Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Hoyt Street Residents Organizing to Block Bar

February 13th, 2008 · 12 Comments

That oyster bar planned by Jim Mamary on Hoyt Street is not wining friends among the neighbors. They’ve now organized as the Hoyt Street Alliance and are distributing fliers around the neighborhood asking residents to oppose the opening of the establishment on a residential street. They’re urging people not to sign a petition in favor of the oyster bar that’s at Bagels by the Park on Smith Street. Our Carroll Gardens Correspondent got one of the fliers last night and reports:

The group says that Hoyt Street is zoned for residential without a commercial overlay. Mamary says this is not the case etc. These neighbors are really upset over the bar and I feel sorry for them. They are right across the street from the proposed bar and really want to maintain the quiet, neighborhood character for their kids and retirement years.

Here’s a bit from the flier:

…we are a small block of only ten houses, all owner-occupied. There are babies, school age children and people getting ready to retire. All of us have day jobs, many of us get our children off to school even before we go to work.

The current wine bar already on the corner of Union and Hoyt affects the quiet nature of these streets. Every evening there are smokers outside the wine bar and car services honking their horns at midnight. This bar proposes to expand around the corner and the combination of both bars will occupy almost 50% of the block on the east side of the street. There are only 20 people living in the 6 houses on this side, but the proposed new bar on its own will hold 36 people. Think about an extra 36 people coming and going right next door or a few doors away from your house, at night or at 2.00a.m., smoking and talking on cell phones on your stoop.

Bagels By The Park currently has a petition drive asking your support for their bar. We are asking you not to sign it. Instead, please help us stop the bar.

The group asks for emails opposing the bar to be sent to seagarden295 (at) msn (dot) com. It is also urging calls to local officials. Pardon Me For Asking has the full text of the flier along with numbers of the elected officials.

Tags: Carroll Gardens

12 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Dalton // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:08 am

    Is there a link anywhere to the petition in favor of the new oyster bar? I’m a huge fan of Black Mountain and I’m all for it.

  • 2 Anonymous // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Excellent. Thanks Bob and PMFA for the flyer details that I was too tired to transcribe earlier…

  • 3 Anonymous // Feb 13, 2008 at 4:01 pm

    Hey Dalton, what is your block like? Do you live on a residential block? If you do would you be in favor of a full bar with food? I doubt it…..

  • 4 Anonymous // Feb 13, 2008 at 7:06 pm

    Dalton lives in Jersey. 🙂

  • 5 Anonymous // Feb 13, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    As a local resident (Butler between Smith and Hoyt) I don’t see the problem with an Oyster Bar in this location. It’s not as if Oyster Bars are known for a rowdy crowd.

    The wine bar, IMHO, is a welcome addition to Union Street. My wife walks from a job in Park Slope home one day a week and she’s commented about how much better it is that there are people around on that corner now.

    Ducky

  • 6 Anonymous // Feb 13, 2008 at 10:40 pm

    If they are getting ready to retire, shouldn’t they be more worried about finding a condo in Florida than trying to maintain an air of suburbia in NEW YORK CITY?!

    It’s a WINE BAR! It’s not a disco. Will you be voting down the coffee shop next because the block smells like coffee? What is HAPPENING HERE????

  • 7 Anonymous // Feb 14, 2008 at 4:59 am

    Ducky,
    Your wife may walk past the bar. That’s not the same as living next to it 7 days a week.
    Liquor licenses should not be given out on blocks zoned residential.
    If that where the case, we could all open one.

  • 8 Anonymous // Feb 14, 2008 at 6:55 am

    A mix of residential and commercial including bars and restaurants, is necessary to make city streets safer. Restaurants ensure there will be foot traffic in the evening when a block might otherwise be desolate.

  • 9 Anonymous // Feb 14, 2008 at 7:47 am

    These jerks are all for it because itis type of establishnment for their yuppie kind. But if it were McDonalds or Subway they’d be 1st on list against it.
    This proliferation of restaurant/bars is what is driving small businesses that cater to all the needs of the community out.
    Can only afford rents if sell alcohol are corporate chain store.

  • 10 Anonymous // Feb 14, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    The proposed new bar is a LIQUOR bar, not a wine bar and the combined frontage on Hoyt will be 92 feet, almost half the block. Think about a bar frontage on any of your blocks of 92 feet. It would be a mega bar.
    Don’t be fooled by Oyster bar, it’s a full liquor bar and will be open till at least 2.00a.m, and will hold 36 people. How would you like that on Butler Street?

  • 11 dalton // Feb 14, 2008 at 9:41 pm

    I live on Hoyt Street about two blocks down from the new place. There’s a travel agency on the corner, and it used to be a bar. It’s only very recently that we’ve all gotten used to this “residential” neighborhood, there used to be some sort of business on just about every corner on this street. As I mentioned in a comment on the Brooklyn Paper website, it’s not like we’re going to be living on Smith Street all of the sudden. Take a look at Henry Street, there is a nice mix of residential and newly opening businesses there and I would have no problem with that happening around here.

  • 12 Anonymous // Apr 18, 2008 at 9:55 am

    Move to the suburbs… period. This is NYC.. people are free to open a business wherever they want if they abide by the law. If you don’t like it.. then move.
    If they are doing something illegal once they open, then the city will shut them down. It’s not right for you to try and stop them from opening because you “think” that it will be disruptive. I am so sick of people like you complaining about every little change in your neigborhood. That’s life (especially in this city)…get used to it and find something more worthwhile to freak out about. I have no sympathy for you whiny babies.