seen within 15 feet of the police urinating in a boutique clothing store's doorway and virtually falling asleep standing up.
And now for your viewing pleasure...
And!
54 comments:
Just remember folks... We are only one more 13th step away from having this shit show move north towards us...
It seems to be that there is much more drinking among this under 30 age group than there was,say, 15 or 20 years ago. Why? Are their lives and jobs so terrible? In the cultural capitol of the world can they find nothing else to do? What is enjoyable about getting into the state that these people are in? How is this problem 'addressed'?
Those damn white people.
Unbelievable. Is it going to come to a point where NYC bars will be required to close at 1am because these colonizers can't hold their liquor and act like animals? These chicks are walking targets for rapists and now that bro will have to check "yes" on the line " have you ever been arrested" on his next job application. Grow the fuck up amateurs.
Sure looks like a lot of your typical "Frat Bros"
Maybe we should give the "Frat Bro's" tag a little rest and just call these people what the are....DRUNKS!
I feel bad for these future whinos since there will be no Bowery or skid rows left in Manhattan.
Sucks to be white eh, Moe? Have a white Christmas!
Susan Stetzer and Community Board 3 should be ashamed of themselves. Look what this neighborhood has become under their watch. If they're not up to the task, do us all a favor, and step aside. Let someone competent fix this mess.
I certainly hope that the Dwellers sent the videos to the SLA commisioners. Unfortunately it usually takes a lawsuit to get real action. Next time they approve a full liquor license in this area they should sue the SLA with an article 78 proceeding for not doing their job.
Hey, 7:02AM. Not all of Grieve's readers are north of Hell Square (although the blog focuses on establishments north of Houston).
We live on Allen and Stanton and know the full effects of Hell Square even though we're one block west of it.
Epstein's bar on the corner of Allen and Stanton has made our lives a living hell so yeah, this footage is all too familiar.
To annnon 8:55, theses bungers give "DRUNK'S' a abd name!! How about 'STATISTIC'S"???
We've suffered with these all-night-long drunken brawls further north in the EV for years. First Ave from East 6 Street up is horrendous at night until about 5 a.m. We've protested to CB, testified, etc., but NYS LCB--based upstate in Albany, far, far from our neighborhood--continues to hand out liquor licenses even to those who've had notorious bars previously.
Still, we've been able to force a few bars to change their ways and even forced a couple with major infractions (serving under-age drinkers, having dance floors in the back of the bar, operating theaters in a bar) out of business. So it can be done, but it takes many neighbors banding together. Everyone needs to call 911 and/or 311 repeatedly to make noise complaints, write down the number of the complaint, file a complaint with the Community Board and then go testify against the bars when their licenses are up for renewal.
Sorry, 8:17, but a job application can ask you if you've ever pleaded guilty or been convicted of a crime, but not if you've ever been arrested.
What NYer hasn't ever been arrested for something?
Just speechless…
Time to move to nice quiet Murray Hill
I applaud everyone's use of punctuation but lets not overdo it……the plural of drunks does not have an apostrophe, thanks.
There are many NYers who have not been arrested 10:58!
Dumb and Dumber. I've been in the EV for 15+ years. My opinion on this subject is that the "younger" generation living in this town have a entitlement mentality, a me mentality. Where the fuck are you manners? Do you have any? It's not about CB3 doing this or that. The city is a play land for these kids. Disposable income earned or passed down from parents should be saved for a rainy day.
Anyway, bad things happen when judgment is impaired. These dodo heads should have been taught some manners and respect at home but has been lost in translation.
Happy BDay EVG
If the 'Asleep At The Wheel' Stetzer and CB3 won't do anything then fuck it, shame the bars. Remember Solas Gone Wild? The shaming worked and they got their act together somewhat.
Ah LES Dwellers, your group makes good points, but your tactlessness never surprises. From your past misogyny to trying to trade on the police being murdered in Brooklyn. Try to muster a modicum of respect.
I really hope Grieve can provide some followup if any of this footage happens to reach community board or someone.
This is worse than anything ever was in the 70's-80's.
Yes; REALLY!
State and city laws which permit this kind of over saturation of liquor license which leads to this kind of open season on drinking and drunkeness need to be changed. Turns certain sections of the city and certain blocks into party zones. Upstate politicians have different agendas than down in NYC. Bloomberg's legacy of development at all costs lives on.
