Brooklyn Boyz owner wants customers allowed on Midland Street decks until 1:30 a.m.

BAY CITY, MI A Midland Street business owner is grateful for his sidewalk deck, but said the rules that govern it are costing him money.

Kevin Novellino owner of Brooklyn Boyz Pizzeria and Italian Restaurant, a sitdown restaurant at 507 E. Midland St., and Brooklyn Boyz at 612 E. Midland St., which sells pizza by the slice and deli items went before the Bay City Commission tonight to ask members to consider lengthening the hours the decks can be used.

"For some of us it's become a financial hardship, closing it so soon at 12. What I'd like to ask is extending it an hour and a half, to 1:30," he said.

In 2008, the city approved use of structures that can extend up to 10 feet into the roadway. Sales or service must stop by 11:30 p.m. and all areas must be vacated by midnight.

Most of Novellino's business is on Friday and Saturday nights between 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m., he said. Allowing customers on the decks until 1:30 a.m. still would give owners enough time to clear their entire facilities by the state-mandated 2 a.m.

A former city commissioner, he helped bring the decks into being, but said the rules need tweaking. At his smaller business, which does not serve alcohol, the pizza ovens can keep the indoor temperatures in the 90s, but at midnight the customers no longer can use the decks to eat their slices.

Novellino also had not foreseen the ban of smoking inside bars. "After midnight it forces all of the smokers outside on the sidewalks; they're not allowed on the decks."

Not only would a change benefit his customers, he said, it would make it easier for police to pick out people who are just hanging out on the sidewalk, not doing business anywhere and potentially causing trouble. "They'll stand out more to the police that they're underage, they're just loiterers."

Novellino said the lucrative Fourth of July weekend will pass with the midnight curfew, but perhaps commissioners can enact something later this month. "It'll give us the second half of the season to show as business owners that we are mature and can manage our decks."

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Brooklyn Boyz owner wants customers allowed on Midland Street decks until 1:30 a.m.