By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — The battle over rooftop bar noise at the Empire Hotel is heating up again — almost a year after judges sided with neighbors who sued to stop the racket at the nightlife hotspot.
A neighbor whose apartment overlooks the hotel at West 64th Street and Broadway said after three years of calling 311 about the sleep-stealing din from the rooftop bar, a hotspot that's earned cameos in "Gossip Girl" and in the "Sex in the City" movie, he recently resorted to calling 911.
Neighbor Monte Friedman told the 20th Precinct's Community Council meeting on Monday that he's sick of being "in the crosshairs of noise." Friedman, who has a clear view of the rooftop bar from his window, said a 311 operator told him his complaints could justify a 911 call if the rooftop bar seemed unsafely overcrowded.
Friedman said he called 911 late Saturday. He said Firefighters responded about 1 a.m. Sunday and ordered roughly 120 people to leave the rooftop bar.
An FDNY spokeswoman confirmed that firefighters responded to a 911 report of an estimated 400 people packed onto the roof of the hotel, but could not confirm whether there were in fact that many people on the roof or whether firefighters took action to clear the bar.
No summonses were issued during the incident, which took about 40 minutes to resolve, she said.
"It felt like a small victory for the little guy," Friedman told the 20th Precinct Community Council. "Four nights a week we're up to quarter of four in the morning."
Friedman pleaded with police Monday to coordinate with FDNY, the Department of Buildings and other city agencies to crack down on noise from the rooftop bar, which he said has been a chronic nuisance for years.
Meanwhile, residents in Friedman's co-op building are still waging a legal battle against the rooftop bar, said the residents' attorney Steven Sladkus.
A panel of judges ruled in August 2010 that the rooftop bar was causing "unreasonable" interference with residents' "right to use and enjoy their respective apartments," the Westside Spirit reported.
Now both sides are negotiating a settlement agreement about how to limit noise from the rooftop bar, said attorneys for the co-op building and the bar.
"The parties on both sides are proceeding in good faith with settlement discussions, which at this point are very advanced," said Bruce Bronster, who represents China Grill Management, which operates the rooftop bar.
Options include limiting the hours that music is played or making physical changes to the rooftop such as replacing windows and changing its sound system, Bronster an Sladkus said.
Sladkus said that while the bar's operators, China Grill Management, have been open to negotiations, Empire Hotel management doesn't want to put limits on how the rooftop can be used.
"We've been having active talks with the bar, but the hotel is taking the position that they're not interested in limiting the use of the space," Sladkus said. "We're attempting to reach a global settlement in this."