In the "old days" the drug dealing was in the open. The dealers had their block, their own phone booth. Everyone knew what was going on. Now everything has moved out of sight, indoors. The crime statistics are off. How many young women are getting raped? How many young womnen stumble out of bars with a man? Do they know the man? I have seen many women getting shoved into taxi's. Where are they being taken? This is the story that should be told. As for Susan Stetser, that is another story. She has no right to dismiss any resident, or community group. She should be held accountable for her actions. It is obvious that members of the community board do not care how Susan Stetser's actions negatively impact our community.
When they made the song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" I'm sure they didn't mean this kind!
I'm always amazed at how all these drunk girls can still manage to walk in those five inch heels, most guys would be planted face first in the pavement. Good going ladies!
Below Houston to Delancey was such a quiet neighborhood -- really really quiet -- and really not too long ago. It is hell hole down there now and I never ever go there. I remember when the only place jumpin' back then was Katz's.
Corner of 1st Ave and Ave A is just like this, with a late-night mexican food truck and late-night dollar pizza store. pretty much endless squealing girl-a-thon until about 5 am, every night.
Having fun is knowing when to stop. These folks don't know how to have fun. This is why we can't have nice things.
I'm the last person to defend these types of people, and usually stay below Delancey if I'm in LES at night to avoid the sloppiness shown here.
But this is really lame. 20-somethings being drunk on a weekend night in the most bar-heavy neighborhood of a major city - surprise! I'm sure nightlife was full of nothing but upstanding citizens 20+ years ago.
Get over yourselves. I feel for you if you're in the neighborhood and have to live with this mess, but whining about how terrible the under 30 cohort is ain't gonna get you anywhere.
Agreed. They're not bros, they're alcoholics.
"Get over yourselves"
Oh-oh. Red flag. Transient alert.
"alcoholics."
Real alcoholics know how to sit at a bar, drink, speak English at first, then Martian, then mumbling and then just stumble home without really bothering anyone. This is MTV's Jersey Shore Seaside Heights club scene beamed to the LES. Probably alcohol and blow fueled. And, please, it was never like this before. Thank you CB3 and NYS SLA.
"Corner of 1st Ave and Ave A"
Where the hell is that? Is that where Kramer got lost?
When did it become socially acceptable to abuse alcohol? Wait until they're 40, broke and spent looking.
I live off Ave A and 13th, since 1991. It is insane here as well, mega-loud with fights, drunken abandon and just yelling for no reason. Who raised these people? Do I sound old? I am not that old, but I am old enough to respect a neighborhood where people have to get up and go to work, where children have to get up and go to school, where babies need to sleep and where I don't care if you are going to f**k someone or not tonight or f**k someone up or not...unreal.
Which bar did the trashed blond woman walk out of? Who served her?
Cocaine has made a big comeback. That's not helping.
You guys are haters! What's wrong with two giant men escorting me home to reenact The Accused? I won't remember it anyway.
While watching the vid, I’m humming along to “White Girl Wasted”:
Bathroom party with my bitches,
Jessica's puking, Amy itches
Say's she got crabs with a guy from Jersey
Victoria's got a secret, it's written in Hershey
These people behave the way they do because they get away with it with no real negative outcome, except maybe some soiled clothing and a hangover. They have no respect for anyone's environment, and could care less if anyone loses sleep over their partying. Obviously, the police can't stop it, and they sure have more important things to do than babysit and ticket drunks who can't behave. Surely there is SOMEONE in the neighborhood handy with a wooden stick to crack a few heads and send the message that this BS is not going to be tolerated. That's really what is needed here. If more people think that their headache will last longer than the next morning they might reconsider and change their behavior. Maybe, maybe not.
Accused? I was thinking more Last Exit To Brooklyn.
Saturday night was really bad, with college done for the semester. I was woken up twice, which is one more than usual, there was some kind of hullabaloo somewhere on north avenue a at 3:30am that lasted a while.
The point about squandered police work is valid, not just now when things are tense, but always. I encourage everyone to talk to an emergency room worker, EMT or cop and hear for yourselves how they growl about what a waste of time it is treating these idiots who fall, fight and get robbed, while people with real emergencies suffer longer waits and less services.
All this hate! So what if I let 45 guys run a train on me?!?! In 9 months I'll be giving birth to my own neighborhood! Haters!!!
It was a lot better when junkies were lined up to buy smack out of abandoned buildings because the dealers had security with baseball bats to keep the customers under control. These video vigilantes got nothing better to do than follow people around and record this so EV can post it for other yuppies to watch and make comments about how bad it is. If it is so bad then move out. PS LES Jewels could cause more trouble by himself than all these drunks put together.
