Petition Calls On City To 'Save' Inwood's Troubled La Marina

INWOOD, NY — Inwood's troubled nightlife spot La Marina may not have much good will with the city, state and a number of area residents, but a contingent of supporters has launched an online petition to save the business and bring it back with a more family-friendly vibe.

A petition titled "Save La Marina in Upper Manhattan" launched this month and has garnered more than 1,500 signatures in the span of two weeks. The petition's organizer, an anonymous entity simply named "Save La Marina," claims that the business brought life to the long-neglected Parks Department site on Dyckman Street.

"It took a massive private investment in our community to transform the blighted park into a place that we can enjoy and that employs many people and businesses in our area. It is a place we are proud of, and every May we look forward to visiting again," the petition reads.

The petition launched with a number of stipulations for La Marina's return, namely that it become a more family-friendly locale with lower prices and food events instead of weekend beach parties. Curiously, the petition also calls for a return of the venue's valet parking rules — which the city specifically prohibits in the Parks Department concession agreement with La Marina and shut down in the summer of 2018.

The petition page makes no mention of the Manhattan River Group, the group that was granted the La Marina concession and has come under fire for turning the site into a party spot, MRG partners Josh Rosen and Jerold Tenenbaum or former MRG partner Fernando Mateo.

In a recent interview with radio station Hot 97 Mateo said he walked away from the business due to efforts by neighborhood gentrifiers to shut La Marina down.

Opponents of La Marina cite MRG for most of the problems at the site, and Community Board 12 passed a resolution in December requesting that the city Parks Department revoke the group's concession for La Marina and grant the concession to a group focused on the public marina rather than the restaurant business. CB 12 also recommended that the State Liquor Authority revoke the business' liquor license.

Creators of the new petition wold rather see the cite turn into a Brother Jimmy's BBQ, which Rosen and Brother Jimmy's owner Jim Goldman pitched to CB 12 in February.

In December, the business was shut down by the New York State Liquor Authority which said it will pursue a permanent revocation of the businesses' liquor license. State officials cited the recent arrest of a bar manager for narcotics trafficking and numerous violations of state liquor laws as the reason for the emergency license suspension.

Christian Mendez, 33, was arrested outside the Dyckman Street business in November and charged with seven counts of the criminal sale of a controlled substance. Mendez is accused of using La Marina as a drug den and sold large quantities of cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana to undercover officers at the business.

La Marina opened in 2012 after its owners struck a deal in 2009 with the city to open the business on land owned by the city Parks Department. Business owners pay the city to operate on what was once public parkland located where Inwood Hill Park meets Fort Tryon Park along the Hudson River.