Maybe it was naive to think that a fantastic bar/music venue could exist in Park Slope, that haven of baby strollers and seven-figure brownstones. Union Hall, that big, wonderful bar on 5th and Union with bocce courts, bookshelves, bountiful beer on tap, and a bodacious basement (okay, I'll cut the alliteration here) performance space, has constantly dealt with noise complaints since it opened two years ago. Now, unsatisfied with merely turning the place's poor bouncer into a librarian ("Shhhh!"), they have taken their complaint to Community Board 6. At a meeting on Thursday, a bunch of angry mommies and the investment bankers who love them testified before CB6 about how utterly miserable Union Hall is making them. (I have an idea: they can take my falling-apart apartment in Prospect Heights and they can give me their shining, expensively restored, three-story houses on one of Brooklyn's nicest blocks. That should resolve their misery.)

The big surprise was that CB6 voted in favor of Muffy, Buffy, and the whole organic-baby-food brigade. Thankfully, community boards have no official power; they only work in an advisory capacity. So all they've decided is to advise the State Liquor Authority against renewing Union Hall's liquor license on May 31. Who knows whether the SLA is even going to listen to them?

At least Union Hall had one famous (and remarkably funny) advocate in the comedian Eugene Mirman. He lives right around the corner and hosts the city's best comedy night, Tearing the Veil of Maya, at the bar every Sunday. Mirman spoke in favor of the bar at Thursday's hearing and was galled to hear that CB6 sided with the neighbors. Here's what he told Gothamist about it on Friday:

I feel bad that some people are genuinely bothered by the noise outside the bar — and Union Hall has done a lot to remedy the situation. I don’t live on Union Street, but I live around the corner, about as close as John “I Called 911 Because I Thought Their Assembly Permit Was Expired” Crow.

Many of the people who spoke at the meeting were rude, entitled, self-righteous and over dramatic — though one woman seemed very nice and reasonable, and I felt particularly bad for her. Two people claimed the noise was killing them — not figuratively — but literally. Maybe Brooklyn isn’t the best place for someone who has a life-threatening allergy to bar noise?

Also, Union Hall does not have people shouting till 4 in the morning 7 nights a week. Sundays and week days, the bar often closes by 2 and is quiet for the last several hours. I also live above a restaurant/bar. It moved in after me. It can be very loud, but before I’d try to shut a business down, I’d maybe move — because I’m not a crazy, self-righteous asshole who believes the world revolves around me — which is odd, because I’m famous and should feel that way.

I've lived less than half a mile up the hill from Union Hall for almost two years now, and I agree with Mirman completely. There is never any street noise coming out of the bar on weekday nights, and on the weekends, even when the place is packed, you can barely hear anything from outside. In short, it's a miracle that a bar that big is so quiet. Its first few months were certainly a little loud, but with all Union Hall's adjustments to satisfy neighbors, that has changed in a big way.

I urge everyone to do their part by kicking a baby stroller continuing to support Union Hall and keep up news about the bar's future. Oh yeah, and by doing yourself a favor and checking out Foals and The Ruby Suns there this Tuesday.