At first, residents of Manhattan neighborhood Hell’s Kitchen fought the opening of gay sports bar Boxers because the entrance was withing 200 feet (the legal minimum) of a school. Now that the bar owners have moved the entrance to just over 200 feet away from the school, neighbors are screaming because they just “don’t want more bars in the neighborhood.” The school in question is the Catholic Sacred Heart of Jesus School.
The local Community Board 4, chaired by openly gay former football player Corey Johnson, overrode its own licensing subcommittee last November and denied the bar a license. The State Liquor Authority is taking up the matter this week.
At first, residents of Manhattan neighborhood Hell’s Kitchen fought the opening of gay sports bar Boxers because the entrance was withing 200 feet (the legal minimum) of a school. Now that the bar owners have moved the entrance to just over 200 feet away from the school, neighbors are screaming because they just “don’t want more bars in the neighborhood.” The school in question is the Catholic Sacred Heart of Jesus School.
The local Community Board 4, chaired by openly gay former football player Corey Johnson, overrode its own licensing subcommittee last November and denied the bar a license. The State Liquor Authority is taking up the matter this week.
One of the neighbors has complained that the bar might have a pants check-in so men can walk around in their boxer shorts. POI: It is legal for anyone to wear boxer shorts without pants on the streets, let alone in a bar. Besides, having been to the Chelsea-based Boxers bar many times, I’ve never seen this (though the bartenders only wear boxer shorts).
Others complain that there might be smokers outside the bar, or that the bar might be seen from the school? After all, some of the students in the school are asthmatic!!! POI: The bar owners have said they would not open during school hours.
Boxers owner Bob Fluet told Steve Weinstein, "They wouldn't be opposing an Applebee's."
Actually, they might be. These Manhattan elites don't want anyone disturbing their precious neighborhoods. Despite the fact that they've chosen to live in the most over-populated, congested city in the country, they want to tell other people what they can and cannot do with their business and their property (many residents even decide who can and cannot live in their apartment building). There is no doubt some homophobia is going on here (did I mention it's a Catholic school?), but there's also a lot of desire to simply tell other people what to do.
Welcome to New York.
