Brooklyn Becomes Footloose

It almost makes me want to put on a bikini and ride my Big Wheel down the middle of the street, and I look terrible in a bikini:

“Young, upwardly mobile professionals may seem to be pleasant tenants who bring in reliable income, but they also introduce a very different way of life: new nightclubs and bars, sun tanning on rooftops, bike lanes and an increasing amount of immodesty on our streets.”

So If The Health Department Raises Blood Pressure, The Health Department Is Bad For The City’s Health And Should Clearly Be Curbed

If the administration did less “brainstorming,” the Post would have less copy and we’d all have lower blood pressure:

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday scuttled a controversial city proposal to slash the number of booze establishments to curb excessive and underage drinking.

. . .

Asked if the mayor now backed the effort to limit businesses that can serve alcohol, Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser answered, “No.”

“One reason the mayor has been successful in office is because we think there are no bad ideas in brainstorming — and then we weigh them against other concerns. We’re deeply committed to encouraging entrepreneurs to start and expand small businesses in the city,” Loeser said.

Fight For Your Right To Party In The Backyard

Community Board overreach has brought Williamsburg business owners together to hopefully marginalize the committees of busybodies:

Williamsburg’s tavern and restaurant owners are in open rebellion against a new booze-license policy approved earlier this month by the local community board that will make it more difficult to open a bar with an outdoor space.

The new Community Board 1 rules require license-seeking bars with a rooftop or backyard space to have “seated food service” from a full menu — an onerous new hurdle that bar owners say hinders their efforts to quench the public thirst.

If It Ain’t Broke, Break It

At some point people will begin to seriously distrust the point and purpose of community boards. First there’s Community Board 1 in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, where they dislike outdoor patios. Then there is Manhattan’s Community Board 2, which apparently has a thing against Montreal Smoked Meat. And now you have Manhattan’s Community Board 10 in Harlem, where board members are looking to snuff out a burgeoning nightlife scene before it really even takes off:

Central Harlem community board is considering a plan to require all new bars and restaurants to stop serving liquor at 2 a.m., two hours earlier than normal.

The proposal has divided Community Board 10 down the middle. Some members believe the requirement would put new businesses at a competitive disadvantage to established businesses that can serve alcohol until 4 a.m. Others want to get a grip on Harlem’s bar boom before things get out of hand as in the East Village and Lower East Side, where a near tripling of DWI arrests was blamed on growing nightlife in the area.

. . .

[The CB 10 chair] said bar owners should be able to know the board’s preference because it will impact where they decide to open.

That last part doesn’t sound all that threatening, until you realize that it’s absolutely supposed to sound threatening.

Occupy Or Pigeon?

Pigeon:

According to an MTA spokesperson, the authority is aware of the problem and examining a variety of different solutions, including placing jagged spikes on the structure, making it less conducive for squatting.

Apparently they still haven’t solved the pigeon problem along the 7 train.