Sunday, December 27, 2009

Liquor license self-certification coming

From the Times Newsweekly:

The State Liquor Authority (SLA) has instituted a pilot self-certification program intended to help the agency sort through a backlog of applications. According to Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio, who heard about the initiative in an information session held last week with new SLA Chairman Dennis Rosen, the program was initiated in September in response to a reduction in staffing, from 700 employees to about 150, that has caused the 3,000- application backlog.

As part of the new process, applicants and their attorneys are required to fill out a three-page form. The application does “not require full board determination,” meaning that it would not require a public hearing.

The form asks for assurances that the applicant’s paperwork is in order, that the location complies with state regulations, that the applicant is the owner of the business, that the local municipality (or in New York City’s case, the local community board) has endorsed the license, and that the applicant does not have a criminal record.

According to documentation on the SLA website, the program will be in effect until February 2010, at which point it will be re-evaluated.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great!

Following close on the heels of that disaster of architects self certifying their own plans...we now have another fiasco in the making.

Hey...I'd like to self certify my own income tax returns.

Do you think that Uncle Sam will take my word for my deductions without checking them out?

Anonymous said...

You DO voluntarily self certify your own tax returns.

For the most part, they DO take your word for your deductions. If they sound strange, you might get audited. I am no fan of the IRS, but you are deluded.

In regards to the issue at hand, we are talking about small business owners trying to open a restaurant. When the City wont allow them to sell alcohol, they suffer. Alcohol is their biggest markup.

Like it or not, people want a beer or some wine with their dinner. The fact that they cant get it with the City's onerous regulations has destroyed many small businesses.

And so goes the Burger King, Taco Bell MacDonalds nation. They have the $$$ to crawl thru ridiculous red tape.

Remember, when you sign your tax return, you are self certifying. You are certifying your W-2 is correct, you are certifying you have no additional income...

Anonymous said...

Burger King, McDonalds and Taco Bell don't serve alcohol.

Many times, liquor licenses are turned down. Many times, people who shouldn't be running establishments because of past transgressions, apply for liquor licenses. Now they will just get them.

Anonymous said...

A mom and pop restaurant I am not concerned about. Nightclubs and bars, I am.

Anonymous said...

I would like to self-certify that I was a virgin before I met you and the baby is definitely yours.

Anonymous said...

No...old boy...my accountant certifies my tax returns.

Are you too cheap to use one?

Anonymous said...

"No...old boy...my accountant certifies my tax returns".

1040:
Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this return...

_______________
Your signature

Maybe you would be better served if you hired an accountant who would take greater pains in explaining tax law to you, huh, old boy?