Greenwood Park Bar Bans Kids Past 4 p.m., Parents Are Livid
- Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News
In the ongoing power struggle between committed drunks, committed parents, and the likely demographic overlap thereof, parents in Greenwood Heights are up in arms over Greenwood Park’s recent decision to ban kids from the premises after 4 p.m.
“Four is too early for sure,” said one local mom of the 13,000-square-foot beer garden. “It pretty much means that they don’t want us here with kids.”
The bar has confirmed that yes, that’s exactly what it means, due to complaints from teachers at the four large schools near the bar, who aren’t exactly thrilled about seeing their young pupils at happy hour. “They are surrounded by children all day,” explained owner Diane Vasilakos. “They don’t want to also see them here.”
Parents, however, accuse these teachers of merely wanting a safe environment to get wasted without parents and kids taking notice, and one mother told the Daily News, “Some of them get very sloppy.”
As neither a teacher, parent, patron of kid-friendly bars, or child who has to kill time in a beer garden while mommy and daddy have fun, I don’t really have a horse in this race. It would be terrible not to be able to get a drink anywhere just because you decided to procreate, but given that kids can’t buy drinks, it doesn’t seem too out of whack for a bar to focus on the needs of its adult patrons instead.
For now, Vasilakos says that the rule could change if it’s not working out, so there’s still hope for the neighborhood’s beer-loving parents. Maybe they can settle this beef with the teachers over a cold drink?
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.
