Phat chance

Bar owner, neighborhood at odds

      Residents of Wallace Avenue and neighboring streets in Baldwin say they have a problem with Phat Daddies, a bar at 1621 Grand Ave., and just around the corner from their homes. The club opened its doors around New Year's of 2000 and, residents say, their quiet neighborhood has not been the same since.
      Picture a car pulling up next to yours with its suped-up stereo going full-blast. "That's what my bedroom sounds like," said Jean Scharf, who has lived with her husband, Chris, and their two daughters on Wallace Avenue for 17 years. "The neighborhood is fed up. It's hard when you get up in the morning and you have to go to school or work and you've only had two hours' sleep because of the noise."
      Though the biggest complaint about Phat Daddies is the club's loud music, locals also say that the bar's patrons park illegally on their streets, have sex and drink alcohol in cars before entering the club, litter and break bottles on sidewalks and driveways, and even urinate in bushes.
      Carole Roble owns a commercial building on the corner of Wallace and Grand. She said that on many mornings she finds broken bottles, condom wrappers, urine, and even underwear in her parking lot. "I have to sweep the glass out of my parking lot before I can pull my car in," Roble said.
      More than 50 neighborhood residents have signed a petition complaining about the noise from the bar and the conduct of its patrons.
      Several residents also attended a Town of Hempstead Zoning Board hearing on May 16 to try to block Phat Daddies' request for a variance to operate as a cabaret, a license that would allow the club to have live music and dancing. The club currently has both as it awaits a decision on the appeal. The bar is also requesting a variance for additional, off-street parking.
      The zoning hearing was adjourned until June 20, and the future of Phat Daddies may hang in the balance.
      Phat Daddies' owner, Kevin Hodges of Hempstead, said he is being unfairly and systematically driven out of business by people who simply don't want any type of bar in their neighborhood. Hodges says he operates a respectable establishment, one that caters to a reputable, working-class clientele.
      "We are trying to operate a decent business here and they are trying to put us out," Hodges said.
      Hodges also characterized many of the allegations against his bar as "flat-out, blatant lies."
      In the past, residents have accused Phat Daddies of remaining open after legal operating hours and turning the music back up after police ask that it be turned down. The charges are both untrue and damaging, Hodges said. "It does not cost them anything to levy charges," he said. "But it costs us everything."
      Residents say the building occupied by Phat Daddies has served as a neighborhood bar in the past with little or no opposition. "They didn't disturb the whole, entire neighborhood," said Chris Scharf.
      What offends them the most, say neighbors, is the early-morning noise, coming from within the club and from club patrons returning to their cars after a night of partying.
      Serge Denizard, whose home on Alpine Avenue is farther from Phat Daddies than the Scharf's, said he too is often kept awake at night by the noise from the bar. When the loud, base-heavy dance music really gets going, "I can feel the walls shaking in my basement," Denizard said.
      Another Wallace Avenue resident, Pete O'Neill, who has lived on the block for 37 years, said the noise problem gets worse on hot, summer nights, when the residents open their windows and Phat Daddies opens its back door for air.
      The neighborhood really comes alive around 3 or 4 in the morning, O'Neill said, when patrons leave the bar and walk to their cars, many of which are allegedly parked illegally on Wallace Avenue. "They're talking loud and talking back and forth and making plans for the next day," O'Neill said. "It's very aggravating."
      Teresa Betancourt, who lives with her husband and 12-year old daughter on Wallace Avenue, is also incensed by the noise. "They are very loud when they come to their cars. They honk their horns and speed down the block. You can't sleep. We've never had this problem before," she said.
      The "No Parking" signs on Wallace Avenue have done little to deter the illegal parking, O'Neill said. "I have seen no significant enforcement."
      Hodges said that he has gone to great trouble and expense to install extensive soundproofing in his bar and to bring the entire building up to code.
      But, despite Hodges' efforts, residents say the soundproofing hasn't worked and that they have had to call the police frequently to complain about the noise.
      First Precinct Deputy Insp. Richard Kennedy said the bar has been issued three appearance tickets for a "disorderly premises" in the last six months because of noise violations.
      Kennedy said cars are ticketed for illegal parking on Wallace Avenue and that the precinct has responded to all complaints against the club. "We are fully aware of the problem," he said.
       Hodges said the frequent visits from the police have hurt his business and that constant calls to police from neighbors have amounted to harassment.
      "It has destroyed the environment of my establishment to have police cars in front of my place every night," Hodges said.
      Hodges also feels it is unfair to hold him accountable for the actions of some of his customers. Hodges said he does not encourage patrons to drink in their cars before entering his club, because it hurts his business. He also said he and his staff remind patrons to be courteous to the neighborhood when they leave the establishment.
      "We ask them to leave expeditiously," Hodges said.
      Hodges' attorney, William Cohn, said at the zoning hearing that he wanted to set up a meeting between the area's residents and his client, to try to work out their differences. Both sides admit that they have never met, but neither was optimistic that such a meeting would be productive.
      "They have not proven up to this point that they are willing to be good neighbors. They are not trying," said Jean Scharf.
      "There is so much animosity and they are so dead set against me, I may just get lip service," Hodges said.
      When he signed the lease on the bar in 1998, Hodges said he had hoped to be embraced by the local community. "Our objective was to come in here and be a nice neighborhood establishment," he said.
      But residents say that Phat Daddies and its patrons have been trouble from the beginning and that it is not a neighborhood bar. They have collected stacks of postcards found in their streets that advertise upcoming bar events, like last Saturday night's "Party to the Break-a-Dawn."
      The post cards give directions to the club from the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.
      "That's a concern. Most of their patrons aren't from around here and they don't care about our community," Jean Scharf said. "A dance club just doesn't belong in this neighborhood."