New Law Would Close Bar Backyards at 10 on Weeknights

In this file photo of The Diamond, a lonely man contemplates a grim future without outdoor drinking after 10.

You don't have to go home, but you can't stay out here, says Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who quietly introduced a bill last month that would amend the alcoholic beverage control law to require bars with roofs and backyards to corral everyone inside at 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends. Once inside, the patrons would be required to read quietly, work on their needlepoint, or just think about what they've done.

The bill is specifically targeting bars in urban areas with one million or more inhabitants, and would require owners to get a permit to have waiter service. Also, no amplified music would be permitted. (And no salty language or skirts above the knee!) Millman's chief of staff says the bill was drafted in response to concerns from residents in Brooklyn Heights and Carroll Gardens, and tells the Wall Street Journal, "I have a staff member who spends about one-third of her working areas dealing with noisy bars."

Earlier today we spoke with Dave Pollack, co-owner of Gothamist favorite The Diamond in Greenpoint. He was shocked to hear about the bill, but told us, "Backyards have always been such a gray area. I had heard that the Community Board voted that they had to close at 10, but it's not enforced. I've had inspections where the Health Department didn't even go out there. Sometimes they do, which is how I learned that smoking is not actually allowed in the backyard. 25% of the space can be designated as a smoking area, and people cannot be eating or drinking while smoking in that area. These inspectors throw something new at you every time they come in."

Below, Pollack tells us what kind of damage the bill would do to his bottom line, and what he plans to do about it.

It doesn't surprise me someone's crusading for this but it's troubling to me because we close our yard at 11:30 during the week, and 12: 30 on the weekend. We created that time ourselves based on what we thought was reasonable, and we never get complaints from our neighbors. Seven months out of the year it wouldn't make any dent in our business, but the five months out of the year during which we make most of our money, May through September, it would make a huge dent, maybe ten percent of our sales. The back yard is really our biggest draw, besides the shuffleboard table. People want to stay out there as late as they can, and we're really strict about pulling them in when the time comes.

Pollack says he plans to reach out to other bars with backyards or roofs to get organized and fight this bill. We told him we'd happily join his army, and will show solidarity by chilling in The Diamond's unique backyard tonight, while the fun is still legal.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on June 18, 2010 4:43 PM

Comments [rss]

ianmac47

Does it really matter? Closing a backyard is just going to move the noise to the front of the bar where smokers congregate. Trade one evil for another. At least with backyard bars, cigarette butts are thrown on bar's property and not on the street.

Billiamsburg

Why don't all these old greaseball 'real new yorkers' move to florida already? They hate pretty much everything ABOUT New York (as it is now, not in their rose-colored 1970s version). Wahh the bars are too loud, the restaurants dont have senior discounts, the subways move too fast, the colored people talk funny.. If only every establishment could be a red-sauce italian restaurant that closed at 8 pm huh?

You know how you deal with living above a bar? You tell the owner 'hey I'm one of your upstairs neighbors' and to make up for the noise they'll let you drink for free.

silhouette

as a 20 year-old NATIVE, I must ask you: are you twelve? You must have the most ridiculously sophomoric and pompous view of yourself and your peers I have ever come into contact with. You are a joke.

soxinthecity

Noise is not just a problem for people that live upstairs from a bar. I used to live half a block from a bar with a big backyard, and by 10pm, most of the patrons were piss drunk and screaming at the top of their lungs just holding a normal conversation.

The good part was that I knew all the gossip before I ever walked through the front door. That was very helpful. :)

mo

we have had 3 bars open on our block this year on top of the 3 we have already one has a backyard on our side .the noise from the street is bad enough but they have an open back yard space and is very loud people who have apartment in the back on our block and the block behind us cannot sleep .they stya open rigt the 4 am limit. try working on 3 hours sleep 5 days a week. the weekends are a whole other story they have live bands for parties the noise goes to a whole new level

nu yorker

sounds like it used to be a cool neighborhood...till u got there. shit if u dont like noise why would u move to nyc?

connecticut and new jersey are that way >>

East Village Feed

No worries - we'll just build bigger indoor bars!

inoyourider

Community boards can control who your neighbors are (business wise anyways), in reply to your earlier post.

It's at the state level because no laws have been enforced and there are obviously a LOT of people who have been affected.

I think 10 and 11 are perfectly reasonable times to take the "fun" indoors. They're not closing the patio permanently, or the bar itself. Let's get a grip.

Again, there wouldn't have to be a law if bar owners and patrons would have some respect for the neighbors of the bars. The number of complaints shows the need.

JohnnyBates

The war on fun continues.

No, you can't have our beer gardens.

Spirit of 76

"The bill is specifically targeting bars in urban areas with one million or more inhabitants,"

I wasn't aware that any other metropolitan areas in the state even began to approach a million residents.

Cannibal

Joan Millman needs some public pianos installed around her residence

Ed

Its not really that drinking in a back yard or on a roof deck is so great, its more that when you go out the last thing you want to worry about is petty regulations. That is for the office. Everytime one of these rules goes through its chip, chip, chip at the city's nightlife. Its getting to the point where I'm more relaxed in my office than at a bar.

Apparently New York can't have a different vibe from the suburbs anymore. Everyplace must be nice and quiet and residential.

Mordicai

Poor entitled bastards, you might have to act with a modicum of respect for others? How it must gall you.

hellx

It makes sense that Millman's pushing it. I'm hard-pressed to think of a bar in her district that doesn't have a backyard.

If she gets this bill passed, she's totally lost my vote. If I actually voted, that is...

ed_Extinct

Is it me or are the people living here (notice how I didn't say New Yorkers?), cry babies?

Cannibal

Is this part of the No Fun Allowed in NYC Bill?

inoyourider

Bars with backyards are awesome until you live near one.

KaosDG

damn real.

I bet the people whining about losing their beer gardens don't have to sleep above one and go to work the next morning.

thefacts

Right!

The whiners who would object to this sensible law are most likely unemployed hipsters, Trust Fund brats or residents without one of these joints near their bedroom window.