Everyone's Fighting Over Paulie Gee's New Greenpoint Pizzeria

GREENPOINT, NY — Paulie Gee's, one of the most popular pizzerias in NYC, wants to open a new by-the-slice location on the corner of Franklin and Noble streets in Greenpoint, but residents really aren't having it.

Paulie Giannone, the pizzeria's owner, said the slice establishment will feel like a classic 60's pizza joint and be a pleasant neighborhood staple. But over 250 Greenpoint residents have signed a petition against the restaurant, saying it would have a license to serve beer and wine, and they are concerned about what a new bar would bring to their quiet, tree-lined block.

Residents have lived for generations on Noble Street and don't want a new, noisy joint messing with their quality of life, they said.

But Paulie Gee said he has listened to neighbors' concerns and changed his plans to serve liquor to serving just wine and beer to quash their fears that the block would become rowdy. The owner of the six-year-old neighborhood restaurant argued it has been an irreplaceable part of the community, and it would work with the community if any problems arose.

Paulie Gee on Monday afternoon wrote a plea on Facebook for members of the community to show up at the meeting in support of his establishment:

This is a plea for support from my friends and neighbors in Greenpoint. The residents of Noble Street have organized to stop us from serving wine and beer at our new slice shop on Franklin and Noble Streets. The original intent was to have a sports bar in the rear of the restaurant. After sensing apprehension from the residents of Noble Street I changed my plans and decided to make the entire space a pizzeria, changing my SLA application from full liquor to wine and beer only in the process. When I learned of a meeting of Noble Street residents meant to organize their efforts to stop us from serving wine and beer I attended the meeting in an effort to allay their fears. However after an hour of giving the forty of them assurances that I was going to be as good a neighbor serving pizza, wine and beer on Franklin and Noble Streets as I have been for over six and a half years on Greenpoint Avenue my assurances were met with persistent doubt and outright accusations of lying. The resulting lack of patience that I experienced was used in the media to paint me as a non-caring greedy carpetbagger. If you live in the community and have appreciated the family dining experience that we have brought to the neighborhood since we opened our doors in March of 2010, please find it in your heart to come out to the Community Board #1 meeting on Tuesday night (11/29) at 6:30pm at The Swinging 60s Senior Center at 211 Ainslie Street at the corner of Manhattan Avenue in Williamsburg and let the community board know that you believe that we will continue to enhance the neighborhood at our new location just as we have for the past 6 plus years on Greenpoint Avenue and will not be the detriment that the residents of Noble Street fear. Please be kind enough to repost this quickly and I hope to see you there.

The new location would serve beer and wine until 2:00 a.m. on the weekends and 11:00 p.m. on weeknights.

Residents immediately fired back at Paulie Gee. "We purposely bought here for the peacefulness and quiet and would like to preserve that," one Noble Street resident commented. "It is shocking that in 100 years there has not been business such as yours on Noble St., but you would go ahead anyway, and only a few paces from sole synagogue in Greenpoint. Run a great business on Greenpoint Ave., but please don't open on what has been a strictly residential street."

Another commenter said Greenpoint was being overwhelmed by new businesses. "Greenpoint is quickly resembling the Upper East Side (2nd Ave in particular) of old. It's gone from quaint to crowded," one resident wrote. "Paulie best of luck in all of your business endeavors, but really? It's overkill. Not meeting a need or niche you're adding to the overwhelming noise of consumerism."

A change.org petition against Paulie Gee's liquor license was started by a user named J.D. and signed by over 250 people by Monday afternoon. It said neighbors were "concerned about the potential impact a bar will have on the quality of life on Noble Street, our quiet residential street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This will be the first business of this kind on the block in more than a century.

"Our block is home to a diverse community: children, the elderly and disabled, owners and renters, professionals and retirees. It is also home to Greenpoint Synagogue, the only synagogue in the neighborhood."

The two sides will talk it out at a community meeting Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Swinging 60s Senior Center at 211 Ainslie St.

Photo credit: Google Maps