106 Rivington Secures CB3 Approval for Full Liquor License

The SLA subcommittee of Community Board 3 approved another full liquor license in a resolution area last night. After weeks of neighborhood meetings, anxiety, and trash talking on both sides, 106 Rivington ultimately got what it wanted. And Hell Square lives to see another day…

It was a complete media circus with plenty of local bloggers, reporters, and even camera crews from Fox and WABC in attendance, all there to document the case for/against 106 Rivington. The room was jammed at 100-person capacity for this second agenda item, and police officers were imported to keep the peace. Restaurant principles – Jose Rodriguez, Robert Payne – plus their crew of lawyers and consultants pitched CB3 on their concept for the second time in as many months, having been held over from last meeting. Ownership maintained that the Latin eatery will be as such, and of viable public benefit to the Lower East Side.

Supporters of all ages flashed signs; the opposition (namely, the LES Dwellers under Diem Boyd) huddled in one section of the room. Supporters’ talking points included their roots and strong commitment to the neighborhood, hundreds of signatures, and lack of Latin options (reportedly 25 of some 700 establishments in the ‘hood); the opposition living directly in the “terror zone” spoke of over-saturation, diminished quality of life, and questioned the validity of said signatures (e.g. many were faked with names of sports players, etc).

The real drama was watching the board decide how best to compromise with team Rodriguez, while trying to quell outbursts from both sides. Ninety minutes of back-and-forth discussion ultimately resulted in a green light. An agreement was certainly tough to come by, so much so, that David McWater tried to punt to the full board instead. That motion was shot down, and in the end, a half-dozen or so permutations were proposed. Only one compromise carried, 6 – 4.

• Full liquor license approved.
• Hours: Sun-Wed until 12 am, Thur-Sat until 2 am.
• 106 Rivington will agree to 26 stipulations, most of which were not read to the public at the meeting.
• Ownership permitted to return in a year-and-a-half to request later closing times.

The decision will be heard at the full committee meeting later this month.