Letters to the editor

To The Editor:

In an obsessive, unfettered campaign to suture the hemorrhage of liquor licenses in Lower Manhattan, the community boards, residents and neighborhood groups have taken what should be a surgical procedure and decided to pulverize the entire industry, leaving unnecessary casualties in their wake.

Quality of life is paramount in Manhattan, no debating that. But along the way there have been casualties of new — honest — small restaurant owners who have only wanted to create a livelihood for themselves and their families.

Take Novo at 290 Hudson St., for example. Novo took a novel approach and did not lie to their community board — how rare. In fact, this tiny, 60-seat, family-owned establishment was honest about every intention they had. They reported to their community board that they were planning to stay open later on the weekends; they indicated that occasionally there would be a D.J. or perhaps a saxophonist to further flavor the dining experience. They held open houses and invited residents to their tiny facility to reassure them of restaurant plans — after all it was slated to be a neighborhood restaurant.

Novo met religiously with the residents and even spent extra money soundproofing their restaurant to appease a worried neighbor who lived across the street. Pay no mind to that fact that the Jazz Gallery was located above the restaurant. Funny how they never received noise complaints, but there was absolute panic and pervasive phonophobia for potential restaurant/bar noise from Novo.

Of course, Novo could have lied and said they were a white-linen restaurant that would be closed at midnight, no noise, no problems, etc. Instead, Novo was honest, willing to bend over backwards to work with the community. We all anticipated an exciting addition to the Hudson Square neighborhood. In fact, two members of the immediate neighborhood spoke on Novo’s behalf at the community board’s initial meeting. Furthermore, in what would become a swirl of controversy and corruption, the community board initially voted “yes” to the approval of Novo’s liquor license. After all, shouldn’t honesty be rewarded?

Yet, during the full board meeting, Novo was demonized by the board members — not the residents — as the next nightclub. Yes, that really makes sense: a 1,000-square-foot, railroad space with rampant noise, long lines and drunken pedestrians. Doesn’t anyone find it strange that the community board would vote against the request of the immediate residents? Aren’t they representing the neighborhood? However, it seems one of the community board members had a conflict of interest regarding the adjacent empty lot. I’ll spare readers from the vast database of articles that expose corruption among the community boards. And we thought the S.L.A. was bad.

So when those community board members, residents and neighborhood groups want to spend a night out at their favorite restaurant or order food for a night in with their families, they should think long and hard about the ramifications of their extermination habits. Vaporizing the entire group with very little precision leaves nothing left but those entrepreneurs who have big budgets and can neutralize or wait out the protests to only turn their proposed restaurants into thumping nightclubs. Don’t we see the pattern here? Probably not, since those spearheading the anti-liquor license campaigns are only thinking about winning the battles and not the war. It’s a damn shame.

Vivian Mougios, Ph.D.

Mougious is a neuropsychologist; her husband owns Novo restaurant 

Holy hypocrisy!