January 19, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
LOCAL
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PAGE 11
‘FROM A FUNERAL TO A MIRACLE’
Beloved Woodhaven tavern saved days before closing, but small biz still struggles across city
BY MAX PARROTT
Business was booming at
the historic Neir’s Tavern
in Woodhaven the day after
Mayor de Blasio personally
showed up to announce
that it would not be closing on
Jan. 10.
De Blasio’s office helped
get the bar’s landlord to the
table to negotiate a lease with
owner Loycent Gordon that
would ensure it will stay
open for another five years,
with the option to renew for
five more.
But for small business
advocates, the saga raised
systemic concerns.
The news of the tavern’s salvation
came a day after owner
Loycent Gordon had sent out an
email to his customers, telling
them that he would have to hastily
close as a result of a $3,400
rent hike.
But over the course of Jan.
10, the Queens Chamber of Commerce
and local lawmakers intervened
on behalf of the 190-year
bar, which is said to be the oldest
continuously running bar in
the city, to work out a lease that
would last until it’s 200th anniversary,
along with some grants
to cover repairs to the building.
“It was a madhouse, everyone
was crying — we’re just overjoyed.
It went from a funeral to
a miracle,” Gordon said, describing
the packed celebration on
Friday night.
Among the throng of Neir’s
guests on Saturday — which
included neighbors who came
to celebrate their local pub and
first-timers who arrived because
of the media coverage — were a
group of advocates who showed
up to spread awareness about two
bills that are aimed at protecting
businesses from ballooning rent.
Mayor Bill de Blasio stopped by the historic Queens pub to announce a deal keeping it in business. Photo by Dean Moses
“It’s great that the mayor
saved this place, but you can
bet that he’s not going to be able
to save each and every space in
the city,” said Olympia Kazi, a
member of the NYC Artist Coalition,
a group dedicated lowering
rents for small businesses as a
way to keep grassroots cultural
institutions alive.
The members of the groups
explained that they are in favor
of two bills that propose to lower
commercial rents.
One of them named the commercial
rent stabilization bill, introduced
by Councilman Stephen
Levin, would function much like
the recent residential rent stabilization.
It would set up a rent
guideline board under mayoral
control that would set a percentage
increase cap for all commercial
leases under 10,000 feet.
The other bill floating around
the council is the Small Business
Jobs Survival Act, which would
entitle each commercial lease
holder go to mediation and binding
arbitration if they thought
that a new lease was proposing a
rent hike that was too steep.
“You cannot have a place that
has invested in a community
— it’s been there for decades —
and out of the blue, without any
reason, the rent is doubled or
tripled,” said Kazi.
The group came to advocate
for affordable community spaces,
like Neir’s, which they see as
vital to culture, but not hugely
profitable.
In fact, even the devoted
neighbors of Neir’s said that they
could see why it was struggling.
“It’s an awkward spot for a bar
because it’s so old. Parking here
is a nightmare because it’s all
residential. Unless you grew up
around here, or live around here
you don’t really know about this
place, unless it’s because of the
history,” said Chris Kirwan, a
regular at the bar’s trivia night.
But for people like Bobby Flash
— a neighbor who still holds on to
a snow packet he picked up while
watching Martin Scorsese film
a scene from “Goodfellas” at the
bar in 1989 — it contains an ineffable
piece of the city’s history.
“To me, it’s not just another
bar; it’s a community place. For
the mayor to come down here,
you know this place has great
significance,” Flash said.
Reach reporter Max Parrott by
e-mail at mparrott@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718) 260-
2507.
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