Times article:

quote:

September 7, 2006 Liquor-License Freeze Enacted in N.Y. By ANTHONY RAMIREZ The state liquor board yesterday imposed an immediate four-month freeze on approving liquor licenses for areas of New York City that already have three or more license holders within 500 feet of each other. The unanimous action by the New York State Liquor Authority, which was immediately denounced by a trade group of city nightclubs, follows the deaths this year of two young women. They were killed after drinking heavily at nightspots in SoHo and Chelsea. Robert Bookman, a lawyer for the New York Nightlife Association, a trade group of 125 bars and nightclubs, mainly in Manhattan, said the action was unfair. It has “thrown the industry into chaos within the last few hours,” he said. Mr. Bookman added, “If I have my lifetime savings wrapped up in a place that I’m prepared to open Oct. 1 and now I can’t get a license until January, how am I going to pay $30,000 in monthly rent and not be able to open?” By contrast, Scott Wexler, executive director of the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association, with 5,000 members statewide, called the state action “judicious and measured.” Last month, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed legislation that made it easier for the city to shut down establishments that fail to conduct background checks of security workers. In February, Imette St. Guillen, 24, of the Upper West Side, was killed after drinking heavily and leaving a SoHo bar called the Falls. A bouncer was charged with murdering her. In July, Jennifer Moore, 18, of Harrington Park, N.J., was killed after a night of heavy drinking at a nightclub called the Guest House in Chelsea. A man and a woman have been charged in her death. A public hearing on state liquor laws, the liquor board and underage drinking is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at 250 Broadway, Manhattan, in the State Senate Hearing Room, on the 19th floor. The liquor board’s order, effective immediately until Dec. 31, does not apply to restaurants, the board said, but to licenses for “bars, clubs and cabarets that are subject to the 500-foot rule.” It also applies to all pending applications, a spokesman said. It was not immediately known how many applications were awaiting review, but the board has looked at 14 cases involving the 500-foot rule so far this year. The 500-foot rule, which is usually applied in Manhattan, prohibits the issuance of full liquor licenses for establishments when there are already three or more such establishments within 500 feet of each other. There are exceptions to the rule, and critics have accused the board of leniency. “This moratorium,” said Daniel B. Boyle, the board’s chairman, “will give the S.L.A. time to thoroughly analyze the policies, procedures and applications that govern nightclubs and bars in N.Y.S.” The board also named a task force to review the board’s licensing policies, and instituted “Operation Last Call,” an enforcement effort focusing on “excessive noise; assaults and violent felonies; sales to minors and intoxicated patrons; drug offenses; and other violations of the law.”