To the Editor:
It is never in the best interest of Kearny residents to have small businesses and nonprofits fail. The Town Council has been working with the Urban Enterprise Zone to improve the streetscape of the business districts to increase foot traffic and the customer base of businesses. We have several establishments that have liquor licenses that are to go before the council in their capacity as the hearing and enforcement arm of the Alcoholic Beverage Control.
I believe the correct course of action is to inform owners as to what they did wrong and to give them the time and tools to make improvements to be compliant with laws as they are written. While they are given a set of rules to comply with, it reads like an instruction manual for putting together Ikea furniture and we do extraordinarily little to facilitate compliance.
There are liquor license renewal hours on Wednesday nights, but there are no employees assigned to be exclusively available for this purpose. It is possible and, in many cases, probable, the officer assigned to oversee the renewals is sent out on a police calls. There are business owners who have gone three or four times to renew only to not have the ability when they get there to accomplish the stated goal.
Kearny has many new businesses (both alcohol and non-alcohol related) that believe they comply, only to find out they do not. The town offers sidewalk permits and has restaurants with outdoor space that may not know they can have outdoor entertainment — but not a speaker due to noise-amplification laws. Residents call in noise complaints because customers are talking while outside. Noise summonses are issued to people without officers carrying the appropriate equipment to evaluate the noise level with a sound-pressure level meter.
There are clubs and long-time businesses that may not be aware of the various changes to the laws.
Perhaps it is time the council looked at scheduled classes for bartender training and license renewals? Instead of trying to do it weekly with an “as available” officer, schedule quarterly classes and renewals with designated staff.
When they hear the cases before the ABC hearing board, this is the time to give corrective action plans and time limit instead of a fine. Rather than shutting down an establishment for two weeks, give them a 30- or 60-day period to correct the issues, with a specified fine that will be implemented if they fail to comply. Having no income for 4% of the year while working on a 10% margin will hurt more than it will improve the quality of life for residents. I want our business to succeed — it improves the quality of life and the value of our property for everyone.
Melanie Ryan | Kearny
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