00001 1 2 CITY OF MILWAUKEE 3 COMMON COUNCIL 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5 6 In the Matter of the renewal application for: 7 ROBERT F. CESARZ "CEASARS WORLD ENTERPRISES LLC" 8 "CLUB BARI" 628 North Water Street 9 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 Proceedings had and testimony given in 14 the above-entitled matter, before the COMMON 15 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, on the 26th day 16 of July, 2011. 17 18 * * * * * 00002 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 PRESIDENT HINES: We will now take up 3 reports of the standing committees. Alderman Jim 4 Bohl will present the report of the Licenses 5 Committee. 6 CITY CLERK: The Licenses Committee 7 recommends passage of item one, an ordinance 8 relating to alcohol beverage license applications 9 and the right of an applicant to occupy the 10 premises. 11 PRESIDENT HINES: For the next several 12 items we will use the services of the Court 13 Reporter. Let the record reflect that the Court 14 Reporter has been sworn in. 15 CITY CLERK: The Licenses Committee 16 recommends approval of file number 101446. 17 Motion to approve the recommendations of the 18 Licenses Committee relative to licenses. 19 Included in the file are the following 20 recommendations. Non-renewal based upon items 21 one through six on the police report, police 22 department testimony of resources used, and 23 observations of late night club atmosphere, and 24 aldermanic testimony of the Class B and Tavern 25 Dance Licenses of Robert F. Cesarz, Agent for 00003 1 Cesars World Enterprises, LLC., for the premises 2 located at 628 North Water Street known as Club 3 Bari in the 4th Aldermanic District. Written 4 objections have been filed. 5 PRESIDENT HINES: Have the members of 6 the Common Council read the report and the 7 recommendations of the Licenses Committee and the 8 exceptions filed in this matter? City Clerk, 9 please call the roll. 10 CITY CLERK: Alderman Hamilton? 11 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 12 CITY CLERK: Davis? 13 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 14 CITY CLERK: Kovac? 15 ALDERMAN KOVAC: Aye. 16 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 17 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 18 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 19 ALDERMAN BOHL: Aye. 20 CITY CLERK: Coggs? 21 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Aye. 22 CITY CLERK: Wade? 23 ALDERMAN WADE: Aye. 24 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 25 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 00004 1 CITY CLERK: Puente? 2 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Aye. 3 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 4 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 5 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 6 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 7 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 8 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 9 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 10 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 11 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 12 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 13 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 14 PRESIDENT HINES: Aye. 15 CITY CLERK: 15 ayes. 16 PRESIDENT HINES: 15 ayes. 17 CITY CLERK: Are any of the following 18 or their counsel present, and wish to address the 19 Council? Robert F. Cesarz? Salvatore Salvo? 20 Counsel for Mr. Cesarz is present. 21 PRESIDENT HINES: Counsel for Mr. 22 Cesarz is present. Alderman Bohl moves that the 23 Common Council resolve itself in the Committee of 24 the Whole for the purposes of hearing oral 25 presentation on behalf of the licenses in 00005 1 opposition to the report and recommendations and 2 a statement to be provided by the City Attorney. 3 Is there any objection? Hearing none, we are in 4 the Committee of the Whole. 5 Each side shall be limited to five 6 minutes. And the arguments shall be limited to 7 the subject matter of the report and the 8 recommendations and the written exceptions. 9 Please identify yourself for the record 10 and proceed. 11 MR. ARENA: Thank you, Mr. President, 12 honorable members of the Common Council. My name 13 is Andrew Arena. I am an attorney. I'm here to 14 represent Robert Cesarz. I've been here once 15 before on this matter, and - - and we had a re- 16 hearing. And there's a few issues that I would 17 like to address, areas of concern. 18 But before I go into the meat of it, I 19 want the Council to know that people like Mr. 20 Cesarz and people - - Mr. Morgese, the partners 21 in this business, they come to Milwaukee with 22 hopes and aspirations of, of course, making some 23 money. That's why people go into business. But 24 they have a number of employees, loyal employees. 25 They'd like to provide them an ability to make a 00006 1 living. And they would like to pay the taxes and 2 pay the rent and be a benefit to everybody in the 3 neighborhood. If you look at the police report 4 in this matter, it goes back to one issue - - one 5 incident of note that was mostly discussed 6 involved October 10 - - 10. Anything after 7 October, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing, 8 any improper behavior. There's anecdotal 9 evidence, but it's just anecdotal. 10 The committee actually, in my presence, 11 did not view a video that was taken by the police 12 department which clearly depicts a number of 13 things that you need to be aware of. And 14 regardless of what you do, if anybody on this 15 body wants to contact me and see this video, I'll 16 be happy to show it to them. But what this video 17 actually shows is the neighboring club, 618 Live, 18 closed 15 minutes early, spewed out 200 people 19 into the street, and the video is actually poised 20 right at the door of 618, because that's why the 21 police put this pole cam there, was to observe 22 the goings on at that club. Excuse me. I have a 23 bit of a cold this morning, so I have to clear my 24 throat. 