Back on May 9, Community Board 6 voted to support the Barclays Center liquor license application under several conditions, including that arena brass produce transportation, security and sanitation plans and set up a community advisory panel; they also demanded certain “temporal limitations with regard to service of alcohol at arena events.” The conditions were conveyed to arena operators in a letter dated May 11, 2012. Yesterday, CB6 got its response on law firm letterhead. In summary, they said they already had a transportation plan that they released a couple of weeks ago; they detail the public safety protocol that’s being put in place; they say that they are in the process of working on the sanitation plan; they agree to a bunch of “temporal limitations” most of which seem to involve stopping the service of alcohol around 3/4 of the way through sporting events and one hour before the end of other events. They also say that Forest City Ratner has agreed to a sub-committee on quality of life issues and that “this group will continue to be in communication with various neighborhood groups concerning various aspects of the operation of the Arena and conditions outside the Arena that impact the neighborhood.”

UPDATE: Atlantic Yards Watch flags down maybe the biggest piece of news buried in the response–that Arena clubs plan to stay open as late as 2 a.m.

At an April 10 public meeting held at the 78th Precinct station house, representatives from Barclays Center maintained that liquor sales would end at the beginning of the fourth quarter of NBA games. No exception for the arena clubs was stated. Officials from Forest City Ratner Companies, when asked about liquor sales during public meetings, have likewise maintained that sales would end at the beginning of the fourth quarter. FCRC tends to frame discussions of arena operations in terms of NBA games, even though such games make up less than 20% of the 220 events expected to take place at Barclays Center each year.

AYW also notes that two of the clubs–the Courtside Club and the Legends Lounge–will have as many as 1,100 people visiting them on nights of Nets games.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader just wrote in to point out that the fact that the response letter explicitly mentions NHL games is also a big deal!


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment