Neighbors and board spar over Lightning Society plan for 45 Howard Street; concerns on sound, traffic and safety

Community Board 2’s State Liquor Authority licensing committee spent more than three hours Wednesday re‑hearing the Center for Emerging Culture’s application to license multiple floors at 45 Howard Street, the building that the group proposes to operate as the Lightning Society cultural hub.

Donna Raftery, the committee chair, opened the meeting and directed applicants and the public to the board’s rules on speaker cards and respectful remarks. After a series of shorter applications, the discussion centered on the Center’s two applications: a beer‑and‑wine catering license for floors 2–3 and a not‑for‑profit private members’ club on floors 4–5.

The applicant team, led in the hearing by counsel Max Bookman and founder Timothy Phillips, described a split model: the downstairs ballroom/catering space for pre‑booked private events such as corporate receptions and book talks, and an upstairs membership club aimed at “salon”‑style programming and workspace. "We are not a nightclub," Bookman told the committee, and Phillips emphasized the intent that "these are two separate business models and there is no intention of operating this as one facility." The team said they hired consultants to produce a traffic and an acoustical operations study, and they offered a…