How to save the New York City Economy: More Cocktails!

Steve Lewis over at Black Book writes a delightful little piece on the bizarre and bureaucratic community boards blocking clubs from being opened.

Right now a virtual moratorium on new liquor licenses and constant attacks on the club industry are severely hurting the New York economy.
Harbour Drive, with over a million dollars already invested, is being offered a 1 a.m. license by its community board. They won’t make money with a 1 a.m. license.

I agree with Lewis on this one and have thought this for a while, though I never realized how convoluted the situation was. Bars and Clubs have been under such intense scrutiny, by locals, competitors, and police; I've been to a club that was shut down for a wise crack a bartender told a fire marshal.
Bloomberg is behind most of these crackdowns, he seems to dislike the bar scene, he was behind the virtual moratorium of liquor licenses below 96th St, increased fines and enforcement for underage drinking as well as noise complaints. Lewis is right about transferring power to the SLA to simplify the process but the city, starting with Bloomberg, has to understand that a balance must be struck between the authorities and the owners of these establishments that will be the lifeblood of the NYC economy for the near future.