00001 1 2 CITY OF MILWAUKEE 3 LICENSES COMMITTEE 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5 In the Matter of the Class "B" Tavern and Tavern Dance 6 renewal applications for: 7 OLAYINKA M. GEORGE INFINITY LOUNGE 8 5318 W. Center Street 9 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10 COMMITTEE MEMBERS 11 ALD. JAMES WITKOWIAK - Chair ALD. JAMES BOHL, JR., - Vice-Chairman 12 ALD. TERRY WITKOWSKI ALD. ROBERT PUENTE 13 ALD. WILLIE WADE 14 LICENSING DIVISION by REBECCA BARRON NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES by PANDORA BENDER 15 HEALTH DEPARTMENT by PAUL ZEMKE POLICE DEPARTMENT by SEARGENT CHET ULICKEY 16 OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY by ATTORNEY BRUCE SCHRIMPF 17 18 Proceedings had and testimony given in 19 the above-entitled matter, before the LICENSES 20 COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, on 21 the 5th day of June, 2007. 22 23 24 * * * * * 00002 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Olayinka George. 3 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Mr. Chairman. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Murphy. 5 ALDERMAN MURPHY: I have a neighborhood 6 commitment. So I - - If you don't mind, if I 7 could read my comments or prepare my comments, 8 and then my assistant will fill in for the rest 9 of the meeting. 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: That's fine. I 11 just want to get the applicant sworn in, get the 12 record established, and then you may. Could you 13 raise your right hand, and we'll swear you in, 14 please? 15 (Whereupon the applicant was sworn.) 16 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Your name and 17 address for the record, please. 18 THE APPLICANT: Olayinka George. 5318 19 West Center Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 20 Zipcode 53201. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Are you appearing 22 as his lawyer or? 23 ALDERMAN GORDON: I'm appearing as his 24 advocate and friend. Good afternoon, Mr. 25 Chairman, members of the committee. 00003 1 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: We should probably 2 swear you in then. 3 (Whereupon Alderman Gordon was sworn.) 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Jared, we swear 5 you in. 6 JARED: I did. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Oh, you did. 8 Okay. 9 ALDERMAN PUENTE: I saw it. 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Mr. George, do you 11 admit to receiving notice in the mail there's a 12 possibility that your application could be denied 13 because of items contained in the police report 14 and neighborhood objections to loitering, 15 littering, loud music, noise, parking, traffic 16 problems, shootings, gunshots, fights, disorderly 17 patrons, trespassing, public urination, drugs, 18 and criminal activities, vandalism, damage to 19 private property, parking on private property, 20 disturbing the peace, causing abnormal flow of 21 traffic on the roadways to be impeded, 22 endangering safety by exceeding capacity, 23 excessive and inappropriate use of police 24 resources, fitness of location based on 25 appropriateness of location, neighborhood 00004 1 problems due to mismanagement, and premise, which 2 is operated in such a manner that it causes a 3 public nuisance, a conduct which is detrimental 4 to the health, safety and welfare of the 5 neighborhood. Did you receive a notice that said 6 all that stuff? 7 THE APPLICANT: Yes. 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Health 9 department? 10 HEALTH: Health has no objection. 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Neighborhood 12 Services? 13 DNS: No objection. The capacity is 14 100. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: You are both 16 excused, and we thank you for your services 17 today. 18 HEALTH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Sergeant Ulickey, 20 the police report, please. 21 SERGEANT ULICKEY: On 12/6 of '06 at 22 12:31 a.m., Milwaukee Police were dispatched to 23 54th and Center Street for a shots fired 24 complaint. Upon arrival officers observed 25 several subjects walking to their autos and had 00005 1 exited from the Infinity Lounge. When asked if 2 they heard gunshots, the subjects stated no. 3 Officers then spoke to George Olayinka, licensee 4 of the bar, who stated he had not heard any guns 5 either. Officers then spoke to the caller, who 6 stated he heard ten to 12 shots fired and 7 observed many people running out of the rear exit 8 of the tavern. No casings were found on the 9 scene, and no witnesses could provide any 10 descriptions of the persons shooting. 11 On 2/23 of '07 at 12:05 a.m. Milwaukee 12 Police were dispatched, 5318 West Center for loud 13 music complaint. About one block away from the 14 Infinity tavern officers could clearly hear loud 15 bass music coming from the tavern. Officers 16 spoke with Olayinka George and had him turn down 17 the music, which he complied. As officers were 18 exiting the tavern the music was turned back up 19 to the previous noise level. A citation was 20 issued for noise nuisance. Officers were about 21 to conduct a capacity check, but many patrons 22 began to leave and officers were unable to 23 conduct a proper head count. The officers did 24 issue a citation for noise nuisance. It does 25 have a pending court date of 8/15 of '07. 00006 1 On 8/20 - - I'm sorry. 2/28 of '07, 2 12:36 a.m., Milwaukee Police were dispatched, 3 5318 West Center for a noise nuisance complaint. 4 Upon arrival officers could only hear music when 5 the front door was opened. Music couldn't be 6 heard from the alley, rear, from the street, or 7 when the door was closed. Due to no complaint 8 information, no citation was issued. While 9 officers were there, a patron walked up to one of 10 the officers and kissed him on the right cheek. 11 The patron was highly intoxicated and was 12 arrested and cited for mashing. 13 ALDERMAN WADE: Mashing? 14 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Haven't heard that 15 in a while. Thank you. 16 ALDERMAN WADE: Before my time. 17 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Not comments, but 18 just do you have any questions about the police 19 report? 20 THE APPLICANT: No. 21 ALDERMAN GORDON: No questions, but we 22 do have clarifications. We can deal with that at 23 some other time. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Yeah, we'll deal 25 with that in a minute. Alderman Murphy? 00007 1 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. 2 Chairman, and committee members. I have appeared 3 before this committee on several occasions for 4 renewal of this license over the last four years, 5 and over the last four years I have asked this 6 committee either to suspend or to revoke this 7 license. And I appear once again at this 8 committee and ask for your consideration for non- 9 renewal of this license. 10 Specifically, I think the complaints 11 that were outlined by the Milwaukee Police 12 Department are quite serious and deserve your 13 attention. In addition, I have received 14 complaints from the neighborhood residents 15 throughout the year dealing with the concerns of 16 drug dealing, fights, loitering, noise and 17 generally poor behavior of the clients. I have 18 notified the owner of the establishment in 19 writing concerning these complaints, and asking 20 him what actions he would take in terms of trying 21 to address these complaints back on January 9th 22 of 2007. I believe a copy of that letter is in 23 your file. 24 I have not received - - I asked for a 25 written plan at their earliest convenience. I 00008 1 have never received a response to that written 2 plan request. It wasn't until I subsequently had 3 further conversations with his representative, 4 Mr. Gordon, and in - - in terms of trying to get 5 him to cooperate. Subsequently, I did host a 6 neighborhood meeting, which that was held at St. 7 Catherine's at 5101 West Center on March 21st. 8 At that meeting it was - - And I don't think I'm 9 speaking incorrectly, and I'll please stand 10 corrected - - It was an incredibly diverse 11 community, and it's old, young, African-American, 12 white, everyone at that meeting. And I request 13 that this license not be renewed. It was one of 14 the few times where I saw such a - - a rainbow of 15 people who were all on the same page supporting 16 this issue. I think they ust felt that enough is 17 enough, and that this establishment has been a 18 detriment to the neighborhood and the public 19 welfare and safety. And we have day care 20 facilities located nearby. We're extremely 21 concerned that a child will eventually be shot 22 because of the - - the behavior of the past 23 patrons of this establishment. It's - - It's 24 been fortunate that we haven't had that 25 situation. I think, in my own opinion, that the 00009 1 owner has a personal of like - - I've not had any 2 confrontation with him or anything like that. I 3 just don't think he's managing and oversee - - 4 overseeing this property. It seems to have gone 5 into chaos. And the issues that I cited, I think 6 will be spoken to personally by witnesses and 7 neighbors behind me, which I believe there's 8 quite a number of residents who wish to testify. 9 And I apologize, but now I have a previous 10 commitment, and I have to leave right now. My 11 assistant, Jared, will be here for the remainder. 12 He's taken many of the calls, and also has 13 appeared at the hearings with me. So, my 14 apologies to the committee, but I'm sure you all 15 realize - - 16 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Yes. Alderman 17 Murphy, before you leave, I just want to know if 18 the applicant has any questions of you before you 19 go. Any questions of Alderman Murphy? 20 THE APPLICANT: Do I have any questions 21 to him? 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Yes. To Alderman 23 Murphy. 24 THE APPLICANT: No, I don't. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Alderman 00010 1 Murphy, thank you. 2 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Thank you. 3 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Appreciate your 4 appearance. I would like to - - Everyone - - 5 Everyone else that's in this room that's here to 6 testify in this matter, wants to testify, please 7 raise your right hand, we'll swear you all in at 8 the same time. Everybody who's going to testify. 9 If you don't raise your right hand, you can't 10 testify. Okay. 11 (Whereupon the witnesses were sworn.) 12 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair. 13 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente. 14 ALDERMAN PUENTE: A couple questions. 15 On the police report, it says, "Incident number 16 12 was previously reported." This issue now 17 added. Do we know if we took that into 18 consideration at last year's hearing? The 19 incident number 12. And while we're looking that 20 up - - 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: That is a good 22 question. 23 ALDERMAN PUENTE: As it pertains to 24 item number 16 on the police report, from reading 25 this I can't say that there was or was not shots 00011 1 fired, and I can't determine if it was inside or 2 out. I'm assuming, because everybody was running 3 outside from the rear of the doors of the tavern 4 that it may have occurred, and if it happened, 5 inside. Do we know if the police, you know, 6 looked in the inside of the tavern to see if 7 there was any holes in the - - the walls or 8 anything like that? Because I think it's very 9 important to me to substantiate whether or not 10 there were shots fired on this incident, and from 11 this, all I have is one caller. And that's it. 12 So did the police scan the area to see if there 13 were any other witnesses to - - to this? It says 14 no witnesses could provide any description of the 15 person or persons shooting. However, it doesn't 16 elaborate whether any of the witnesses, which is 17 plural, that there was shots fired, too. 18 THE APPLICANT: Mr. Chairman. 19 ALDERMAN PUENTE: That was a MOUTHFUL. 20 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Sergeant, can you 21 give us anything in depth on that or? 22 SERGEANT ULICKEY: Unfortunately, what 23 - - what you have in front of you is all I have. 24 I do not have the entire report here, and I can 25 only report what it says, and that's that the 00012 1 caller stated they heard ten to 12 shots and 2 observed many people running out of the rear of 3 the tavern. There were no casings found. If 4 there were ten to 12 shots, I don't - - There's - 5 - There's no revolver that holds ten or 12 shots. 6 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Exactly. In the 7 movies, maybe. 8 SERGEANT ULICKEY: I can't - - Yeah, in 9 the movies. That - - That question I couldn't 10 answer without obtaining the entire report and 11 reviewing that entire report. 