BrooklynSpeaks launches petition to request that alcohol sales at Barclays Center end no later than 10 pm, 45 minutes before event end, or at halftime

When local community boards expressed qualified support for the Barclays Center liquor license, they requested a community liaison from the arena as well as the expected issuance of transportation and security plans, but they did not accede to community requests for a time to cut off alcohol sales, other than at NBA basketball games, where the league standard is the end of the third quarter.

The typical time is an hour before a concert ends, AEG's David Anderson said, in a statement that unnerved a few people, who noted that some concerts could go very late.

The votes from the community boards are advisory; the decision is up to the State Liquor Authority.

The Wrigley example

In Should arena crowds really be able to drink all night?, BrooklynSpeaks makes the case for an earlier cut-off, citing the example of a sports facility even more enveloped by a residential neighborhood--but whose community setting is likely closer to that of the Barclays Center any other NBA arena:.

In Chicago, Wrigley Field is allowed to host only 30 evening events a year. Liquor sales must end no later than 9:30PM. And any changes to that policy have to be approved by the Chicago City Council.
You’d think that the people of Brooklyn deserve no less respect.
Not according to Barclays Center, which has applied for a license that would allow it to keep serving alcohol up to the 4AM State limit in an 18,000-seat arena. Sure, the NBA has a policy that requires liquor sales to end after the third quarter. But basketball only accounts for 40 of the expected 220 events to be held at the arena each year. And Barclays’ application isn’t even limited to serving drinks at arena events. (Arena plans include four club/lounge areas.)
We all know that the history of Atlantic Yards has been one blanket approval by government after another, with little oversight afterward. But isn’t this getting ridiculous?

The request, and a petition

The article closes:

Click here to tell the New York State Liquor Authority and Governor Cuomo that Barlcays’ liquor license must be appropriate for the residential neighborhoods in which it is situated, and through which patrons will travel on their way home. Require drink sales to end after half time at a NBA game, 45 minutes before the end of an event, or 10PM, whichever comes first. And only permit alcohol to be sold during ticketed arena events.

This, of course, is about money--alcohol sales are lucrative. I doubt that they'll budge on the gap between half time and the third quarter (though a solomonic leader might split the difference), but the argument for a hard cutoff in terms of time--with perhaps some flex for a weekend--deserves response.

Why should a full arena be full of people drinking until midnight, then discharging (a good number of) them on residential streets?