Sound Fix Feels the Noise from City Agencies
In the four years Sound Fix has been in business, it’s become one of the city’s best-loved independent music stores and a Brooklyn alternative to Other Music. About a year ago the store took over the cafe in the rear of its building on North 11th and Bedford and began using the space as a…
In the four years Sound Fix has been in business, it’s become one of the city’s best-loved independent music stores and a Brooklyn alternative to Other Music. About a year ago the store took over the cafe in the rear of its building on North 11th and Bedford and began using the space as a bar and performance space. The Sound Fix Lounge has hosted acts like the Mountain Goats, Beirut, Kimya Dawson, and Camera Obscura. But the venue has been silent for three weeks now and may be imperiled, says owner James Bradley, because city agencies have been serving violation upon violation on the performance space and have also started targeting the record store itself. According to Bradley, the Dept. of Health, the Dept. of Buildings, and the Police Dept. have all issued violations on the business, many of them requiring court appearances. “It’s been really overwhelming,” says Bradley. The record store owner believes the violations are rooted in complaints from a couple of neighbors who live in an adjacent building, one of whom, Teresa Polonski, works for Assemblyman Joseph Lentol. “I’m sympathetic to noise complaints, and we’ve done a lot to try to mitigate the noise,” says Bradley. “All this seems to be really excessive to me.” The Dept. of Health shut down the Sound Fix Lounge after serving it with three violations for operating without a food license; the first violation was issued March 6th, the second on March 8th, and the third on March 28th. “On 3/28 the establishment was swarmed by inspectors and shut down. I was advised by DOH that this was actually a Mayor’s task force,” says Mikelle V. Komor of Wagner Davis P.C., one of the attorneys working for Sound Fix. “When we appeared for the hearing on the first two violations on 4/1, the hearing officer at the Administrative Tribunal called the issuance of the two violations in two days inequitable and unconscionable.” Although Bradley tried to renew the license, the DOH has’t let him because it has records of unpaid fines from the space’s previous owners. Bradley says the establishment’s liquor license has been in limbo for nine months, and “one official said the agency was under pressure ‘from Albany’ to put us through the ringer.” Assemblyman Lentol says he “vaguely remembers” Polonski complaining about Sound Fix but “I refute that I have put any pressure on the city to close the place down.” Lentol says “everything’s that’s happened has come out of the community board.”
Meanwhile, about a week ago, the DOB affixed a note to Sound Fix’s door saying the record store and lounge were both in violation of zoning laws. Although both businesses are in an area zoned for residential use, the space has an active Certificate of No Objection that allows Bradley to operate them. A call to the DOB for clarification was not returned. Police officers have served about five summonses on the lounge in the past few months “for very flimsy things,” says Bradley. “The officers are always very nice, and one of them said to me, ‘Our captain has a hard-on for you guys.'” Attorney Steven R. Wagner, who is also representing Bradley, says what’s happening to the business “seems like a campaign of harassment. We will defend Sound Fix so that this well-known store and indie venue stay open.” As the Times reported today, Sound Fix’s problems are not 100% unique; record stores all over the city are having a tough time making a go of it nowadays. Outstanding issues with the DOH notwithstanding, Regina Spektor is scheduled to perform at the lounge tomorrow afternoon in celebration of Record Store Day. GMAP
Top photo by pauldini; other by Leia Jospe.
there is no doubt in my mind that this wreaks of a assemblyman helping out one of his staffers.
first off the same block shut down a bar on the other corner the triple crown. can anybody name any other bar of the scores of them in williamsburg that have been shut down other then these two? coincidence, i doubt it.
as for the nothing was done comment to fix complaints i know personally that sound fix soundproofed the walls at great expense but thats not good enough when aomeone else has an in.
having an in gives you great access, lets judt say when i complained about garbage not picked up all over shore road in bay ridge where i live within 1 hour of complaining to city councilman Gentile it was cleaned up.
after another brawl happened in park slope after school ended i called Diblasis office and they told me they would call the captain directly for more police presence the next day.
and for 11:50 comment of dirty coffee houses, there was a chair that was outside the tea lounge the other day on 10th street i wouldn’t even let my dog take a shit on. really.
I found the comment one of the city agents made interesting, “The Captain has a hard on for you guys.”
That sounds like harrassment, especially because one of the complaining residents has a special “in” and greater access to the city agencies because she works for a city assemblyman.
This record store needs to comply with the noise code and with laws for serving food, etc. but if they are getting picked on far beyond what other businesses would experience in the same situation but not with an assemblyman’s staffperson living nearby, that’s something else and it’s really disturbing. That kind of privilege to be able to personally shut a business down is wrong.
Like come on, has anyone seen how filthy most cafes are in NYC? As if the city gives a crap about improper food service. I’ve seen the worst things at places like filthy Ozzies coffeeshop on 5th Ave in Park Slope just to name one place, like nasty dirt and dust crusted on the floors and on the thing that holds the cookie trays with cookies sitting out uncovered right on it, and nobody is shutting them down.
I know how Sound Fix operates, 10:33. I go there all the time. And I know what happens when some petty bureaucrat gets a a stick up their ass about a local business and decides to take it down. It isn’t right and it shouldn’t be tolerated, but this is New York City 2008, land of condos and wine bars.
I’m sure Sound Fix will do what they can to stay open, but someone’s obviously eyeing that piece of real estate as a great place for an American Apparel or Urban Outfitters location.
New York is dying.
11:04 (a): “Cafe” is in quotes because the place operates more as a bar or club, particularly at night and on some weekend days. I’m not one of the whiny neighbors, and would just as soon see this place (particularly the record store) succeed. But I do know that there have been complaints from neighbors about the noise from a live music venue in a very residential area, and that those complaints go back at least a couple of years now. All I was saying was that the owners could have done something to be a bit more cooperative before the crackdown.
11:04 (b): when the city (or precinct) finally decides to crack down on an establishment, they flood the zone, as it were. They bring in multiple agencies (DOH, DOB, FDNY, et al) and issue multiple violations, all in an effort to close down the “nuisance”.
signed, 10:33
“The Dept. of Health shut down the Sound Fix Lounge after serving it with three violations for operating without a food license; the first violation was issued March 6th, the second on March 8th, and the third on March 28th.”
Sounds like the problems extend beyond the musical realm.
Why is “cafe” in quotes, 10:33? Are you one of the whiny neighbors who should move back to Kansas where you belong?
NYC is totally losing its soul. Maybe it’s time to find a city that doesn’t punish local artists and musicians for daring to put on performances in record stores. I am so tired of this abusive sh*t. Remember what almost happened to the Red Hook vendors?
“The Dept. of Health shut down the Sound Fix Lounge after serving it with three violations for operating without a food license; the first violation was issued March 6th, the second on March 8th, and the third on March 28th.”
Sounds like the problems extend beyond the musical realm.
The “cafe” has been a noise problem for well more than a year. Unfortunately, when complaints were made to the owners, nothing was done. Too bad, but this looks like Triple Crown all over again (remember them – across the street?).
It’s a tragedy how the city of New York is assualting and destroying the very arts and music that made this city great.