After Protest, Club’s Liquor License Application Refused
After a Thursday, Jan 12 rally against a proposed Long Island City strip club by residents and community leaders, the State Liquor Authority (SLA) decided on Wednesday, Jan. 18 to deny their quest for a liquor license.
The SLA’s decision was announced in press releases from City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer and Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan.
GLC Entertainment’s application for Gypsy Rose, at 42-50 21st St., had been hotly contested over the past year, with many worried that the strip club-across from the down ramp off the Queensboro Bridge- would damage the community.
A rally was held outside the proposed cabaret site last Thursday, Jan. 12, with members of Community Board 2, local elected officials and others speaking out against Gypsy Rose.
“You are going to build, or try to build, 500 feet from 5,000 kids,” said Bishop Mitchell Taylor, referring to the site’s proximity to the Queensbridge Houses as well as to the High School For Information Technology at 21-16 44th Rd.
“We are mad and we are not going to sit back and take it anymore,” he told the crowd.
At the rally, Community Board 2’s City Services Committee Chairman Patrick O’Brien updated the crowd on the current status of the club.
According to O’Brien, the club was denied an SLA license in January of last year; since then, they have reorganized the company running Gypsy Rose and reapplied, in what he called an attempt to “subvert a public process.”
Board 2 had voted to deny a liquor license to the establishment last year; however, their vote is only an advisory one, and GLC had taken their quest for a license to the SLA despite Board 2’s rebuff.
As previously reported in the Times Newsweekly, the company is attempting to convince the SLA that the surrounding neighborhood is derelict.
O’Brien told the Times Newsweekly that the interior of Gypsy Rose is fully constructed.
“Long Island City is not a dumping ground,” said Nolan. “We are not accepting their vision of our community.”
Van Bramer called the plan “wrong on every level” at the rally.
“They have no intention to uplift this neighborhood,” he stated.
Jerry Walsh of the Dutch Kills Civic Association and Marion Jeffries of the Astoria/Long Island City chapter of the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) both expressed concern that the opening of Gypsy Rose could lead to a return of area prostitution.