25 But what's seen is a large group of 00007 1 people rushing out of 618 Live, and they come 2 right down the sidewalk to my client's location, 3 and my client offered testimony, he was present, 4 that he did not have a line. They were not 5 letting any more people in. They were keeping 6 these throngs of people coming from a neighboring 7 club closing 15 minutes early from coming in. 8 And those people tried to force their way into 9 Club Bari. 10 There's four security people that are 11 basically standing in front of the door, holding 12 them back. Somewhere in that people from that 13 location that came down, started an altercation. 14 The video shows it's probably three, maybe four 15 physical fights go on. It's - - It's fist- 16 fighting. There are no weapons. But my point 17 is, and it leads me to this. If you look at item 18 L in the written findings of fact and conclusions 19 of law, herein it really sums up what the problem 20 is with taking the license, or non-renewing the 21 license, which by the way, it's a non-renewal of 22 a Class B license for issues related to a Tavern 23 Dance, which really doesn't seem fair. 24 However, item L states that Alderman 25 Robert Bauman testified in opposition based on 00008 1 misrepresentations made to him by the licensee to 2 operate as an Italian Chicago style sports lounge 3 catering to middle age patrons, but now 4 functioning as a late night club. First off in 5 that regard, nobody was able to actually define 6 what an Italian Chicago style sports lounge was. 7 Nobody was able to testify as to what specific 8 music they ever heard or what artist it ever - - 9 has played that music. And it - - it seems that 10 these are words that just are a description, and 11 they aren't very specific, and nobody can really 12 put a definition on them. 13 PRESIDENT HINES: Five minutes. 14 MR. ARENA: But the next line is 15 functioning - - functioning as a late night club. 16 He never - - This application never 17 misrepresented the time that it would close. It 18 can close until legal closing time, stay open 19 until legal closing time. 20 Down at the last line it says, "Late 21 night disorder associated with this licensed 22 premises and the nearby 618 Live." There was 23 testimony that the police department stations 24 four police officers in this area. There's a 25 number of Class B locations. 618 Live has 00009 1 numerous problems, and I think it borders on an 2 antitrust violation to say this place can be here 3 with these problems and keep a license, but this 4 place cannot. 5 On the issue of did they do something 6 that they didn't disclose? If you look at their 7 application, they said they were going to be a 8 lounge. They were going to play music. They 9 were going to play specific types of music. 10 There was no testimony as to what music was in 11 violation of those types of music that they 12 checked on their application. 13 PRESIDENT HINES: You have to wrap up. 14 MR. ARENA: They were going to stay 15 open until legal closing time. That was all 16 disclosed. So, I - - I would submit that this 17 matter should be reconsidered and there should be 18 a motion here today that would allow this 19 location to stay in business. Are there any 20 questions? 21 PRESIDENT HINES: Are there any 22 questions of the attorney? The Chair recognizes 23 Alderman Bohl. 24 ALDERMAN BOHL: Thank you, Mr. 25 President. Mr. Arena, you made mention of a 00010 1 video that you indicated the committee did not 2 view. Would it - - My question for you was - - 3 was it - - Is it true that the committee did not 4 view it because it was not properly formatted? 5 That we did attempt to view it and we were unable 6 to? 7 MR. ARENA: That's correct. What I 8 stated was, is that they did not view it in my 9 presence. I don't know if it was viewed. But 10 there was a problem in that it was, I guess, 11 formatted to - - to be seen on a Wordperfect 12 format. I received it from the police department 13 in an open records request. It's a video that - 14 - that they take and maintain, you know. It's 15 unknown to me what format is available when I 16 come to a committee meeting. In the past I have 17 not had problems with submitting videos of this 18 nature. But, yeah, that is all true. 19 I'm - - I'm not trying to say that it 20 was that nobody wanted to look at it, but it is 21 true that it was not looked at in my presence. 22 And I don't know if anybody did on their own or 23 later. 24 ALDERMAN BOHL: Thank you. 25 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you. Are there 00011 1 any additional questions of Attorney Arena? If 2 not, thank you. We will now hear from the 3 representative from the City Attorney's office, 4 who will also have five minutes to present his 5 case. Please identify yourself for the record. 6 MR. STEPHENS: Thank you, Mr. 7 President. Good morning, members of the Common 8 Council. Adam Stephens, Assistant City Attorney. 9 As you are aware from the committee's 10 report, this matter came, again, before the 11 Licenses Committee after a remand from the 12 Circuit Court. This matter was heard, de novo, 13 meaning all over again, on July 11th, 2011. The 14 committee's report documents several events that 15 had occurred in October of 2010. There were also 16 multiple police witnesses, including the 17 Commander of the 1st District, a Sergeant, who 18 was in charge of the area, and a couple of other 19 police officers. Notable with their testimony 20 was that they testified to and the committee 21 found in its finding of fact, that the police 22 resources that were used to police this licensed 23 premise and the nearby licensed premise, which 24 was 618 Live, were the same type and expensive 25 police resources that are used to police a nearby 00012 1 entertainment district that has a capacity of 2 3,000. Whereas in this licensed premise and the 3 nearby licensed premise at 618, have a combined 4 capacity of 650. I believe that there was a 5 reasonable inference made that given the amount 6 of police resources that were dedicated in 7 policing this block and these two night clubs, 8 that that is a reasonable inference why some of 9 the events ceased or at least were not documented 10 by the police in their synopsis report. 