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 13 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman. 14 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Yes. 15 ALDERMAN GORDON: I can explain on 16 behalf of Mr. George, he indicated to me what 17 happened at - - 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead. 19 ALDERMAN GORDON: What happened was 20 that a disgruntled employee, who worked for him, 21 was upset because she wasn't getting served, as 22 she felt, in a timely manner. And she approached 23 Mr. George about the situation, and Mr. George, 24 at that time the club was pretty busy, and she 25 wasn't being served. So in her haste and her 00013 1 anger she called the police, and she made a false 2 representation to the police department regarding 3 what you see here before you. There were no 4 shots fired and when the police arrived on the 5 scene as - - as is indicated, no casings were 6 found. No one left the building in - - in a 7 haste or huff. There were police officers that 8 were on the scene who questioned patrons who were 9 leaving the establishment from the front of the 10 establishment, and they told him that there were 11 no shots fired. Mr. George was on the scene at 12 the time. He indicated that no shots were fired. 13 This was simply a disgruntled employee - - 14 employee who essentially lied to the police. And 15 she left the scene and was not prosecuted, 16 although Mr. George did terminate her on the spot 17 after this incident took place. But there were 18 no shots fired at the time. 19 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair. 20 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente. 21 ALDERMAN PUENTE: In the item 16 it 22 says, "Officers then spoke to the caller, who 23 stated 'he' heard ten to 12 shots fired and 24 observed many people running out of the rear exit 25 of the tavern." And you're saying this was a 00014 1 female? 2 THE APPLICANT: Yeah, it was a female. 3 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Correct? 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: Correct. 5 ALDERMAN PUENTE: So there's, again, a 6 little discrepancy. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any other comments 8 on the police report? 9 ALDERMAN GORDON: The only other 10 comments, Mr. Chairman, relate to the other two 11 incidents. We do have a pending court date on 12 item number 17, and once the - - once the noise 13 was heard, Mr. George turned the noise down, and 14 that situation is still pending. 15 And as far as the last item on the 16 report, he had no knowledge of this incident or 17 there was no involvement with him. When the 18 noise was heard by the police, he complied and 19 turned the noise down, and what happened 20 afterward, he was not aware of. And as was 21 discussed, it's been a long time since you've 22 seen a mashing, so he was not aware that that 23 took place. 24 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente. 00015 1 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Did you call the 2 police and let them know that this woman made a 3 false call on item 16? 4 THE APPLICANT: No, I did not call the 5 police. 6 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Why? 7 THE APPLICANT: Because when the - - 8 the police came. I was standing outside when 9 they came, and they asked me if there was any 10 shooting around here, and I said, "No, not that I 11 know of." I said I did not hear anything. So 12 around that time there were some people that were 13 coming out from the bar right behind me, and they 14 started asking them questions. And one of the 15 officers got out from the car, and said, "Let's 16 go check what's going on in - - in the bar." So 17 he came in. He went inside the bathrooms, the 18 three bathrooms. He went inside and walked 19 around and came back outside and talked to the 20 other officers, and he got out from inside. Then 21 another officer pulled over and took the 22 flashlights. They were walking around both side 23 of the street and on the side on 54th Street, and 24 they went through the alley. And they came back, 25 and they left. 00016 1 ALDERMAN PUENTE: At what point did you 2 find out that this employee, now ex-employee, 3 called the police and stated what you said, that 4 she was upset she didn't get served so she called 5 in this false report? 6 THE APPLICANT: I - - I find out, you 7 know, after the police left. Because when she 8 first came to me, she asked me - - She said, "I'm 9 getting out of here. Give me my money." And I 10 said, "What happened?" Because I didn't know 11 what happened. She said, "I been standing there 12 for about 30 minutes. Nobody wants to serve me." 13 I said, "You have to be patient." She said, "No. 14 I'm not going to be patient. I'm getting out of 15 here. Give me my money." I said, "I don't have 16 any money on me. You're going to have to wait or 17 come back the following day so that I can give 18 you your money." She said, "No, no, no. I want 19 my money right now." So I just walked past her. 20 Then she grabbed somebody's phone, and then 21 walked out to the bar. And I saw her talking on 22 the phone, yelling and everything. I did not 23 read any meaning into it until when the police 24 came. 25 So when the police came, she was 00017 1 walking back on my side, because she was waiting 2 for a ride, and she said, "Come here and get me." 3 You know, "I'm - - I just called the police that 4 a shooting here," and stuff like that. And I 5 turned, and I said - - I told my brother, I said, 6 "Did you hear that?" That she called the police 7 that there was a shooting here, and she walked 8 right past. And during that period the police 9 were doing their investigation, walking around. 10 And she just get, you know, in - - in the car, 11 and then she left. And then once the police 12 finished their investigation, so they left, and I 13 didn't even bother saying anything to them, 14 because I didn't - - 15 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Didn't you feel 16 compelled to say to the police that you overheard 17 this - - What's this woman's name? 18 THE APPLICANT: What's her name? 19 Chelsea. 20 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Chelsea? 21 THE APPLICANT: Yeah. 22 ALDERMAN PUENTE: That Chelsea said 23 that and you overheard it? 24 THE APPLICANT: Yeah. No, I did not 25 talk - - 00018 1 ALDERMAN PUENTE: You didn't feel 2 compelled to let the police know that? 3 THE APPLICANT: I didn't - - I didn't 4 worry or tell them anything. 5 ALDERMAN PUENTE: I'd like to see in 6 this report if Chelsea was the caller, because we 7 have a male caller in this report versus a 8 female. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 9 MS. BARRON: Mr. Chair. 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Ms. Barron. 11 MS. BARRON: Item number 12 was 12 previously considered by the committee. 13 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Thank you. 14 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: One at a time I'd 15 like the people who want to testify just to come 16 up to the microphone here, state your name and 17 address, and then give us your - - your brief 18 testimony. If you can all, like - - So it 19 doesn't take forever, you can all like come and 20 sit up in front, and then you can come. 21 THE WITNESS: All right. My name is 22 George Wagner. I live at 2718 North 53rd Street. 23 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: And how close are 24 you to this establishment? 25 THE WITNESS: I'm diagonally right 00019 1 across the alley from him. 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Go ahead. 3 THE WITNESS: First of all, on that 4 night in question, I believe that's one of the 5 nights that I called the police. And I saw all 6 the people running out of the back of the tavern. 7 There was also another night that I called the 8 police, and I was outside in my backyard, 9 watching when the police car got there, when a 10 group of people surrounded his squad car come 11 from out of his bar. 12 I have pictures here that I'm going to 13 put in, and let you see, this picture shows 14 quarter to two, about three weeks ago, in front 15 of my house where there's five cars going every 16 which way, honking their horns, urinating in the 17 alley, urinating in the streets, and there's 18 another picture. I'll pass those around. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Can we keep those? 20 THE WITNESS: Yes, you may. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Bohl 22 moves to make the two photographs referred to 23 part of the permanent record in this hearing, and 24 hearing no objections, so ordered. 25 THE WITNESS: Also, I have seen Mr. 00020 1 George go to the garbage cans in the area, and 2 take garbage and put it into the garbage can. In 3 the back of his establishment today, you'll find 4 a group of trees, that were in his chain link 5 fence. They were cut down a week ago, laying in 6 the alley. He has no garbage cans to remove any 7 - - remove any of the garbage from his property. 8 I continue picking up garbage from his bar. 9 Every Tuesday and Thursday his band 10 plays his - - whatever he plays. He plays loud 11 music, jazz, whatever it is, loud drums. It 12 ricochets into my back room that I sleep in. I'm 13 up until two o'clock in the morning. I had open 14 heart surgery. I had heart replacement, triple 15 bypass, and I can't afford to be up every night 16 on a Tuesday and Thursday, worrying about my 17 property, worrying about gunshots. The only time 18 we've had a problem in the neighborhood, the 19 majority of the time, have been on a Tuesday and 20 Thursday, when there's been gunshots in the 21 neighborhood in the last three years. 22 And I don't believe that anything that 23 he said about the employee, because I - - I know 24 of two occasions where there were gunshots fired. 25 One time I was told by the police that the shots 00021 1 were on Center Street, when you all came out. It 2 was probably a passerby shooting at his tavern, 3 shooting up in the air. The other time it was 4 eight to ten shots, and it was probably an 5 automatic. And there are guns that shoot eight 6 to ten shots. I'm an avid hunter, and I - - I 7 could bring you down one any time you'd like. So 8 I don't really believe the garbage is fair. He's 9 had his license suspended a couple times. I 10 don't think the neighborhood should have to stand 11 for it. Thank you. 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Hold it. Any 13 questions of this witness? 14 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Mr. Chairman. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman 16 Witkowski. 17 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: You indicated you 18 called the police on the night that was in 19 question that we discussed here regarding the 12 20 gunshots? 21 THE WITNESS: I called the police on a 22 couple of occasions, and they should have a 23 record on 9-1-1. Because whenever I heard a 24 gunshot that came in that area, I called to 9-1- 25 1. So you can check on that, if you'd like. 00022 1 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: What did you 2 report to the police? 3 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry? 4 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: What did you 5 report to the police? 6 THE WITNESS: Several gunshots and 7 people running out of the back of his tavern. 8 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Okay. Did you 9 state the number of gunshots or just several? 10 THE WITNESS: Eight to ten, probably. 11 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Is that what you 12 told them? 13 THE WITNESS: Right. That's what I 14 told them. 15 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Thank you. 16 THE WITNESS: You're welcome. 17 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Hold on. Mr. 18 George, do you have any questions of this 19 witness? 20 THE APPLICANT: No. 21 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente. 23 ALDERMAN PUENTE: The photos you 24 submitted. You took them? 25 THE WITNESS: Yes, I did. 00023 1 ALDERMAN PUENTE: You had them 2 developed? 3 THE WITNESS: Yes, I did. 4 ALDERMAN PUENTE: And when was that 5 again? 6 THE WITNESS: This was about two or 7 three weeks ago. A neighbor across the street 8 can verify that, because he asked me how I had 9 the nerve to go out there and take a picture with 10 my camera and run back in the house. 11 ALDERMAN PUENTE: And did you observe 12 urination in - - on these pictures, because 13 they're not in the photo. Because I couldn't 14 see. 15 THE WITNESS: No, I didn't get - - They 16 didn't turn out, the one with the urination, 17 because it was in a darker part. It wasn't lit 18 up, and I didn't take it with a flash, because I 19 took it, the one on the urination out of my side 20 window. My house is on a east/west alley, and 21 there's a telephone post that's near this man's 22 building that they seem to like when they come 23 out of his establishment, and they urinate there, 24 and they urinate in the alley, and they urinate 25 on the apartment building across the street from 00024 1 me. 2 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 3 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman. 4 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman. 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead, Alderman 6 Gordon. 7 ALDERMAN GORDON: Could I have ask some 8 questions relative to - - 9 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, does the 10 committee member get it before - - 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead. 12 ALDERMAN BOHL: No. In terms of 13 precedence. Yes. 14 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead. 15 ALDERMAN BOHL: And no - - no 16 disrespect, Alderman Gordon, but I think you've 17 been here, as well, too. 18 Mr. Wagner, the - - You indicate that 19 you called police for - - for a shooting. 