WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Should auld acquaintance be forgot ... you may have to forget about your New Year's Eve party too, unless the state reconsiders its ban on all-night party permits that stretch into New Year's Day on Sunday morning.
Under the law, the State Liquor Authority doesn't allow bars to serve alcohol before 8 a.m. on Sundays — which means no partying into the wee hours of the morning for anyone who wants to celebrate at a bar on New Year's Eve Saturday, December 31, 2016.
But the SLA is looking into whether to waive the rules and allow all-night permits this year, officials told DNAinfo New York, as bars and restaurants all over the city — including Uptown — fear they'll lose out on one of their biggest moneymaking nights of the year.
“My clients are saying, ‘So basically we lose Saturday, because no one comes on Saturday when they know they’re going to be partying for New Years. We lose the business on Saturday and then we lose the business on Sunday,” said Arelia Taveras, spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association, which represents more than 100 restaurants and bars throughout the five boroughs.
The all-night permits, which last year were issued to 24 nightlife venues within the 34th Precinct alone, allows restaurant and bar owners to serve alcohol until 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation modernizing the Blue Laws on Sept. 7 — which went into effect immediately — and included a provision to move up the hour that people can purchase alcohol on Sunday from noon to 10 a.m. The change is part of Cuomo’s campaign to simplify the 80-year-old blue law that governs the sale of alcohol in New York State restaurants, wineries, distilleries, breweries and cideries.
The SLA did not comment on when it expects to make a decision about New Year's party permits.
But Deputy Inspector Reymundo Mundo said during the 34th Precinct Council Meeting on Wednesday that while his department hasn’t been notified yet on whether the all-night permits will be allowed this year, bars with a troubled history should consider themselves denied.
“If we have a history with a location that has given us problems — fights, slashing, all these crimes at their locations — I’m not going to be approving that location to be issued an all-night drinking permit,” Mundo said.
The 34th Precinct Council President Stephen Feldheim said 24 out of 34 establishments were approved for all-night permits last year in Washington Heights and Inwood, while two establishments operated without a permit.
