10/21/14 Full CB 11 Meeting Recap

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NotOverBerra

There was a vote at the Community Board 11 meeting tonight. At the very end of the evening, after almost everyone went home…

I will get some experts to explain the vote tomorrow…

MAJOR LEAGUE pats on the back to all those who designed, mailed and put out fliers, made calls, came to the CB meetings, and of course, thank you to our stalwart Ken D and spokesman Ken F.

WE ARE NOT DONE ON THIS ISSUE, and there are other projects to work on. One comment I will pass on is “those people at 9798 Lex Park sure are committed!”

Speaking of commitment…

Yesterday I sent an email out about classes being offered by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. I am taking the Land Use 101 / intro zoning class starting tomorrow.

I highly encourage you to peruse the classes and take one or more. You don’t have to become a member of the CB to take them, (it is required if you want to get on the CB….). But it will help you to become a more informed citizen.

PS –  The monthly 23rd Precinct Community Council meeting is Wednesday, October 22nd at 6 pm at the 23rd Precinct, 164 E. 102 Street (between Lexington and Third).

(If you go, either take a cab, or I suggest walking up and down Third Avenue., it’s less of a hill than on Lexington).

Fork

URGENT! CHANGED LOCATION for the Community Board 11 Meeting, Tues., Oct. 21, 6:30 PM

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(See below for link to entire revised flier)
Excerpt of latest 10/19 flyer (click image for full PDF).

If you received our flier in the mail or under your door in the last few days, PLEASE NOTE THERE IS A NEW CHANGE OF ADDRESS for the Tuesday, Oct. 21st, 6:30 PM  Community Board 11. It’s actually closer to the neighborhood at:

Mount Sinai Medical Center
Goldwurm Auditorium
1425 Madison Avenue
at 98th Street

This is a direct link to the updated flyer with the above correct address AND CONTACT INFO FOR LOCAL POLITICIANS; please print and email and distribute widely (and contact those local politicians: THEY WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU (click here for contact info).

As the CB occasionally changes the location, agenda order and speaking rules, please check back to this page frequently, or better yet, “follow us” and/or email us to sign for updates and we will keep you informed with the latest info, including info on registering to speak in opposition to Earl’s Beer & Cheese’s expansion into three backyards with a sixty seat beer garden….

Old Business/New Business

i. Earl’s Beer & Cheese LLC d/b/a Earl’s Beer & Cheese – Alteration Application for existing Wine and Beer License at 1259 Park Avenue to include basement and open backyard beer garden space

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Above shows buildings will be affected by noisy drunks, kitchen odors, and cigarettes from Earl’s Beer & Cheese putting a SIXTY SEAT BEER GARDEN into THREE backyards at 1257-1261 Park Ave. (97th & 98th). (click image to enlarge).
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REMEMBER: once this bar expands, others will follow, turning the neighborhood into a hive of beer joints, raising storefront rents, & driving out non-alcohol based businesses.

Please also mark your calendar for Wednesday, November 5th (6 pm) as that will be the next meeting of the CB11 Licensing Committee meeting; depending on what happens tomorrow night,  might come up in front of that committee again.

Please reach out to us (a) and tell us that you can attend tomorrow night, if you wish to walk with your neighbors to the Community Board meeting, and (b) please also get back to us with your email and/or phone info, (if you have not done so already), so we can stay in touch and get you more info as it comes in.

After Action / Situation Report On The Recent Community Board 11 Meeting.

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(Some of you may have received part of this by email; if you are not on our email list, be sure and contact us with your email and / telephone number below).

Last Wed. evening, Oct. 1, almost 2 dozen members of 97-98 Lexington and Park Ave. Neighbors presented their united opposition to Earl’s plans to expand into THREE backyards, faced by hundreds of apartments.

Bringing over 110 signatures gathered in the previous weeks, and after a few very smooth, (and some raucous) comments from our crowd, the CB 11 License Committee took a vote: the only motion made was to deny the bar’s application for expansion, and the motion failed:

Y 4
A 3
N 3

More importantly, no vote was taken to approve Earl’s application…

…According to multiple staffers from multiple local politicians office, we  did a lot of things right:

We got the signatures, brought the neighbors, and made and sent important calls and emails. But we’re not done. There will be more Community Board Meetings in the next few weeks and months, and we must stay focussed, and get more organized.

