Someone needs to pour Community Board 1 in North Brooklyn a stiff drink.
On Tuesday, the Executive Committee of CB1 Brooklyn voted unanimously to institute a moratorium on new liquor licenses in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and the rest of North Brooklyn. The vote was a response to what the leaders of CB1 see as an over saturation of liquor licenses in the area.
The Board's Public Safety Committee, which reviews liquor license applications, met last night to discuss the issue, and left with more questions than answers. The Committee did not vote on a moratorium, but the issue is sure to come at next Tuesday's full board meeting.
And if the measure passes on Tuesday, North Brooklyn's burgeoning drink scene will join the East Village and the Lower East Side in New York neighborhoods where bar entrepreneurs will have to cut through lots of red tape to open their own watering holes.
Ultimately though, as Grub Street points out, it is not up to CB1 to decide who gets liquor licenses, but The State Liquor Authority -- CB1 is just in the official capacity of party pooper and can make the already tedious process of getting a liquor license that much more tedious.
The board will vote on the measure at a combined public hearing and board meeting, held at the Swinging 60's Senior Citizens Center, 211 Ainslie Street in Brooklyn on Tuesday April 12, at 6:30PM.