Results tagged “sla”

Despite a backlog of 3,000 liquor-license applications, the State Liquor Authority has taken the time to come down heavy on the fratastic sport of beer pong. In 2008, the World Beer Pong Tour had asked the SLA to clarify its stance on its events, and the response was typical for those bribe-taking apparatchiks at the Authority: Beer pong is forbidden because state law "prohibits the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages in a manner which does not foster and promote temperance in the consumption." Dude, whoever wrote that sounds like uptight Frank the Tank before finally hitting the beer bong.

After a two year study, a commission evaluating the State Liquor Authority has concluded that the SLA is highly dysfunctional. It's no shocker; the SLA has been mired in scandal forever, with investigations into alleged bribery and questionable favors doled out by the Governor to the top commissioners. In May, SLA chairman Daniel Boyle was ousted, weeks after the SLA Harlem office was raided by investigators on orders from the state Inspector General.

Hobbled by a corruption investigation, the State Liquor Authority is taking longer than ever to issue liquor licenses, and restaurateurs and bar owners are paying a heavy price. It used to be common practice for diners to bring their own wine or beer while restaurateurs waited for the bureaucracy to finish its business, but in March the SLA warned license applicants they could be rejected if caught letting customers imbibe. Warren Pesetsky, a lawyer who represents many applicants and was the SLA's general counsel from 1976 to 1981, tells the Times, "They are taking longer than they ever have to approve new applications. When things were working at their best several years ago, it took three months." Employees at the SLA's Harlem office are under investigation by the state Inspector General for possibly taking bribes to expedite license applications. No one has been charged yet, but a lawyer for the state restaurant association thinks the investigation has a chilling effect on the 9 license examiners in Harlem: "Everyone there is afraid if they cough, they might get investigated." Meanwhile, new restaurants are having a hard time hanging on until the license is approved, which now takes over seven months in some cases.

Records obtained by the NY Post confirm that many NYC nightclubs, bars, and restaurants have been doing what many of us long suspected: refilling top-shelf liquor bottles with cheaper alcohol and watering down drinks. It's unclear exactly which establishments have been committing the crime against sobriety, but Marquee paid a $100,000 settlement to the SLA in October; violations included allowing a "disorderly" climate that led to fights, unregistered security guards and "contaminated" bottles. SLA spokesman Michael Smith says, "We may find contaminated liquor or contaminated products, which may include refilling of liquor bottles with inferior liquor or fruit flies contaminating the bottle." According to Marquee, fruit flies were the problem, not well liquor in top-shelf bottles. Meanwhile, BLVD/Crash Mansion paid a total of $16,500 in fines to the SLA last year, but the club's owner says, "We paid $8,000 for a fruit fly" in a bottle of Jack Daniels. And in April, an anonymous bartender griped to the Feedbag about the DOH: "The obsession with fruit flies is a bit absurd. In the warm weather months they’re here and places do everything they can, but fruit flies will always be around."

State Liquor Authority Chairman Daniel Boyle has been replaced by an Assistant Attorney General from Buffalo named Dennis Rosen, Governor Paterson's office announced late yesterday. Paterson's press release did not explain the reasons for replacing Boyle, a former Syracuse police chief with a reputation as a straight shooter, but the casual observer might assume it has something to do with the scandal engulfing the SLA's Harlem office, where employees are accused of soliciting bribes to expedite the license application process. But Boyle's dismissal likely has its roots in last fall's very public tangle with an aide to Governor Paterson, former State Senator Carl Andrews. You'll recall that Boyle accused Andrews of trying to "intimidate" him into voting to renew the liquor license for the felonious Cipriani family. The other two SLA Commissioners were able to overrule Boyle to approve the license (and were coincidentally given some nice state-owned cars around the same time), but Boyle went to the Post, and Andrews was forced to step down in the subsequent uproar. Now, it seems, it's payback time.