11 Importantly to this matter, and I 12 believe the moving Alderperson in making the 13 recommendation for non-renewal, cited the fact 14 that there was a - - the licensee misled the 15 Licenses Committee when it initially granted the 16 license last year. This was its first renewal. 17 In that - - And the findings of fact do support 18 the finding that it's not so much the - - the 19 marketing scheme that the business undertook, but 20 rather what kind of business it was going to be. 21 According to sworn testimony from the local 22 Alderman, there were assurances made that this 23 premise was going to be a sports lounge, 24 marketing to a certain kind of clientele with a 25 certain kind of operational business plan. In 00013 1 fact, the testimony from the - - from the police 2 department was that it was a classic nightclub. 3 The licensee and his attorney were correct. They 4 were licensed to be a nightclub. There is no - - 5 nothing in the committee's report that says that 6 that was improper that they were running as a 7 nightclub as far as the licenses were concerned. 8 Where the problem came up was that they had 9 ostensibly made different assurances in their 10 plan of operation. 11 And I think the Alderperson gave 12 correct identification of the problem in the 13 sense that when we have a nightclub that was a 14 large nightclub that has had problems in the 15 past, that has required additional police 16 resources, that citing another nightclub that 17 would co-exist with that would cause problems and 18 - - and I think there is evidence that those 19 problems did occur in October until the police 20 addressed the issue with additional resources. 21 So based on the findings of fact and 22 only the findings of fact that are before you, I 23 would request that you exercise your discretion, 24 and find that this license be non-renewed as to 25 the recommendation of the Council, but as always 00014 1 you and this body have the final authority to 2 renew, not renew or renew with a suspension 3 between ten and 90 days. Thank you. 4 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you. Are there 5 any questions of the Assistant City Attorney? 6 Are there any questions? If not, thank you. 7 Alderman Bohl moves that the committee 8 now rise. Hearing no objections, so ordered. 9 Are there any motions relative to this matter? 10 Are there any motions relative to this matter? 11 Any further discussion? If not, I request a vote 12 of those Council members present to approve the 13 recommendations of the Licenses Committee, 14 recommendations contained in file number 101446. 15 Will the City Clerk please call the roll? 16 CITY CLERK: Alderman Hamilton? 17 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 18 CITY CLERK: Davis? 19 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 20 CITY CLERK: Kovac? 21 ALDERMAN KOVAC: Aye. 22 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 23 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 24 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 25 ALDERMAN BOHL: Aye. 00015 1 CITY CLERK: Coggs? 2 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Aye. 3 CITY CLERK: Wade? 4 ALDERMAN WADE: Aye. 5 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 6 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 7 CITY CLERK: Puente? 8 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Aye. 9 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 10 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 11 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 12 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 13 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 14 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 15 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 16 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 17 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 18 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 19 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 20 PRESIDENT HINES: Aye. 21 CITY CLERK: 15 ayes. 22 PRESIDENT HINES: 15 ayes, zero no. 23 The file is adopted. Is there any further 24 discussion on the committee's report? Any 25 further discussion on the committee's report? 00016 1 Hearing none, Alderman Bohl moves for the 2 approval of the remainder of the report of the 3 Licenses Committee. Will the City Clerk please 4 call the role? 5 CITY CLERK: Alderman Hamilton? 6 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 7 CITY CLERK: Davis? 8 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 9 CITY CLERK: Kovac? 10 ALDERMAN KOVAC: Aye. 11 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 12 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 13 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 14 ALDERMAN BOHL: Aye. 15 CITY CLERK: Coggs? 16 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Aye. 17 CITY CLERK: Wade? 18 ALDERMAN WADE: Aye. 19 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 20 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 21 CITY CLERK: Puente? 22 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Aye. 23 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 24 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 25 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 00017 1 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 2 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 3 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 4 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 5 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 6 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 7 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 8 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 9 PRESIDENT HINES: Aye. 10 CITY CLERK: 15 ayes. 11 PRESIDENT HINES: 15 ayes, zero nos. 12 The committee report is adopted. Thank you for 13 your service. Court Reporter is dismissed. 14 * * * * 00018 1 2 3 STATE OF WISCONSIN ) 4 ) 5 MILWAUKEE COUNTY ) 6 7 I, JEAN M. BARINA, of Milwaukee Reporters 8 Associated, Inc., 5124 West Blue Mound Road, 9 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53208, certify that the 10 foregoing proceedings is a full and complete 11 transcript of CLUB BARI taken before Common Council. 12 13 14 15 16 17 JEAN M. BARINA 18 Court Reporter 19 20 21 Dated this day of August, 2011. 22