20 THE WITNESS: I called the police 21 several times - - 22 ALDERMAN BOHL: When approximately was 23 that? 24 THE WITNESS: - - when there's been 25 gunshots on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It's at 00025 1 least three times I've called the police in the 2 last year and a half for gunshots coming from 3 54th and off of Center, in that area. 4 ALDERMAN BOHL: The time when you 5 indicated that people were running out of the 6 tavern, when was that about? 7 THE WITNESS: I couldn't tell you the 8 exact date, but it was in this - - the same time 9 that they're talking about. Because I talked 10 with the officers that night, and the officers 11 told me that the shots had come off of Center 12 Street, and that they ran out the back. And 13 while I'm at it, that's not the only time that 14 they go out the back. There's a lot of times 15 that they - - there's patrons go out of the back 16 door of the tavern. It's not just - - It's a 17 routine thing, about two or three times a month I 18 see them going out the back door. 19 ALDERMAN BOHL: Do you remember whether 20 or not, what season it was when - - when that was 21 made? Was it cold out? Warm out? 22 THE WITNESS: It was kind of warm, of 23 course, we haven't had any real cold weather, and 24 I'm inside my house. 25 ALDERMAN BOHL: Okay. But you just 00026 1 believe it was in the last year then. 2 THE WITNESS: Oh, yes. 3 ALDERMAN BOHL: All right. Thank you. 4 THE WITNESS: You're welcome. 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Gordon? 6 ALDERMAN GORDON: Thank you, Mr. 7 Chairman. Mr. Wagner, I just want to be clear. 8 You stated that you heard shots coming from 54th 9 and Center. Is that right? 10 THE WITNESS: I heard shots. I don't 11 know the exact - - 12 ALDERMAN GORDON: And they were - - 13 THE WITNESS: - - they - - where 14 they're from, whether it was on 54th Street, 15 whether it's on Center Street, whether it was 16 inside the tavern. It's hard to tell when you 17 have - - when you have to look through buildings. 18 ALDERMAN GORDON: Wait a minute. Now 19 you're saying that you heard shots coming from 20 the direction of 54th and Center. 21 THE WITNESS: Exactly. 22 ALDERMAN GORDON: And you - - Now, are 23 you saying - - Are you testifying that you heard 24 shots coming from the tavern or around the 25 tavern? 00027 1 THE WITNESS: In that area, yes. 2 ALDERMAN GORDON: In that area. 3 THE WITNESS: Yes. 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: But not specifically 5 from the tavern. 6 THE WITNESS: I don't know if it was 7 particularly from the inside of the tavern. I 8 cannot tell. 9 ALDERMAN GORDON: That's what I'm 10 trying to be clear about. So you don't know for 11 sure where the shots came from. 12 THE WITNESS: I don't think anybody 13 could from - - that's lived in the neighborhood, 14 that could tell you where they were from, whether 15 they were from the inside or the outside of the 16 building. 17 ALDERMAN GORDON: Now you indicated 18 that you called the police three or four times. 19 THE WITNESS: Exactly. 20 ALDERMAN GORDON: And you don't 21 remember when you called the police. Is that 22 right? 23 THE WITNESS: I've called the police 24 several times on Mr. George's establishment. And 25 people have called - - 00028 1 ALDERMAN GORDON: Did you call the 2 police - - 3 THE WITNESS: - - for urination - - 4 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Mr. Chairman. 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: One - - One - - 6 One person at a time. It's getting near the end 7 of the day. You're trying our patience real 8 much, so we're going to get real disciplined now, 9 because we've been a little too easy on 10 everybody. I'll run the meeting. Ask the 11 question. And the next people that come up and 12 testify, I just want to hear the opposition, the 13 people that are going to testify in opposition. 14 And then after that, we're going to hear the 15 people that are testifying in support of - - 16 Whoever is going to testify next, come to these 17 front seats up here. When we call for the next 18 witness, you'll get one minute. If you don't 19 come to the table, you'll testify. You'll come 20 to the mic and you'll testify. Okay, Alderman. 21 If you could just ask your question one 22 more time, and then wait until he finishes his 23 question. Don't anybody butt in on anybody, 24 okay? Okay. Go ahead. 25 THE WITNESS: I have one thing, if you 00029 1 don't mind. Why are you addressing him Alderman 2 Gordon. He's no longer an alderman. 3 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: It's just a 4 courtesy. 5 ALDERMAN BOHL: It's an honorary title 6 you keep. 7 ALDERMAN GORDON: Thank you, Mr. 8 Chairman. Mr. Wagner, you indicated that you 9 called the police three or four times. Correct? 10 THE WITNESS: Yes. 11 ALDERMAN GORDON: Do you remember when 12 you called the police regarding the incident that 13 has been the subject of discussion? 14 THE WITNESS: No, because I have called 15 many times, the police department, on many 16 different occasions. 17 ALDERMAN GORDON: So you don't know - - 18 THE WITNESS: I know it happened to be 19 that day, because it was - - They ran out the 20 back. They were - - My kitchen is where I have 21 the phone and faces his tavern, and I saw them 22 running out the back after I heard the shots. 23 ALDERMAN GORDON: Did you see - - You 24 - - You testified that you saw public urination. 25 You saw people urinating. 00030 1 THE WITNESS: I see that all the time 2 from this tavern, and I see the people walking 3 past - - 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: Will you allow me to 5 ask you a question? 6 THE WITNESS: You asked me a question. 7 I answered it. 8 ALDERMAN GORDON: No, I haven't 9 finished, because you keep interrupting me. 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: All right. Break 11 time. 12 (Whereupon a break was taken.) 13 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Back on the 14 record. Here's how we're going to continue. 15 We're going to - - Whoever - - I'm going to - - 16 I'm going to give one minute to the person 17 testifying, and then, one minute for Alderman 18 Gordon to ask questions. Committee members can 19 ask questions as long as they like, and that's 20 how we're going to finish this out today. And 21 when I say your minute's up, your minute's up, if 22 you didn't - - You know, we'll - - 23 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Wade. 25 ALDERMAN WADE: I don't - - I got to 00031 1 object to those rules. I mean, we let - - we 2 just let a man get up here and he spoke as long 3 as he wanted to speak. All day long we haven't 4 had any cut-offs on the amount of time anybody 5 can speak. Now all of a sudden we got a bunch of 6 folks in the room that look a little different, 7 and we got time limits, and we got all - - 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Wade, 9 don't - - don't start with me about people in the 10 room looking a little bit different. You know me 11 better than that. 12 ALDERMAN WADE: I - - I'm - - 13 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I take offense to 14 that. And I'm - - 15 ALDERMAN WADE: I know you better than 16 that. 17 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: - - the Committee 18 Chair. 19 ALDERMAN WADE: I know you better than 20 that, and - - and you got every right to take 21 offense to it. But I also have a right to take 22 offense to you trying to restructure the meeting 23 at this point in time in the meeting. So both of 24 us are offended of each other. I'm offended by a 25 time limit at this point in the meeting. I'm 00032 1 offended by that. So all day long - - We had a 2 hearing today that lasted a hour and a half. 3 Everybody got a chance to get up and talk as long 4 as they want. Now all of a sudden we have cut- 5 off times and minutes. Hey, we're here. We're 6 doing the meeting. We need to stick to the same 7 game plan that we had all day. If we ain't going 8 to do that, I'm offended by it. 9 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: You are - - You 10 are - - I'll tell you what. Anybody who tries to 11 talk over anybody, though, is out of here. Do 12 you understand? One person talks at a time. You 13 got a court reporter here. We're trying to - - 14 We're - - We're trying to run this meeting with 15 decent discipline. And I am going to cut people 16 off if they just keep rambling on and talking 17 over each other. We can't conduct the meeting 18 that way. This has got to be structured. It's 19 got to be disciplined. Okay? 20 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair, if I may - - 21 if I may add, if someone's coming up and 22 duplicating some testimony, of course, we don't 23 want to have to hear everybody come up and say 24 the same thing. But if people got something to 25 say and it's different information, we need to 00033 1 have that information. So they - - For them to 2 - - They may not be able to express themselves in 3 one minute. That may not happen. No one else 4 has been required to do that all day. So just 5 the fairness of it, I mean, and you - - you know 6 me and I know you. I'm not trying to insinuate 7 anything. I'm just saying I don't like the 8 sudden change in the rules to the meeting. I 9 just don't. 10 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Mr. Chair, if I 11 might make an editorial on the - - 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman 13 Witkowski. 14 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: On the - - On the 15 rules, just that - - Alderman Wade just indicated 16 that if you - - We don't necessarily want to hear 17 the same thing, but we do want you to come up 18 with your name and address, and say pro or con 19 even if you - - if it is that the - - I think we 20 should have the record that you were here and 21 opposed it, even if it's the same thing. We 22 don't want you to repeat the same thing, but at 23 least come up and say that you are here. Is that 24 fair, Mr. Chair? 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: George, come up 00034 1 complete your testimony, please. 2 We're going to change court reporters. 3 Are we going to change court reporters? No, 4 we're keeping court reporters. Okay. All right. 5 Alderman Gordon, do you have a question of 6 George? 7 ALDERMAN GORDON: I have 8 clarifications. 9 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: George, did you 10 have anything further to say? 11 THE WITNESS: No, I think that's about 12 it. I apologize if I was going over, but it 13 seemed like I was getting the second degree, when 14 I thought that everything should be able to be 15 taken right off of 9-1-1. Because whenever there 16 are gunshots, they were all filed through 9-1-1 17 from my household. 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. Next 19 person to testify, please. 20 THE WITNESS: Melvin Brooks. Property 21 owner at 5306 through 5310 West Center Street. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: And how far away 23 are you from there? 24 THE WITNESS: Two buildings away from 25 there. 00035 1 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. And your 2 testimony? 3 THE WITNESS: My testimony is for this, 4 for his establishment. I've been owning that 5 property for six years now, and it has been a 6 nuisance over there. A lot of gun shootings, a 7 lot of drug deals, a lot of urinating in - - in 8 the back of the yard. Also, I lost my nephew 9 over there for - - That's a going on 10 investigation for December the 9th of 2006. And 11 also, I want to just say to the committee is 12 this. Gordon has sat on that board when he was 13 opening an establishment, and I just ask you all 14 to not let him confuse you all that you all come 15 to a decision for - - for that he do not get 16 another license over there. 17 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. 18 Alderman, do you have any questions of this 19 witness? 20 ALDERMAN GORDON: No questions. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any - - 22 THE APPLICANT: I have a question, sir. 23 ALDERMAN GORDON: Oh, go ahead. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead. 25 THE APPLICANT: Yeah. You said you own 00036 1 the building at 5306 to 5310. What kind of 2 building is that? 3 THE WITNESS: That's a bar, restaurant, 4 and it has two apartments on the top of it. 5 THE APPLICANT: Have you approached 6 this committee before for a liquor license for 7 the establishment? 8 THE WITNESS: Yes, I did. 9 THE APPLICANT: And what happened? 10 THE WITNESS: I was denied. 11 THE APPLICANT: Was I there at the 12 hearing? 13 THE WITNESS: No, you were not. 14 THE APPLICANT: Yes, I was. 15 JARED: Mr. Chair, relevance. 16 THE APPLICANT: It is relevant, because 17 it is past - - 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Hey, wait a 19 minute. Wait a minute. 20 THE APPLICANT: It is relevant, because 21 this man has been coming here to speak against my 22 license, because when Alderman Gordon was - - was 23 the Chairman of the committee, this man was 24 trying to open Cream City Club, and I came here 25 to speak against his establishment. So ever 00037 1 since then, he's been getting back at me to come 2 before this committee to speak against me. 3 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. He gave - - 4 He gave his testimony. You gave your rebuttal. 5 THE WITNESS: Could I respond to that? 6 To his questions. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead. 8 THE WITNESS: I never applied for no 9 liquor license. The individual that was renting 10 my establishment applied for a liquor license. 