There goes the neighborhood.
Two debates at the Village of Great Neck Village Hall turned into name calling, a shouting match, spilled into the parking lot and almost turned into fisticuffs. The police arrived just in time.
The first and more raucous debate centered on granting an extension to a building permit.
The second was over issuing a permit to build a hookah lounge on Middle Neck Road.
We don’t know if a hookah lounge is a good idea or not. But we don’t know who it would hurt.
We never heard of a hookah lounge getting rowdy or noisy like, say, a meeting at Village Hall. But we are also surprised that there’s enough interest in hookahs to pay the rent.
The permit was issued but Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said he is sensitive to residents’ concerns and that the board would be responsive to complaints.
Since the hookahs don’t use tobacco, there wasn’t much the board could do.
“It is a permitted use. We imposed what we believed were reasonable conditions,” said Kreitzman.
Now if he could only issue reasonable conditions for the village meetings.
