By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER MANHATTAN — Two restaurants located on the popular yet controversial stretch of Dyckman Street in Inwood received positive recommendations from Community Board 12 to move forward with the alteration of one space and sidewalk café license renewal for another.
Community Board 12 voted to support a renewal application for Mama Sushi’s Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) sidewalk café at 237 Dyckman Street, noting that the restaurant had agreed to terms negotiated by the offices of Assemblyman Denny Farrell and Councilman Robert Jackson.
The agreement would change the restaurant’s outdoor closing time from 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday to 10 p.m., and Midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, in an effort to quell quality of life complaints registered from residents who said the popular restaurants have attracted too much noise and congestion to the area.
During the board’s Economic Development committee on Feb. 1, board member George Espinal urged board members to support the renewal of the license calling the owner of the establishment "an extraordinary individual" who "ran a successful establishment despite the complaints generated by locals about noise on Dyckman Street."
Mamajuana Café and Papasito, two other Dyckman Street restaurants owned by the same corporation, have also agreed to the same hours of operation.
Papasito, had its State Liquor Authority (SLA) application approved by the board to alter its business so that it may house liquor in its basement, instead of a makeshift storage space on the floor of its bar.
According to members of the board, the alteration would not increase the restaurant and lounge’s overall capacity.
Instead the application will allow the owners to meet requirements set by the SLA that maintain alcohol must be stored at a certain level off the ground.
At the committee meeting earlier this month, some community residents called on the board to reject the application as leverage to force the restaurant to change its operating policies during the economic development’s meeting earlier in the month.
But Frank Hess, a spokesman for Farrell’s office, voiced his support of the establishment, saying the owners had made an effort to work with the community over the past several weeks, including installing insulation to buffer sound, creating a method for tenants who live nearby to lodge complaints and a installing a management system that tracks responses from management.
"It seems like the tenants and the owner are now happy, we’ve had a real 'Cumbayá' moment," he said referring to the song known for its theme of human unity.
Next up, the DCA and SLA will weigh in on the two applications, as the community board’s vote plays an advisory role.
