In the past, if you wanted to get a drink with friends at your favorite restaurant on Newark Avenue near the Grove Street PATH, you could do so only before 11 p.m. on weekdays and Sunday and by midnight on Friday and Saturday.
But the City Council on Wednesday voted 8-0 for longer hours for establishments to serve alcohol in “Restaurant Row.”
That means alcohol can be served Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m., and Sundays from noon to 2 a.m.
On New Year’s Eve, the hours are from 6 a.m. to 4 a.m.
In the past, restaurants in that particular zone had shorter hours than the rest of the city in order to prevent them from becoming bars at later hours. The hours are now in concert with the rest of the city.
The zone covers Newark Avenue from Marin to Jersey, Grove Street from First Street to Christopher Columbus Drive (north side), Jersey Avenue from First to Columbus Drive (north side), and the north side of Columbus Drive from Grove to Jersey.
Restaurants located in a business area of Jersey City known as the Downtown Restaurant Overlay Zone (also known as “Restaurant Row”) had since 1999 complied with a law stipulating that they had shorter hours.
Ward E City Councilman Steven Fulop, who sponsored the change, commended the council’s approval and thanked especially City Council President Mariano Vega and Ward D City Councilman Bill Gaughan for allowing the ordinance to be heard early in the meeting.
Fulop wanted to vote early so he could leave in order to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
Vega, in voting for the ordinance, said that it “was an idea that was wise.”Drink later, and then some
Those advocating for the change said the extended hours would help with business. One of the strongest advocates is Jelynne Jardiniano, owner of L.I.T.M. (Love Is The Message), a bar/lounge located at 140 Newark Ave.
Jardiniano was in attendance at the meeting.
“I am just overwhelmed, but I am happy not just for myself, but for all my supporters,” Jardiniano said. “This is more than I can hope for.”
Dan Le, owner of the Saigon Café at 188 Newark Ave., operates a restaurant with a liquor license and closes at 11 p.m. most nights. Le said last week the change in regulations is “good news” for businesses in the area, and she would consider staying open later.
Along with the extended hours, there will be new guidelines put in place as part of a change to existing regulations in the Downtown Restaurant Overlay Zone:
– A minimum of 60 percent of any establishment serving alcohol within the zone has to be set aside as a restaurant and must have a commercial kitchen.
– The kitchen stays open by midnight Sunday through Thursdays and until 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
– No entry by new patrons or re-entry into a restaurant is allowed after 1 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
– Restaurants within the zone must post at or near the front entrance a sign listing the hours of operation and rules on entry and re-entry.
When asked if she will retain security to uphold the entry/re-entry rule, Jardiniano said there is enough staff employed at L.I.T.M. Not everyone drinking from the same glass
The issue of the extended hours for Restaurant Row has been contentious.
The ordinance changing the regulations was first introduced at a Sept. 14 council meeting but was tabled to allow for further study by a task force consisting of council members, members of the Police Department, and other city officials. This was in response to residents living near Restaurant Row concerned about extended hours creating more noise and traffic.
Among the residents are Annie and Charles Kessler, who reside on Bay Street, a block from Newark Avenue. The Kesslers are concerned the ordinance will usher in a flood of new restaurants that will degenerate into bars since the ordinance was, in their opinion, drawn up hastily and has a number of loopholes.
The Kesslers also made their displeasure known at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, but only after the vote on the ordinance was taken. Annie Kessler cited a speech that Vega gave to the City Council in 1999 when he was the Ward E Councilman considering a vote to implement the Downtown Restaurant Overlay Zone. Vega said the council would table the legislation at that time in favor of a public hearing to get community input.
Kessler said that contrasts with the approach by the ward’s current councilperson Fulop, whom she said pursued the changes to the current ordinance with very little regard for the residents.
Annie Kessler also addressed issues such as enforcement, saying there is no definition for a kitchen set in state law. She also said that people don’t realize the ordinance specifies that 60 percent of an establishment is for a restaurant but that the 60 percent is divided between kitchen, food preparing, storage and offices, thus diminishing the guideline.
“You on the task force said that you were going to re-evaluate this once a year, and I think that’s a great idea,” said Kessler. “But do you believe that’s going to happen if it’s not in the ordinance?”
Vega responded that the city’s Alcohol Beverage Control and the Division of Commerce will enforce the new guidelines.
But he also assured Kessler that the ordinance will be revisited.
Yvonne Balcer, a frequent speaker at City Council meetings, scolded the council for introducing the ordinance too early in the meeting, thus not allowing those from the public who appeared late at the meeting to speak. Balcer opposed the ordinance, saying the later hours will allow for raucous behavior that will disrupt downtown neighborhoods.
But City Clerk Robert Byrne told Balcer that there was no “subterfuge” and the vote was done out of consideration for Fulop.