“I'm not a rubber stamp for either the community boards or business,” says Mr. Rosen, a former state assistant attorney general who led a state investigation of the SLA in 2005.
Mr. Rosen, who took over in August, is overhauling the SLA from top to bottom. He has dramatically reformed the agency, once seen as a symbol of failure and corruption. He has reduced the nine-month wait for a liquor license to as little as two weeks in some cases, slashed the backlog of applications from 3,000 to 1,800, and stepped up enforcement actions by partnering with local cops to crack down on businesses that flout the law.
Balancing the interests of city residents who want quiet neighborhoods and business owners who serve alcohol late at night is a big challenge for Mr. Rosen. Restaurants and bars have long complained that overzealous community boards overstep their statutory rights by, say, declaring moratoriums on new liquor licenses on busy blocks, and that they call in political favors to get their way.
Mr. Rosen is sympathetic to residents' concerns and is meeting frequently with them, discussing ways in which the agency can help. But community boards were surprised when the SLA recently removed a question from the license application that asks for the business's hours of operation, because city law allows bars to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. Now, many boards are requiring businesses applying for a liquor license to sign an affidavit in which they state their hours of operation. That way, the boards can force the venues to close when they promise to.
The building at 104-106 Bowery, between Grand and Hester Streets, has been renovated, reconfigured and all but turned upside down over the generations, always to meet the pecuniary aspirations of the owner of the moment. Planted like a mature oak along an old Indian footpath that became the Bowery, it stands in testament to the essential Gotham truth that change is the only constant.
Its footprint dates at least to the early 1850s, when the Bowery was a strutting commercial strip of butchers, clothiers and amusements, with territorial gangs that never tired of thumping one another. Back then the building included the hosiery shop, which promised “all goods shown cheerfully” — although an argument one night between two store clerks, Wiley and Pettigrew, ended only after Wiley “drew a dark knife and stabbed his antagonist sixteen times,” as The New York Times reported with italicized outrage.
Since 1991, GVSHP has presented its Village Awards in recognition of those people and places which make a significant contribution to the quality of life in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. This year, GVSHP will present the 20th Annual Village Awards at our 30th Annual Meeting in June.
But we need your help!
Won’t you take a moment to nominate a Village treasure?
You can nominate almost anything or anyone: an individual, business, organization, streetscape, front stoop, restoration, or garden, from anywhere in Greenwich Village, the East Village, or Noho — someone or something you would miss if it was no longer around.
Nominations must be received by April 9, 2010. More information, a list of prior winners, and a nomination form can be found on the GVSHP Web site.
Nominate a Village treasure today!
He is a neighborhood fixture, and since January he has emerged, inadvertently, as a cause. Caught between high rent and slow business, he is suddenly a symbol for local residents who feel they have seen every quirk of their neighborhood ironed out and turned into a Chase Bank. East Village organizer "Reverend" Billy Talen called Mr. Alvarez "a line in the sand." But besides being a symbol, he is a person, one who just wants to keep doing what he has done for so long, even though it's no longer marketable.
A Brooklyn pizza man transformed his basement TriBeCa condo into a cheesy "extreme party" spot, complete with a stripper pole and a 15-foot slide onto a sunken dance floor, court papers charge.Daily News has a story too.
In a bid to avoid possible legal liability for the bacchanalian bashes, the owner, James McGown, transferred the deed for the apartment to his 6-year-old daughter, his disgusted neighbors claim in papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The real-estate developer and restaurateur -- he owns South Brooklyn Pizza and PJ Hanley's bar in Carroll Gardens -- bought the basement unit on Reade Street in 2006.
He then allegedly stopped paying condo fees and mortgage payments, and improperly leased the space to a man named Dimitri Dimoulakis.
The filing seeks to stop the revelry and show the door both to McGown and Dimoulakis.
McGown claimed the parties are legal, he's been holding them for 10 years "and there's never been a problem."
CRAFTERMATH presents an LES alternative to St. Patrick's Day mayhem in a hybrid boutique/bar.
Punk crafts, film shorts, subversive song!
From 7 til 9pm-ish:
The CRAFTERMATH creative forces sell punk crafts and unusual art at a neighborhood treat-to-behold that features emerging designers and vintage goods. Our artwork is affordable, along w/the drinks. Happy Hour features a $5 beer and whiskey combo. We'll show a collage of films by NYC underground filmmaker LISA HAMMER on the gold-framed movie screen. JESSICA DELFINO will share a new song, perhaps on an uncommon instrument. You can celebrate Women's History Month w/us, and still make it in plenty of time to get out to some place far less cool-looking to drink your green beer - if you still insist!
The Dressing Room Boutique & Bar
75A Orchard Street (btw. Broome & Grand Sts.)
7 til 9pm-ish
FREE