If you are willing to continue our fight to keep a 60 seat BEER GARDEN out of those backyards, ruining both our homes and leading to further BAR-barism of the neighborhood (and/or if you have other ideas for our block association to focus on), please let us know ASAP if you can make a 97-98 Lexington and Park Ave. Neighbors meeting set tentatively for this coming Tuesday evening, Oct. 7th at 7 PM.

This will be our intro planning meeting, both for how / where to take 97-98 Lex Park Neighbors, as well as where we stand / how are we going further re Earls.

The tentative current location is on the 97-98 Lex/Park block, but we need to know how many are coming; if you haven’t yet RSVP’d and especially if we don’t have your email and /or tel. number, please contact us below.

AND GREAT JOB, EVERYONE!

CONTACT US:

9798lexpark@gmail.com

WED OCT. 1, VIP, STOP SIXTY DRINKERS IN OUR BACKYARDS….We Need You To Do Just a Few Minutes More…

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It’s confirmed that Earl’s is going for a capacity of SIXTY OUTDOOR CUSTOMERS stretched across THREE BACKYARDS, 1257, 1259 and 1261 Park Ave. (those neighbors who you spoke with who said “only a few people, no big deal”, get back to them now!)

See below after the pic for what else YOU can do today to help stop SIXTY hard drinking, chattering Earl’s customers from hanging outside THREE BUILDINGS’ WORTH OF BACKYARDS / outside your rear windows (and smoking outside your front windows) all hours of the day and night.

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Click on image above to enlarge: see which buildings will be affected by noisy drunks,kitchen odors, and cigarettes from Earl’s Beer and Cheese expanding in the backyard at 1259 Park Ave. (97th & 98th).

A/ If you are holding signed, hard copy petition pages with 1 or more signatures,  PLEASE either scan and email them to us, or fax them to us,  or reach out to us TODAY ASAP to meet so we can pick them up and make copies.

You can fax them to (877) 900-2360, email them to 9798lexpark@gmail.com or arrange pickup by phone at 929-286-1913.

B/ If you can and have not yet done so, please also SIGN ONLINE.

C/ If you are home today, please print our revised flyer and give it to your neighbors who haven’t signed, and hand it to people in the street.

D/ Before you come to the Community Board 11 Meeting tonight, WEDNESDAY, October 1, at 6 PM, please take a few moments and…

E/ Call or go online to 311 today (you can do it anonymously) and file, crowds, noise and/or cigarette nuisance complaints, and add to the complaints already filed over non-permitted renovations in the backyard.

F/ Email our local elected officials, including the Community Board, and politely clue them in on why Earl’s expansion should be opposed.

G/ Try and come early to the Community Board 11 Meeting, tonight at 6 PM. It’s a small space…. Some neighbors may be meeting at the NE corner of  98th and Park at 5:30 PM to share car service or a taxi.

And finally, check this for some inspiration….

See you tonight!

There’s Hope! “Long Island City restaurateurs hit roadblocks in bids for backyard seating…”

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Long Island City restaurateurs hit roadblocks in bids for backyard seating

Two eatery owners say it’s nearly impossible to open up rear outdoor seating in the booming dining district.

BY LISA L. COLANGELO, MELISSA CHAN, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Monday, June 30, 2014, 2:00 AM

Sometimes good fences aren’t enough to make good neighbors.

A Long Island City restaurateur claims a “moratorium” on backyard gardens has taken a bite out of the booming dining district after his bid for outdoor seating was nixed twice.

“There’s a high demand in this area for nice dining options outside,” said Alobar owner Jeff Blath. “People love coming here for brunch, but on a nice day they want to sit outside. They just go somewhere else.”

Blath, 40, offered to install high fences, ban external audio speakers and close at 10 p.m. to get approval, but his bid has been rejected by Community Board 2 twice since 2010 due to noise complaints from residents.

“We look at everything on a case by case basis,” said Joseph Conley, who chairs the board and insisted no moratorium on backyard gardens exists. “There was uproar from his neighbors directly affected.”…

For full article click here.

And then come back and make sure you have the latest flyer and blank petitions, and get your neighbors to the Community Board 11 Meeting, Wednesday, October 1 at 6 PM. 1664 Park Avenue at 117th Street.

