Tag Archives: outdoor area

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

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#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.

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.

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