LAST CALLThe link above is to an article I found in the Post today.
The NYC office of the NY State Liquor Aunthority (NYSLA), currently headed by former cop Daniel Boyle, is doing all it can to make 2:00AM the
de facto closing time for NYC bars. According to the article, in the East Village and the LES, no liquor licenses were approved in November, December or January for any bars that planned to stay open past 2:00AM on weekdays or 3:00AM on weekends.
State law allows bars to stay open and serve alcohol until 4:00AM. This law can only be changed by the state legislature, or perhaps a local law could be enacted at the city or county level that would enforce a stricter time, as I do believe such laws exist for certain counties in NY State. Nonetheless, it is not within the power of a local office of the NYSLA, a bureaucratic and administrative body, to enact or repeal legislation. Yet this bureacratic body is taking a very active role here in NYC.
The NYSLA's job is to examine applications for liquor licenses and permits and, based on the merits of the application, decide whether or not to grant the license. Based on the information in this article, it appears that the NYSLA has decided to simply not grant licenses to bars that do not reach out to community boards in their neighborhoods and work out an agreement whereby the bar closes earlier than time to which it legally has a right to stay open under state and local law. Bar owners are making such agreements only because, with rent and start-up costs to pay, they are anxious to open their doors. If they do not willingly make such agreements, their application for a license will not be granted, and they will not be able to open.
In effect, the NYSLA is making 2:00AM the closing time for NYC bars. And we are not talking about quiet, residential neighborhoods. This is going in the Village, the East Village and the LES.
Anybody moving into these neighborhoods should know that these neighborhoods have long been centers for nightlife in this city (and they once were centers for alternative culture, although that has been on the wane recently with encroaching yuppie-dom). You can't move into neighborhoods like these and then get mad because there are bars open and people enjoying themselves late into the night on your street. The bars and music venues were there before you and deserve to stay. If you want quiet, move to the Upper East Side or the suburbs. You have no right to move into a lively neighborhood, force up rents and kick out every thing that's cool.
This article relates to my own experieince as well. You may recall or read on this page how my loft parties at Last Resort repeatedly faced harassment by the NYPD. I finally learned how to and did obtain a beer permit to protect myself from corrupt police officers' threats to charge me with illegal liquor sales ( I was not selling liquor at my parties). This permit allowed me to sell at our last 2 parties on 11/16/07 and 11/17/07. The cops came to the 11/17/07 party and were able to charge me and arrest me even though I had the permit because in fine print on the face of the permit it stated that it was not valid after 1:00AM. I had unfortunately assumed that the permit would be valid until 4:00AM, since that is state and local law and nothing on the NYSLA website or permit application nor any representative I spoke to at the NYSLA office ever indicated to me that the permit would only be granted under stricter terms than the law allows.
Distraught by my situation I called the NYSLA office and spoke to the representative that granted me the permit. (to be continued - I have to leave so I will finish writing this later.)