Regarding venues: I would suggest holding meetings at a diner or restaurant until a better venue is found. Here are some restaurants/diners where some groups I've been involved in have met:
1) The Moonstruck Diner at 9th Avenue and 23rd Street. Has large tables in the back where some groups hold regular meetings.
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaId=...
2) Empire Szechuan Village, 173 7th Ave South, near West 11th and Perry Street. Has an upstairs area with large tables, where some groups hold regular meetings.
http://empireszechuanvillage.com/
From the point of view of minimizing noise, Empire Szechuan is probably better than Moonstruck, but it's also a bit more expensive.
Anyhow, I'm glad we were able to begin resolving our differences in this thread in the Truth Action.