ABC board rejects liquor license for South Paterson restaurant

PATERSON — The Golden Rock Lounge, the new business looking to open at 210 East Railway Avenue, suffered a double-barrel setback last week.

The City Council on Tuesday night denied its applications for licenses to permit music and dancing. Then, Paterson’s Alcoholic Beverage Control board on Wednesday night rejected its application for a liquor license.

Golden Rock owner Amir Mansour said he believes he is being unfairly penalized for the bad behavior of previous businesses at the location. He has vowed to appeal the ABC decision.

“My client has no connection to the previous tenant or owner at that location,” Mansour’s lawyer, Sunny Desai, told the ABC board.

The Golden Rock license applications triggered a wave of opposition from South Paterson residents, business leaders and that area’s representative on the City Council, mainly because of problems that occurred when the Besan Café operated at the same building.

Ehab Abdelaziz, brother of Councilman Al Abdelaziz, remembers the exact day that Besan opened in South Paterson. He said it was the beginning of a decade-long nightmare with street fights, speeding cars, broken bottles and people urinating on the sidewalk.

A 2018 shooting at Besan had exposed its illegal after-hours operation. After five police raids in a two-year span, Besan was finally shut down about a year ago.

Then word spread that Mansour was looking to reopen a business at the site and was seeking a liquor license — something Besan had not had.

The community wasted no time springing into action, determined not to let history repeat itself.

“It’s not going to happen this time,” said Abdelaziz, who lives near the building.

Ely Wahed, a friend of Mansour, who was at the ABC board meeting, told Paterson Press that community members used underhanded tactics to rile up a mob by posting flyers accusing Mansour of opening a gentlemen’s club.

But Christopher Salloum, the lawyer for the South Paterson Business Association, said the ABC decision will make the neighborhood safer.

“We believe it is in the interest of the public health to deny this application,” Salloum said. “You can’t just sell a liquor license to someone else — the Supreme Court made clear that the board under the law has broad discretion to deny an application as long as it’s not for an illegal reason.”

Earlier: Paterson residents oppose liquor license for site that was raided 5 times by police

With two charter schools nearby, the former site belonging to Besan is located in a neighborhood where many young people frequent, said local pharmacist Amjad Abukwaik , who has five children.

“Paterson has come a long way,” said Abukwaik, who closed his Main Street shop early so that he could attend the hearing. “Applying for liquor is going against everything our community stands for.”

Caught in the middle of the ccontroversy is Belkis Rodriguez. She purchased a Paterson liquor license in 2017, but never used it to operate a business, said her lawyer, Richard Turano.

Instead, Rodriguez has tried to sell the license, with Turano describing those attempts as a “tortuous journey.” Rodriguez had been planning to sell the license to Mansour, a transaction that needs the ABC’s approval.

“I don’t know what establishment was there before — I understand there was an incident,” said Turano. “But I understand that’s not these people.”

Desai said that despite the community member’s accusations, his client, Mansour, intended only to open a restaurant, not a nightclub.

On Tuesday night, the City Council denied Mansour’s application for music and dance licenses. ABC Commissioner Frank Campusano on Wednesday asked the applicant why he needed those licenses if he didn’t intend to open a nightclub. Mansour’s lawyer argued that his client only planned to host private parties there.

But Salloum, the South Paterson business leader, said he is skeptical of that claim. He said part of the basis for his suspicions is that Mansour refused to disclose to the ABC board his businesses’ projected hours of operation.

“I think that is telling,” Salloum said.

Darren Tobia is a contributing writer for Paterson Press.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ restaurant Golden Rock Lounge loses liquor license effort