The city’s plans to crack down on Sheepshead bays “booze cruises” appear to be adrift.
In the weeks after a town hall with Mayor DeBlasio when he vowed to fix the nautical nuisances, nobody seems to agree what — if any — solution is actually being considered.
Shortly after the Sept. 14 town hall, Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz (D–Sheepshead Bay) wrote on Facebook that Mayor DeBlasio had promised that “Sheepshead Bay’s booze boats will be subject to an 11 p.m. curfew starting next spring.”
The news quickly spread and elated locals who have complained for years about the vessel’s often rowdy passengers leaving trash behind and making the already congested area even worse. But it turns out that the supposed 11 pm curfew — an hour earlier than the rarely followed midnight one — is not a done deal, said a spokeswoman for the Parks Department.
“The rules have not changed for this season. We will review the curfew time as part of the relocation plan for next year,” said Meghan Lalor.
But Cymbrowitz — who has made two stalled state-legislative attempts to ban the notoriously noxious party boats from the Parks Department-owned piers at Emmons Avenue altogether — said the 11 pm curfew was floated as a compromise during private conversations with both the Mayor’s Office and the Parks Department just before Labor Day weekend.
“I’ve been working all year with the Mayor’s Office and Parks to find a resolution to the party boat issue, and the 11 pm curfew was one of the options that they offered,” he said. “More to the point, while I believe it’s a good first step, I do not think the curfew will solve the quality-of-life problems, since passengers can just as easily come off the boats intoxicated from the earlier run as well. That’s why I introduced his legislation to ban the party boats entirely.”
And and it’s not just Cymbrowitz and the Mayor’s Office who seem to be at odds of the way forward. Immediately following last month’s town hall at the Connie Lekas School on Avenue Y, several of the attendees left confused about the proposed fix. One member of the local civic was glad Hizzoner announced he’d be shipping out the party boats to a new home, but the chairwoman of Community Board 15 said the 11 pm curfew would certainly help solve some of the quality of life problems in the neighborhood.
“No, he said move them when they find a new location and curb the time to 11 pm,” said Theresa Scavo. “It’s going to make a huge difference for the community,”
The mayor’s office declined to comment.
