LAST CHANCE TO NOMINATE FOR DIME BEST OF BROOKLYN: SEE PAGE 28
May 3–9, 2019 Including Canarsie Digest
‘IT WAS SERVING BERGEN BEACH, CANARSIE, GEORGETOWN, MARINE LIKE PARK & MILL BASIN
A
FIRING SQUAD’
Community Board 18 shoots down small business owner’s expansion plans
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
A disgraced state Senator
threatened a small business
owner following a testy civic
meeting on April 17, during
which she was denied permission
to expand her business
to Flatbush Avenue, she
claims.
“After the meeting, Carl
Kruger told us it was never
going to happen, and not to
waste my time. He was kind
of threatening us,” said Khadidra
Muhammad.
Kruger, who was recently
released from a seven-year
prison sentence for federal
corruption charges and is
not an offi cial member of the
board, made the ominous demand
following a Community
Board 18 meeting, according
to Muhammad.
Muhammad, the head of
Priceless Event Planning, was
seeking permission from the
board to sell liquor at an event
space located at 2047 Flatbush
Ave. that she planned to open
in June.
The board unanimously rejected
the request, after various
civic leaders panned the
proposal as “destructive to the
community.”
“I felt like I was getting attacked,”
said Muhammad. “It
DENIED: Local leaders denied Khadidra Muhammad’s application to sell liquor at an event space she had
planned to open in June. Priceless Event Planning, LLC
was like a fi ring squad. It was
attack, attack, attack.”
Local leaders claimed that
the venue would lead to disorderly
conduct, rampant alcohol
use, and late-night loud
music. Muhammad said her
promises to hire security to
keep patrons restrained and
insulate the walls to limit
noise fell on deaf ears.
“Other businesses also
padded their walls, numerous
times. They’re no longer in
business,” said Marine Park
Civic Association President
Bob Tracey. “We fought them.
We’ve gotten them numerous
tickets. We’ve gotten them
numerous violations.”
Muhammad could appeal
the Board’s decision to the
State Liquor Authority, but
worries about retribution
from community leaders.
“I don’t have the fi nances
to play the long game, if they
were to try and run me out of
the neighborhood. So we’re
trying to fi gure out what to
do,” she said. “All the excuses
they gave were not valid, but
they can make my life a living
hell.”
The board could exploit
various means to disturb
Muhammed’s business if she
were to win her appeal with
the state and set up shop in
the neighborhood, according
to one community leader who
is counseling Muhammed
through the process.
“They could go to the establishment
with a decibal
reader, and report the venue
to the 63rd Precinct if it goes
over the allowed level, which
isn’t really loud at all. They
could raise a big issue about
cars parking on the street.
There’s a whole host of things
they could do to cause problems,”
said Floyd Jarvis.
Jarvis, who heads advocacy
group the Canarsie Neighborhood
Alliance, speculated
whether race played a role in
the board’s decision to deny
the license to Muhammad,
who is African American.
“Everyone else gets a liquor
licence, but only African
Americans have to go through
what you saw at that meeting,”
he said.
Following the Board’s rejection,
Muhammad, who started
the event planning business
two years ago, doubted wether
she had any recourse to
change what she called a “predetermined
decision.”
“I broke down and started
crying,” she said. “I just
wanted to explain who I am,
and what I do, but there was
no voice of reason. Their mind
was made up before I showed
up.”
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