Board 10 Wants To Forget About Amnesia

March 8, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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By Paula Katinas
Brooklyn Eagle

BAY RIDGE — Community Board 10 members are hoping to forget Amnesia.

Egged on by local residents, who charged that Amnesia, the Brazilian-themed steakhouse at 10007 Fourth Ave., is a hangout for rowdy drunks, Board 10 voted to recommend that the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs deny the eatery an application for a cabaret license.

The vote took place at the board’s monthly meeting on Feb. 27. A cabaret license would permit the owners of Amnesia to present live music and allow dancing in the restaurant.

George Fontas, chair of the board’s Police and Public Safety Committee, told the board that nearly two dozen neighbors living near Amnesia attended a meeting of the committee on Feb. 15 to voice vehement objection to the idea of a city approval of loud music and dancing at the site.

The committee members also had strong reservations about Amnesia, according to Fontas, who said that the establishment has already caused trouble and sleepless nights for residents.

Making matters worse, Fontas said, is that Amnesia is already acting as a quasi-dance club, despite the fact that the owners do not yet have a cabaret license.

The committee voted unanimously against Amnesia getting a cabaret license.

“Amnesia originally opened as a Brazilian steakhouse venue, but the committee has learned that the establishment no longer operates as a regular restaurant and now operates as a venue for rental by any individual who needs a large space to have any type of gathering. We’ve heard that the location operates one day a week and is sometimes booked for large parties, such as communions or dinners, but much more regularly it is rented by promoters to operate as a dance club,” Fontas said. “The owners admitted that dance parties have been happening regularly at the venue and that they’ve known for some time that a cabaret license is required. The location has received at least two summonses for no cabaret license and the Police Department has been called to the avenue a number of times and made arrests at the scene.”

The dance club attracts a negative clientele, residents charged.

Neighbors complained that drunken, rowdy patrons leaving the venue vomit on people’s stoops and that the sidewalk outside the club becomes filled with litter after events at the site.

In addition, the club provides valet parking services for its patrons, according to residents, who said the valet workers double-park clubgoers’ cars and block local driveways. The double-parking situation makes traveling along Fourth Avenue a dicey proposition, residents charged.

The board’s recommendation that Amnesia be denied a cabaret license isn’t the end of the line for the owners. The ultimate decision will be made by officials at the Dept. of Consumer Affairs, which could ignore the wishes of the board and of local residents and grant the license.