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Greenpoint residents win battle against backyard bar

December 13, 2019 Scott Enman
Greenpoint. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle
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Residents of the Greenpoint Historic District, fed up with excessive noise coming from restaurants and bars, have successfully dissuaded a new venue from operating out of its backyard — a small victory but one that sets an important precedent, according to neighbors.

Members of the Milton Street Block Association reached an agreement with Fulgurances NYC LLC, a business that is planning to open an eatery in the former space of a Laundromat at 132 Franklin St.

“We’ve come to a dedicated agreement that we proposed to that applicant, so the use of the backyard was entirely excluded,” said Sante Miceli of the neighborhood group.

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He stressed at a Community Board 1 meeting on Tuesday that he and his neighbors are not against business activity as a whole, but rather they are “battling” against the “uncontrolled” number of liquor license applications in such a small radius. The vast amount of bars leads to incessant noise, which they say severely disrupts their lives.

Related: Greenpoint residents are fed up with noisy nightlife

Miceli told the board that residents are also working on protecting an adjoining building from sound provocation. He argued that as more businesses hope to come to the neighborhood that they too should follow stipulations put forth by the neighbors.

“I believe it’s an important precedent,” he said. “We want to build on this legacy of people applying for liquor licenses and planning to open a restaurant. To come into the community, they have to come and agree on the parameters that the community [is] proposing.”

Last month, residents stood before the board brandishing signs reading, “No more bars! “Hardworking people and their children need to sleep at night!” “Basic quality of life is under threat,” and “Preserve the sanctity of the Greenpoint Historic District.”

Jane Clark, another member of the block association, said at November’s meeting that their quality of life was severely threatened by all the noise, which she said feels like “sound ricocheting in a canyon.”

“We feel inundated and we feel invaded, and the privacy and simplicity of our lives is being violated, and it’s coming at us from all angles,” she pleaded.

In 2014, the block association was successful in pressuring the community board to disallow Budin, a Nordic café, from serving alcohol in its yard.

There are at least 20 operating liquor licenses in the Greenpoint Historic District, according to the State Liquor Authority’s mapping tool. Three additional licenses are pending approval, including 132 Franklin St.

Follow reporter Scott Enman on Twitter.


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3 Comments

  3. StanChaz

    Five, six, seven bars to a block? …And counting?
    Backyard parties spaces open all night?
    No way.
    If these bar-hopping yuppies, trustafarians and just plain ole drunkards
    want to take a crap, let them crap right next to THEIR own condos
    –or whatever 6-roommates-to-an-apartment hovel that they call home.
    This, instead of ruining what’s left of a decent working-class neighborhood,
    a thriving neighborhood that was here long before they invaded the area,
    long before they came in like a swarm of entitled gentrifying roaches,
    roaches ridding in on the backs of greedy developers,
    developers looking for their next community to rape.
    Too harsh an assessment you say?
    Too blanket a condemnation?
    I think not.
    For those who do not respect others,
    those who don’t respect existing communities,
    don’t deserve respect in return.
    And if you let them walk all over you,
    then you’ve lost your self-respect.

    •Edit•Share ›

    December 17, 2019 at 12:13 am
    Reply