By Kelsey Durham
As a popular college bar in Jamaica Hills awaits news from the state Liquor Authority on the status of its license renewal request, nearby St. John’s University is hoping the establishment will consider some suggested changes that the school believes will help improve the safety of its students.
New Tradition’s Bar, at 84-28 164th St., is required to renew its liquor license this year, and the application is the first to be filed under the new owner, who took over the business in 2012.
In March, Paul Lazauskas, a Community Board 8 member who also serves as associate director for community relations at SJU, drafted a letter to CB 8’s Liquor License Committee on behalf of the school and the community board with “strong opposition to the renewal of New Traditions Inc.’s license to sell liquor, wine and beer,” citing nearly 100 incidents that were recorded by the school’s Public Safety Department over the last two years as a result of students drinking at the bar.
The letter references reports from SJU’s Public Safety of intoxicated students who have been sent to the hospital, allegations of physical and sexual assaults, alleged drug use and loud groups of students walking back to campus after having spent a night drinking at Traditions.
But despite the complaints, CB 8 presented the bar’s owner with a letter recommending that his liquor license renewal request be approved, provided that he make some changes.
“We asked him to improve the intoxication issues and also asked to increase security outside and he agreed,” said Marie Adam-Ovide, district manager for CB 8. “We let him know that it would not be in his best interest to ignore these requests. We’re not really asking him for a lot.”
Adam-Ovide said the community board previously received a decent number of complaints about the bar before the new owner took over, but since then, she said the problems stemming from Traditions seem to have decreased.
When the board’s Liquor License Committee voted to approve a recommendation letter, Lazauskas was the lone vote in opposition, and he said he suggested immediately after the vote that the owner meet with university officials to discuss changes.
“Obviously if you run a college bar, there are going to be problems,” he said. “The larger issue is that his patrons may leave, but we then have to deal with these issues when they come back to campus. He doesn’t see those.”
Joseph Sciame, vice president for community relations at SJU, said the school runs a community involvement group that has heard complaints from residents in the past of students loudly stumbling past their properties after leaving the bar in the early hours of the morning.
After school officials met with the owner, one suggestion that Sciame said was offered is to partner with some type of cab service that will safely transport students home if they have had too much to drink.
He said SJU also reinforced CB 8’s request to increase security and work hard to ensure underage students are not being served alcohol.
“When they leave the bar, some of these kids can’t even walk and the Grand Central Parkway is dangerous,” Sciame said. “If you want to do something illegal, you can always find a way, but we should not condone it. And St. John’s is not.”
Though CB 8 recommended approval, the Liquor Authority has not yet ruled on whether Traditions’ liquor license will be renewed. Whatever decision the agency comes to, Sciame said the university will remain in contact with the bar owner and the community and continue to work toward keeping students and neighbors safe.
“We’ve done our job, and now we’re just trying to educate the owner that there are things he can do to help, too,” he said.
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or by e-mail at kdurham@cnglocal.com.
