Whatever Lola Wants

whether to pursue legal action.

A Different Strategy?
Patrick-Odeen could have proceeded differently from the onset. Robert Ferrari, a Manhattan attorney who specializes in helping clients obtain liquor licenses and who followed the case as an impartial outsider, suggests getting community board approval before a lease is signed. He sometimes recommends hiring an outside consultant, such as a lobbyist, to steer a community board. Occasionally he may meet with an aide to a local council member or various board members in hopes of persuading them that the business will be good for the area.

“Lola ultimately won and I’m happy that she did,” Ferrari remarks. “It was a senseless fight because what Lola wanted to do was not violate the civility of the neighborhood. She wanted to continue doing what she was doing in Chelsea.”

Patrick-Odeen now realizes her mistakes. “Hiring a lobbyist at the very onset would have been an important thing to do and would have given us perspective that we didn’t have initially,” she says.

“Understanding the politics in any neighborhood that you’re going into is of critical importance to any business owner because at the end of the day it was the politicians that they had at their disposal that fought their fight. But once this ball started rolling and we were caught up in the court system, there was very little most people could do to help us. You have to let it play out.”

Four weeks after Lola started live music, Sweeney says there have been no complaints to him. “Much to everybody’s surprise, there’s no loud horrible music coming from here,” Patrick-Odeen says sarcastically. “There’s no riffraff in the street and people can sleep at night. It’s amazing.”

Was it all worth it?

“We’ll see,” she ponders. When you think about the bottom line of your financials, we are a long way away from recognizing success. But I believe in our vision. I believe in this business. We have not compromised. … There’s a spiritual component here, a feeling of family and home. I think financial success will come in time.”