While no arrests have been made yet, more details have emerged on the Inspector General's Wednesday raid on the State Liquor Authority's Harlem office, where some two dozen employees control 65 percent of the state’s operating licenses and permits for bars, restaurants and liquor stores in NYC, Long Island and Westchester County. Police sources say employees would not only accept cash bribes in exchange for expedited license processing, but also bottles of booze, and gift cards for meals and clothes—some payoffs even included Applebee's gift cards. Stay classy, SLA.

The party's over for employees at the State Liquor Authority office in Harlem. This morning investigators raided the office on orders from the state Inspector General. According to WCBS 880, all 24 employees at the licensing bureau were questioned about an alleged bribery scheme! Deputy Inspector General Kelly Donovan says, "We believe employees are fast-tracking liquor licenses in exchange for gratuities, at the expense of legitimate applicants." No arrests were made today, but the investigation has been ongoing for over a year, and was sparked by complaints that some liquor license applicants wait more than eight months while others get licenses in 11 days, thanks to good old Mr. Bribe. Besides handling license applications for NYC and Long Island, the Harlem office regulates 65% of roughly 70,000 operating licenses and permits statewide. And if true, this won't be the first whiff of SLA corruption; you'll recall that last winter an aide to Governor Paterson resigned amidst allegations that he successfully influenced two SLA commissioners to go easy on Cipriani. [Via Eater]

One of the best reasons to check out newly opened restaurants is that eateries still awaiting liquor license approval often let patrons bring their own bottles of wine and beer at no charge. But now here comes the State Liquor Authority to throw a wet blanket on the custom; SLA Commissioner Jeanique Greene (remember her?) says next week the agency will begin holding seminars for restaurant owners to remind them, among other things, that the practice is illegal. Unless a restaurant seats less than 20 diners, BYOB is prohibited, and Greene tells Crain's that if a new restaurant is applying for a liquor license, the owner is taking a big risk by letting diners drink: "We would look negatively at that." And Scott Wexler, executive director of the Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association, reveals that the biggest whiners about BYOB restaurants are other restaurant owners with liquor licenses: "They feel it’s an unfair advantage or competition."

The state's inspector general has concluded that a rep from the governor's office exerted improper influence over the state liquor board's vote on renewing the liquor license for the scandalized Cipriani Family. The report concerning Khari Edwards that the deputy of a former Paterson aide "finds that Edwards is ill-suited to serve as a representative of the governor's office, and recommends that his employment be terminated." Carl Andrews, the aide who Edwards served under, resigned abruptly in December. Edwards is accused of placing a call during the commission's meeting in August which led SLA Commissioner Jeanique Greene to say that she was "furious to have received such a call and, once she learned the call related to the Ciprianis, she knew it was inappropriate." The Cipriani vote ended up split on party lines with the two SLA members appointed by Democrats voting for renewal and SLA Chairman Daniel Boyle, a Pataki appointee, voting against. Boyle also has claimed that the Paterson aide who has since resigned, Carl Anderson, tried to intimidate him into a yes vote, but the inspector general was able to conclusively confirm that claim.

Carl Andrews, former state senator from Brooklyn, has resigned from his $171,000-a-year job as aide to Governor Paterson in the midst of allegations that he illegally pressured the State Liquor Authority to renew liquor licenses for the Cipriani restaurants in Manhattan. After SLA Chairman Daniel Boyle (a Republican appointee) told the Post that Andrews tried to "intimidate" him into voting for the renewal, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched a criminal investigation.

As the New York State inspector general looks into allegations of intimidation leveled by State Liquor Authority chairman Daniel Boyle against Governor Paterson's office, sources in the SLA tell the Post that the two other SLA commissioners were given the use of cars as a perk for voting to renew liquor licenses for the embattled Cipriani restaurant empire. The investigation was launched after Boyle told the Post that Carl Andrews, an aide to Paterson, pressured him (unsuccessfully) to vote for Cipriani's license renewal.

