#State yanks liquor licenses from NYC bars over social distance violations

The state has indefinitely suspended the liquor licenses of three restaurants and bars in Queens — including a problem lounge that has recently drawn crowds of partiers — for violating coronavirus social distancing rules, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

“The state is taking action,” Cuomo told reporters about the State Liquor Authority crackdown during a conference call, adding, “I’m sorry it’s come to this, but it’s a dangerous situation and I’ve said it many, many times.”

Brik Astoria and M.I.A (Made In Astoria) as well as Maspeth Pizzeria, all in Queens, had their liquor licenses yanked for not following COVID-19 safety protocols.

According to the governor’s office, Brik Astoria — which was hit over the weekend with an order by the city Sheriff’s Office that shut down its outdoor dining program for a week for flouting social distancing rules — is one of the “worst offenders” on a stretch of Steinway Street where droves of revelers have gathered late at night to drink and party.

The bar had been warned and slapped with SLA violations for allowing crowds to congregate and drink outside on multiple occasions in June — and were again spotted in violation of Cuomo’s orders this past weekend.

M.I.A on 21st Street in Astoria was found to be serving alcohol to dozens of patrons who were standing and drinking — and not dining — past the city’s 11 p.m. curfew for outdoor dining, according to Cuomo’s office, which said the establishment had been cited and warned for earlier violations.

Maspeth Pizza House on 60th Street had also been cited and warned on several occasions for serving alcohol to standing patrons outside its location, the governor’s office said.

SLA investigators on July 10 and on Sunday observed the pizza place continuing to serve after the 11 p.m. curfew and spotted numerous customers “standing, dancing and drinking alcoholic beverages in violation of social distancing rules,” Cuomo’s office said.

Investigators also witnessed servers with no face coverings and patrons smoking hookahs in violation of the pizzeria’s license.

Additionally, the SLA suspended the liquor license at the Secrets Gentleman Club in Deer Park, Long Island, where undercover investigators with the agency and the Suffolk County Police Department discovered employees and patrons inside the premises without face masks, including strippers performing and sharing the same stage pole, as well as giving unlawful lap dances, Cuomo’s office said.

When the owner of the topless club was confronted about the dancing, he claimed it must have started without his knowledge, yet he had already been caught on video buying drinks for undercover agents and “bragging about getting away with violating” Cuomo’s executive orders, according to the governor’s office.

During the Tuesday conference call, Cuomo said the SLA has suspended 27 licenses statewide since March 20 for violating coronavirus safety rules and the agency “brought 410 charges against establishments.”

“Local governments have not been doing the enforcement,” Cuomo railed. “The state is not the primary enforcer of these laws — the local governments are … and I have been asking them for weeks to step up and do their job.”

Cuomo has vowed to crack down on eateries and bars flouting social distancing rules — and last week even issued a “three strikes and you’re closed” mandate for Big Apple establishments and a statewide rule requiring that food be served with alcohol.

“I think there’s a basic disconnect — we never authorized bars to reopen,” Cuomo said Tuesday as he explained, “Bars are congregations of people milling about and that is exactly what we’re trying to avoid, so we never authorized bar operations.”

Bars serving food have been permitted to reopen under state orders.

“We said we facilitated outdoor dining to help restaurants,” said Cuomo, noting, “Outdoor dining is not to operate a bar.”

“You don’t dine when you go to a restaurant to drink,” he said. “That is drinking and that would’ve been outdoor drinking.”