Joseph Zarriello

Yesterday the New York State Senate confirmed Daniel Boyle, the former police chief of Glennville, N.Y., as the head of the State Liquor Authority. Local officials and community boards--particularly in Chelsea and the Lower East Side, where complaints about bar and club over-saturation--have been pushing Governor Pataki to appoint someone from New York City, only to have their plea fall on deaf ears.

The Governor has another opportunity: Commissioner Joseph C. Zarriello, from Colonie, N.Y., near Albany, recently announced plans to step down from the S.L.A.

-Matthew Grace

In the Lower East Side and Chinatown, the locals have been griping for ages that there are too many bars--and that it's because the State Liquor Authority keeps letting them pile on. So it's understandable that the local Community Boards--3 and 4--were upset when an open spot on the S.L.A. they had specifically asked to be filled with a local went instead to Daniel Boyle, the police chief of Glenville, N.Y.  read more »