Business owners on Frenchmen Street are up in arms about the granting of a special events permit that apparently allows sales of liquor and food and also allows live music in a vacant lot located next to the Blue Nile at 532 Frenchmen St. The lot is owned by the Laborde family, whose printing business at 512-14 Frenchmen St., adjacent to the property.

Frenchmen Street bar owners and restaurants are protesting against the arrangement, and apparently just discovered the permit had been let on Thursday night.

Jesse Paige of the Blue Nile said in an email that was sent to OffBeat as well as other businesses on Frenchmen: “My issue is that a “special events for-profit permit” was handed by the city to this ‘pirate bar’ in a parking lot next to our permanent business, which is also my residence. I sincerely believe this will affect our businesses negatively. I believe it will affect the food sales of 13, Yuki and Three Muses and the alcohol sales of the previous mentioned as well as Maison and Blue Nile. We produce all year, sweating through the slower times and saving up what we can when times are better. All the way we are constantly maintaining these buildings, insuring these buildings, paying property taxes on these buildings, providing security for our patrons and the immediate area, while providing great revenue for the city and state through our revenue taxes. These times, special events and holidays, are the times we depend on; they are our ‘bread and butter’ holidays to get us through the rest of the year until Mardi Gras.

“Explain to me: how is it fair is it for someone to rent out a parking lot, set up a bar to sell alcohol, have food for sale and have live music outside? The Resident’s [sic] Asscociation [Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association] is quick to micromanage our sound and businesses but then this kind of piracy is granted? I’m not understanding something here.  Doesn’t this have to go through the office of our councilperson, Kristen Palmer? And shouldn’t the businesses have had some sort of consideration in this? I am witnessing no protection for our businesses who are supporting our city fairly. I am asking to anyone who may be able to help what do we need to do to protect our businesses from having this happen.  And of course I am asking this while preparing our business for what is anticipated to be our busiest weekend of the fall. I hope something can be done about this.”

The Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association is the watchdog for Frenchmen Street’s adherence to the special “cultural overlay” zoning on Frenchmen Street that allows a certain number of alcohol, restaurant and live music permits for the street.

Apparently, the the city granted a special events permit to one of the operators of Bar Tonique on North Rampart and a partner, so  theoretically the permit is legal and the business owners can’t do anything to prevent it. Calls to City Hall weren’t answered because City Hall is closed on Fridays.

A local representative from a beer company was surprised that the permit had been allowed because apparently another permit had been applied for in the 600 block of Frenchmen for a similar purpose, the the permit was denied.

Jason Patterson, who owns Snug Harbor, expressed concerns over any sort of ordinance blocking special events permits on the street. “If that’s the case, and the Frenchmen Street businesses want to present a special events, such as a festival, then we’d be prevented from doing so, so it’s a thorny issue that we need to address.”

In the meantime, there’s a “rogue bar” on Frenchmen this weekend, capitalizing on an event that the legitimate businesses have built up over the past 15 years.