Will A New Mars Bar Get Past Community Board 3?

There have been multiple rumors that Mars Bar owner Hank Penza will be opening a new bar somewhere in the East Village sometime in the new few months. While the exact location isn't clear (Penza told the Post that he was looking at a few and hadn't decided yet), what is clear is that the move will require the approval of a new liquor license from Community Board 3. If this were most other applicants, the Board would first yell about their operating history. Someone would say "that bar has an unruly crowd that doesn't belong here", while another would say "that place was disgusting, no wonder that the Health Department shut it down". It seems likely that someone else would yell at the applicant for letting their customers sit in chairs on the sidewalk without the right permits.

After the Board got through yelling about the bar owner's past, they would then turn to the future. The local neighborhood block association would voice their concern about the issuance of a new liquor license with a 4 AM closing time. Then the Board would attempt to load the application up with stipulations, such as a midnight closing time from Sunday to Wednesday and a 2 AM closing time during the weekend, no music after 10 PM during the week, a juke box that can't be played above a certain decibel, two security guards to check ID's and make sure that no one stands outside the entry to the neighboring building to smoke because there is a young child who lives there. Then someone would yell that the block can't take any more traffic because of another bar that is on the other end of the street, and so demand a traffic plan from the applicant. Then after the applicant agrees to all of the stipulations, the Board would still vote against the new license.

That is what they would do for most people. But call it a hunch that Penza won't have to go through the same trials and tribulations that other applicants go through since he was forced to shut his business down to make way for condos, proving once again what a special system New York's liquor license process is.
· Mars Bar Coverage [~ENY~]
· The Drying of NYC [~ENY~]
· Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~]