By Fausto Giovanny Pinto
faustogpinto@gmail.com
In a signal that it is hardening its stance on who receives liquor licenses, Community Board 2 recently denied a letter of support to a new bar seeking to open on Westchester Avenue.
The board voted 16-1 at its April 27 meeting to withhold its support from Aventura Sports Bar, 1294 Westchester Ave., on a block where there are already three other night-time hangouts.
Previously, the full board considered only applications from gentlemen’s clubs. But the new leadership of chairman Orlando Marin and District Manager Rafael Salamanca, who took the reins of the board last summer, changed the policy.
“When we came in we looked at how liquor licenses worked. In the past some weren’t looked at,” said Salamanca. “Bars and lounges were not being held accountable.”
The bar’s owner, Jesus Muniz, made his case to the board’s economic development committee on April 13. Muniz, who owns Hermosilla, another bar on the same block, said, “I have never had a major issue in the three years I’ve been there.”
But Philip Rivera, commanding officer of the 41st Precinct, contradicted him, saying Muniz was arrested in 2008 after a patron was severely beaten in his bar.
In March, the captain said, patrons of Hermosilla were assaulted by the bar’s security staff. While no charges were pressed, he said, an investigation found that the security staff employed by Muniz was unlicensed.
Rivera noted the NYPD regards hiring unlicensed security as a serious offense.
Muniz said at the meeting that he since resolved the security issue.
In a later interview, he said, some people “just don’t like bars,” and insisted, “ I run all my businesses according to New York State Law.”
Members of the committee also worried that Westchester Avenue between Whitlock and Longfellow was becoming a hotspot. “We are building a Las Vegas strip. There’s too many places already,” said one.
In addition to Hermosilla, another bar, La India, a liquor store and a billiards parlor are on the block. The popular nightclub Tropicana is up the block on Home Ave.
An employee of a business on the block, who did not want to give his name, sided with the bar owner, saying, “ The walls are soundproof and this area is dead in the night.”
Nashique Smith, who recently moved into the building across the street from Hermosilla, disagreed, saying, “I can’t sleep till they stop partying. You can’t combine residential with clubs.”