11 I'm not in the - - I don't run taverns. I'm into 12 real estate. I buy and rehab and rent out. So 13 as far as for that, that's where the that stands 14 at. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Thank you. 16 Next person to testify, please. 17 THE WITNESS: My name is Robert Moffit. 18 I was a resident at 5310 West Center. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: How close is that? 20 THE WITNESS: That's two - - two 21 buildings from his establishment, from the - - 22 from the establishment there. 23 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Proceed. 24 THE WITNESS: He's the applicant here. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 00038 1 THE WITNESS: I lived there for four 2 years, and in four years I heard at least 30 3 gunshots in the middle of the night, easily. I 4 have hit my floor. I got them in the building. 5 The building, I could take you over there and 6 take - - I could have taken some pictures and 7 brought them down and show it, but I have heard 8 them, done it. I have walked out my door and had 9 people run me over and fight with me. You 10 understand? Because I told them to get from in 11 front of my - - my establishment where I'm living 12 at. This stuff has happened on a constant basis 13 every day they open. You think? Police, I know 14 you - - They be there on the spot every time they 15 opened. It happens every time. 16 Garbage, from one end to the end. They 17 even had the windows broke on their 18 establishment, shot up. You understand? I had 19 my car tore up in the back, because of his 20 establishment. They come out of the 21 establishment, tore up my car. I know they did. 22 Nonstop. And that's all I really got to say. I 23 know what's going on over there, because I lived 24 there. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Do you have any 00039 1 - - Do you have any questions of this witness? 2 ALDERMAN GORDON: Yes. 3 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead. 4 THE WITNESS: Come on. 5 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Moffit. 6 THE WITNESS: Yes. 7 ALDERMAN GORDON: You indicated that you 8 lived at 5310 West Center Street - - 9 THE WITNESS: Yes, I did. 10 ALDERMAN GORDON: - - four years? 11 THE WITNESS: Yes, I did. Four years, 12 I said. Four. 13 ALDERMAN GORDON: I said four years. 14 THE WITNESS: Yeah. Go ahead, Gordon. 15 ALDERMAN GORDON: Now, you - - You 16 stated that you heard gunshots coming - - 17 THE WITNESS: Numerous times. 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Let - - Let - - 19 Let - - 20 ALDERMAN GORDON: Can I ask a question? 21 THE WITNESS: Go ahead. Go ahead. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Yeah, let - - Just 23 be - - Please. 24 ALDERMAN GORDON: Now, you stated that 25 you heard gunshots coming for - - some 30 00040 1 gunshots over a four year period. Is that your 2 testimony? 3 THE WITNESS: Quite a few, yes. 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: And all these 5 gunshots came forth from - - 6 THE WITNESS: Well, they happened to be 7 on that - - 8 ALDERMAN GORDON: - - the 9 establishment. Is that what your testimony is? 10 THE WITNESS: No. My testimony is when 11 that establishment is open, that's when it 12 happens. 13 ALDERMAN GORDON: But you didn't see 14 individuals firing gunshots from the 15 establishment. 16 THE WITNESS: No, Gordon, I did not. 17 ALDERMAN GORDON: Okay. Now you no 18 longer live there. Correct? 19 THE WITNESS: Say what? 20 ALDERMAN GORDON: You no longer live at 21 5310. 22 THE WITNESS: No, I don't. 23 ALDERMAN GORDON: When did you move? 24 THE WITNESS: I moved a year ago. 25 ALDERMAN GORDON: Okay. Have you been 00041 1 back to the establishment since that time? 2 THE WITNESS: Yes, I do. All day 3 almost every day to work, to do work on the 4 building. 5 ALDERMAN GORDON: And you now know that 6 the establishment is only open two days a week. 7 THE WITNESS: Yes, I do. 8 ALDERMAN GORDON: Thank you. 9 THE WITNESS: Um-hmm. 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Next person to 11 testify. 12 THE APPLICANT: Are you still taking 13 opposition or support? 14 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Opposition. Next 15 person to testify in opposition. Is there anyone 16 else here to testify in opposition? 17 THE WITNESS: My name is Craig Brown, 18 and I'm a fairly new resident in Milwaukee. I 19 work for Grass Roots Organization. 20 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Where do you live 21 at? 22 THE WITNESS: On the corner. I live 23 right off of East 54th and Center. I just moved 24 there. It's, I want to say, 2712. It's a 25 duplex. From the last month that I've done 00042 1 observation actually on this tavern, I mean, 2 residents, we can't even park over there. I 3 mean, there's - - there's no respect for the 4 residential area around that neighborhood, 5 period. I mean, there's - - I mean, I help 6 volunteer like on a weekly basis to clean up, 7 help clean up that block from the beer bottles 8 and alcohol bottles. There's - - There's just no 9 respect. No kind of control on Tuesdays and 10 Thursdays. 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any questions of 12 this witness? 13 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair. 14 THE APPLICANT: Sir? 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead. 16 THE APPLICANT: Can you repeat the 17 address that you just mentioned? 18 THE WITNESS: It's 2712 or 13. I stay 19 in a duplex. I just recently moved in there. 20 THE APPLICANT: Well, there is no 2712 21 or 2713 North 54th. And you reside there, again? 22 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir, I do. 23 THE APPLICANT: This man does not live 24 in the neighborhood. 25 THE WITNESS: I just recently moved in 00043 1 the neighborhood, sir. 2 THE APPLICANT: And why is it that you 3 don't know your address? If you live in a place, 4 you're supposed to know your address. 5 THE WITNESS: I - - 6 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Wait a minute. 7 Wait. Wait. One person at a time. How many 8 times I got to say that? I'm going to get 9 accused of being unfair again? And you guys just 10 keep talking to each other. All right? 11 THE WITNESS: I'm not from Milwaukee. 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Ah - - 13 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair. 14 THE APPLICANT: Sorry, sir. I am just 15 trying to get the address where he live. 16 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Oh. Alderman 17 Wade, do you want to run the meeting? 18 ALDERMAN WADE: No, I - - I want the 19 floor when I get the opportunity. When you get 20 the opportunity, I would - - 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: You have the 22 floor. Go ahead. 23 ALDERMAN WADE: He's saying his address 24 is 27 something. Right? 25 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 00044 1 ALDERMAN WADE: And if I'm - - if I'm 2 not mistaken, Center is the 2700 block. Is that 3 correct? 4 THE APPLICANT: Yes. 5 THE WITNESS: Yes. 6 ALDERMAN WADE: So he could actually be 7 living on 51st or - - I mean, 50, what are we - - 8 50 - - 9 THE WITNESS: Four. 10 ALDERMAN WADE: Four. Or 53rd, and his 11 address would be 27 something North 23rd - - I 12 mean, 53rd or 54th Street. So he could live in 13 the neighborhood with a address starting with 27. 14 He just don't live on Center Street. He lives on 15 one of the number streets. So I wanted to just 16 make that clear. 17 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. The way I 18 understand it, he testified that he was there. 19 He just moved there. And he testified that he 20 doesn't actually believe that he lives there. 21 THE APPLICANT: The reason why - - 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: The rest is for us 23 to decide. 24 THE APPLICANT: The reason why I say 25 that is 2700 block, which is 2706, that is a 00045 1 school. The opposite side, that is 2709, which 2 is an apartment building, and it's a day care. 3 So if he's saying he lives over there, I think 4 he's giving a false testimony. That's what I'm 5 trying to get to. 6 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Well, we - - we 7 - - we heard all that, and I guess that's for the 8 - - He's saying he lives there. You're saying 9 he's not. We heard all the testimony. So we'll 10 have to decide what kind of weight to put on that 11 testimony. 12 THE WITNESS: I'm - - I'm four doors 13 down. 14 ALDERMAN PUENTE: He testified he 15 wasn't sure. I mean, he kind of like rolled his 16 eyes, tried - - okay, what is it? 27 - - So he's 17 not absolutely sure. 18 THE WITNESS: I live four doors down 19 from the day care. 20 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Okay. 21 THE WITNESS: I'm renting a room. 22 ALDERMAN PUENTE: So don't - - don't 23 get caught up on, you know, that, because he said 24 he's new to Milwaukee. He wasn't sure. So let's 25 move forward. Okay. The Chair and everybody on 00046 1 this committee will decide whether or not he's 2 telling the truth or not that he lives in the 3 neighborhood. I believe that he lives in the 4 neighborhood. 5 But my question to him now is when you 6 talk about parking complaints and that in the 7 neighborhood, are they only on certain days of 8 the week, or is it all the time, because it's my 9 understanding he's only open on - - 10 THE WITNESS: Tuesday and Thursdays. 11 ALDERMAN PUENTE: What? 12 THE WITNESS: I have a rental vehicle. 13 It's Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can't even park 14 in front of the building where I'm renting. 15 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Okay. So it's - - 16 THE WITNESS: So if I'm not home by - - 17 Oh, sorry. 18 ALDERMAN PUENTE: It's usually the days 19 that he is open then. 20 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 21 ALDERMAN PUENTE: That's - - Okay. 22 Thank you. 23 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Wade. 25 ALDERMAN WADE: I'd like to ask the 00047 1 owner. It's been a couple of people who - - who 2 talked about your garbage situation, and someone 3 even said that you don't even own garbage cans. 4 Do you own garbage cans, and are your - - is your 5 garbage service picked up by the City of 6 Milwaukee? Is it paid for by a private service? 7 Could you comment on that part, please? 8 THE APPLICANT: Well, that's a good 9 question. The reason why I don't - - I do not 10 have a garbage can. The reason why is because of 11 this man over here. When I had the garbage can, 12 I have the garbage can with the Onyx. And he 13 complains all the time that there is garbage in 14 the alley, there's broken bottles from the alley. 15 So if I don't have that garbage can, if I don't 16 have to take garbage in the alley, that is my 17 problem. So what I do is at the end of the day, 18 I put it inside my van and take it to the - - the 19 city dumps on Industrial Avenue. That's what 20 I've been doing for the past two years, because - 21 - because I want to address his concern, because 22 he always blame me that I'm responsible for the 23 garbage in the alley. So that, you know, that 24 would not be there. So I have to do that. At 25 the end of the night, take it to the city dump, 00048 1 and that's it. 2 ALDERMAN WADE: Thank you. 3 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Thank you 4 for your testimony. Next person to testify. 5 Anybody else to testify in opposition? Anybody 6 else to testify in opposition? Okay. Let's have 7 the people come and start testifying in support. 8 MR. SCHRIMPF: Mr. Chairman. 9 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Mr. Schrimpf. 10 MR. SCHRIMPF: Can I put in quick - - 11 two quick questions of Mr. George. 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Yes, you may. 13 MR. SCHRIMPF: Thank you. Number one, 14 I don't really understand this. You don't have a 15 garbage service and you put them in your van and 16 take it to the dump? 17 THE APPLICANT: That's what I do. 18 MR. SCHRIMPF: Okay. Second question. 19 You're only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays? 20 THE APPLICANT: Yes. 21 MR. SCHRIMPF: No other days of the 22 week. 23 THE APPLICANT: I decide not to open 24 other days, because about four years ago I 25 promised the neighbors that I'm not going to have 00049 1 radio, no TV commercials, so that my crowds can 2 go there. And because of that, I'm only busy on 3 Tuesdays and Thursdays. The remaining Fridays 4 and Saturdays I do not open because of my own 5 safety, and my employees, because it's very slow. 6 Nobody shows up. And because of armed robberies 7 I know that we have in the neighborhood, so I 8 really don't want to jeopardize anybody's life, 9 so I have to cut off those days and just open on 10 Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's it. 11 MR. SCHRIMPF: Okay. All right. Thank 12 you. 13 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Sir. 14 THE WITNESS: Good afternoon. My name 15 is Babs Oversiah. I am a relative of Mr. 16 Olayinka George. 17 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Where do you live, 18 sir? 19 THE WITNESS: I live at 3403 North 35th 20 Street. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: How far away is 22 that from - - 23 THE WITNESS: That's precisely like 24 35th and Burleigh. He lives on 53rd and Center. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Proceed. 00050 1 THE WITNESS: As some members of the 2 committee will probably recollect, Mr. George has 3 appeared before you guys on numerous occasions. 