No Bottle Service for the Barclays Center

Serious nightclubbers recently endured a major blow to their future party plans when it was announced that bottle service will not be allowed at the borough's most controversial giant wicker basket building, the Barclays Center. This is bad news for anyone who aspires to live like P. Diddy or needs an entire bottle of Grey Goose during a basketball game, but somewhat positive news for concerned citizens of Park Slope.

There’s already been a ton of contention about the liquor license at Barclays Center. “DRUNKEN SPORTS FANS ARE GOING TO BE PISSING AND VOMITING ALL OVER OUR STREETS!” Slope residents cried in our comments section. “IT’S SUCH AN EYESORE!” screamed others. “Eh, at least we didn’t end up with that Frank Gehry monstrosity,” shrugged a third group, who feel at peace with their early realization that resistance was futile. As we’ve learned over the past few years, there is no decision for the Atlantic Yards site that wouldn’t be met with outrage from one group or another.

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So this Barclays Center Thing Is Really Happening, Eh?

Did we really have to re-name the Atlantic/Pacific stop though? Does the Barclays Center have to swallow EVERYTHING in its path? Even the station's Wikipedia page has been updated to reflect the change. 

[Photo via D.J. Paris]

Barclays Center Receives Liquor License, Makes local residents hate them even more

Sometimes I sit at home and wonder to myself, Are Park Slopers still angry about the Barclays Center? After Barbra Streisand recently announced her plans to have a concert there, I figured we'd all moved past our qualms to just simply bask in the joy -- the pride of Brooklyn is coming home! (not a Babs fan? Shame on you.) Turns out we're not so joyful. 

Initially The Barclays Center applied for a standard New York liquor license, which would allow them to serve alcohol until 4 AM, effectively transforming the 18,000-seat arena into an 18,000-seat bar. “I don’t think you need to sell alcohol until 4 a.m. in order to make money,” an angry neighbor recently told the Prospect Heights Patch. “If that was the case, then Yankees Stadium would be out of business." In the same article, the Patch reported that the arena was eventually approved for a 2AM last call. Furthermore, Barclays Center is required to end all alcohol sales after the third quarter of NBA games (as per league regulations) and must cease selling booze one hour before the end of any other event.

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Barclays Center Tries to Redeem Awful Self By Hiring Brooklynite as New Spokesman

The Barclays Center has chosen its new spokesperson!

According to the Brooklyn Paper, a man by the name of David Diamante got the gig. He’s a Brooklynite, owns a cigar bar in Fort Greene, and seems like an all around cool guy who not only has a strong voice that's perfect for spokesperson-ing, but is also quite the philanthropist. And would you just look at that picture? It’s almost as if he’s laughing into the microphone. Makes me want to giggle with joy.

Now that the facts are out of the way and you know who will be introducing The Nets, Jay-Z and Andrea Boccelli, I’ve included below the exact process of how the Barclays Center peeps chose Diamante, based on nothing but what my mind fabricated once I heard the news.

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Barclays Center Bullshit: Traffic & Hockey

via Brownstoner

And so it begins, FIP'sters: The Barclays Center doomsday traffic that I'm pretty sure Nostradamus predicted in 1555 has started. At what is already one of the largest traffic shit storms in Brownstone Brooklyn, cars going north on 4th Ave will no long be able to turn left onto Flatbush. Some idiot thought this was actually going to improve traffic flow, but a number of irate drivers have reported that commuting time has almost doubled due to the new traffic pattern. Traffic on Pacific Street between 4th Avenue and Flatbush also went from one-way westbound to one-way eastbound. 

The venerable NY1 had a choice quote from one Flatbush Resident:

I would say the whole situation we have going on with the new sports stadium and the re-routing of the traffic and everything is a whole mess. It's terrible. I'm a native of Flatbush, Brooklyn, and I hate it. I hate the whole Atlantic Yards project, it’s just a travesty.

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