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Rowdy Patrons Lead Neighbors to Say No to Sidewalk Cafe for East End Bar & Grill

By DNAinfo Staff on September 28, 2010 6:02pm  | Updated on September 29, 2010 6:54am

Neighbors of East End Bar and Grill at 1664 First Avenue say the bar's clientele are out of control when they leave.
Neighbors of East End Bar and Grill at 1664 First Avenue say the bar's clientele are out of control when they leave.
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Facebook East End Bar and Grill

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

UPPER EAST SIDE — Neighbors of an Upper East Side nightspot said they're fed up with drunken revelers urinating and vomiting in their doorways and ringing their buzzers in the wee hours of the night at a special hearing Monday on the bar's bid for a sidewalk permit.

"It's enough already," said Larry Weinmann, who lives above the East End Bar and Grill at 1664 Second Ave., between East 86th and East 87th streets.

Upper East Side Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, who sits on the City Council's zoning committee, postponed the zoning committee's final decision on the permit until Oct. 5 after hearing from upset neighbors and a community board frustrated to learn that, despite its rejection of the bar's application, East End's bid for a sidewalk cafe would likely be approved because it did not violate any zoning laws. 

The bar's application for a sidewalk cafe was rejected by Community Board 8 but upheld by the city because it did not violate zoning laws, the request will go before the council Oct. 5.
The bar's application for a sidewalk cafe was rejected by Community Board 8 but upheld by the city because it did not violate zoning laws, the request will go before the council Oct. 5.
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DNAinfo/Gabriela Resto-Montero

"For me to hear from the Community Board, and to the level that I have, is rare," Lappin said at the hearing Monday.

According to Nicholas Viest, chair of Community Board 8's street life committee, in the first six months of 2010, 11 people called into 311 to complain about urination, cleanliness and noise in connection with East End patrons.

Jackie Ludorf, another CB8 member, said that a priest at St. Joseph's Church, located around the corner from the bar, told her that on Saturdays and Sundays custodians routinely have to clean up vomit from the church steps.

"It's absolute murder on us. They get them in, they get them loaded, they get them out and it's not their problem," said Rory, a neighbor who didn't offer his last name and added that East End patrons ring neighborhood buzzers at 4 a.m. in the morning.

According to Steve Shapiro, one of the bar's investors, East End's operators approached the supervisors of neighboring buildings about installing buzzer covers to prevent the late night disruptions but did not hear back.

Bartenders cut off patrons who may have had too much to drink and they hose down the sidewalk outside the bar every night, said Kenny Bowen, general manager of the bar.

But, on a stretch that includes other bars, East End can't be held responsible for all of the neighborhood disruptions, Bowen said.

"There are other problems in the neighborhood and it's not our clientele," he said at the hearing.

According to Julia Mair, a resident who testified at the hearing, the community doesn't wish the bar to go out of business; they just want them to rein in their clientele.

"We just need you to control the noise and the general chaos somehow," Mair said.

Lappin will present feedback from the hearing to the zoning committee before it's vote on the bar's application for a sidewalk permit.