Tag Archives: East Harlem

NY SLA Denies Outdoor Beer & Wine Permit To Earl’s Beer and Cheese!

#KeepResidentialBackyardsRESIDENTIAL, Board of Health, Department of Buildings, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

#KeepResidentialBackyardsRESIDENTIAL

May 6, 2015

Short update, more to follow.

Late yesterday afternoon, the NY State Liquor Authority denied the application of Earl’s Beer and Cheese to serve beer and wine in their backyards, yards faced in by hundreds of residents in eleven walk-up buildings on the Western half of East 97th and 98th Streets, between Park and Lexington. That’s in the southern end of East Harlem. Or the northern end of the Upper East Side… aka us, 97-98 Lexington and Park Ave. Neighbors…

(click to expand photo). Red arrows are all buildings with air-sound access to the proposed backyard beer joint.
(click to expand photo).
Red arrows are all buildings with air-sound access to the proposed backyard beer joint.

Towards the end of the NY SLA hearing, the attorney for Earl’s repeated previously-voiced threats that if they lost the hearing, the owner, Michael Cesari, will serve food-only in the backyards, 7 days a week.

In our humble opinion, given the overwhelming consensus of the SLA agreeing with the majority of the rear-window-facing neighbors who objected to Cesari (or anyone else!) doing any business in the residential backyards, Cesari will be doing this out of spite, and his customers should know about it.

Get ready… Continue reading NY SLA Denies Outdoor Beer & Wine Permit To Earl’s Beer and Cheese! →

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Fire hazard behind Earls?

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Bad enough the owner of Earl’s Beer and Cheese is using the backyard as a construction site, building up his interior reno in the backyard (so he doesn’t disturb his customers inside with the work… the hell with all of us neighbors with our windows facing the yard, listening to him hammering away outside, day and night…).

According to his landlord earlier this afternoon, he has been told to stop.

Now he’s got his flammable material piled up adjacent to, and up against the rear wall of the very residential building he rents his storefront in. 

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Picture taken 1845 pm 05/01/15
EarlsDebris EarlsDebris2
(Click on photos to enlarge)
I’m no expert, but surely this is unsafe.

REVISED 05/06/15: Resident-Focused Policies For Backyard/Rooftop/Sidewalk Bars

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REVISED 05/06/15 Resident-Focused Policies For Backyard/Rooftop/Sidewalk Bars

Attention CB11M, & CB11M Licenses & Permits Committee
re: revising the Application process for outdoor, sidewalk or rooftop bar & restaurant expansions.

This document is available as a PDF on request: contact 9798Lexpark@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION:
Community Board 11M’s Licensing & Permits Committee is in the midst of revising their application process for bars trying to open or expand into residential backyards & rooftops. They briefly discussed it at the last two meetings, & we are hoping to help them come up with new procedures ASAP, before any more blocks are disrupted by outdoor bars & restaurants that ruin the lives of those who live above & next to them.

Because the previous L&P Chairwoman recently moved to another Committee, last winters’ CB11M L&P meetings never had a chance to get started on

“a. Committee discussion on establishing a review procedures
ii. Liquor Licenses in rear yards & roof tops”

The new Chair has stated he is interested in the process but has not yet added the above to his agenda yet.

Our suggestions are at least partially due to the ongoing noise & friction raised during our community’s battle to stop Earl’s Beer & Cheese from expanding into 3 adjacent backyards. Visit WWW.9798LexPark.com for the details on that issue. We hope to avoid a repeat situation, similar to the contentious fights over Earls, where our block association had to attend 4 NY SA hearings before prevailing, & we pray that the Chair starts this review as soon a possible.

We are leaning very strongly to opposing all commercial & entertainment-type development in NYC residential backyards, with or without liquor, but in the interim, if these proposals are at least reviewed & taken into consideration and some are implemented, we are open to the CB’s serious revision of the process.

CURRENT SITUATION:
Currently the CB11M L&P committee requires a semi-detailed application, as well as posting on the door of the bar & “200 feet” from the establishment only SEVEN DAYS ahead of the hearing, & require “circulated petitions of support”; these latter vague & short-date requirements giving neighbors virtually no notice to find out the hours, details of operation (i.e., HOW LOUD, HOW LARGE ARE THE NEW CROWDS), to show their support or opposition, etc. And in the past, even that minimum posting requirement has been ignored.

Being grateful that the CB11M Licensing Committee has, on their own, suggested requiring more affected residents’ approval for future bar expansions, we have created a set of modest suggestions for how CB11M can revise their application process.

We hope this could become a city-wide issue to help both renters & residential property owners stop the noise & the lessening of the quality of life outside their rear windows, & on their street-side of their blocks as well.
Continue reading REVISED 05/06/15: Resident-Focused Policies For Backyard/Rooftop/Sidewalk Bars →

“They Might As Well Brick Up Our Windows!” Recording of SLA Hearing.

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Below are links to video and audio recordings of the Dec. 10, 2014 NY State Liquor Authority hearing, where we opposed Earl’s Beer and Cheese’s application to put a noisy beer garden into 3 backyards surrounded by hundreds of residents.

We are trying to do a transcript (any volunteers?) but in the meanwhile, you can watch and listen to the video here on your computer*, (scroll down on the page that pops up to Agenda item 8 and click on “Earl’s” Beer and Cheese”), or you can listen to just the audio by clicking here (the audio for our hearing starts at 41:38).

(Some neighbors reported they could not get the video to play on an ipad or iphone, but we have tested and it played fine on both PC and Mac; anyone with an Android / Windows phone, please let us know if the video plays).

At the end of the hearing you will hear Earl’s attorney asking for a holdover to 12/30/14 so they can do noise studies from apartments surrounding the backyards. Go here please to see the update on that issue.

If you agree with and support our efforts to stop businesses from destroying our peace and quiet in NYC backyards, please:

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Print out pages for your neighbors who have no internet, and forward our website URL to your neighbors and anyone in NYC interested in this issue;

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