The head of the State Liquor Authority is telling the Post that an aide to Governor Paterson tried to intimidate him last summer into voting to renew liquor licenses for nine restaurants owned by the Ciprianis. You'll recall that the Cipriani empire—which includes the Rainbow Room—was jeopardized earlier this year when patriarch Arrigo Capriani and his son Giuseppe pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Felons are prohibited from holding liquor licenses in New York State, but the SLA voted 2-1 for renewal, with Chairman Daniel Boyle casting the lone dissent. Now he's come forward to say, "There's no question there was an attempt to intimidate me," made by Paterson's aide (and former state Senator) Carl Andrews, who allegedly told Boyle, "People here [in the Governor's office] are who you answer to."

Bad news for cocaine dealers: with less than a day left to apply, only a few dozen spots around town have submitted the necessary paperwork in order to stay open into the night on New Year's Eve. A new, earlier deadline and the State Liquor Authority's tightening the leash on which places they'll let stay open until 8 a.m. has led to only 39 bars filing for permits. Last year there were 400. And even among those 39, six have already been denied. Rob Bookman from the New York Nightlife Association thinks the new deadline is responsible, telling the Post, "It used to be that you didn't have to file until 10 days before New Year's Eve. There was no outreach besides the SLA's Web site, which no one reads."

It was rough sledding last night for restaurant and bar owners seeking liquor license approval from Community Board 3, which covers the Lower East Side and the East Village, among other 'hoods. Perhaps the biggest loser was fastidious cocktail impresario Sasha Petraske (Milk and Honey), whose humble request to serve wine at his would-be wine bar Mercury Dime (pictured) on East 5th Street was mercilessly shot down, despite the fact that he's operated Milk and Honey on Eldridge since 2000 without a single noise complaint.

Yesterday a federal judge threw out a lawsuit from the famous strip club Scores that accused the state of harassment after revoking its liquor license this past May. The State Liquor Authority ordered that drinks stop being served at both Scores East (which filed the suit) as well as Scores West, the Chelsea location where dancers were allegedly getting paid to do more than just give lap dances. Scores will have to take its case directly to the SLA in order to get its license back. The club, best known for being championed throughout the years by Howard Stern, accuses the city of fabricating prostitution charges in order to take away their first amendment right to have topless dancing.

They may have mob ties and a history of tax evasion, but the Ciprianis have been allowed to hold onto their liquor license after the omnipotent State Liquor Authority accepted a settlement offer from the family, who operate luxurious restaurants and catering halls in Manhattan. One of Cipriani's owners, Arrigo Cipriani, previously pleaded guilty to felony tax evasion charges, and state law prohibits convicted felons from obtaining liquor licenses.

Wonder what a police raid on a Hamptons gallery that's serving-alcohol- at-a-party- without-a-license looks like? Plum TV was there for the spectacle that landed gallery owner Ruth Vered on the cover of the Daily News and Post.

For quite some time now, a group of East Village residents have been pressuring the local Community Board to snuff out Death & Co., the dark and sophisticated bar on East Sixth street, just down the block from that old timer who sells and repairs bicycles. Like other turbo-gentrifying neighborhoods, the local scolds are fed up with the all the noisy drunkards staggering around their neighborhood at all hours, and they’ve focused their energy on less-established newcomers like Death & Co.

Society swells attending glamorous events at Cipriani Dolci may soon have to develop a taste for Shirley Temples. The State Liquor Authority [SLA] is threatening to revoke the liquor licenses at all the swank restaurants and catering halls run by the Cipriani family – including the Rainbow Room and Socialista. The SLA says operators Giuseppe Cipriani and his father, Arrigo Cipriani, have illegally let their licenses be used by unauthorized relatives and companies.

When Hog Pit co-owner Felisa Dell sent an email to Eater on April 7th confirming the closure of her Meatpacking District BBQ joint, she insinuated that “the mayor and the State Liquor Authority are now only issuing Liquor Licenses until 2 a.m. It's very sneaky, but in 5 years the 4 a.m. liquor license will be a thing of the past, without any community input.” Today the NY Sun backs Dell up, reporting that many Manhattan bar owners are finding it “nearly impossible to open new nightlife establishments that are permitted to serve alcohol until 4 a.m.”