Before I talk about the community meeting regarding the noise and influx of drunkards into the North East Village's Avenue A, I have to say one thing. A few weeks ago, someone told me that the owner of the new loud bar Destinations was a guy who got famous from a ham commercial. I had no idea what he was talking about until today's meeting when Mason Reese showed up, owner of the bar. Ha, that was funny.
Before I talk about the community meeting regarding the noise and influx of drunkards into the North East Village's Avenue A, I have to say a second thing. There are 11 bars in the 2 blocks between E 12th - E 13th Street on Avenue A, including the few bars that are just off the avenue. Eleven. In two blocks.
At the community meeting, with guest speakers Rosie Mendez and Susan Stetzer, and special honored guests the owner of Destinations and the manager of SuperDive, we learned "how to complain," a handout that was copied from Jeremiah's blog (and attribution was given). We also listened endlessly to a woman from 11th Street complain about how her complaints are never given the time of day and that Rose is on the take. She left and then returned with a fistful of documents to further her complaining and interupting.
We also learned that Death & Company was denied their liquor license renewal, and they sued the SLA, which upon further reflection, approved their license for two years and also allowed them longer operating hours. They also paid a $5000 noise fine and continued to refuse to put up insulation to help with the noise problem. All proving the point that complaining and other methods of action are useless.
We learned that Mason Reese very defiantly feels that once the patrons go through the Destinations doorstop and onto the sidewalk, they are definitely not his problem. Not legally, not at all, and he doesn't care to stop their noise or be a good neighbor. On the other hand, CB3 says they have not had any complaints about them. In my opinion, they are the most egregious noise polluters of the North East Village's Avenue A and the complaints need to start NOW.
But mostly we learned that there is nothing we can do about the overwhelming number of bars. It seems that the best thing to do is to call 311 constantly and name the establishment you are complaining about, to develop a history so that their liquor license renewal won't be a rubber stamp. It will be a rubber stamp with stipulations.
It was pretty depressing that there really is nothing that could be done. The heart of the problem is that the liquor licenses are regulated by a state agency, and they won't change the state laws for these reasons: 1) the bar lobby is gigantic, 2) upstate NY doesn't have this problem so from a legislative point of view nobody cares, and 3) Bloomberg doesn't give a shit.
Luckily the people of 13th Street are much more organized than the people of 12th Street. I suspect it has to do with the amount of employment and alcohol ingested on a per person basis is healthier as you go north.
20 comments:
wow, that munchkin kid was kind of an odd celebrity in my childhood. weird.
nice reporting on the meeting. i hope it's not as pointless as it feels.
A good turnout but hard to get residents out in general. Sometimes it does seem too daunting and futile. I know it took me awhile to get involved and I'll try to continue as long as energy holds. Big money is a tough adversary.
We learned that Mason Reese very defiantly feels that once the patrons go through the Destinations doorstop and onto the sidewalk, they are definitely not his problem. Not legally, not at all, and he doesn't care to stop their noise or be a good neighbor.
Really, Mason? What if I call 311 on your ass round the clock, will it still be "not your problem"?
And is that kitchen you just installed to serve food at your craphole even legal? Hmmmm!
Jeremiah: I'm with you on that. I hadn't thought about that guy since I was probably 10 (and so was he I think). Weirdly, nobody else seems to know who he is (ie other than that "ham guy,", but he was really famous in the 70's.
One more thing I wish I had mentioned in the post: according to Susan Stetzer, Destinations has not had any complaints about them to her knowledge. So if you live near there, and are bothered by their open window policy and dozens of kids hanging out in front, please make sure to call 311and also complain on the CB3 website where there is a form to fill in.
They should hold a meeting next for the noise on the lower number streets, e.g. 2nd, 3rd. Would be interested see if Tom from Aces & Eight will show up? Unless he'll be too busy beguiling people and offering to buy them drinks to go to his "not so frathole of a place". That or maybe he'll be busy playing beer pong while "raising money" for the community.
Do any of you care about the fact that these businesses represent the livelihoods of well over 100 people? I'm an employee of one of the bars mentioned, and if your group closed us down I would lose my only source of income. As a single parent, I not only pray that doesn't happen, but I also go way beyond the call of duty to ensure that my customers keep the noise down and don't trash the sidewalks when smoking and leaving the bar. I live near bars too but I don't try to get them shut down, I put an air filter in my room and play Mozart while my daughter sleeps. Could you give that a whirl before you blast 311 with complaints?
Thank you single parent for taking steps to keep your employer on track to being a good neighbor and keeping the noise down. Wish there were more like you. Much appreciated.
