Bar owner gets a reprieve
after expanded hours denial
BY KYLE VUILLE
Community Board 11 has
agreed to review its decision
to deny a Pelham Parkway bar
owner an extension of hours at
the next full board meeting.
Marisa Joy Davis has been
greeted with pushback from
the community board since she
fi rst opened her bar, Kirvens,
at 736 Lydig Avenue about two
years ago, she claimed.
In 2017 Davis converted a
former clothing store into a bar,
but her State Liquor Authority
liquor license application
received a ‘denial’ recommendation
from the community
Undeterred by the vote she
then presented the SLA a 500-
signature petition in support
of the bar. The SLA then overruled
the board’s decision and
Kirvens opened.
Two years later, Davis is
once again at loggerheads with
the board.
On Wednesday, January 15,
Davis appeared before CB 11’s
Economic Development Subcommittee
to support her re-
quest to extend the bar’s Sunday
to Wednesday hours to 3
a.m. and to 4 a.m. Thursday to
Saturday.
CB 11 denied the request,
stating the 49th Precinct provided
details about two incidents
that occurred at the establishment
this past New
Year’s Day.
After the denial Davis complained
that the subcommittee
did not give her adequate time
to explain the nature of the
phone calls to the 49th regarding
the incidents and the board
never asked her to explain the
matter either.
“Two phone calls (to the police)
in two years, I should get
an award for that, honestly,”
Davis said. “How many bars in
NYC can say the same?”
The head of the Economical
Development Subcommittee,
Joseph Thompson, said the
committee had not reviewed
any police reports themselves,
but took law enforcement’s
word on the nature of the incidents
in determining its denial
recommendation.
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board.
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“We have to be reasonably
sure that the person operates
a solid business and a hundred
percent cooperates with police
and properly reports situations,”
Thompson said.
Davis asked that the board,
in light of her objections, reconsider
its vote.
“It’s important to me that another
businessman or woman
comes into this neighborhood,
they don’t have to deal with the
same things I’m dealing with,”
Davis said.
Davis feels all bars in CB 11
aren’t treated the same.
“I can go less than a mile
down the street, Morris Park
Avenue, and it is riddled with
bars open late.”
On Tuesday, February 11,
after consulting with the CB
11 district manager Jeremy
Warneke and the 49th Precinct
Community Affairs police offi -
cers, Davis was able to present
the facts behind the two incidents.
According to Davis, the
board has agreed to retake the
vote.
Marisa Joy Davis stands behind the bar at Kirvens. Davis opened the bar
at 736 Lydig Avenue in Pelham Park about two years ago. Davis was recently
denied by Community Board 11 to extend the bar’s hours.
Photo by Kyle Vuille/Schneps Media
Davis said she now feels
that she has the support of the
board and the local police precinct,
but is still concerned
over how the process works.
“I’m super happy about
the outcome, but still scared
how this happened in the fi rst
place,” Davis said.
The next CB 11 full board
meeting will be on Thursday,
February 27.
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