An ugly scene reportedly played out during last night's CB3/SLA committee meeting between board member David McWater and neighborhood group the LES Dwellers.
BoweryBoogie and
The Lo-Down were both in attendance and witnessed what transpired. After a pitch by applicants hoping to take over the Gallery Bar space on Orchard Street, McWater made his first appearance at the meeting.
That's when Sara Romanoski, part of the Dwellers group (and director of the East Village Community Coalition), noted that he arrived "just in time to support Darin Rubell, a current co-owner of the Gallery Bar space," as The Lo-Down put it. (McWater sold Nice Guy Eddie's to Rubell,
who turned the space into Boulton & Watt.)
The comment caused him to reportedly leap out of his chair and come face-to-face with Romanoski. Per BoweryBoogie: "Those pushed buttons resulted in constant verbal attacks between the two parties, and near fisticuffs after McWater charged Romanoski (Ed. note: CB3 needs to address this issue, stat)."
An EVG reader in attendance last night told us this in an email: "His behavior was outrageous, [he] reduced her to tears." (The reader said that McWater later apologized to Romanoski outside.)
The Lo-Down spoke with McWater by phone after the meeting. "McWater told us he was angered by the insinuation that he’s somehow corrupt and argued that the Dwellers went on a personal attack against him. In our conversation and during the hearing, McWater said he was late due to another meeting concerning an important land use issue."
Read the full coverage at
BoweryBoogie (who has video of the aftermath) ... and
The Lo-Down.
Updated 3:04 pm
Gothamist has a lot more on the meeting. According to a video that Gothamist has posted, "things escalated quickly, with McWater vowing to 'bury' Aaron Sosnick of the East Village Community Coalition."
[Photo via BoweryBoogie]
