BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
PHOTOSBY KATHY CHANG Tony DiNizo’s Metropolitan Restaurant and Lounge in Colonia was charged with township ordinance and state violations, which included immoral conduct and public disturbance and nuisance, and serving intoxicated persons. The Township Council imposed a $2,000 fine and required the lounge to hire two additional security guards. Clean up your act or risk losing your liquor license. Those were the sentiments Woodbridge Township officials expressed to the proprietor of the Metropolitan Restaurant and Lounge at a special hearing before the township council on Jan. 30.
The Township Council, which serves as the Alcoholic Beverage Control [ABC] governing board, reached a plea agreement with Tony DiNizo and his attorney John Hogan of Wilentz Goldman & Spitzer in Woodbridge, before the Metropolitan’s Jan. 30 liquor license hearing, which stemmed from two incidents that occurred on Oct. 26, 2006. Five township police officers were set to testify before the agreement was made.
Council President Brenda Velasco sternly told DiNizo that he had to be a responsible proprietor and safeguard not only the inside of his establishment, but also outside of it, including the parking lot and the environment surrounding it.
Velasco said if DiNizo continues to be a bad neighbor, the board would not renew his liquor license, which is up for renewal on June 30. DiNizo complied. The Metropolitan is located at the intersection of St. Georges Road and Enfield Road.
The Oct. 26 incidents in question involved an assault on a female patron inside the bar area and a fight outside the establishment, which led to several arrests. DiNizo told the board that the incident, from his understanding, was a domestic issue.
DiNizo’s establishment was charged with township ordinance and state violations, which included immoral conduct and public disturbance and nuisance, and serving intoxicated persons. DiNizo, who did not contest the charges, agreed to the plea agreement, which included $2,000 in fees to pay for the township’s legal fees and to hire two more security guards. DiNizo told the board he currently has four security guards in place.
Township Clerk John Mitch said the additional security guards would deter club patrons from parking on residential streets and upon leaving the Metropolitan, would ensure that they get into their cars and leave the area promptly rather than loiter and create a disturbance to local residents, which Enfield Road residents say is a frequent occurrence.
“One security guard will monitor the Enfield Road entrance to the parking lot on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to closing,” said Mitch. “The other security guard will monitor the St. Georges Avenue side of the parking lot from 11 p.m. to closing.”
The Metropolitan’s hours of operation are from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Thursdays and from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
DiNizo said the additional security guards have been 100 percent effective so far.
“We put them in place since the hearing,” he said. “The patrons have complied and it has seemed to just work.”
Many residents who live on Enfield Road came to the Jan. 16 council meeting and voiced their concerns about the problems that the Metropolitan’s patrons routinely cause for the local residents, which includes excessive noise, violent altercations, public urination and a high volume of litter left behind by the bar patrons.
Bob and Marie Dalesandris, who live farther down on Enfield Road, said that even being a considerable distance from the night club, they still find litter and other refuse on their property. They also said they have had three of their cars damaged because of the club’s patrons parking on their street.
“It’s just gotten worse and worse over the years,” said Marie. “This year [2006] has been the worst so far.”
Alec Moore said in the two-plus years that he has lived on Enfield Road, he has seen things go from bad to worse.
“A typical weekend or Thursday night would involve getting woken up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning by someone blasting his car stereo and hanging out in the streets with his buddies,” he said. “The action taken by the council on Jan. 30th is promising though, and I hope that it will provide some much-needed relief to my neighbors and I, and any other residents in the area who have been adversely affected by the Metropolitan’s patrons. Getting the cars off the street will go a long way towards improving things, but this new parking initiative has to be a long-term and sustained initiative.”
DiNizo, who purchased the Metropolitan in 2003, is in agreement with Girish Mehra, who leases the property of the Auto Spa adjacent to the Metropolitan, to use the approximately 40 parking spaces on the Auto Spa property for his patrons. The Metropolitan has approximately 30 parking spaces.
In late November, the Avenel Fire Department inspected the Metropolitan and changed the maximum number of patrons allowed in the facility from 120 to 88 due to the change in layout inside the establishment.
DiNizo said residents first contacted him in early October about parking issues.
“I have been actively trying my best to limit on-street parking on Enfield Road,” DiNizo said. “Currently, there is no parking restriction on the street, but I do make my customers aware and have seen a dramatic reduction of cars parking on the street.”
DiNizo’s comment brought laughter to the dozen or so residents who came to the hearing.
“I wish I could have been more effective sooner,” he said. “I tried the valet parking when residents first came to me and it was not 100 percent. This solution seems to be working and I hope it works for the local residents.”
DiNizo said he saw the number of patrons rise in August and September 2006 and saw the highest number of patrons in late October. He cited market factors from other surrounding places that were closed for short times within those months, but said those problems are over.
“The parking was worse then and I realized it bothered the neighbors,” said DiNizo. “My business was cut in half when the occupancy was reduced from 120 to 88 in late November. We average 40 to 50 patrons now.”
DiNizo’s lawyer presented to the board video surveillance photographs taken the late nights and early mornings of the Jan. 25 to Jan. 28 weekend. The photographs showed a few cars that were parked on Enfield Road as the morning hours went on.
“We have some busier nights than others,” said DiNizo. “We are working actively as possible to prevent patrons from parking on Enfield Road. We had offered valet parking and I have told patrons to park elsewhere than the street. I also tell my staff to park elsewhere to free up spots in the parking lot. I even have signs up on the wall telling our customers not to park on Enfield Road, but I can’t say that all the patrons go back and move their car when I kindly ask them to. Cars that are already parked on Enfield Road before I get there could easily not be for the restaurant.”
DiNizo said he and his staff go out and walk the parking lot and pick up garbage.
“I see all types of garbage, fast food bags, containers, and packaged aluminum canned good products that I don’t sell, but I do pick it up and throw it away,” he said.
Hogan said his client is very serious in addressing the solution to eliminate the problems and wants to get along with the neighborhood.
“He [DiNizo] knows that parking is a problem,” said Hogan. “And fights are common and do happen, but he is trying and doing the best he can to prevent them from happening.”
Residents said they have been having fewer problems since their problems were made public over the past month and since the hearing.