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Williamsburg Residents Oppose Liquor License for New Sing Sing Location
By
Sandra Song
Published Oct 21, 2014
Modified Oct 21, 2014
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By
Sandra Song
Published Oct 21, 2014
Modified Oct 21, 2014
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A Sing Sing Karaoke isn't sounding so sweet to the residents living around the proposed new Williamsburg location.
At the most recent Community Board 1 meeting, the executive board recommended the denial of a liquor license for a branch of the popular karaoke bar on the increasingly bustling Grand Street corridor.
Several residents from the area around the bar-strewn street showed up at the meeting to make their case against the new spot, to be located at 227 Grand Street, a few doors down from Caracas. Those opposed argued that karaoke would be the tipping point for, as one local put it, "an endless parade of kids," making the already irksome weekend surge unbearable.
Dominating the public forum portion of the meeting, multiple long-time locals brought up a series of points, including the New York State Liquor Authority's 500-foot rule, which states that there are "restrictions on the approval of certain on-premises liquor licenses if the location is within a 500-foot radius of certain other establishments with on-premises liquor licenses." Residents say the Grand Street area is well past capacity, with six times that amount.
They also bristled at Sing Sing's claims that the new space will operate as a "family-friendly restaurant," which rang false to those familiar with the bar's two Manhattan locations.
One particularly well-prepared woman read a string of negative Yelp reviews for the St.Mark's and Avenue A locations, which mentioned complaints from customers about not getting their deposits back and a bathroom that was "similar to peeing down a hole in the woods in the middle of the night. But the woods are cleaner."
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Sandra Song
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