By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — The Lower East Side's Community Board 3 will revisit a decision to stop approving new liquor licenses on several blocks in the neighborhood in a series of public meetings beginning Thursday.
The board, which represents the East Village and parts of Chinatown in addition to the Lower East Side, often deals with dozens of applicants each month attempting to win approval for new bars and restaurants in the nightlife-rich area.
Just this week, the committee spent the better part of an hour debating a proposal by one applicant who was trying to secure a liquor license for two restaurants on the Lower East Side.
But the committee ultimately denied the request, citing the sheer number of liquor-serving establishments that already exist on the block.
“At this point, every place but Avenue D could be designated a ‘resolution area,’ ” said committee chairwoman Alexandra Militano, speaking of specific blocks in the community the board has stopped approving licenses for due to an overabundance of nightlife establishments. “How do you define these areas?”
That’s the central question that will be discussed Thursday, as well as what constitutes a “public benefit” — the criterion used to determine if a restaurant or bar should be approved for a license in one of the restricted areas.
Militano explained that the board strives to strike a balance between business interests and longtime local residents who would rather see bar operators leave the neighborhood altogether.
Her committee, whose 11 members are selected by the board chairman, includes three representatives who work in the nightlife industry, and who are widely thought to be more inclined to support new applicants.
While it’s not unusual — and more democratic, Militano said — for boards to appoint some nightlife professionals to the committees, it has created questions over conflict of interest.
“We just have to articulate our positions in as fair and constructive a way as possible,” she said. “It’s not a de-facto conflict for someone who has a business in the community to be evaluating applications.”
For those who conversely try to paint the committee as anti-nightlife, Militano responded that the reason Board 3 decided to create the restricted areas was to address city services overburdened by nightlife operations.
“Those areas have historically been overwhelmed in terms of noise and people and cars,” she said, noting that things like police and sanitation services can’t keep up with crowds. “It’s really taxed the resources of the agencies trying to respond to those conditions.”
In the end, the public meetings will show that board is trying to stay ahead of the curve in responding to the needs of its many residents and businesses, Militano added.
“It’s really just an effort to try to make more comprehensive policies we have,” she said, “or to change things we think are not working.”
The meeting is scheduled Thurs., Aug. 19, 6:30 pm at University Settlement, 273 Bowery, at Houston Street.
