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Tropicana, Atlantic City

The ‘Union’ is preserved

By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper

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Controversial Park Slope bar Union Hall moved closer to getting its liquor license renewed as Community Board 6 overwhelmingly voted in support of the watering hole on Wednesday night.

The motion was in stark contrast to a vote last week by the CB6 Land Use committee that urged the state to deny the extension of the license, which expires on May 31.

The full board was won over by Union Hall’s owners’ willingness to meet with its neighbors on Union Street — an openness to mediation not shared by the bar’s foes, according to board members.

Also persuasive was a video that appeared to show one of Union Hall’s staunchest critics calling in a fraudulent 911 report that the bar was overcrowded.

“The neighbors did not try to mediate in good faith,” said Jeff Strabone, a board member. “If I had a problem with a business, I would not refuse to meet with the owner.”

But some members sided with residents, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, who said that the bar was inappropriate for their drowsy block because of the nightly noise stemming from the flow of patrons.

“This is a problem no matter how good or nice the owner is,” said Bob Levine.

This is the second contentious CB6 deliberation about a bar on a primarily residential block.

Last month, the board supported a liquor application for a raw bar on a residential block of Hoyt Street, despite residents’ protests.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

→Downtown: Brooklyn gets ‘Real’

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