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Will Bushwick Bars Be Forced To Close Early On Sundays?
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 26, 2013
Modified Mar 26, 2013
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Courtesy Bushwick Country Club
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 26, 2013
Modified Mar 26, 2013
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If we need more than jacked-up rents and fixie races to establish that Bushwick's the new Williamsburg, the neighborhood's bar scene has apparently becoming so cacophonous it's sparked a Brunch Wars-esque crackdown; the local Community Board is now asking bars and liquor stores in the area to stop selling alcohol after midnight on Sundays.
Community Board 4 says locals have been complaining about the recent influx of bars and liquor stores. "I can't go out on my street without seeing one," long-time resident Austin Martinez told DNAinfo. "I'll go on Wilson Avenue and see all these new liquor stores. They're opening everywhere." So, as a compromise, they're asking businesses applying for new liquor licenses and renewing old ones to close down by midnight—and unsurprisingly, area bar owners are not happy. "Bushwick has a lot of residential blocks that are planted between the bars springing up in the neighborhood and I know it's easy to hear a group of people leaving late at night on a Sunday," Ben Warren, who owns bars Heavy Woods and The Bodega off the Jefferson L stop, said. But, he added: "It gets imposing when they start trying to close down the hours."
Of course, Bushwick's not the only Brooklyn neighborhood that's been threatened with a bar-and-liquor-store crackdown. So many new bars have opened in Williamsburg over the years that the SLA nearly issued a liquor license moratium in 2011. And, as someone who lives on an otherwise residential block across the street from a Bushwick bar that has patrons standing outside screaming every night of the week, it's understandable that residents are complaining. I've heard people on the block—a number of whom have families with young children—come out and beg bar-goers to bring the noise level down in wee weeknight hours.
Then again, what's respecting your neighbors when compared with the inalienable right to pre-game a Monday morning with 2 a.m. whiskey-and-PBR shots? Is it not enough that we've lost parties at the McKibbin Lofts? Is there even a REASON TO RIDE THE L ANYMORE?
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bushwick
bushwick bars
community board 4
liquor licenses
why god
Rebecca Fishbein
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