YOu have a good point -- except for the fact that you can turn around in LITM's!

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LITM has only one bathroom available to the public as far as I know, so maybe that is not true.

I was told by a JC restaurant owner that you need two bathrooms at a minimum to get a liquor license and MC has only one -- and no room for another. (I haven't found that provision in any state codes -- but I haven't looked that hard either.)

But it will still take 2 years to open a business .. and how many palms exactly have to be greased?

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Of course it does, it allows them to get a liquor license more easily if they want to.

Great.

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I love MC's! That being said hopefully it'll be more on JC business maps or whatever but I agree that not really sure what benefit it has. I also wonder if this has anything to do with Healy's son's new bar 1/2 block down. Of course I'm always looking for ways to make Healy look bad.

This press release is "air on paper". Does the designation provide any actual benefit to Madame Claude?

Mayor Healy Announces Expansion of Restaurant Row on Thursday, 9/22

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and City Planning officials will announce the expansion of the city?s Restaurant Row during an 11 a.m. press conference on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at Madame Claude Caf?, 364 ? Fourth Street.

In August, Mayor Healy and the City Planning Division presented the ordinance expanding Restaurant Row, which was adopted unanimously by the City Council on Aug. 31, 2011. The French restaurant, in business for nearly nine years and previously not part of restaurant row, now falls within the re-zoned district.

?The expansion of Restaurant Row on Newark Avenue ? and south on Jersey Avenue and Grove Street ? is one of several initiatives by my administration to make Jersey City more business friendly,? said Mayor Healy. ?Not only will this improve the quality of life for our residents, but it will also be an additional marketing tool for Jersey City as a destination for commercial and residential development.?

This summer, the administration also introduced amendments to the Sidewalk Caf? Ordinance which was approved by the City Council.

http://jerseycitynj.gov/uploadedFiles ... of%20Restaurant%20Row.pdf

Satis is a good restaurant and all, but do not underestimate the appeal of a BYOB. IF it wasn't for the massive amount of wine our group brought in the other day, someone would have noticed that the burnt octopus with funky sauce, and everything else there should they get a liquor license, is a bit overpriced.

This stupid, anti-business law makes it very difficult if not impossible for a restaurant to succeed.

Look at Satis in Paulus Hook. That place is a huge asset to the neighborhood and Downtown Jersey City; IMO, the best place around. But because of this law, they can't get a liquor license (neighboring Johns Pizza already has one).

Makes me worry about their ability to survive longer term.

There must be something in the water that makes Jersey folk slow. With the all the noise about jobs, needing restaurants, and wanting people to eat/play in Jersey City, this was a no-brainer and should have been done 20 years ago.

So does anyone know what the deal is for a liquor license in JC? If I read this right, you can now open a restaurant next to an existing restaurant with a liquor license.

But how do you get a license? Do you have to buy it from someone that has one or are they issuing new ones? Is there one for just beer and wine?

what a stupid, antiquated rule. not surprising, given where we are... not surprising at all. one more thing that we hope will one day get fixed and never will.

Jersey City moves to expand boundaries of Restaurant Row

Published: Thursday, August 11, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

The Jersey City City Council last night introduced a measure to expand the boundaries of the so-called Restaurant Row along Newark Avenue.

The move is one of a series of proposals intended to make Jersey City ?more business friendly,? said Mayor Jerramiah Healy, whose administration pushed for the change.

?Not only will this improve the quality of life for our residents, but it will also be an additional marketing tool for Jersey City as a destination for commercial and residential development,? Healy said in a statement.

Joseph Castro, co-owner of Bar Majestic, a tapas eatery on Grove Street in Jersey City, says the proposed change to expand the boundaries of Restaurant Row is a good idea.

Restaurants in the Newark Avenue Restaurant Row, which now encompass a triangle-shaped area along Newark Avenue from Grove Street to Jersey Avenue, are exempt from state liquor laws that prohibit one licensed establishment from being within 520 feet of another.

?You can?t have a Restaurant Row if every restaurant has to be 520 feet away from the next one,? a city official said.

The new boundaries, if adopted after an upcoming public hearing, would include some restaurants along Grove Street near City Hall, those on Grand Street between Grove and Barrow streets and those along Newark Avenue south to Division Street.

The proposed change is long overdue, said Joseph Castro, co-owner of Bar Majestic, a tapas eatery on Grove Street across the street from City Hall.

Expanding the boundaries will hopefully spur business owners to open restaurants in the area and make it a true Restaurant Row, Castro said at last night?s council meeting.

?We need another dozen restaurants before it?s visible to anyone walking past,? Castro, 37, said.

The measure is supported both by Healy and his political foe Downtown Councilman Steven Fulop.

?Encouraging people to spend their dollars in Jersey City is a positive. I think this will be a seamless natural progression benefiting both the ward and city,? Fulop said last night.