Newsflash: Community Boards Pose Nuisance to Restaurateurs

Anyone who follows community board coverage here and any restaurateur that has faced down downtown's Community Boards 2 and 3 know the power they wield. They know how successful the boards can be at stopping hopeful candidates from setting up shop on the side streets of Soho, the East Village, the LES, and so on. Today, the Post touches upon the subject, noting that Nello Balan's desire to expand his sceney uptown celeb haunt down to Soho is already drawing fire from confrontational neighborhood group The Soho Alliance. The group will pose a major roadblock when Balan eventually goes before the community board for his Nello on Greene Street, but he doesn't really see why. "SoHo is almost dead, there’s nothing going on down there. A restaurant the caliber of Nello’s would be a very good thing," he tells the Post.

Meanwhile, a worker at the soon to shutter Mercadito Cantina, writes EV Grieve with an account of his negative experience with Community Board 3 and complains that the members were overly aggressive, unfair, and seemed to be almost rooting for the restaurant's demise.
· Fun in SoHo? Not in their back yard! [NYP]
· About Mercadito Cantina Closing: An Open Letter to EV Grieve and CB3 [EVG]
[Uptown's Nello by Flickr/D90 student]