Empire Billiards’ License Not Among Renewals

Tuesday night at the , the New Hyde Park Village Board renewed 26 landscaper licenses, three restaurant licenses, one for dance, one used car owner license, four carter licenses and five tow car owner licenses, but kept a renewal request for open as a tabled item for the second year in a row.

“They are in compliance at this point and we do still have existing complaints on the operation, but there is opportunity to discuss,” superintendent of public works Tom Gannon said. “I don’t have any outstanding issues with them at this time. There is the ongoing parking complaints and stuff like that… As far as I’m concerned they are compliant to what we requested.”

The business has been the subject of numerous complaints from residents of illegal parking, noise, loitering at night.

One New Hyde Park resident in particular who stated he lives around the corner from the billiard hall was very unhappy with the situation, saying that he is “constantly calling the cops. I don’t see the law enforcement guy until 2 or 2:30 in the morning, if he could get there at midnight and deter some of these cars, maybe if the cars got tickets they would not park there.”

Although “No Parking” signs have been on the street for about 3 years, the resident said there has been no improvement.

“Nobody gets the message,” the resident said, “and nothing is being done about it.”

Gannon stated that an auxiliary police officer is on duty in that area every Friday and Saturday night from midnight forward.

“To say nothing has been done is a fraudulent statement,” Mayor Daniel Petruccio said in response. “We changed the entire parking schematic for a six block radius in every direction and kept it… and a law enforcement officer every Saturday night is something we never had in the past — specifically to address that area — is an action.”

The resident said he would like the gaming center’s liquor license to be revoked, ultimately shuttering the business because it is “a detriment to the community,” and ticket cars.

“Revoking a license is a very, very difficult thing,” the mayor said. “It’s almost nearly impossible.”

Trustee Lofaro added: “The billiard owner has legal rights as well and we have to be very careful that we don’t step over our boundaries… that’s just the laws of the land.”