Just before Christmas, Community Board 10 in Harlem, considered and then ultimately tabled for further discussion, a proposal by their Economic Development Committee which recommended that new restaurants and bars be required to stop serving alcohol by 2:00 a.m.
Notably, Community Boards cannot change the hours of operation for existing businesses nor can they require new restaurants and bars to close earlier than 4:00 a.m. Those decisions aare left to the legislature and the New York State Liquor Authority.
As noted by Joseph Tepper of the New York Daily News, “As more bars and restaurants continue to pop up in bustling Central Harlem, CB 10 aims to limit the late night crowds that have appeared in other bar-ridden areas of Manhattan, like Murray Hill and the Meatpacking District.” "They're nervous that Harlem will become like the Lower East Side or Meatpacking District with lots of people in the streets, but we are still very far away from that," said Susannah Koteen, the proprietor of the Italian restaurant Lido on Frederick Douglass Blvd. and W.117th “We're keeping people in the community, hiring people from the community and bringing money into the community, so it seems strange that would want to hinder business," she added.
Attorney James DiPasquale
DiPasquale Law Group