Party pooper Blasio
Tells revelers: Shhh
Mayor de Blasio has a message for people partying on the Lower East Side: Keep it down out there.
Like an angry neighbor rapping on the ceiling with a broomstick, Hizzoner told tipsy revelers Tuesday to turn down the volume on the good times as they barhop along Ludlow and Orchard streets.
“The world loves New York nightlife, but we also have to take care of the New Yorkers who live where others play,” said de Blasio as he announced a new nightlife crackdown in the oncegritty neighborhood, now home to numerous multimillion-dollar condos.
“We don’t want noise in the middle of the night that’s not fair to the community,” the mayor added before joining his appointed “nightlife mayor,” Ariel Palitz, for a beer.
De Blasio made the announcement at the Max Fish bar on Orchard Street, a 30year-old venue where poor artists and skate punks have rubbed elbows and shot pool with celebs like Johnny Depp and James Gandolfini.
The new push for peace and quiet — dubbed the “night owl etiquette campaign” — includes more vehicle no-standing zones to reduce traffic congestion and noise, additional street cleaning and a public-relations push to make sure the masses are on their best behavior in the wealthy and gentrifying neighborhood.
Public-service ads will “urge patrons to use common-sense nightlife consideration including keeping sound to a minimum and keeping sidewalks clean and clear.”
“Your night out is someone’s night in,” reads one ad.
Lower East Side resident Alyson Palmer, of the alternative-rock band BETTY, said she’s sick of “walking over people sleeping it off.”
Protesters welcomed the mayor when he arrived for the event 20 minutes late.
Morgan Flores, a community organizer with The Black Institute, lamented the city making quality-of-life improvements on the Lower East Side while allegedly ignoring outer-borough neighborhoods with many minority-owned businesses.
“Black businesses are being shut down and they’re being fined out of existence,” Flores said. “People are losing their livelihoods, their savings and their retirement and there’s no help.”