I'm quite upset that my words were taken completely out of context this way! I made it VERY clear that being a good neighbor was quite important to me, and our doorman who works Thursday-Saturday does politely ask all of our patrons to be respectful and keep the noise down, but we're NOT the police. Once we've asked nicely, there is little we can do at that point. And...as for our kitchen...it's completely legal! In fact, we're being featured in a NY Post article for our brunch soon. Anonymous...have you ever set foot in here? If you honestly can compare my bar, to many on the avenue, then I'm sorry that you feel that way and I welcome you to come in and have a drink and food on ME! Mason Reese
Mason, like I said on the other thread, your attempts to engage are admirable. (And yes, I have set foot in your space -- when it was Boysroom and Oggi, ha ha.) Seriously, I pass right by your bar every single night because I live here.
I don't want a free jello shot -- I'm a lady, not a freshman on spring break :p -- but the offer is nice. Please just shut your windows as promised and calls to 311 will be unnecessary. The fact that you have a doorperson helps a lot. We're not bar-hating monsters here. We just want some relative peace.
PS. The bars here you'd want to be positively compared to are not the Superdives. How about Phoenix, Section 8 or Planet Rose? They are great neighbors and hopefully you will be too.
SECTION 8! They are so quiet that I missed them in my bar count.
That would make it TWELVE bars between 12th-14th on Ave A: Planet Rose, Laundry, Destinations, Phoenix, Across from Phoenix, Forbidden City, Al Diwan, black bar east of A on 13th, Common Ground, SuperDive, Habibi, Section 8.
Anon,
I never saw Oggi, and I've seen what was left of Boy's Room. Not that certainly looked like a crap-hole to me! FYI...we serve a lot more then Jello shots, and I think you would be quite surprised at the type of people who do ask for them! Actually I really would enjoy speaking with you about my window situation, which just so you know, doesn't have a stip with CB3. But, I signed a 15 year lease at considerable expense and I intend to stay here for a while. That being said, come in for some sliders/blt's/home made pretzels/ or a Guinness and let's chat. I'm not a dick, nor am I "ham boy"
Mason (this is Anon your neighbor), just FYI, I was not the one to call you "ham boy." I'm prissy about screaming people on the street, but I'm generally a nice person.
Forbidden City is another example of a good neighbor especially considering they have live music. And yes, Boysroom was a true dive, but Formika ran that place like a pro. I never heard a peep from them (unless I was inside!)
Jill, just fyi Section 8 is managed by some of the old Phoenix crew, they definitely know what they're doing. Although sometimes it's SO quiet in there it's almost a bit glum. ;)
Anon,
BTW...do you know that I owned NOWBAR for 10 years. Prob one of the most popular Tranny, gay, lesbian, cross gender clubs in NYC for a while. Formika spun at my place many times! I'm happy to hear that your not the name caller, this is a business I'm trying to run, and this subject should be kept business like. BTW...there are very large crowds outside Forbidden City many nights of the week, truth be told they're many more ppl standing outside there then there are at Destination. Also, truth be told, there are many more ppl outside Drop Off then at my place. However...they don't have French Doors like I do, and that perhaps is my best feature and worst feature all rolled into one! Section 8, is a morgue most nights, as well as Bistrouge, Key BAR, and Mug. I'm lucky to have the corner, it's a great location. FYI...Boysroom was doing very illegal things, you don't wanna know about some of the things we discovered in demo!
Mason, see the thing is though, Forbidden City does get big crowds, but they don't seem to be shouty jerks. I don't know why that is. The music is pretty sophisticated, maybe that has something to do with.
I've given up on Drop-Off Service. When they first opened, they had a doorman and the guy was nice, always said hello, but did not do jack sh*t about the crowds out front. And he actually sat outside. Occasionally I would ask him to please do something to corral his bar's patrons. He'd just shrug. I worked the door for years at a rock club so I know first-hand that wrangling drunk people is not the easiest job in the world, you have to repeat yourself a million times a night and not lose your cool. But one has to do SOMEthing, and it feels like Drop-Off has given up on that front. Plus I will always be mad at the loss of my laundromat!!
As for anything illegal Boysroom may or may not have been doing ... at least they were quiet!
Yes Mason I do want to know because if blogs can't contribute some good gossip, then their function is no fun at all.
Jill,
It seems as tho my entire life is an open book on this and many other blogs. You, too have called me "ham boy", what possible relevance does that have to your issues with my business? As for NOWBAR, I owned it from 95'-04', and cb2 never seemed to have an issue with me, as well as Paladar, which according to Susan has never been as issue either! I guess there's more I could tell you about my life....maybe I'll blog it here :-)
What I meant was that I want to know what you found out about Boysroom.
I do apologize about hamboy, no personal offense is intended. You have come to represent some of the problems we are experiencing, and your effort to continue the dialog is very much appreciated. Now, how do we get the other barkeeps/hamboys to participate?
Sliders, blt, pretzels, but no ham?
No ham, but lot's of bacon! Jill, honestly it's not important. Thank you for responding to my posts, I'll be attending the meeting that Dale is organizing and would be happy to sit down with you and discuss the important topics. As for other bar owners....
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