Neighbors to Union Hall: Shut Up!
Since opening a little over a year ago, Union Hall’s formula—booze, bands, and bocce—has been a resounding success, drawing crowds of revelers to the North Slope. Some of the bar’s neighbors wish it were a tad less successful, though. In May a group of Union Street residents sent a letter to a bunch of officials…
Since opening a little over a year ago, Union Hall’s formula—booze, bands, and bocce—has been a resounding success, drawing crowds of revelers to the North Slope. Some of the bar’s neighbors wish it were a tad less successful, though. In May a group of Union Street residents sent a letter to a bunch of officials (including Mayor Bloomberg, BP Markowitz, State Senator Montgomery and Councilmember de Blasio) regarding the tremendous increase in noise and nuisance that’d befallen their street since Union Hall opened. The letter, which was signed by 76 people, claims the quality of life for the immediate neighbors has been drastically altered, leading to sleep loss, stress, anxiety and serious health issues. The signatories said the bar’s soundproofing measures were inadequate and that its patrons have terrorized Union Street by shouting, fighting, throwing bottles, urinating and passing out on the sidewalk. Jon Crow, one of the residents leading the charge against the bar, showed up at Wednesday night’s Community Board 6 meeting to expound on Union Hall’s alleged ne’er-do-well ways and to ask for the board’s help in bringing peace and quiet back to Union Street. From the outside, it may look like a library, but it’s not, said Crow, who intends to lobby the state liquor board so that Union Hall’s booze license isn’t renewed this spring.
The Skinny on Union Hall [Brownstoner] GMAP
Longtime Union Streeter here. Been btw. 5th & 6th since 1990. I’m approx. 40 paces away from UH. I don’t have a problem with the music venue part of UH. Great place, albeit a bit small and uncomfortable when packed. But it’s really nice overall, and I have zero complaints about it.
As far as the main bar is concerned: No one can control who decides to patron the place. I’ve been inside tons of times since it’s opened, and the majority of people in the bar area are your typical 26-35 bland crowd. Whether one wants to call them “hipsters” or “bridge-and-tunnel crowd” or “yuppies” or whatever, that part doesn’t really matter. We see what we wanna see when we look at clothes+age.
What does matter is this, and I mean this for all over the world: People stay out late, they get drunk, they get loud, and they don’t give a shit whether they’re on a primarily residential block or outside their parents’ house in suburbia. Boorish behavior knows no age.
I personally don’t blame UH for the rudeness of such people. Is it every night? No. Is it worse May to September? A little bit. Have I been annoyed sometimes? Maybe ten or fifteen times since they’ve opened. (Not a terrible average.) A few times a group of drunks congregated on my stoop past 3 a.m., and each time I opened my window to ask them to move along, each time they said the usual, “Fuck you!” “Call the cops, we don’t fuckin’ care!” The usual shit you expect from uncaring people. Did I call the cops? No. Did they move on soon thereafter? With the exception of one time, yes.
My point being: If you want to “blame” anyone for the noise, blame A) whoever in our local government approved a bar there, and B) the actual assholes who drink too much and don’t give a shit about shouting and yelling at 3 a.m. on a primarily residential street. It’s not Union Hall’s fault.
And one last thing: When Frost wrote the line “Good fences make good neighbors,” he didn’t mean it in a positive way. The fact is, this whole UH kerfuffle is just another teardrop-sized example in an ocean filled with them of how there are too many people in this world who don’t care to be considerate of others.
I’m not sure if anyone realizes this, but these neighbors whose houses have increased in value because of places like Union Hall, are trying to close Union Hall by harassing the police with their calls and complaints. I know from a friend that works at Union Hall that the police have come in several times trying to catch someone doing something wrong to have an excuse to fine them and possibly shut them down. It’s gotten to the point where the staff is walking on egg shells, carding people in their 50s, kicking people out who are only buzzed and not drunk, etc.
As a regular customer, I would hate to see Union Hall close because of self-righteous people who want to live like they were on the suburbs. Move there! and leave us city people alone!!
One thing becomes clear the more you read this thread: Locals dislike the noise made by patrons (they assume are)from UH outside the establishment, largely because of the time of night.
DISCLAIMER: I am a bar owner (not UH – never been), Evening worker, and Brooklyn native.
I hope none of the petition signers friends, loved ones or children ever try to open a business of their own where more than 5 people congregate or where they do so past 5pm lest they incur the wrath of the neighborhood they do so in.
