CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Town of Cheektowaga ordered the Luna Lounge to cease operations immediately. Neighbors point to major safety concerns, yet the owners plan to appeal the permit problems addressed by the town.
Just under two years in operation, the bar/event venue on Dingens Street has had three shootings and 114 calls for police, most of which are for "loud music" and "fights/disturbances", according to the town.
The business is next door to a Best Western and across the street from the Stanley G. Falk School and a neighborhood.
“It’s a complete nuisance, it wakes us up in the middle of the night,” neighbor Jessica Rost said. “There have been shell casings found by the police over here.”
“Honestly, there’s nights I worry a bullet would come through my house,” neighbor Deborah Nadolski said. “There’s a school down there, We shouldn’t have to live in fear.”
Town supervisor Brian Nowak told me the town had to step in.
“[The cease-and-desist letter is] just a culmination of things that have happened over the past couple years,” Nowak said.
However, when I reached out to the Luna Lounge, the owners’ attorney, Jacob Piorkowski, showed me that public safety had nothing to do with the business losing its Public Assembly Operating Permit.
The two reasons listed on the cease-and-desist letter are violations for not having a dance hall permit (Chapter 91) and an issue with the building permit (Chapter 70-11 E(1)), despite the Lounge owners leasing the building.
“My clients were unaware they needed a separate permit for dancing for patrons and guests,” Piorkowski said. “[And] we don’t own the building, so I’m not sure how that [building permit] applies.”
Nowak told me the building owner, 601 NY LLC, is about $160,000 behind on its most recent county and town property taxes.
“My clients don’t own the building, so my understanding is that they wouldn’t be responsible for the property taxes,” Piorkowski said.
Piorkowski told me the owners are actively working with the town to rectify the issues listed on the notice. Once completed, they plan to reopen the business as soon as possible.
“My clients have been made aware of issues in the past, and they’ve taken significant steps to reduce issues regarding crowds and issues with people leaving,” Piorkowski said. “We want to be a good neighbor. We’re not, in any sense, trying to disregard the safety, comfort and the peace of the neighborhood.”
“Think this is a [temporary closure],” Piorkowski said. “I don’t want to give anybody false hope. If I felt this was a certainty, that it’ll be closed down for good, I’ll tell people, but I don’t think that’s the case right now.”