4 And there have been some oppositions as well as 5 supports. And one of his main problems is having 6 to work with George. And I believe most of these 7 things were resolved at one point in time. 8 Mister - - Mr. George has owned the establishment 9 for almost nine years, and out of those nine 10 years, I would say the very first five years, he 11 used to open nearly every day. And because of 12 ongoing conflict with Mr. Wagner, in particular, 13 he had to come before this committee on numerous 14 occasions. And he decided to limit the opening 15 days to two days, which he just testified to. On 16 Fridays and Saturdays he doesn't really open, 17 except if there is any social gathering going on. 18 Now, on a few occasions we've had 19 police called over there by some anonymous 20 callers, and on one of those instances was the 21 one that was mentioned in the report, there was 22 an alleged shooting. Somebody must have called. 23 I don't know exactly who made that call. 24 However, I happened to be there. And I was 25 outside when the police came in. And the very 00051 1 first thing the officer said was, "Are we at the 2 right address?" I said, "What do you mean?" 3 They said because somebody had called and said 4 there was a shooting. Apparently, it - - it 5 didn't look like it, because if there was any 6 shooting, we wouldn't be - - we wouldn't have the 7 guts to stand outside, and it would be so 8 chaotic. But as far as he could see there was 9 nothing going on. It was then that we found out 10 that perhaps it was the bartender, disgruntled 11 bartender that made that anonymous call. 12 Now, the officer, however, they went 13 around. They did whatever they had to do. They 14 did their search, and they came back and said, 15 "Well, you know, we didn't see anything, and we 16 just hope if you do see anything, you just call 17 us." You cooperate with us. And we said, "Fine. 18 We'll do that." But they eventually left that 19 night, and nothing happened. 20 On another occasion they did come in, 21 because there was another call that somebody said 22 there was the loud music going on. They came 23 into the establishment, and they checked around. 24 One of them did say it didn't look like there was 25 the loud music, but we all have different way of 00052 1 defining loud music. Apparently, maybe somebody 2 just didn't appreciate the volume of the music at 3 that particular time, and we should just slow it 4 down. We told the DJ, I think he's here tonight 5 to testify, and he probably - - I mean, at that 6 particular time he - - he turned down the music. 7 I don't know, although I heard from the 8 testimony, that they subsequently came back and 9 issued a citation, because the music was turned 10 back on. At that point, I don't even know. I 11 wasn't aware of that. 12 And one other thing I'd like to say 13 that Mr. George does travel a lot of times. He 14 goes out of the country, and myself, and 15 including some family members, we have taken it 16 upon ourselves to help him run the business. And 17 on those occasions that I have been there over 18 the past one year, I have never seen anything out 19 of the ordinary. Needless to say, I am also a 20 bar owner. I do own a bar on 50 - - 20 - - 35th 21 and Fond du Lac, over there. Alderman Wade is my 22 alderman in that district. And I try to ensure 23 that I comply with the rules and regulation and 24 to make my neighbors happy. And that's, again, 25 what we do when we go over to Mr. George's 00053 1 establishment, to make sure that everybody's 2 happy, or at least we comply with the rules and 3 regulation. 4 This testimony we have here tonight, 5 especially from - - from Mr. Wagner, there's been 6 some bad - - bad blood going on between Mr. 7 George and Mr. Wagner, and I think they should 8 come to rest at one point in time. I mean, there 9 have been some ways to work out this issue, but 10 apparently they just are at each other's throat. 11 And I don't know what else Mister - - Mr. 12 Olayinka George can do to appease him, because he 13 had even offered him some money to repair his 14 garage that he claimed was damaged by his 15 patrons. 16 JARED: Well, that - - 17 THE WITNESS: Again, Mr. Olayinka 18 George can even testify to that. He will tell 19 you more about it. And there was some times, 20 too, like I said, that the patrons after leaving 21 the establishment, it's just natural - - Not to 22 say that I condone it, but they try to misbehave. 23 And we always take it upon ourselves to go out 24 there and talk to these people to please this 25 environment and let the neighbors, you know, stay 00054 1 at our end, be peaceful. But all I'm trying to 2 say is that Mis - - Mr. George has gone to a 3 great extent to at least make sure that he 4 maintains peace with his neighbors, and he tries 5 his best. I mean, he even, like I said, he even 6 cut down the number of days he operates because 7 of these kinds of things. And two days out of 8 the six, seven nights that he used to open, I 9 mean, I don't even know what - - what else he can 10 do at this point. And that's all I got to say. 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any questions of 12 this witness? 13 ALDERMAN GORDON: Nothing. 14 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Committee 15 members, any questions of this witness? No. 16 Thank you for your testimony. Next witness, 17 please. 18 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 19 THE WITNESS: Hello. 20 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Hi. 21 THE WITNESS: My name is Michelle 22 Price. I live at 2434 North 46th Street. I am a 23 senior criminal justice student, and I'm an 24 employee, also, of George. 25 COURT REPORTER: Could you speak a 00055 1 little slower, please? 2 THE WITNESS: A little slower? 3 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Yeah. 4 THE WITNESS: Okay. My name is 5 Michelle Price. 2434 North 46th Street, 6 Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And I'm an employee of 7 George. And I'm a senior criminal justice 8 student. 9 Through his establishment I have been 10 able to fund my education through his 11 establishment as an employee of his. I have been 12 working there for four years. We clean out the 13 garbage every single night. We take out the 14 garbage at least four times a night, and George 15 delivers the garbage to the trash dump. Sorry 16 about that. 17 Through his estab - - This man - - If 18 you drive past, we are only open on Tuesdays and 19 Thursdays. George is outside. He is not inside. 20 He is outside making sure there is no trash 21 outside. He stays outside - - His brother's 22 inside managing what goes on inside. I was 23 working the night that - - that there was an 24 alleged shooting. There was no shooting. There 25 was no shooting. None of our patrons went out of 00056 1 the back door. And it hurts me to see someone 2 say things like that, because this man, honestly, 3 honestly tries to help the community out. 4 If someone comes to him personally and 5 say, George, we're having a problem, he goes to 6 beyond an extent to make that individual happy. 7 I come to work. I say George we got a couple 8 pieces of paper out here. He gets right on it. 9 And if he doesn't, I get on it. This man goes 10 beyond what he has to do. He lets other 11 individuals from the community come to - - come 12 into his establishment and make money. These 13 individuals, sometimes they don't have other 14 means to make sources of money. Sometimes they 15 sell teddy bears. Sometimes they sell flowers. 16 He doesn't tell them no. Other establishments, 17 you can't do that in the City of Milwaukee. He 18 says, "Go in there and sell your flowers." 19 Because he wants to help people, and only from 20 his establishment. I was able to pay for my 21 books. I was able to pay for my tuition. I was 22 able to pay for my board, everything. I've had a 23 better life because of his establishment, and 24 I've been working there four years. So I 25 completely support this man to the fullest. 00057 1 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Questions of this 2 witness? 3 ALDERMAN GORDON: No questions. 4 MR. SCHRIMPF: Mr. Chairman? 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Mr. Schrimpf. 6 MR. SCHRIMPF: Thank you. A number of 7 witnesses, ma'am - - Ms. Price? 8 THE WITNESS: Yes. 9 MR. SCHRIMPF: A number of witnesses, 10 ma'am, have testified to gunshots when the place 11 is open. Now you indicated that on the night 12 that has received a lot of attention here, you 13 didn't hear any gunshots and there were no 14 gunshots, at least according to your testimony. 15 Have you ever heard gunshots when the place is 16 open? 17 THE WITNESS: I have been working there 18 four years. I'm a young lady, and I get in my 19 car and out of my car. I have heard no gunshots. 20 That environment has changed completely. I have 21 heard no gunshots. I have no problem walking to 22 my car, alone. And my car may be parked in front 23 of the establishment. It may be parked on 54th 24 Street. I walk to my car alone every single 25 night. We're done by 1:30 a.m. We're not open 00058 1 until 2:30. Our patrons don't stay that long. 2 MR. SCHRIMPF: And by working at this 3 establishment only two nights a week, you have 4 been able to pay for your education - - 5 THE WITNESS: Yes. 6 MR. SCHRIMPF: - - books and - - 7 THE WITNESS: Yes. 8 MR. SCHRIMPF: - - rent and all of 9 that. 10 THE WITNESS: Yes. 11 MR. SCHRIMPF: On only two nights a 12 week? 13 THE WITNESS: Two nights a week, I make 14 enough money to pay for all of those items, two 15 nights a week. And I've been doing it for four 16 years. I will graduate in December, 2007. 17 MR. SCHRIMPF: That's all I have, Mr. 18 Chairman. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. Are 20 there any other questions of this witness? 21 JARED: Yes. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Jared, go ahead. 23 JARED: Thank you. Are - - Is it your 24 testimony that you have never seen a disturbance, 25 police, gunshots, noise at this establishment - - 00059 1 THE WITNESS: No gunshots, no noise. 2 The night that they - - Yes, that's my testimony. 3 And the night that they were called, we had - - 4 As employees, and as our patrons are there, we 5 stepped back and we let the police come and do 6 their job. There were no gunshots that night. 7 None. There were no casings found. There were 8 no gunshots that night. None of our patrons went 9 out the back door. None of that. 10 JARED: Aside from gunshots. You 11 testified that - - You testified that in your 12 experience there you have seen no noise 13 disturbances, no altercations, fights, cars, 14 traffic. Any of the things that we have 15 complaints about, you've never seen any of this? 16 THE WITNESS: I have never seen any of 17 that. George stands outside and he makes sure of 18 that. And if you want to drive down there, as 19 the Alderman's assistant, feel free to drive down 20 there tonight. George stands outside and greets 21 his patrons, and say, "How are you doing?" If 22 anyone is getting out of line or anything of that 23 nature, he lets them know you need to go home. 24 He stands outside. And if there's papers, he 25 gets the papers. He stands outside. So as his 00060 1 assistant, if you want to come down tonight and 2 see exactly what goes on, feel free to come down 3 and do so. 4 JARED: I have, ma'am. Thank you. 5 THE WITNESS: Okay. 6 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: All right. Any 7 other questions by members of the committee? 8 Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Next 9 witness, please. 10 THE WITNESS: Hi. My name is Janice 11 Wilson. And I live at 2720 North 54th, and I run 12 a day care. My day care is open from six a.m. to 13 12 midnight. I can look right out my room and 14 look right in the back of George's tavern. I've 15 never heard any noise. I've never had a problem 16 with him. One of my vans - - I have two vans. 17 One of my vans sits in his parking lot. I've 18 never had no car - - no - - nobody breaking in 19 the van, nobody breaking no windows. I haven't 20 heard any gunshots. I haven't heard - - Well, 21 traffic comes through the alley, because I'm on 22 the alley. But that's normal. I haven't heard 23 - - I haven't heard no gunshots, not since I've 24 been over there. I've been there since December 25 28th, 1999, and I never heard anything outside of 00061 1 the normal. 2 And my day care, I'm the only one. 3 There's three day cares on that corner. I'm one. 4 It's a day care on the other side of me, and it's 5 day care kitty-corner. I'm the only one that's 6 open until midnight that carries kids. The one 7 across the street, I think she's open until 11 8 o'clock, but she - - she doesn't have children 9 there. I'm the only one. My last kid goes home 10 at 12 midnight. If I don't take them home, then 11 the parent will come get them. 12 I also have a parent that works at the 13 3rd District Police Department, and she's also a 14 9-1-1 operator, and I haven't heard her say 15 anything about no gunshots, even though I asked 16 her, and she said, "No, I haven't - - I haven't 17 heard anything." And this baby is in my day 18 care, has been in my day care for four years. 19 So - - 20 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente. 22 ALDERMAN PUENTE: As a matter of order, 23 she can only testify to what, you know, she's 24 witnessed rather than hearsay. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. 