I equally hope that they all consider the noise they make during the morning while the significant portion of 2nd and 3rd shift working class citizens such as myself are trying to sleep.
If not, I forgive them. You see I used to live across froma middle school and now amount of people enjoying themselves (regardless of how many times it wakes me) has ever upset me. Maybe because I (as a New Yorker) am used to trains, ambulances, police and fire departments, people that keep different hours than me, and finally, the idea that restaurants and bars will always be near residential areas (I don’t know where they think they will go – upstate?).
Perhaps they should be thankful that the bar is walking distance and that people are waiting for cabs rather than driving drunk.
Finally, again as a bar owner/employee we can and do enforce rules about behavior. Outside the bar there is very little we can do to police a patron who chooses to stand or walk noisily anywhere but immediately outside our venue. That is the job of the real police and the fault of the noisemaker alone (and perhaps his/her parents).
To the patrons: please be respectful of the neighbors.
To the neighbors: I hope you learn to live with the sounds. If not, the meteoric rise of property value in your neighborhood will likely allow you to sell and buy on a block not zoned for MIXED USE. if you can’t find one of those, post here and I can suggest several from Fort Greene to Sheepshead Bay.
I’m not a drinker.
Here’s a comment. Why don”t we worry about how frogs are being found in our food at the Food Coop and leave Union Hall alone. Those guys try hard to make everyone that comes in feel comfortable and safe. I like the bouncers especially. I know I am safe when they are lurking about. I’ve sat at the bar and noticed how they greet folks and how they say good night. Come on, what place do you know has this?
How bad is it? Give us a typical night or week and the variety of disturbances, I just can’t imagine it. I have been to UH and walked past.
As a Union Street resident, I’d like to point out that Union Street between 5th and 6th avenue is not a commercially zoned block– it’s residential. True, there are a few businesses on either ends of the block that fall under the “100 foot-rule” (the commercially zoned avenues can have business areas extending 100 feet into a residentially zoned area), but UH is more than 100 ft from the avenue, and therefore fronts onto several residences– as well as abutting a residential apartment building on one side. This block is zoned differently than the one between 6th and 7th avenues.
While there may be many other rowdy bars in the neighborhood, there are not many that are so closely placed on a residential street.
Unlike many of the bars on 5th avenue, patrons at UH find themselves on the sidewalk on a residential street, not a commercially zoned avenue.
While there has always been a great deal of traffic on Union Street, long before UH arrived, the noise volume LATE INTO THE NIGHT has increased exponentially on the street with the arrival of UH. Those who minimize this fact are unfortunately misinformed.
This fact should put the onus on the bar’s owners to take extra care that they treat the neighborhood with respect– they were already pushing it by opening where they did.
Remember, this establishment is not an ice-cream parlor selling sweets to children– they sell alcohol, they stay open until 4 in the morning 7 nights a week, and they are a draw for many, many people throughout the city because they have become a known music venue. The idea that they don’t have a responsibility to manage their patrons isn’t just bad civics– it’s bad business.
As for the many posts deriding the idea that neighbors might hear music from the bar– the upper hall, or the basement space– simply because music from the downstairs area can’t be heard in the upper hall, one might suspect that UH may have made a greater effort soundproofing their own upstairs area than actually ensuring that the sound transfer to abutting apartments was eliminated.
It would be interesting to know how professionally they chose to handle this aspect of their business, or if they skimped on the job in their rush to open.
There’s an old saying “good fences make good neighbors” and it’s true as ever in this case.
Lastly, though it saddens me to say this as I am loath to pass judgment on anyone– seeing the derision and poor taste evident in so many of these posts– if these are the kinds of people supporting and patronizing UH, is it any wonder the residents are upset?
“This city would be a greater place if more of us took on our neighbors’ causes for own.”
My neighbor owns Union Hall. Not really- but what’s your point? They make money so they’re evil? Were friendly measures taken? It can’t be much louder than, say, Southpaw- is it? It just doesn’t seem like it’s that wild. Where did the 70 whatever people go to party and hear music when they were younger? They would have laughed themselves into peeing if some old lady had yelled out the window to quiet down. Same thing. It’s just funny how people change and can’t remember. As soon as something is too high on the fun-o-meter, someone has to scream.
Thanks 4:40. At least a voice of reason. The nonsense that was being written was getting me down. Unfortunately, since this article is timing out off the current week’s main webpage, few will be able to read your sound words. I also wrote quite a bit (I’m getting to be known for my long blog entries).
Thanks!
FortGreener