Police raid bar, seize fake IDs

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Police have seized at least 70 fake IDs from a popular student bar, Riverdale City Grill, as part of a special operation to cut down on underage drinking, officers said. 

Police said the bar’s management supported the raid earlier this fall. The owner of Riverdale City Grill, Jamie Albert, declined to confirm or deny the account. 

The bar had faced losing its liquor license when it came up for renewal this year, amid scores of noise complaints from neighbors. Ms. Albert promised Community Board 8 and police in August to help reduce the noise apparently created by the bar’s young patrons. 

Community Board 8 voted to approve what board members said was Ms. Albert’s proposal to raise the bar’s minimum drinking age to 23. Ms. Albert also agreed to begin closing the bar two hours earlier, at 2 a.m. instead of the previous 4 a.m., and to keep patrons’ out-of-state IDs – which are more likely to be fake than New York ones in this city – in a separate binder. 

Riverdale City Grill appears to have followed through on at least some of the promises its owner made. During a recent visit by Press journalists, the bar closed at 2 a.m. But when asked about the measures, Ms. Albert denied having made any promises. 

“I never said that, and I checked, it’s not in the minutes of the Community Board meeting either,” she said in a phone interview on Nov. 29.

According to police, the owners of Riverdale City Grill have worked with officers to address complaints from the community, to crack down on noise and to prevent students from sneaking into the bar with fake IDs.

The Oct. 14 operation to seize fake IDs was one of a number of police raids on the bar over the past year. Various students at Manhattan College have noted that the incident has deterred them from returning to the bar. 

Summonses have been issued to the underage patrons trying to sneak into the bar, though there has been no word from police about whether or not this operation has had any long lasting effects on the overall noise and partying going on around Manhattan College on the weekends. 

“It all spawned from the numerous noise complaints we were getting the last few nights,” Police Officer Juan Ventura of the Community Affairs office at the precinct said. “Summonses given [were] out for patrons who committed the violations.” 

Community Board 8 chairman Daniel Pardernacht confirmed to The Press this week what he had told a meeting of his board earlier—that Ms. Albert had agreed to raise minimum the drinking age to 23. 

This and other measures received support from Community Board 8 and police Lt. John Foder, who is in charge of policing bars and restaurants within the 50th precinct. At the Aug. 25 meeting, Ms. Albert told the board she would go along. 

“Absolutely, 100 percent I want to be in compliance with the police department,” she told the community board. She then pledged specifically to close the bar at 2 a.m. 

The bar’s liquor license was renewed in the fall, according to local officials. 

Riverdale City Grill, NYPD, 50th Precinct, Anthony Capote