10/25/2015
Chumley's New York SLA Petition to Remain Open until State Liquor Board Hearing
"But something is happening here
And you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?"
-Bob Dylan, The Ballad of a Thin Man
In the drear light of day, I am realizing that a slightly better organization of available capital should have defeated the Chumley’s Liquor License at the Community Board Level. The requisite capital is there on this issue, but the goals of it's bearers are divergent. For this reason, I've decided to keep this Petition open, and all of you involved, until the New York SLA Board Hearing on the License for 86 Bedford Street, Manhattan.
Last evening remains as a very weird night. Still a little scary. There were interests on display that previously had not been detectable. A vertigo crept into the room. There is no obvious reason for a Community Board Chair and Democratic Party District Leader to be against the Chumley's license. People like them do not vote against zoning items because of a philosophical dislike of simulacra.
Last night on Barrow Street, I tossed and turned trying to find my way out of this state of imbalance. That Dylan line ringing through my ears; "...do you, Mr. Jones?”
The last time I spent much time at CB 2 was during the collapse and dismemberment of St. Vincent's Hospital [see footnote*] in 2010. I readily admit I felt like a scion of a obscure old-money Roman Family during the Reign of Nero. Just going to the Senate to sit in the bleachers and keep score as to who was Circus Maximus bound this weekend. Seats were free and I didn't really have (to apply a Texas-ism) a dog in the fight.
There was the same atmosphere in the room as in 2010, but Chumley's IS my dog. It's a whiff of smoke from a deal that was set up to block the CB2 Liquor License Resolution that for some reason didn't coalesce. My gut feeling is there was another mover in the room. This mover is not aligned with the “Bar-Free Bedford” group. It is somewhat more nefarious. Another three or six months and they would have probably pulled it off. That's why we can't take our eyes off the process now.
*{St. Vincent’s was a 161 year-old charitable Hospital dedicated to the care of the Poor occupying almost a full block of Greenwich Village. After some high level New York hijinx, it got sick and died. At the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court sale of assets, this property sold for $260 Million. [To contrast, the 1820's townhouse (four stories-16'x 36') out the Pamela Court Door of Chumley's at 58 Barrow is currently on the market for almost $5 Million. That's the size of a two floor double-wide mobile home.] On the site of St. Vincent's there are, heck, Billions of dollars of "Luxury Condos" being brought to market right now.}
"I don't know of anyone in the neighborhood who's looking forward to this."
