Cmte. opposes sidewalk permit for noisy Union Sq. bar
Manhattan Community Board 5 Parks and Public Spaces Committee
Chair Clayton Smith listens resident complaints about noise and rowdy
patrons at Union Square’s SideBAR, Feb.3.
BY CHRISS WILLIAMS
Community Board 5’s Park and Public
Spaces Committee voted last week
to recommend denial of a sidewalk
café permit for a popular Union Square
sports bar.
SideBAR, the watering hole located at
118 East 15th St., has a contentious history
with the community board members due to
previously running a sidewalk café on its
property without a license, rowdy patrons
and a reneged promise to not participate
in the city-wide annual holiday pub crawl,
SantaCon.
“I wear ear plugs,” said Mickey Sweatt,
PHOTO BY CHRISS WILLIAMS
who lives on the fourth floor of a building
across the street from SideBAR. “I
hear yelling, we hear music…way past
midnight.”
A total of 15 residents showed up at the
Feb. 3 meeting urging the board to vote
against the application.
Michael Sinensky, the bar’s owner,
apologized to the disgruntled residents
during the meeting.
“It is not the intention of the business
to have so many people upset,” Sinensky
said while SideBAR’s managers Erika
London and Matt Kranz stood stiffly next
to him with their arms crossed. Sinensky
explained that steps have been taken to
SideBAR owner Michael Sinensky (center) listens to community concerns
about noise, rowdy patrons and SantaCon as they wait for approval
on an application for a sidewalk cafe next to managers Erika
London (left) and Matt Kranz.
appease community concerns like hiring
additional security guards to handle large
crowds, closing doors and windows during
loud hours to reduce noise pollution and
posting a sign with the cell phone number
of a manager on duty in case anyone wishes
to file a complaint.
While residents complained, Sinensky
jotted down notes. “We are here to make
things better,” he added.
Some residents were critical of the efforts
Sinensky listed though.
“They make a very good appearance of
being sincere,” said Peter Conrad, who lives
near the bar. Conrad then held up a photo
of the sign with the manager on duty’s
PHOTO BY CHRISS WILLIAMS
contact information, a measure that was
a recommendation from the community
board last summer.
“Did you want it to be hung where it
could be seen?” Conrad added.
SideBAR is not the first bar to be accused
of keeping the neighbors awake
or causing sidewalk congestion but as
Committee Chairman Clayton Smith told
residents at the meeting, the anger from the
community towards this bar was unique.
“We obviously can’t vote to support your
sidewalk café application until we have met
both the concerns about the operational
reputation and also questions about compliance,”
said Smith.
East Villagers get new L train entrance on Ave. A
BY MARK HALLUM
New entrances for the First Avenue
station in Manhattan are now
open to riders who may live or
work closer to Avenue A.
The Monday morning rush began with
greater access for L train riders as the
MTA opened up stairwells and turnstiles
connected to the First Avenue stop.
MTA Chief Development Officer Janno
Lieber said it’s all about accessibility
with these station improvements, which
finished on time and on budget at $477
million. Elevators for New Yorkers with
disabilities are still in the works, and are
expected to be operational by June.
Not only will the new station entrance
relieve some congestion, as pointed out by
Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, but it will
also afford the agency the opportunity to
give the First Avenue end of the station a
much needed facelift. Everything featured
there is original from when it was built
in 1913.
But the First Avenue entrance to the
station is scheduled to close next week,
according to Lieber.
“These new entrances are of course
part of a much bigger project. The L train
project is really a model of how we are
delivering projects for New Yorkers – as
I say, faster, better and cheaper,” Lieber
said. “We are ahead of schedule by four
months and we are doing that with night
and weekend work in an approach that
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
was developed by the governor and academic
experts, along with our MTA team
and we’re doing it with much less impact
to the public.”
Lieber pointed out that the agency
has been doing major Superstorm Sandy
related repairs to the bench-walls of the
Canarsie Tunnel since late April. On
the Brooklyn side of the river, the first
station riders encounter is the Bedford
Avenue stop which is currently undergoing
similar station work as well as having
elevators installed.
“The opening of this means that we
can close down the entrances on First Avenue
so that we can do the same kind of
work we’ve been able to do here,” Lieber
said. “The big picture is that the tunnel
rehabilitation, which every body was so
concerned about is four months ahead of
schedule, it’s going to be done in April.”
Lieber said this is part of the MTA’s
effort to make all stations American with
Disabilities Act compliant, a herculean
task considering just last year only a quarter
of stations followed the 30-year-old
federal law.
But the MTA seems to be catching
up, despite a number of lawsuits against
their alleged reluctance to make ADA
upgrades.
In January, the MTA said they would
expedite 23 stations for accessibility upgrades
which is only part of a subset of
70 total slated in the 2020-2024 Capital
Plan.
Schneps Media February 13, 2020 3