Drunk nerds. Same shit different stink.
Forget about the "Community" Board, which is composed of politically-appointed people with their own agendas, most of whom have ties to area businesses, which does NOT represent the community. [HOW could the board with a straight face have had a guy (David McWaters) running the committee that approved + disapproved the issuance of liquor licenses while he owned SEVERAL neighborhood bars?]
Forget about politically-appointed "Community" Board District Manager Susan Stetzer, who is NOT a board member, who has NO authority WHATSOEVER, yet acts as though she DOES, holding secret meetings and issuing grand public statements, all the while ensuring approval of liquor licenses to those who pay the right price (WHY are the board members so AFRAID of her?)
There is no solution unless the city steps in to end the mess it has facilitated here. First, the city should end the ridiculous designation of the Lower East Side (East of Broadway, North of Canal, South of 13th Street) as an "Entertainment Zone."
The city also needs to stop rewarding greedy landlords with tax write-offs for booting long-time businesses and keeping their storefronts EMPTY for years until a new tenant willing to pay 10x more rent comes along
If commercial rents weren't so fucking high, businesses other than bars could stay and thrive in their storefronts. As it is now, existing food-related businesses need to add booze to their menus in order to survive. It's happening everywhere I look in the city.
All that being said, how do you change human nature? There have ALWAYS been bars and clubs on the LES, but I've never seen soooo many publicly drunken arrogant ASSHOLES everywhere. When crime was at an all-time high here in the 70s + 80s, these people were deathly afraid to go East of First Avenue or below Houston. They knew their place. Now it's a free-for-all party scene just about every night, getting drunk just for the sake of getting fucked up.
I see no light at the end of this tunnel....
It's funny/depressing how I moved from a Chad-infiltrated college town like Amherst, MA to get away from this dorky breed of human and then they come and treat the place that's so historically different from anything they could be into like a frat house.
Go back to Boston or whatever suburban CT town you came from. You make New York more and more corny and overpriced with every mimosa you sip and every eggs benedict you eat.
These people aren't really alcoholics, they're binge drinkers. Alcoholics are sometimes interesting. People like this are not interesting. Count me in with the "miss the old days" crowd.
What a crystal clear documentary of the locusts and assholes who take this neighborhood over every single weekend night. an embarrasment to humanity across the board and a unmeasurable shame.
Of course it has to be about whitey. All the black clubs near broadway/23rd- that have actual shooting/stabbings etc don't get mentioned. That would be racist. These are loud drunks. oh the horror!
@10:59 Exactly! These are all the people that ruined Faneuil Hall, Boylston Street and any other nice place in Boston. The only way this will revers is if they aren't so fearless. A spike in crime would do the trick.
A man after my own heart, i couldnt say it better,
Today's EV and LES are true American Horror Story.
During these drunken weekends, esp. Santacon, the hospitals are strained, and the police and ambulance services are stretched to the limits and communities and residents are left picking up the pieces. Morevoer, patients who are intoxicated are abusive, argumentative, obnoxious or physically abusive. If CB3 stops thinking about how much money they're pocketing by being in bed with the bar owners, and instead start to work to propose and work with the NYPD and implement troublesome drunks arrested, charged and given a criminal record. If more people knew that if they got drunk they were going to be arrested, facing the prospect of a prosecution and having to pay a fine, they wouldn’t binge drink in the first place and then end up in the ER or hospital.
But, of course, someone would counter that this is a waste of valuable time and resources to process, not just for the police, but also as people go through the courts and criminal justice system.
Therefore, the solution should be tackling the problem at the source, that is the CB3 handing out liquor licenses like candies to babies on Halloween and Christmas to those they're in bed with; restrict liquor licensing, make it less easy to access cheap strong drink and pub crawls, and shorten the hours that alcohol is served. This is still a residential neighborhood, not Vegas or AC or an industrial or commercial strip. Bottom line, the problem is the source, and that source is CB3, esp. those that control CB3 namely, Stetzer, Li, and Palitz. Either changes on how a liquor license is acquired, or CB3 needs an overseer and to be overhauled; no more free rides to the CB3's Axis of Evil -- S L & P.
Happy New Year, and may more minutes of hell on weekend in the coming year and years to come.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2015/01/video_ludlow_street_on_new_years_eve_is_a_big_loud_mess.php
What we need is a 2AM closing time
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