See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Will Bredderman
Brooklyn Daily
An increasingly violent 93rd Street nightspot has its neighbors living in a constant state of panic, say residents who want the club shut down.
Neighbors say gunshots rang out in the middle of the night outside 93 Lounge, which shares an address with the Prince Hotel between Third and Fourth avenues, on Sept. 19.
The following morning, residents found empty shell casings littering the street — leaving some to wonder if they should take more drastic measures to protect themselves.
“I never had a gun before, but with everything going on, I’m thinking of getting one,” said Ted Moustakas, whose wife heads up the neighborhood block association and has fought to get the club shuttered permanently.
Moustakas said he and his wife have repeatedly complained to Community Board 10 and state Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge) about the fights and the bar patrons who smoke pot in front of their home, but have been disappointed with the results.
Other neighbors say 93 Lounge visitors fill the street at night, blasting music from cars and using drugs in public — and leaving the block reeking of weed and crack.
“There’s always swarms of over 100 people down there, lighting up,” said resident Natalie Hale. “It doesn’t belong here. How does nobody do anything?”
Resident Mary Smith, who lives just a few doors down from 93 Lounge, agreed.
“It’s nothing but fights, broken bottles, and police calls,” said Smith, who said she approached 93’s management about lowering music volume inside and was rebuffed. “I always find people from there standing here in the lobby at night, and they try to talk to me, but I know what they’re saying and I ignore them.”
Staffers at 93 Lounge www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/35/18/br_93loungeupdate_2012_05_04_bk.html ">clashed with CB10 and the 68th Precinct earlier this year over alleged brawling and drug activity.
CB10 district manager Josephine Beckmann confirmed that there’s been a significant uptick in the complaints about 93 Lounge in the past few months, and that she’s passed reports of gunshots, drug use, and fighting along to the 68th Precinct.
Golden spokesman John Quaglione said he’d also heard about the growing anger at the bar, and that the legislator was working to deal with it.
Cops at the 68th Precinct declined to comment about their plans for the nightspot.
Yet Ron Coury — the club owner’s father — say the cops are actively trying to destroy his business and is goading neighbors to complain about the nightspot.
“We are law-abiding citizens and we are being harassed by the police department,” declared Coury, who said police cars visit the club every night it is open and that officers have told him repeatedly they are going to shut the club down. “There’s no fights, there’s no violence, there’s been no arrests at our club. We get blamed for everything that happens in the neighborhood.”
The NYPD Public Information office said the only police reports on file for 93 Lounge are for a missing cellphone and a missing wallet.
But city records show that on Sept. 22, a Buildings Department Emergency Response Team raided 93 Lounge and found that it was operating as a place of assembly without the legally-required certificate of occupancy — the exact same finding another Emergency Response Team made after inspecting the club last September.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at (718) 260–4507 or e-mail him at wbredderman@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/WillBredderman