Madame X corporate‑change filing draws resident complaints about rear‑yard noise

A corporate‑change application for D’Amour Enterprises Inc., doing business as Madame X at 94 West Houston Street, drew public comment from a tenant who said the rear yard routinely exceeds the capacity stated on the liquor‑license application and that loud music and noise continue late into the night.

Resident Anna Mujah told the committee she has lived above the venue and that the rear yard often exceeds the 20‑person capacity listed in the venue’s original license paperwork. “The music, the loud level, the noise is just getting out of hand,” Mujah said. She described speakers that have been moved to upper floors, louder music after 12 a.m. on weekends and a lack of consistent on‑site crowd control.

Committee members acknowledged continuing complaints from building residents and the landlord and advised the resident on filing a complaint with the New York State Liquor Authority. Committee members also observed that the filing before them is a corporate change — listed as a removal of a principal — and that the committee’s authority to act on operational violations is limited at a corporate‑change hearing.

Donna Raftery, committee chair, said the board had forwarded resident complaints to the SLA office and that, because the corporate change does not introduce new principals beyond those already listed, the committee’s options at this hearing are constrained. Dr. Shirley Smith advised the resident to file formal SLA complaints so the authority could investigate whether the licensee was operating outside its method of operation.

No formal action on the corporate‑change filing was recorded at the meeting.