Democratic and Working Families Party candidate for the State Senate representing the 25th District Daniel “the Kid” Squadron wants to give Community Boards a stronger voice in the granting of bar liquor licenses. In the Villager newspaper op-ed piece we also learn that Squadron once owned a bar that was ticketed for serving someone under 21. That said, “the Kid” tells us his operation had a great relationship with the community unlike the “problem spot across the street”. Sounds a lot like if Goofus and Gallant ran competing bars to us.
The Villager: Community Must Have a Stronger Voice…: Currently, liquor license applicants looking for a waiver to the 500-foot rule — a provision that limits the number of on-premises licenses allowed within a 500-foot radius of each other — go before the community board, which then makes a nonbinding recommendation to the State Liquor Authority.
I believe that it is time, for the first time, to create a role for community boards that goes beyond advisory. In residential communities with a high density of licenses, the S.L.A. should require affirmative approval from the community board to grant waivers to the 500-foot rule.
Squadron faces State Senator Martin “Marty” Connor in the Democratic primary in September.
