Complaints Over Empire Billiards Continue to Mount

Residential complaints over Empire Billiards were once again the focus of the public meeting of the New Hyde Park Village Board on May 21, going on for over an hour as each person in the capacity board room voiced their displeasure with the hall and the behavior of its patrons.

About one year ago the New Hyde Park Village Board voted against the renewal of the businesses’ gaming license, which allows them to operate the billiard tables. This year the business did not reapply for a gaming license. The owner of the business had met with the members of the village board, attorneys and “basically we said to them they are a billiard hall that has a liquor license. However they are operating as a club that has billiard tables,” mayor Robert Lofaro said.

If the business is found to be operating billiard tables, it faces escalating fines beginning at $75 per violation and upwards from that point. The board also ordered the removal of the dance floor and DJ booth and at that time the business complied with those directives. The village has also revised parking codes near the billiard hall, limiting the hours that anyone can park on neighboring streets.

For many years, code workers did not work on Saturday nights, which was changed to a rotational basis according to the mayor.

However, complaints have remained since that time and Lofaro admitted that the village code enforcement “has not been as active as we should.”

The building department can technically walk past the premises every day and issue summonses if it sees the tables are being used which Lofaro said would happen immediately. The mayor added that according to the Nassau County Police Department, as of May 21, there were only 14 complaints filed “and they don’t believe that is a large number in the grand scheme of complaints on establishments.”

Several residents disputed that figure and various members of the board questioned the accuracy as well, with Lofaro stating that in one instance a report had not even been filed after an incident, meaning it went unreported.

Resident Sean O’Connor stated that there were “multiple” police responses over the previous several weekends and that he wrote out 10 reports to the state liquor authority.

“It’s crazy and now the propensity for violence is brazen, summer is here, it’s going to escalate, public nuisance is escalating, it’s only a matter of time – I’m sure there are guns in there – before someone fires a shot,” he said.

Another female resident stated that she had complained about the loud music emanating from the business.

“The police department needs to step up, they cannot ignore the problem and that’s what they’ve been doing,” she said.

In the past the village has had incidents at other similar establishments, including the Whistlestop and Copperfield’s, but the process for removing the businesses was a long and arduous one.

“We have to make sure that things are done quite methodically and even handedly,” deputy mayor Lawrence Montreuil said of the due process.

“We can’t just walk in there and shut them down, we have to have legal reasons to do so,” Lofaro said. “We want them to be compliant with our village codes and there is a process that goes on.”

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