00062 1 THE WITNESS: No. I'm - - I'm telling 2 everything that I know. 3 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente. 5 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Would you inform the 6 person who is testifying that she can only 7 testify to what she personally has observed, not 8 dispatch or anybody else. That's hearsay. 9 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I prefer Mr. 10 Schrimpf explain it. 11 THE WITNESS: No, I'm not saying that 12 - - that's hearsay. I'm just saying I have a 13 child in my day care that her mother works for 9- 14 1-1, and I've never heard her say anything to me 15 about any shootings. And I haven't heard about 16 any shootings. 17 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Mr. Schrimpf. 18 MR. SCHRIMPF: That would not be 19 hearsay, believe it or not. 20 ALDERMAN PUENTE: It is not? 21 MR. SCHRIMPF: No, that would not be. 22 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Well, then you have 23 to explain it to me. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 25 THE WITNESS: So, if there have been 00063 1 any shootings, maybe it's been in the air, but I 2 haven't heard any. And that's all I have to say. 3 I think George is a good man. I've never seen 4 any garbage. I haven't had any problems out of 5 him. He's just a nice guy, and I - - and I agree 6 with the lady right there. He's a good guy, and 7 he helps the community to - - He - - He just 8 helps the community, and I'm one of them. I - - 9 I help the community, too, along with everybody 10 else that's with him. That's all I got to say. 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Jared, do you have 12 questions of this witness? 13 JARED: Could you - - I'm sorry. I 14 missed it. What was the address of the day care? 15 THE WITNESS: My address is 2720 North 16 54th. 17 JARED: And you're immediately behind? 18 THE WITNESS: I'm immediately behind 19 him. My day care - - The - - The yard to the day 20 care is right directly behind him. 21 JARED: And what was your name, again, 22 ma'am? I'm sorry. 23 THE WITNESS: Janice Wilson. 24 JARED: Janice? 25 THE WITNESS: Janice Wilson. 00064 1 JARED: Thank you. 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Ms. Wilson, I have 3 a question for you. Were you invited to this 4 community meeting that Alderman Murphy refers to? 5 THE WITNESS: Well, I had got a letter. 6 I got a letter. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Oh, did you come? 8 THE WITNESS: Huh? 9 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Did you come to 10 that meeting? 11 THE WITNESS: What? 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: When Alderman 13 Murphy was here, he referred - - 14 THE WITNESS: No, I didn't come. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: - - to a community 16 meeting. 17 THE WITNESS: No, because I have 18 children from six a.m. to midnight. I can't get 19 away all the time. 20 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 21 THE WITNESS: It just so happened I 22 didn't have any kids there today, so. 23 JARED: Mr. Chairman. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Jared. 25 JARED: Both other day cares were able 00065 1 to attend that meeting, for the record. 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 3 THE WITNESS: Well, the other two day 4 cares, they're not open long enough to even know 5 what's going on at - - at his establishment. 6 JARED: The reason those other day 7 cares aren't open longer is because we would not 8 approve their applications to have day cares to 9 be open as late as she is. She was there before 10 us, and her application's already done. We 11 cannot, in good conscience, the alderman feels 12 and the board agreed, to have children past, I 13 believe, it's eight o'clock is the cut-off we're 14 giving, based on the extreme number of incidents 15 related to this bar. We're extremely concerned 16 is that one of these days you're going to wake up 17 and read a newspaper and it's going to have a 18 dead child, because a stray gunshot just like we 19 saw. 20 THE WITNESS: No, because my children 21 are in the house. 22 JARED: Well - - 23 THE WITNESS: And my kids are - - 24 JARED: Mr. Chair, that's why the other 25 day cares are not open later. 00066 1 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. Okay. 2 Any other questions of this witness? Okay. Next 3 - - Thank you for your testimony. 4 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Next witness. 6 THE WITNESS: My name is Jonathan 7 Dowling. I live at 2035 North Holton. I don't 8 live in the area, but I've been frequenting - - 9 I've been frequenting the establishment for the 10 last probably three or four years. 11 I just want to testify that on my 12 personal safety, I attend establishments like Mr. 13 George's. I hang out downtown on the weekend - - 14 on the weekends, Fridays, and Saturdays, and 15 Sundays. And I'd like to testify that my safety 16 - - I feel just as safe there as I do downtown, 17 as I do on the south side, as I do everywhere 18 else. That's my testimony. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Any 20 questions of this witness? 21 ALDERMAN GORDON: No questions. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: No. Thank you for 23 your testimony. Next witness, please. 24 THE WITNESS: Hello. My name is Ronald 25 Dowling. I live at 2804 - - 2802 North 44th 00067 1 Street. I've been the DJ at that bar for over 2 five years. And, I mean, sometimes in the past 3 there have been problems, but like he said, he 4 changed his hours. Now he's only open two days a 5 week. I've seen a big improvement, and as far as 6 any police activity and things like that in the 7 area. And usually - - On - - On the night that 8 he happened to get that ticket for the - - the 9 loud music, whatever, I was the one that was 10 DJing, and when the police came, he told me to 11 turn it down. I immediately turned it down. And 12 at the end of the night he informed me that he 13 still got a ticket. Now, I - - When I came in 14 here, I heard them say that the music was turned 15 back up to the level that it was before. That 16 wasn't true, because this man yelled and screams 17 at me all night about making sure that the music 18 is not loud, because he don't want to disturb the 19 people. Sometimes I - - I may get a little out 20 of hand, but he definitely keeps me in line. 21 Like I said, I've been - - I have a - - 22 a strong relationship with him. I've been there 23 for over five years. There are certain things - 24 - It's not necessarily his bar. It's a pretty 25 active neighborhood, I will say it like that. 00068 1 Okay. So, I mean, to - - to say that everything 2 in the neighborhood happened because of his 3 establishment, that's - - that doesn't sit very 4 well if you actually think about it in the area. 5 But I do know that things have calmed down a lot. 6 And it's a big difference over there. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. Any 8 questions of this witness? No questions. The 9 next person to testify, please. 10 THE WITNESS: Good afternoon. My name 11 is Gloria Hopsin. I live at 6570 North 80th 12 Street. But I also go to my daughter's house on 13 13th Street. And I go to Mr. George's bar. I 14 don't like to go to bars, because I'm scared, and 15 will start a whole lot of fighting and stuff. So 16 I go to his bar, because I know I'm going to be 17 safe there, because I know he have his bodyguards 18 there, and I see him there. And I go to another 19 bar, it's the same way. My safety come first, 20 and I know that bar is safe, and I ain't never 21 been up in there and nobody been fighting. I 22 ain't never heard no shooting. When the bar 23 close, that's the only time I ever seen the 24 police car come up through there during the time 25 that he was getting ready to close. But other 00069 1 than that, I ain't never been up there and 2 hearing no shooting. Nobody ever got to 3 fighting, because if they had, I wouldn't have 4 never went back up in there. I - - I'd stay 5 away. So I ain't - - I ain't never seen no 6 fighting or heard no gunshots since I've been 7 going there. So this is the - - He's a nice man. 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. 9 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair. 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Hold it. Alderman 11 Wade. 12 ALDERMAN WADE: Now, how long you say 13 you been going to his bar? 14 THE WITNESS: I been going there for 15 like about two months. I don't go every Tuesday 16 and Thursday night, but when I do go there, I go 17 with my two daughters. Then I'll go outside and 18 start their vehicle so we can leave, and I'll go 19 out by myself. And normally, I don't walk out of 20 no bar by myself, because I know how people is 21 outside the bar. So I never have had no trouble. 22 And I was safe to go out back, start the car up, 23 get it warm, for them to get - - get back in the 24 car when they don't want to get in a cold car. 25 So I never have heard a gunshot, and I never seen 00070 1 a fight there. 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any other 3 questions of this witness? 4 JARED: Mr. Chair. 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Jared, go ahead. 6 JARED: Ma'am, you testified that you 7 feel safe at the establishment because Mr. George 8 has bodyguards are there. Did I hear that right? 9 THE WITNESS: Yes. And - - And I have 10 been there with him there. And - - 11 JARED: What - - What do you mean by 12 bodyguards? 13 THE WITNESS: They have security at the 14 door to check everybody that come in to make sure 15 they ain't got no weapons on them or nothing like 16 that. That's what I mean about it. Um-hnh. 17 JARED: Thank you. 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any other 19 questions? Thank you for your testimony. Next 20 witness, please? 21 THE WITNESS: My name is Darnell Ford. 22 I live at 3756 North 13th Street. I have been 23 going to George's bar probably pretty much since 24 it opened. I'm not going to say that I have not 25 seen a fight or that people don't get out of 00071 1 control, because it can happen in any situation. 2 I'm not going to say I haven't heard any 3 gunshots. But it was not in the bar. Everywhere 4 you go you hear gunshots. I live on 13th and 5 Atkinson. I hear gunshots every night. But I'm 6 not going to say it's because of the bar that's 7 right on the corner, or because it's the liquor 8 store. You cannot blame him for the way people 9 act. You cannot do that. 10 I - - I go there. I go in and there's 11 nothing. You know, if someone's outside acting a 12 fool, that's not his fault. You know what I'm 13 saying? We - - I don't know how many of us go 14 together, but once - - once we're in, we're safe. 15 When I go out, I'm safe. I can walk to my car. 16 Or they're already standing outside. When I walk 17 up, they're already standing outside, pretty much 18 just like everybody's testified. So I just 19 wanted to, you know, say that he's a pretty good 20 guy. It's not his fault for what other people 21 do. But he try to make sure that us on the 22 inside is safe. Like my mom said, their 23 security, they check everybody. They pat you 24 down. They look in your purses, and they make 25 sure - - And they make rounds. They go through 00072 1 and they look in the bathrooms, and they make 2 sure that no one is back there doing dope. They 3 make sure no one has pistols, no one is fighting. 4 And as soon as there is a fight, it's shut down, 5 they get out. And it's not every day I've gone. 6 Like I said, I'm there almost every Tuesday and 7 Thursday, so I just wanted to say that. 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. Any 9 questions of this witness? 10 JARED: Mr. Chair? 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Go ahead, Jared. 12 JARED: It's your testimony then that 13 there have been some incidents of fights or - - 14 or noise - - 15 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry. I can't hear 16 you. 17 JARED: It's your testimony then that 18 there have been incidents, fights, noise? 19 THE WITNESS: Yeah, I mean, that's 20 pretty common. 21 JARED: Okay. Thank you. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Next person to 23 testify, please. 24 THE WITNESS: Hello. My name is Mary 25 Harrell. I'm a bar owner in the area. 00073 1 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Where do you live? 2 THE WITNESS: Where do I live? 8871G 3 North Swan Road. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. 5 THE WITNESS: But I have a business in 6 the area. I've known George for about five or 7 six years. And I'm basically here to say this is 8 a bar owner's nightmare, not to have good 9 neighbors. If you have neighbors that don't want 10 you to be there, that don't want you to have a 11 business that you really have a right to have, 12 because this is a capitalistic society, and we 13 have a right to have businesses, then you have 14 trouble. My granddaughter goes to his place, and 15 she always says good things about it. So I - - I 16 know it in that aspect, because she goes there 17 quite frequently. 