dork magazine.

Realizing that they were in over their heads they decided to sell the business. They found that they couldn't make the neighbors happy and it was becoming a stressful situation for everyone. They found a buyer, a reputable business man who owns a few other local businesses. He wanted to open a cafe in the space that would close earlier than Triple Crown does. The sale of the bar and the transfer of the liquor license is heavily influenced by the community board (the state liquor authority makes the ultimate decision but usually they go with the community board's vote) and the guys attended the meeting to see the outcome of the vote. To their surprise one woman (who doesn't live in the community but whose father lives next door to the bar) had rallied up a petition and a large number of people in the neighborhood to fight against the sale of the bar. They even made up "no Triple Crown" t-shirts. Before they could even vote on the sale, the buyer who was very afraid of making these people angry at him due to his other businesses in the neighborhood pulled out of the sale publicly in the middle of the meeting.

A few months later they found another buyer and the same thing is happening again. They have been under contract and just about everything has been approved for 8 months. They met Wednesday (10/10) night to vote on this point and denied the sale. They said they would maybe re-vote next month if the new buyer agrees to some terms they have. About a week ago there was a story in the local Williamsburg paper (The Williamsburg Courier) about this issue. They interviewed a member of the community board and she openly admitted that they want to drive these boys out of business out of spite. She admitted to knowing that the first buyer had a good reputation in the neighborhood-but because of the bar's loud "hip hop music" and the owners being unwilling to quiet down-his association with them made the sale "dubious." They have known about this pending sale for months now and if they had any terms for this new buyer they most certainly could have made them clear before this month's meeting. This was a cleanly run business by very very good people who stand to lose EVERYTHING. It's not a matter of starting over if this sale doesn't go through, it's a matter of digging ourselves out of a massive hole due to this harassment from the community. I come to you because this was a small business that supported music and DJs in the city and made the mistake of choosing the wrong location.

As of now to again appease the neighborhood the bar is closed with the exception of one or two nights a month to help pay the rent. The people of the community have been telling wild stories of "lots of brothers" listening to "loud hip hop music", wild fights and even heroine use at the bar. I am just confused as to how denying the sale and driving these guys out of business and setting them back years financially is the answer to a noisy bar issue. If they were unhappy with the noise then it would seem that they would approve of the sale and everyone could move on with their lives. We are scratching our heads here trying to find the logic in all this..."

You can contact Triple Crown and find more info [Here]