Do You Have Children or Someone Else In Your Home Whose Wellbeing Will Be Affected By The Expansion Of This Bar?

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There’s no question about it. Almost everyone we talked to in the neighborhood these past 2 weeks dislikes Earl’s for the current street noise, and for the current cigarette smoking of Earl’s customers, who stand outside the bar, puffing away, completely oblivious as their smoke and chatter are wafting up to and into the windows of the apartments above  and around them.

butts

If the potential expansion of Earl’s into the adjoining backyard is approved, your entire sense of wellbeing as well as your sleep will be even more disrupted by the noise, cigarette, food, and beer odors coming from the additional bar customers in the backyard. And more customers in the backyard means more of Earl’s customers hanging out in the front on Park Avenue, with even more chatter and smoke billowing into the windows of the apartments above.

Who knows, maybe Earl’s will soon have a velvet rope-line with a doorman and a bouncer…and a fancy ashtray / concrete plant potter…

Back to reality:

If you have a newborn or infant who needs regular rest, or if you have school-age children whose ability to concentrate on their studies after school will be disrupted by the noise in the backyard, and who will not be able to get a good, quiet, restful, full nights sleep from the noise and smells coming in their windows from the bar in the backyard, we need to hear from you.

If you or someone living with you is pregnant, or is being treated for high blood pressure, stress, or other ailments where a lack of regular, uninterrupted rest and peace and quiet could affect your or their health, we need to hear from you.

If you know a neighbor who fits the above description, PLEASE show them this page and please have them get in touch with us ASAP.

We can be  reached at 9798lexpark@gmail.com or by phone at 929-286-1913.

Don’t delay. The Community Board 11 meeting to approve or disapprove the expansion of this bar is TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21.

We need to hear from you now, especially if you have children and/or health concerns.

We need your signatures on the online petitions and on the hard copy petitions.

And we need you to know if you can show up at the Community Board Meeting.  

If you have specific quality of life and/or health issues that will be affected by this bar expanding intruding into the shared air of our backyards, please contact us 9798lexpark@gmail.com or by phone at 929-286-1913.

Sincerely,

Your 97-98 Lex & Park Neighbors.

Flyer for Community Board Meeting and Petition

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ManWhisper

“Did you hear? There’s a bar on the block trying to expand, and they are going to  CREATE A SIXTY SEAT BEER GARDEN be serving dozens of their customers in the backyard next to ours!”

“NO!”

“Yes!”

“Do you know what that noise is going to be like when we are trying to sleep or relax?

We need to tell our neighbors!” 

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Please print and distribute our one page PDF to your neighbors.

Click on FLYERev5OnLine to display, print or save to your computer or mobile device for forwarding.

Remember, the good night’s sleep you preserve just might be your own…

Audio of Crowd and Bar Noise You Can Expect Outside Your Backyard Window

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This 23 second audio excerpt is from a brief visit to Earl’s Beer and Cheese over the recent holiday weekend, when there were only 10 people inside, including 2 staff.

Listen to it here:

Imagine what it will sound like when they have 5-10 times that number of people out in the backyard, drinking, clinking glasses, smoking, with the music so loud Earl’s 50-100 customers will be shouting over it  just to be heard.

Of course, you will hear them clearly in the backyard of 1259 Park, outside your window, till 2 AM every night…the noise will echo gainst the brick and masonry walls of all our buildings.

Think the ambulances sirens and Metro North train whistles are distracting?…

Sign the Petition and COME TO THE COMMUNITY BOARD 11 MEETING, Wednesday, 6 PM and preserve your sanity and your neighborhood.

How would you like a bar in your backyard, with people smoking outside your window?

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Smoking is prohibited in the following outdoor areas of public places, except as otherwise restricted in accordance with the provisions below:

1. Outdoor dining areas of restaurants with no roof or other ceiling enclosure; provided, however, that smoking may be permitted in a contiguous outdoor area designated for smoking so long as such area: (i) constitutes no more than twenty-five percent of the outdoor seating capacity of such restaurant; (ii) is at least three feet away from the outdoor area of such restaurant not designated for smoking; and (iii) is clearly designated with written signage as a smoking area.

Above info is from page 12 at nyc.gov here.

2002 NYC Smoke-Free Air Act (SFAA)  § 17-501 NYC; “Smoke-Free Air Act.”17-503, C