18 But I think what this committee needs 19 to realize is that it's not an easy job doing 20 business in the City of Milwaukee. It is not an 21 easy job doing business in the inner city, and it 22 is not an easy job to do business when you have 23 people that don't want you to do business. Now, 24 when you start talking about shooting, that's 25 almost anywhere you go. I mean, we listen to the 00074 1 radio and we read the newspaper, and what we find 2 is that people are getting shot everywhere. They 3 even had a shooting here in City Hall. They had 4 one at the County. So to blame the bar owners, I 5 think you're putting the burden on us that should 6 not be there. We are not responsible. All you 7 can do is take control of a situation once 8 something starts to happen. Now, I don't know if 9 there's been any shootings in his bar or not. I 10 - - I really don't know. I only go there if we 11 have something that we all get together at. 12 But what I do know is that if you have 13 a business owner that takes the time - - the type 14 of care that this man appears to have taken - - I 15 don't even know how he stays open on Tuesday and 16 Thursdays and make any money. So apparently he 17 has a devotion to - - to that particular 18 neighborhood where he wants to work with them. I 19 think it's unreasonable to have a business and 20 you got to go to Tuesday and Thursdays. 21 Something is fundamentally wrong with that. 22 You're paying your fees. You're paying your 23 dues, and then if you call the police, they say 24 you shouldn't call the police. Well, we're 25 taxpayers. So we should be allowed to call the 00075 1 police. We should be allowed to rely on their 2 services. 3 Now I go down on Water Street. I see 4 the police down there all the time. They're - - 5 They're canvassing the neighborhood. Then are 6 you saying to us because we're in the inner city 7 that we don't have the same right, we don't have 8 the same privileges. I don't think that's fair. 9 I think anybody that's willing to do business and 10 willing to work with their community, then this 11 committee should be willing to work with that 12 particular person. And just from watching him on 13 TV and knowing him, he's been willing to bend 14 over backwards. I'm not saying that I, as a bar 15 owner, would do that. I have neighborhood 16 support, so I don't have that problem. But when 17 I see neighbors come, and they're like, "We don't 18 want you in the neighborhood. We don't want you 19 in the neighborhood." Well, this is a business 20 district. He's in a business - - business 21 district. Unfortunately, the neighbors are 22 behind him, but on Center Street, that whole 23 strip is - - is business. It's zoned commercial. 24 And I just don't think it's fair to penalize this 25 man because he's trying to do a business that he 00076 1 has a right to do. 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any questions of 3 this witness? 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: No questions. 5 JARED: Yes. 6 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Ah, Jared, go 7 ahead. 8 JARED: You said you own a bar in the 9 area. What's the address of that bar? 10 THE WITNESS: Am I expecting 11 retaliation or something? 12 JARED: Of course not. 13 THE WITNESS: Oh, okay. I just want to 14 make sure. Hey, you know. 4106 West Lisbon. 15 Sisters and Brothers place. 16 JARED: 41st and Lisbon? 17 THE WITNESS: Yes, 41st and Lisbon. 18 JARED: Thank you. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Next witness, 20 please. Next person to testify. Is that it? 21 Anybody else want to testify? Going once, going 22 twice. Okay. 23 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Closed. Well, maybe 24 not. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Yeah. We knew 00077 1 you'd surface eventually. 2 THE WITNESS: Daren Deboe. D-E-B-O-E. 3 3039 North 28th Street. I am here on behalf of 4 the Great Lakes Beverage Association in 5 representing George here, or supporting George. 6 He's been a member of the organization for a long 7 time, and I think you ladies and gentlemen all 8 know what the Great Lakes Beverage Association 9 does in the way of scholarships and so forth. So 10 again, he - - he is community-minded. He is 11 involved. I think Ms. Harrell, who is also a 12 member of the GLBA, that's why we've been here 13 all day in support of one another, and of course, 14 we do suggest to each of our members as we meet, 15 we talk about working with the neighbors and 16 sometimes, as Ms. Harrell said, you got to bend 17 over backwards. And I think George has done 18 that. I don't know how much more he could do as 19 an operator to try to co-exist, so to speak, 20 within the neighborhood. So, again, from the 21 GLBA standpoint, we're just here monitoring and 22 - - and supporting and hoping that we see some 23 consistency here today. Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Any questions of 25 this witness? Okay. Anybody else wish to 00078 1 testify? I just - - Curiosity. What is - - 2 What's the capacity of the place? 3 THE APPLICANT: It's 108. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: 90? 5 THE APPLICANT: 108. 6 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: 108. 7 THE APPLICANT: Yes. 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. All right. 9 How many square feet is your operation? Do you 10 know how big it is, how large it is? How many 11 square feet? 12 THE APPLICANT: I don't know, offhand. 13 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: That's okay. 14 That's okay. 15 THE APPLICANT: I don't know what that 16 is. 17 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: All right. Any 18 other questions by members of the committee? Is 19 there anything you'd like to say in closing? 20 ALDERMAN GORDON: Thank you, Mr. 21 Chairman, members. In looking at the record over 22 the last license year we basically have a dubious 23 report of shots being fired with no corroborating 24 evidence to support how many shots, who - - who 25 even made - - made the call, except for the 00079 1 testimony by Mr. George that it was a disgruntled 2 employee. We have a noise nuisance pending court 3 date for August 15th of this year. And then we 4 have another noise situation whereupon no ticket 5 was written and no complaint was lodged. So I 6 think it's evident that Mr. George has taken 7 significant steps to change the tenor of running 8 the establishment over the past licensed year. 9 He only - - He is only open two days a week, 10 Thursdays - - Tuesdays and Thursdays. He's not 11 open on the weekends. This committee has heard 12 over the past nine years about the issues, and 13 the record is long. But in the last year he has 14 taken significant strides to reduce some of the 15 community issues and pressures. And granted that 16 some of the testimony today was kind of general, 17 a lot of testimony about shootings, but nothing 18 specific that relates to this establishment. And 19 for a business to operate in the City of 20 Milwaukee, as you all know, it takes a great deal 21 of investment. Over the last nine years he has 22 invested thousands and thousands of dollars into 23 this establishment, to the extent that now, only 24 open on two days a week, he is barely making ends 25 meet. But he still provides, as you've heard 00080 1 from the patrons who go to the bar, an 2 opportunity for people to come together and to 3 enjoy themselves. And he has done that obviously 4 at a major financial cost. 5 But here we have three incidents, 6 actually two incidents, and what you've heard 7 today in terms of testimony, simply - - simply 8 does not compute to what is before you as far as 9 the police report contains. So on behalf of Mr. 10 George, I would ask you to take that into 11 consideration and to allow him to have his 12 license renewed. We leave it up to the 13 discretion of the committee as to whatever 14 penalties that you may wish to consider, but we 15 just have these three incidents, and two noise 16 complaints, one that wasn't even written up. And 17 Mr. George, if you have anything that you want to 18 say, you can say it at this point. Thank you. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Mr. George, did 20 you want to say - - add anything? 21 THE APPLICANT: Yes. I do have 22 something to say. I'll say for the past nine 23 years that I've been running this establishment, 24 and I was grateful for the support that has been 25 given to me. It's not easy running a business in 00081 1 the inner city, because a lot of times there are 2 incidents that happen that's beyond your control. 3 And ever since I've been in the neighborhood, 4 I've done so many neighborhood committees, like 5 the Sherman Park, like the Tri-block Association, 6 and I have attended every meeting that takes 7 place. And knowing the kind of people that I am, 8 if I am not working with them, you will see a 9 whole lot of people here today, you know, 10 testifying against me. But these people knows 11 what kind of business that I run. 12 The two people that came here to 13 testify against me are two people that I have 14 personal problems with. But I never believed 15 that somebody would take personal affairs and 16 then incorporate it into a business affairs. And 17 also, I am extended my hand to the office of 18 Alderman Murphy, because ever since he's been 19 there, he hasn't been able - - he hasn't - - oh, 20 don't want to work with me. I don't know what 21 the reason is. Maybe it's personal, but I think 22 in this situation, you know, all these things 23 have been happening in the City of Milwaukee, 24 what we need to do is we need to work with each 25 other. You know, because at times this - - even 00082 1 with the government, this situation is beyond the 2 gov - - even the government's control. And it 3 - - There are so many times that I would call the 4 Alderman's office. He won't even call me back. 5 You know, like some incidents happen - - or maybe 6 he called me for some, if I call back, he won't 7 even call back. So I would appreciate it if the 8 Alderman's office can at least, you know, like 9 sit down, and then we can work together instead 10 of coming here - - coming here every year to 11 oppose my license. That's all I need to say. 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. And, 13 Jared, some closing comments from the Alderman's 14 office? 15 JARED: Yes, Mr. Chair. Not one - - 16 Not one witness in support of Mr. George lives in 17 the neighborhood. We have a business owner, but 18 not one resident. Every opposition witness lives 19 in the neighborhood. The 30 people that attended 20 the neighborhood meeting, not one supported Mr. 21 George. At that meeting Mr. George displayed a 22 cavalier indifferent attitude indicating that the 23 problems were based on society, were based on his 24 neighborhood, were based on everything but Mr. 25 George. We have many bars along Center Street 00083 1 and throughout the rest of our district, some in 2 the inner city some in other neighborhoods. None 3 have the problems Mr. George's bar has. This is 4 not simply society. All of society's problems 5 seem to congregate around his bar. The one 6 homicide our district was unfortunate enough to 7 have last year was right next to his bar. This 8 is not coincidence. I can't prove that Mr. 9 George is causing every problem that gets 10 reported to us over countless phone calls, 11 meetings, letters that we receive about this 12 establishment. Yet some witnesses in support are 13 testifying that there have never been any 14 incidents in contradiction to the police report, 15 the report of neighbors, and to the report of 16 other supporting witnesses. This just simply 17 doesn't add up. 18 Mr. George claims that he attempts to 19 work with us. Two certified letters we sent him 20 in the last four months. No response, none. We 21 asked him for a plan of how he would address 22 these issues. No plan. No response. He attends 23 the meeting and argues with people who were there 24 to tell him about what he could do better. We 25 had another bar owner from the neighborhood at 00084 1 that meeting indicating that he wanted to work 2 with Mr. George to help him improve. The scene, 3 the crowded basement at St. Catherine's filled 4 with nothing but opposition to Mr. George. He 5 said I don't know if - - I think this will be too 6 late. Today I've seen nothing of this plan. He 7 - - He claims that everybody who complains about 8 him has a personal problem. That just simply 9 doesn't add up. It just doesn't. The problems 10 people have with him are that his establishment 11 causes them to wake up in the middle of the 12 night, causes them to feel unsafe, causes the 13 neighborhood to be brought down. We can't allow 14 day cares to be open later. We can't tell 15 residents that they can feel safe. Officer 16 Lupis, the community liaison officer from the 7th 17 District indicated at that meeting that they, 18 whenever possible, will put a squad car at this 19 location at closing time, because they expect 20 there to be a problem. When we expect a bar to 21 be a problem, we have to close that bar down. 22 He's gotten - - He's been before this committee 23 every year he's been open. He's been given 24 various punishments. Enough is enough. These 25 neighbors, of course, they can't come down. They 00085 1 work. They - - They're exhausted and they're 2 afraid. Many of them tell me - - tell the 3 alderman that they're simply terrified, that they 4 don't want their houses, their properties, their 5 families to be hurt as a result of the clientele 6 at this bar taking it out on them. Will I 7 retaliate against the supporters? Of course not. 8 The supporters don't even live in our district. 9 They don't live anywhere near. That's why 10 they're supporters. The - - The people that show 11 up at these meetings, that call in year after 12 year, they're fed up, they're frustrated, they 13 don't understand why this bar is being allowed to 14 remain open. I - - I wish more of them would 15 come out. I - - I begged and pleaded with them 16 to do so, and - - and many of them want to and 17 simply cannot make that sort of time commitment 18 to - - to spend the hours here. It's 19 unfortunate. 