Pop up party pooper

Queens Chronicle 

 

With summer around the corner, Councilman Bob Holden (D-Middle Village) is asking his colleagues to help him crash some parties — specifically, the increasingly popular pop-up parties that began to proliferate in his district and others last year.

The parties led to numerous complaints from residents — as well as a pair of shootings.

Holden last week introduced a dozen bills aimed at quality-of-life issues. One, Intro. 248, specifically targets organizers of parties, or in some cases the building owners, when vacant storefronts host gatherings without following city regulations or commonsense precautions.

Last summer the old Midville Hardware location at 73-02 Metropolitan Ave. in Middle Village became a host of such parties multiple times. Sites also sprang up on Myrtle Avenue and other nearby sites.

“It would allow the city to place regulations on event spaces that do not have a certificate of assembly, while avoiding any burdensome regulations on legitimate businesses,” Holden said in an interview this week.

“If they don’t have a certificate of assembly and suddenly they’re selling drinks, alcohol or no alcohol, they will be deemed immediately not in compliance,” Holden said.

He added that things like failure to have a liquor license or having unlicensed security guards also could be found to be a violation. Fines, the councilman said, could range from $1,000 to $25,000 depending on the number and severity of infractions.

It, and most of the other bills on Holden’s list, have been co-sponsored by Councilman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn).

“He’s another member of the Common Sense Caucus,” Holden said.

Middle Village residents who feared to give their names last summer gave the Chronicle stark descriptions of what the parties could bring when the revelry or worse spilled out onto the streets during such parties.

Music and loud partying into all hours of the morning were not even the worst. Fights would spill out into the streets. Litter and refuse would cover sidewalks.

Original efforts to crack down on businesses and building owners through the State Liquor Authority and zoning regulations would have had unintended consequences for bars, delis and other legitimate businesses that were playing by the rules on the same block, according to Holden.

He said his bill goes first after the party organizers or those who rent the space.

“If we go in there and people say that person is unavailable, or if someone has no ID, we could fine the building owner,” he said