Liquor License | Interactive Fundamentals Thursday 5:00-8:50 (Thomas Lin)

Agustin Rosa in his office at Public School 63. (Photo: Claudia Bracholdt)

While his office is stuffed with orange mini-pumpkins, ghost puppets and artificial spider webs to celebrate the upcoming Halloween holiday, the Parents Association President of Public School 63, Agustin Rosa, has to deal with another spook.

He said he is concerned about a liquor store that wants to open on Franklin Avenue in the Bronx, across from Public School 63 and Public School 2. The space used to be a Laundromat, which was closed for many years. There have been a lot of problems in the community such as violence and drug dealing, Rosa said. Especially the building, in which the store shall be opened, has caused trouble in the past years.

“We had a lot of teenagers in there drinking every single night,” Rosa said. “We know that they are not only drinking, they are smoking and doing drugs.” A lot of people support his cause, he said.

According to the Daily News, a man has been shot on Franklin Avenue last Saturday. He was shot in the building next to the Laundromat, Rosa said. The victim now is in critical condition. Rosa said there has been enough violence.

Argenis Jabier said he wants to open his store for the community. (Photo: Claudia Bracholdt)

Argenis Jabier, 30, is the owner of the space, in which he wants to open his store. He doesn’t think that the new business will have a bad effect on the area. “It’s a liquor store, not a bar. The people get their alcohol and go home.” He said. “I wanted to be in the area for the community.” Some residents in the area encouraged him to keep fighting, he said.

Agustin Rosa is still concerned. Below he describes the current situation and how he came to knew about the store.

[audio:http://cdn.journalism.cuny.edu/blogs.dir/383/files/2011/10/liquor-store_normalized.mp3|titles=liquor store_normalized]

Ambient sound in front of the liquor store:

[audio:http://cdn.journalism.cuny.edu/blogs.dir/383/files/2011/10/ambient1.mp3|titles=ambient1]

At its Sept. 14 meeting, Brooklyn Community Board 1 voted to withdraw its recommendation for the Polish and Slavic Center Cafeteria liquor license application. The cafeteria presented a “fraudulent petition” in support of it, said a chairman Chris Olechowski.

At the Sept. 14 meeting, Mark Wysocki, identified as Queens resident and a former member of PSC, alleged that the cafeteria’s petition included names of non-existing people. An executive director of the center, Bozena Kaminski, 49, said the PSC hired private investigators to denounce allegations made by Wysocki. In his opinion, selling alcohol in the cafeteria will damage the image of the Polish community.

The cafeteria is a property of a non-profit social and cultural organization, providing services, like legal and immigration advisory, sports and English classes to help children and adults to get adjusted to life in America. Polish and Slavic Center has a cafeteria business in order to support its programs.

The cafeteria applied for the license in August 2010 and got a recommendation from the community board in May this year. The status of the license is still pending, the New York State Liquor Authority public query shows. And the cafeteria still fights to get it. Roman Bieniek, 59, a manager of the PCS Cafeteria said: “We need beer, because the business is down.” Meanwhile, some loyal customers prefer the cafeteria to be the way it is.