Michelle Rick

Last week, we asked for your opinions on the recent decision by Community Board 3 to change the rules governing the transfers of liquor licenses when local businesses are bought and sold.

David on 14th Street described how, as a parent of two children, he was particularly sensitive to the raucous atmosphere surrounding local bars. He wrote:

“I know I’m not living in Iowa — nor do I want to — but walking home with them at 9pm on a Friday or Saturday is akin to showing them an R-rated movie.
Additionally, living on 14th street, the amount of drunken noise, swearing, and fighting that comes through the window on those nights is appalling.
Anything that makes it harder to open a bar in the East Village is fine by me. There are way, way too many as it is already.”

Kim Davis, the founding community editor of The Local, wondered about the potential negative effects of a possible exodus of bars:

“Indeed, there are altogether too many dark storefronts east of First Avenue as it is. It’s optimistic to suppose that landlords will slash prices in the short-term to the extent required to attract Mom-n-Pop type low profit businesses.
In the meantime, dark storefronts and empty streets – as Jane Jacobs knew – are magnets for crime.”

Dina questioned Mr. Davis’ perspective, noting that the East Village has relatively low crime rates despite its vacant storefronts:

“Some nightlife businesses are desired. But imbalance leaves streets gated and empty during the day.”

Join the conversation: What’s your take on the community board’s decision?

Ian Duncan Members of Community Board 3 debated changes to the liquor licensing process Tuesday night during a meeting at P.S. 20.

Ending months of debate, Community Board 3 Tuesday night approved a sweeping overhaul of the way it makes recommendations to the State Liquor Authority for alcohol license applications.

As the motion passed, by a vote of 37 to 1, attendees made hasty moves for the exit. When board members were asked toward the end of the three hour meeting at P.S. 20 whether they wanted further time to debate, there were groans and calls of “No!”

The vote ended five months of consultation and debate, some of it acrimonious, about the new policies, which are aimed at providing applicants with clarity and guidelines to follow if they are awarded a license.

Much of the debate focused around so-called “transfers” or the ability to pass liquor licenses on to new owners following the sale of business. Bar and restaurant owners had argued this increases the value of the business and any moves to change the policy would hurt them financially.

Under the policy adopted Tuesday night, the board’s State Liquor Authority committee will review transfers of licenses as though they are new applications. In the past they had been automatically approved. The committee does not have the final say over licensing decisions but passes on recommendations to the State Liquor Authority.
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Liz Wagner Audience members at last night’s meeting of the State Liquor Authority committee of Community Board 3 listen as the panel refused to support a pair of license requests.

A Community Board panel Monday night refused to lend its support to plans to reopen two bars on Avenue A, despite pre-emptive efforts by business owners to smooth things over with East Village residents fed up with noisy nightlife in their neighborhood.

The State Liquor Authority Committee, which helps regulates liquor licenses in the East Village for Community Board 3, declined to lend its support to an application for the new space at 34 Avenue A, formally Aces & Eights, saying the area already has enough bars.

The committee also deflected a request from the owner of the former Superdive space at 200 Avenue A, explaining that the board had initially approved a license at that location for a bookstore or cafe. The State Liquor Authority subsequently permitted a change to let tenants apply for a liquor license, but the committee wants to stick with the board’s original decision.
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In an Election Night appearance on NYU News, Suzanne Rozdeba, who covered the key local political races, discusses how neighborhood issues such as noise complaints, liquor licenses, bike lanes and pedestrian safety played a role in Tuesday’s balloting.

Results of Local Races

Voters cast ballots for candidates in seven local races — three for U.S. representative, two for State Senate and two for State Assembly — and by overwhelming margins returned every incumbent to office.

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It’s hard enough to make it in New York, much less as a coffee house or cafe in a neighborhood where a basic search for “East Village, coffee” brings up 2,130,000 hits in .28 seconds.

So many East Village cafes are trying to get a cup up on the competition by adding alcohol service to their menus.

One could debate the merits of serving alcohol in a neighborhood already overrun by bars. But the recession prompted a spate of cafes to apply for a license to serve beer and wine in an attempt to separate themselves from the competition. (Hair salons and barber shops have also gone that route.) And longtime residents know that the cafe-plus-soft-alcohol model has worked in the East Village for years.

“There is certainly economic motivation to serve alcohol,” said Alex Clark, one of the owners of Ost Cafe. “If you’re running any service you look for the highest kind of profit and the least amount of time that you spend doing it. In the morning you’d go get coffee, in the evening you’d go and have a drink, it serves that function.”
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Liquor licensing is the hot topic in the East Village, with some residents railing against the noise and violence that they say booze brings.

But cafe owners looking to put alcohol on their menus to make money said that applying for a license is a head-spinning process that often ends with them being painted as villains.

Take the Case of Table 12, the 24-hour diner on Avenue A and East 12th Street. On Sept. 20, the liquor authority committee for CB3, which represents the East Village, refused to recommend Table 12’s application to the State Liquor Authority to sell beer and wine. On Sept. 28, the full board upheld the committee’s decisions on a number of East Village liquor license applicants, including the denial of Table 12.

A brother of Table 12’s owner, who identified himself only as Tarik, said that the diner’s license application was submitted to help give patrons a “better dining experience” and also for the profit potential.

“It’s why the place is open for business,” he said. “A cafe is not open for non-profit.”
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Rachel Wise

Good morning, East Village.

The State Liquor Authority Committee and Department of Consumer Affairs Licensing Committee for Community Board 3 met for three hours Monday night and the discussion centered on two of the neighborhood’s hot-button issues: the granting of liquor licenses and noise complaints.

NYU Journalism’s Molly O’Toole reports that many of the roughly 30 people who attended the meeting asked committee members about whether more restrictions should be placed on provisions for transferring liquor licenses from one business to another.

Currently, the holders of liquor licenses may sell them like any other asset. And Ms. O’Toole reports that Susan Stetzer, the district manager of Community Board 3, said that landlords — and previous owners — are using the lure of those licenses to demand high selling prices and higher rent for incoming tenants who want to open businesses that sell alcohol. Under the current rules, new tenants in that situation can immediately acquire a temporary license and begin operating.

“Transfers is the single issue that has this committee and our community in its vice grips,” one resident said, noting the public opposition last week to the granting of a license to Table 12, a diner on Avenue A.

Ms. O’Toole also reports that some residents believe that the high volume of noise complaints in the neighborhood — 2,324 complaints have been called in to the 311 hotline for city services as of June, the most from any community board district in the city – may be partly attributed to the city’s smoking ban in restaurants. Smokers, who go outside to light up, are sometimes the source of noise complaints.

“The community is paying for what Bloomberg should have thought out,” said David Mulkins, a frequent critic of licensing rules who lives on East Fifth Street near Second Avenue. Mr. Mulkins directed his ire at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who recently proposed broadening the smoking ban.

Peter Bradley, another resident of East Fifth, expressed frustration that not enough was being done to address the concerns of community members.

“We’re like a dog with no teeth,” said Mr. Bradley. “We bark a lot, but not much seems to change.”

We’d also like to remind you that residents will have another chance to be heard when Community Board 3 holds a full board meeting tonight at 6:30 at P.S. 20, 166 Essex Street (between East Houston and Stanton Streets). Besides issues related to alcohol, EV Grieve notes that the board may also consider a measure to limit the number of concerts in Tompkins Square Park.