CB8 OKs Liquor Licenses for Breukelen Coffee House and Hungry Ghost

Welcome to the live blog of Community Board 8's monthly meeting on Jan. 10, 2013, held at St. Teresa of Avila in Crown Heights.

7:30 p.m.: Darryl C. Towns, Commisioner/CEO of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), gave an overview of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address. See more on Cuomo’s State of the State here:

Some of the things Towns went over are Cuomo’s proposals to:

• Extend the school year,
• Turn all public schools into after-hours community centers,
• Raising the minimum wage,
• Decriminalization of marijuana possession in some instances,
• The need to eliminate assault rifles,
• A program to re-build homes destroyed by sandy to be more hurricane proof, in terms of design and location,
• A program to buy homes from people when the homes are not in hurricane safe locations,
• Set up programs to make the response of first responders more organized in advance of the next storm.

Community board member Wayne Bailey of Atlantic Yards asked if the restructuring of Empire State Development, the state agency that oversees Atlantic Yards, will affect its oversight.

Greg Smiley from Cuomo's office said the restructuring was primarily to streamline it, not change its basic structure, but that he would have the Cuomo's press office get back to the Community Board (and Patch) with a more specific answer. 

7:59 p.m.: A representative of the city's Department of Transportation discussed the city's new Wayfinding program, which will put directional signs and maps across the city. They are putting test signs in a few locations, including Crown Heights, the only Brooklyn test location. 

8:02 p.m.: There was a representative from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's office welcomed people to apply to join the community board. The deadline is Feb. 28. You can get the application here. 

8:10 p.m.: The board voted to support a full liquor license for a new Italian restaurant, Senza Fame, located at 742 Franklin Ave. bet. Sterling and St. John's places. The restaurant will have a bar with eight seats as well as 28 seats at 12 tables. The restaurant will be open M-Th 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri., Sat., 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday. 

8:20 p.m.: The board also voted to support a beer and liquor license for Breukelen Coffee House, located at 764A Franklin Ave. at St. John's place. The shop, which opened three ears ago, so far has only served coffee and baked goods. The hours of operation will be expanded to Sun-Thu. 7-11, and Fri.-Sat. from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. The backyard space will close "promptly" at 11 p.m. Sun.-Thurs. and midnight on Fri. and Sat. The coffee house/bar has 52 seats.

8:26 p.m.: The board voted to support the request of Le Gamin, 556 Vanderbilt bet. Bergen and Dean, to upgrade from a beer and wine license to a full liquor license. 

This application will require a 500-foot rule exeption because it is near a church. But the SLA committee recommended approving it because the restaurant has operated for years without incident and because it will close fairly early--at 11 p.m every night, with the outdoor space closing at 10 p.m.

8:30 p.m.: The board voted to support a full liquor license for a new restaurant/bar, Mash Brooklyn, located at 646 Dean St, bet. Vanderbilt and Carlton avenues. They plan to sell "high-end American whiskeys" and small plates and will work together with a liquor store coming next door that will sell only high end American Whiskeys. 

The proprietor agreed to close the "tasting room" at midnight, when the liquor store closes.

8:41 p.m.: The board voted to support a beer and liquor for Hungry Ghost, located at 253 Flatbush Ave. at the corner of 6th Ave. The coffee shop has 30 seats at six tables. They will operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sun.-Thu. and 7 a.m. to midnight Fri. and Sat. 

8:45 p.m.: The board voted to approve a beer license for El Gran Castillo de Jagua, 345 Flatbush Avenue at Park Place. Their application has been approved in the past but the SLA did not give a license in the tiem allotted. The SLA committee noted that El Gran Castillo has operated for many years without any problems. The restaurant seats 68 and is open from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily. 

8:48 p.m.: The board voted to support renewal of the sidewalk cafe license for Burrito Bar, 307 Flatbush Ave. at Prospect Place. A board member asked if the cafe was too wide, but an SLA committee member replied that that had been investigated and it was found to be within the guidelines. 

8:54 p.m.: The board also supported to vote renewal of a sidewalk cafe license for The Vanderbilt, 570 Vanderbilt at Bergen. A representative of the restaurant came the the SLA committee meeting and acknowledged complaints about the width of the sidewalk seating area and promised to be more careful in the future, leading to the committee to recommend support. While the other votes had only a few dissenters, this vote was much closer with 18 voting yes, 11 voting no and two abstaining. 

8:56 p.m.: In addition, the board supported renewal of applications for the following businesses:

• Amorina, 624 Vanderbilt bet. Prospect and Park (Beer/Wine)
• Aliseo, 665 Vanderbilt bet. Prospect and Park (Beer/Wine)
• Geido, 331 Flatnbush near Park (Full Liquor)
• Milk Bar, 620 Vanderbilt at Prospect (Beer/Wine) - they serve wine? who knew!
• The Way Station, 683 Washington Avenue bet. St. Marks and Prospect (Full Liquor)
• Latino Sports Club, 665 Franklin Ave. bet. St. Marks and Prospect (Full Liquor)
• Imperial Bikers MC Club, 652 Franklin Ave. bet. Sterling and St. Johns (Full Liquor)
• Crown Heights Supper Club, 1082 St. Johns Place bet. Brooklyn and Kingston (Full Liquor)

9:22 p.m.: The other committees gave their reports and encourage you (Yes, you!) to come to their meetings. See the committees and their meeting times here. 

9:30 p.m.: During the public announcement portion of the meeting, two area residents said they've sent a petition to CB8 to get rid of the bike corral in front of Little Zelda. Constance Nugent Miller, a local landlord, who is spearheading the campaign with Karen Granville, who lives a few doors down from Little Zelda, said they have collected "about 224" signatures so far, but CB8's district manager, Michelle George, hasn't seen the petition yet and couldn't verify the number.

9:45 p.m.: The meeting adjourns