Neighbors Divided Over Plans For New Bar On Lower East Side
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Lower East Side has been booming for years with raucous nightlife, and some neighbors argued Monday night that one more bar is one too many.
As 1010 WINS Gary Baumgarten reported, a packed Community Board 3 meeting at the JASA/Green Residence at 200 E. 5th St., was filled with people both for and against a Latin bar that has been proposed for Rivington Street. Neighbors said the community has been so infiltrated by party animals that some have dubbed it the "terror zone."
1010 WINS' Gary Baumgarten reports
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"Thursday through Sunday, it's a party all night," said Jack Brown, who lives on East 6th Street. "They're throwing garbage cans. They're making noise. They're inebriated, and they don't live here, so they don't really care."
"Terry" said she lives in a senior citizens' center on the ninth floor.
"I never knew that sound travels up, so I sit here until 4:30 a.m., because all the bars let out at 4, and you've got a bunch of screaming drunks," she said.
The noisy bars and patrons have prompted many buildings to post signs reading, "Quiet, please be considerate of our neighbors."
But a supporter, "Johnny," said the detractors had it wrong, and the new venue will bring no noise and cause no problems.
"From the plan that's being proposed, there's no DJ. It's just a restaurant, Latin – there aren't many," he said.
The Lower East Side was known for generations as a working-class immigrant neighborhood, but underwent a rapid wave of gentrification during the 1990s and 2000s. With the gentrification came the swanky clubs, and the crowds.
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