Booze-cruise blues
Party-boat mayhem floods B’klyn nabe
Landlubbers want rowdy booze cruisers to walk the plank in Sheepshead Bay.
Residents of the waterfront Brooklyn neighborhood say they are fed up with patrons of party yachts along Emmons Avenue who stumble off the ships in the wee hours, acting like a bunch of boozy buccaneers.
“We’re sick and tired of these boats, and we want them gone,” said one neighbor who would only identify himself as Aram because he fears retribution. “They don’t belong in our neighborhood.”
There has been tension for years between the fleet of cruisers and the community, but this summer the conflict has boiled over into open mutiny.
“It’s the worst I’ve seen it,” said Elena Randazzo, 30, who helps her dad run the famed Randazzo’s Clam Bar. “My customers refuse to sit outside now. It was never at that point before.”
Some feel unsafe walking near the docks between Bedford and Ocean avenues at night, as the boats, some carrying up to 600 people, let off passengers who have been partying for four or five hours.
“They’re aggressive and start fights,” said Aram, a father of two. “I don’t feel comfortable bringing my kids around here.”
On Aug. 6, a nasty brawl broke out on Emmons Avenue despite a police presence there.
Video of the melee shows a man tackling another to the ground while others pushed and shoved each other as police gatheredhered around.
The revelerselers often “relieveieve themselvess wherever they feel like it:t: on the side-dewalks, lawns and nd even peo- ple’s cars,” Aram said.
Another local busi-usiness owner,wner, who requesteduested anonymityy be-because he fearedfeared a backlash from the cruise-shipp companies,s, said he “re-re- cently saw a partyer threaten and curse out a senior at the old folks’ home because he asked the guy to stop using his lawn as a bathroom. “Then, a week later, a drunk guy came over to my restaurant and ripped a tree out of my planter and threw it down the street,” he said. Infuriated residents point the finger at six vessels that offer boozebooze and pparties until 4 a.m.: the Golden SunshinSunshine, Star of New YoYork and Pink Lady oof Freedom Cruises and the AmberjAmberjack V, Sheryllyll PrincPrincess and the Atlantis. None of the cruise companies retureturned calls sem seekingment. comLocals say the other few fishing “party” boats that dock on EEmmons aaren’t a problelem. TThe larger offeoffenders are owned bby “companiesnies [that]tha come in, make money and don’t care about how they leave the area,” said Aram.
Neighbors recently started a petition demanding the Parks Department no longer issue permits to those six booze cruises, citing “patrons [that] treat the area like a dump, urinate on lawns, leave behind broken bottles and incite violent brawls.”
Brooklyn Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz has twice floated legislation to nix the boats by banning them from docking at Sheepshead Bay piers, but his latest attempt was tabled.
“I have yet to see a viable plan that would restore the quality of life that my constituents . . . deserve,” Cymbrowitz said.
Brooklyn Councilman Chaim Deutsch is drafting a bill that would require the boats to provide parking for patrons, keeping them confined to one area and freeing up parking for local businesses.
“Parks has a significant number of rules and regulations in place to keep our docks and waters safe for everyone,” said Parks Department spokesman Sam Biederman. “Parks works closely with NYPD to monitor the docks, and we have recently stepped up enforcement in the area.”