La Esquina Re-Opening Tonight

After the Buildings Department shut down semi-secret subterranean restaurant/tequila lounge La Esquina for "conditions imminently perilous to life," the trendy hotspot has been mysteriously permitted to reopen permanently. The big question now is how Barnard professor and NIMBY nightlife scold Georgette Fleischer will react. She's the one whose 311 calls got the DOB to investigate, and one of her students tells Page Six she's a real loose cannon: "She would have ridiculous mood swings before and after class... She'd constantly create issues for students to get them in trouble. She was like a narc." Another source reveals what may be her Achilles heel: "She once yelled at me in class because I said I had a good relationship with my dad but not with my mom. But she loved cats."

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By John Del Signore in News on May 12, 2010 6:05 PM

Comments [rss]

Ronnie Dobbs

This is your 3rd or 4th La Esquina story (or reference) in a few days. What's the fascination with this place?

really!?!?

They are not the only place running multiple posts on this story. It is because this story is a good example of what is wrong with out current DOB, community board, SLA, LPC and 311 system (you can probably throw a few more bureaucracies in there, but those are the immediate ones that come to mind.) The point would be better illustrated if DOB lost their file for a few weeks and in the mean time LPC landmarked some detail of the building which prevented them from fixing the violations. Then they get through the bureaucracy and received the go ahead to the work to fix the violation, only to find out that the code has changed yet again and they have to re-apply for all their work, so back to the DOB who will probably misunderstand their application since the plan examiner will not be up-to-date on the new code and english is not even his 2nd language. In the mean time they are not operating and must give their liquor license back to the SLA, who then gets to hold another hearing before returning it once the work if complete and signed off. If you think any of this is an exaggeration you have never dealt with these agencies.

the system is broken and that this one lady can shut down an operation, losing tens of thousands in revenue, taxes and pay checks is insane. The fact is that a) her original complaint about the ventilation didn't lead to any violations, there was nothing wrong with the ventilation and b) that they got everything fixed and signed off so quickly means that they did not do physical work in the space (replacing or fireproofing a ceiling takes weeks not days) so the violations issued were most likely wrong, but DOB never admits that and just signs off on the correction and dismissal rather then revoking the violation and admitting one of their inspectors was wrong (happens all of the time.)

(sorry for the rant)

Dwayne Hoover

Wow, she sounds like buckets of fun. She'd fit right in on the Community Boards with the all the other nutjob representatives, trying to find meaning in their lives by making others miserable.