Carroll Gardens Bar Fight Turns Nasty & Personal
The fight about the Jim Mamary Oyster Bar on Hoyt Street has engendered strong opinions along the way, some of which have played out in the form of vigorous back-and-forth between supporters and opponents in our own comments. Last week's approval of a liquor license for the establishment led to a loud reaction from neighborhood blogger Pardon Me for Asking, who accused Community Board 6 of "sticking it to" residents and setting "a very, very dangerous precedent" that "signaled to all restaurateurs that this district is a free for all and that residential streets are as good as any to open bars." An email from what appeared to be a member of the Hoyt Street Alliance said, "They should be called Business Board 6. They are absolutely useless to the community." The led to an angry email from CB6 member Mark Shames who voted against the license, but who felt "compelled to defend the board against an attack that does not fairly reflect the facts or the complexity of the case." Here's an excerpt:I am a member of community board 6. I voted against the liquor license at the board meeting. Except on the most non-controvercial issues I tend to find myself with little company and I have no particular love for the board leadership. However, I feel compelled to defend the board against an attack that does not fairly reflect the facts or the complexity of the issue. First, the board has only considered two liquor licenses in its history and it rejected the other one....The latest email, from Glenn Kelly (who is the original blogger's husband), does not address the dispute, but says "I am surprised and disappointed in the decision made by our community board in voting in favor of the liquor license application on Hoyt street." The Hoyt Street group intends to appeal the license to the State Liquor Authority. The odds of success at that level are unknown. The broader issue is that residents feel the city will avoid issuing new liquor license on Smith Street and steer them to places like Hoyt Street, which neighbors are afraid will turn into "another Smith Street."
Labels: Carroll Gardens
posted by rsguskind at 8:50 AM
5 Comments:
Why is this the first I am hearing of this? This is an outrage! Mamary sucks and his places are dirty and stupid! Go Katia for saying what I am thinking. There will be no appeal. Mamary will swoop in with his half assed labor and discount seafood. We can only hope he gets slapped with a health inspection notice and is shut down. There goes my F'ing neighborhood...
Wow. I didn't think another neighborhood could outdo Park Slope's NIMBY tendencies. Bravo! Hey, we need a decent restaurant over here on 7th Avenue, Mr. Mamary. I'm a huge fan of the new place, Pomme De Terre.
Wow, indeed. I just checked out Katia Kelly's blog. What a crazy waste of time. Grow up. It's New York City. People like to go out to restaurants. Not everyone owns a big brownstone to throw dinner parties.100 years ago there was a tavern on every corner. Carroll Gardens isn't the suburbs. Living in a city means jutting up against other people and their sounds and smells. Get used to it.
Don't live on a commercially zoned street if you don't want the noise. Can't believe anybody has to actually say that. Isn't it a given? And as if these protesters never drink in bars or restaurants. They are NIMBY all the way - "I'll drink like a fish in another neighborhood but Not In My Back Yard."
A business owner made a decision to apply for a full liquor license to open a bar on a RESIDENTIAL block. It is not a restaurant - there is no kitchen. There is already a wine bar on the block, we live with th lowered quality of life issues from that bar. There are only ten houses on this small, residential block. Why is it not reasonable for the residents of the block to say to the owner you have already changed the residential character of our block with your wine bar, please leave it at that. His combined wine/bar liquor bar will extend 98 feet along a block that is only 192 feet long. Get your facts straight, people, and ask yourselves, whetehr you'd like to live a door or two away from a late hours bar. On a residntially zoned street.
BTW, I'm one of the Brooklynites who chose to raise my kid in the city, attend inner city schools, and not flee to the burbs like many others. Does that not give me the right to have an opinion on my own block?
Resident of Hoyt St. for 24 years.
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