New York City has been long known for its nightlife. Fancy night clubs with bottle service dot Manhattan’s West Side. These spots close up shop at 4am and their crowds spill into the streets, creating noise, traffic, and quite often, violence. Then, cops decend on these clubs, creating more noise and more traffic. People are shot inside and outside these clubs. Their neighbors cry fowl, complain to their community boards, and their liquor licenses are not renewed.
This is completely fair. It is not only a noise issue, but also a safety issue.
But meanwhile, on Manhattan’s East Side, a beer bar that serves up food and 24 craft brews on draft is coming under fire. Its crowd is completely harmless and not particularly raucous. When it closes, its few remaining patrons mix on the street with patrons of other bars on the same block who sell $3 PBR tallboys. Their patrons are rarely, if ever, responsible for noise, traffic, or violence, but they are sandwiched between two establishments that serve food after-hours and are magnets for drunkards, so their neighbors cry fowl, complain to their community boards, and their liquor licenses are not renewed.
This is the future of beer bars – really, all bars – in New York City.
Community Boards are drunk with power, but that’s about all they want anyone to get drunk on. The majority of the board members are older and apparently wish to turn neighborhoods in Manhattan outside of Midtown into suburbs. Nightlife, apparently, doesn’t belong in Manhattan anymore. Community Boards make final recommendations for liquor licenses to the State Liquor Authority. Barely any recommendations allow for a 4am closing time. Some require food to be served throughout the evening. Some restrict what kind of music can be played. Some restrict the hours to points that the bar couldn’t possibly turn a profit. These boards want every single bar in this town to close. They think this city would be better without a vibrant nightlife – or any drinking establishment at all. It’s prohibition, circa 2008.
The fact is, the first example of the West Side nightclubs are what ruins it for everyone. To the older members of the Community Boards, all they know about nightlife is what they hear in the news. They don’t go to bars. They would prefer to sit at home with a tall glass of iced tea and watch TV. And if anyone has a good time outside and raises his voice, they will call the cops and find someone to blame – like the completely harmless beer bar that’s a few doors down from their building.
Okay, this is an exaggeration. Not who serves on the Community Boards is Buzz Killington. But judging from some of the decisions they’ve handed down lately, it’s hard to imagine they patronize the establishments that are up for license renewal.
For example, Hop Devil Grill applied for a license to operate a sidewalk cafe. Their St. Marks Place sidewalk has quite a bit of room, and they do serve food at their bar, and it would be pleasant to sit outside with a nice brew and a burger. Unsurprisingly, it was denied last week. Here’s the decision of Community Board 3:
WHEREAS, there has been demonstrated consistent opposition to the addition of any liquor licenses on this block of St. Mark’s Place between First Avenue and Avenue A which currently has eighteen (18) licensed establishments, the majority of which are full on-premises licenses and located adjacent to or across the street from the applicant; and
In other words, “we can’t issue this license because too many other business owners have opened up shop around you.” Yeah, that’s fair.
WHEREAS, St. Mark’s Place is presently overwhelmed with rowdy nighttime licensed establishments, including that of the applicant, has significant pedestrian and vehicular traffic and noise attendant to the operation of those establishments and has been the target of concentrated police activity to alleviate those conditions; and
Has the Community Board ever been to Hop Devil Grill? It’s a beer bar with 24 craft beers, selling for at least $6.50 a piece. That’s the perfect recipe for a “rowdy nighttime licensed establishment.” I also love their attempt to attribute vehicular traffic to the bar. Yes, there are tons of people driving to this place. And this is a neighborhood bar, not major destination for drinking for the cab-riding set.
WHEREAS, the applicant has received at least five (5) violations for selling alcohol to minors between 2005 and 2008 and Community Board #3 does not believe that the applicant has adequately addressed those violations, in that at least two (2) of them were received subsequent to the intervention of the New York Police Department and the New York State Supreme Court with a stipulation governing the establishment’s continued operation and engaging in prophylactic measures to prevent future sales to minors; and
Judging from the last few times I’ve been to Hop Devil Grill in past six months, it’s clear that nobody on the board has ever been there. The place is like Fort Knox when it comes to underage drinking, especially since the NYPD’s 9th Precinct decided to make an example out of them for reasons nobody can seem to figure out. Not only is there a big burly bouncer at the door, which is incredibly uncharacteristic of a beer bar, but he has an scanner to verify IDs and to identify fake IDs. In addition, I’ve been carded by a bartender after I came in the door, and it would be hard to suggest I look a day under 25, let alone 21.
WHEREAS, there have been complaints from residents regarding noise from this and adjacent establishments; and
But mostly adjacent establishments, since if any Community Board member bothered to visit, they’d see this place is practically empty on most Friday and Saturday nights.
WHEREAS, give the violation history of the applicant regarding the sale of alcohol within is premise, extending its full on-premise liquor license to the public sidewalk would be of no public benefit and would only serve to exacerbate existing congestion and noise attendant to this and adjacent establishments;
So, a sidewalk cafe would make other establishments noisier? How do they figure? Seriously, I’d like to see what genius came up with that theory. At this point, they’re just making up excuses.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Community Board #3 denies the alteration application for Beer Bros, Inc, d/b/a Hop Devil Grill, to wit extending its full on-premise liquor license for the purpose of selling alcohol on the sidewalk
This is what every bar in New York is up against. Until the beer swillers of this town start to appear in full force at these meetings, your favorite bar may be the next target of your Community Board.
Photo Credit: Jebb
Posted by thebeerbaron 
Posted by thebeerbaron 