20 So in closing, you've heard from the 21 alderman, you've heard from neighborhood 22 residents, actual neighborhood residents, and 23 you're hearing from me. If you allow this bar to 24 stay open, there's going to be another summer of 25 problems with this, and we'll be right back here 00086 1 with a whole new police report next year and a 2 whole new set of neighbors to make the same 3 complaints again. We need to shut him down. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente. 5 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair, I would 6 move that the police report become part of the 7 permanent record. 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Puente 9 moves to make the police report part of the 10 permanent record in this hearing. Hearing no 11 objections, so ordered, and this matter is now in 12 committee. 13 This matter is now in committee. 14 This matter is in committee. 15 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, I will 16 take a crack, because no one ever wants to, ever. 17 I would move approval of the renewal of the 18 license with the issuance of a ten day suspension 19 based on the matters contained in the police 20 report, as well as neighborhood objections. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 22 Bohl is to recommend renewal of this license with 23 a ten day suspension based on items contained in 24 the police report and neighborhood testimony. Is 25 there any discussion on the motion? Is there any 00087 1 objection to the motion? 2 ALDERMAN PUENTE: I'll object. 3 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I'll object. 4 Hearing two objections, the motion carries on a 5 vote of three to two. 6 MR. SCHRIMPF: Mr. George, the 7 committee is going to be doing - - the committee 8 is going to be doing findings of fact and 9 conclusions of law recommending renewal of your 10 license with a ten day suspension. You will 11 receive a copy of that recommendation. You will 12 also have an opportunity to submit written 13 objections to that recommendation, and if you do 14 so, they must be received in the City Clerk's 15 office, the second floor of this building, by 16 4:45 p.m. June 14th, 2007. If you submit written 17 objections, then you will also have an 18 opportunity to appear before the Common Council 19 when it considers this matter at approximately 20 nine a.m. on June 19th, 2007 in the Common 21 Council chambers of this building, the same floor 22 but the opposite direction. Do you understand 23 all that? 24 THE APPLICANT: Yes, sir. 25 MR. SCHRIMPF: Alderman Gordon can - - 00088 1 I'm sure he's very familiar with where the 2 chambers are and where the City Clerk's office 3 is. 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: Thank you. 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: We have some 6 agenda only items to cover, and we're going to do 7 these by the page. 8 MR. WAGNER: These ladies don't live in 9 the district, but they wanted to testify. 10 Somebody, I don't know who it was, told them that 11 they couldn't testify. They're on the opposition 12 to the bar, these three ladies. Maybe you should 13 know that. That somebody outside told them that 14 they couldn't testify. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Do you want to 16 reconsider? 17 ALDERMAN BOHL: If you're willing to 18 gamble. That's fine. 19 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Wait. Does anyone 20 on the - - Does anyone on the committee wish to 21 reconsider this matter? 22 THE WITNESS: Please, reconsider this 23 matter. 24 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Mr. Chair, I would. 25 I'll reconsider. I'd like to hear all the 00089 1 testimony and why not? 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Alderman 3 Puente moves to reconsider this matter, and 4 hearing no objections, so ordered. 5 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 6 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Raise your - - 7 Raise your right hands and - - and we'll give 8 some testimony here, please. Three of you. 9 Okay. 10 (Whereupon the witnesses were sworn.) 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Would you 12 come to the microphone here. State your name and 13 address and give us your testimony. 14 THE WITNESS: Hello. My name is 15 Tequila Holloway. I live at 6388 West Tearnier 16 Place, Brown Deer, Wisconsin. But I am a 17 business owner in the district. Okay? 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 19 THE WITNESS: I currently - - Well, not 20 in your district. I am a district owner seven 21 blocks away. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 23 THE WITNESS: My facility is on 46th 24 and Center, but I have inquired a property at 53 25 - - What is the address? 00090 1 THE WITNESS: 19. 2 THE WITNESS: 5319 and 5325. It's an 3 old school that I'm inquiring about opening up. 4 But because of this facility none of the day 5 cares over there can even open a bar, because - - 6 I mean, open a center or a day care, anything, 7 because of this bar. Alderman Murphy has made it 8 perfectly clear that he feels that it's unsafe. 9 He's scared. He - - He won't allow me to do it. 10 I've spoken with Alderman Murphy. I've been - - 11 I went to his office. I spoke with him. But he 12 just keeps explaining to me that he doesn't feel 13 that it's in the best interest for the children 14 in that area, which I do also believe. 15 All the businesses over there, I don't 16 know why the ladies aren't here. I have spoken 17 to them myself. There's Little Rascals. There's 18 maybe three or four day cares on that strip. 19 Okay. 20 THE WITNESS: Milk and Honey. 21 THE WITNESS: Milk and Honey, all of 22 them. They were open. They were able to be open 23 from six a.m. to midnight, but because of this 24 facility everyone's hours have to be cut back to 25 eight o'clock. Now, I understand he's a business 00091 1 owner, but we're all business owners, too, also, 2 in that district. We have parents who work 3 second shift jobs. But because of this facility 4 and Alderman Murphy's holding this district down, 5 we're unable to hold our establishments open for 6 our second shift parents. These - - The 7 facilities in that area have to be closed by 8 eight p.m. That's a big loss that we have to 9 take, because the majority of my parents, the 10 majority of my children are on second shift. Me 11 trying to open this new school won't be allowed, 12 because I'm not even able to open this facility. 13 It's vacant right now. 14 This determine - - This was the 15 determining factor for me today. Because of this 16 facility - - Because of this particular building, 17 this one facility off that whole strip, I'm 18 unable to open my new facility. I can't open it. 19 It's a beautiful building. I want to open a 20 preschool there, and I can't do it, because of 21 this - - this sore or this problem that's right 22 across the street. 23 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Bohl. 24 ALDERMAN BOHL: Ma'am, how - - how 25 close is the location - - 00092 1 THE WITNESS: It's katty-corner. 2 On 50 - - 3 ALDERMAN BOHL: It's kitty-corner? 4 THE WITNESS: It's katty-corner. We're 5 here, and it's right here. 6 ALDERMAN BOHL: Okay. And one of the 7 reasons is? 8 THE WITNESS: 300 feet. 9 ALDERMAN BOHL: The reason is 300 feet, 10 and that's an ordinance. Any - - Any of the 11 child care facilities that were open prior to 12 this ordinance taking effect here in the last 13 year were grandfathered. 14 THE WITNESS: Yes. But their hours got 15 cut back. Alderman Murphy - - 16 ALDERMAN BOHL: No, that's not - - not 17 true. That is not true. 18 THE WITNESS: Jared, can you vouch for 19 this? 20 JARED: I can vouch for the relation to 21 the distance ordinance. 22 THE WITNESS: No, not - - not into the 23 distance ordinance, but because of this facility. 24 JARED: It's a matter of safety. 25 THE WITNESS: It's a matter of safety. 00093 1 Because of this facility, all those day cares 2 have to pull their hours back to eight o'clock. 3 ALDERMAN BOHL: That's - - That is an 4 issue for the Board of Zoning Appeals. That is 5 an issue where the alderman has gone before the 6 Board of Zoning Appeals and has took a stand, and 7 said that I don't want them beyond eight o'clock. 8 They're not even guaranteed getting - - 9 THE WITNESS: They had it before. 10 These facilities were open from six a.m. to 12 11 midnight. But because of the safety issue - - 12 ALDERMAN BOHL: Well, that - - 13 JARED: Mr. Chair. 14 ALDERMAN BOHL: - - that's not - - That 15 is not - - That's not necessarily a direct 16 correlation. What that is is each individual 17 premise there has to go before the Board of 18 Zoning Appeals for their individual licenses, and 19 - - and they make a case before an independent 20 board. The alderman, the alderman's office is 21 allowed to make a recommendation to the board. 22 THE WITNESS: But the recommendation 23 was made based on this facility. 24 ALDERMAN BOHL: I'm not - - I'm not 25 discounting that. What I'm saying is - - is - - 00094 1 THE WITNESS: So there's numerous 2 businesses that's being hindered. 3 ALDERMAN BOHL: I - - All I'm saying 4 is, is that ultimately those individual 5 businesses could go before the board and say, 6 notwithstanding that we've had it until midnight, 7 nobody's - - we've had no problems, we still 8 desire to do that. 9 THE WITNESS: Well, in my current zone, 10 where I am now, my current district, I'm able to 11 be open 24 hours, seven days a week, no problem. 12 Because I don't have a - - I don't have a problem 13 like this, 300 feet away from me. But I would 14 like to grow. I would like to move, and for this 15 reason, I can't - - I can't even open my 16 facility, because he's right there. 17 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman. 18 ALDERMAN BOHL: You can't open because 19 there's a bar there. 20 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Gordon. 21 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman, I guess 22 my concern is, is that you stated if people were 23 opposed to this license, that they should 24 testify. And the decision's already been made. 25 THE WITNESS: I was told because I 00095 1 didn't - - 2 ALDERMAN GORDON: A determination has 3 been made by this committee. And, you know, 4 these women were here when you made that 5 statement, and if they had opposition to the 6 license at that time, they should have testified. 7 THE WITNESS: I was given false 8 information. I was told because I don't live in 9 the district, like you drilled that guy about his 10 address - - 11 ALDERMAN GORDON: Well, again - - 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I want - - I want 13 to know who told you you couldn't testify. 14 THE WITNESS: I don't even want to say, 15 but I was told that. I've been here before this 16 - - I mean, I've listened to case after case 17 after case. I wouldn't have stayed here. I sat 18 here to listen to what was going to happen. I 19 would have then stood up. But what I was told is 20 because I don't live in the district, and then I 21 really confirmed it when that guy was in here and 22 was getting drilled about his address. I'm like, 23 well damn, well, I know, I can't - - You know, I 24 can't testify now. 25 ALDERMAN GORDON: Again, Mr. Chairman. 00096 1 If she wanted to testify against this license 2 premise - - 3 THE WITNESS: False information. 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: - - she had the 5 opportunity to do so when you told her, and when 6 you told everyone that this was the time to 7 testify. And now, this is extraordinary. I have 8 not seen this happen after a decision's been 9 rendered by this committee that we had taken 10 testimony that has nothing to do with the 11 licensed premise, per se. As Alderman Bohl has 12 indicated, this is a zoning issue. This should 13 be before the Board of Zoning Appeals, not before 14 the Licenses Committee. 15 THE WITNESS: No, this is a business 16 owner trying to buy a piece of property that is 17 not allowed to because of - - 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Gordon, 19 this is - - 20 THE WITNESS: - - this - - this bar. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: This has 22 been a - - 23 THE WITNESS: There's one particular 24 establishment is holding me up. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: - - an 00097 1 extraordinary day. This was a - - This was 2 legal, is it not, to reconsider this matter - - 3 THE WITNESS: Yes, it was, and it was 4 already planned. 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: - - re - - so - - 6 so what we're doing is okay. 7 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman. 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Bohl. 9 ALDERMAN BOHL: It wasn't a valid 10 reconsideration. You have to be on the 11 prevailing side. Alderman Puente moved, and no, 12 he was on the losing side. 13 THE WITNESS: What? 14 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Then I'll move for 15 reconsideration. 16 ALDERMAN BOHL: That's fine. I just 17 wanted to make sure that - - 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman - - 19 Alderman Witkowski moves for reconsideration. 20 Okay. 21 JARED: This establishment, Mr. Chair, 22 does not just affect the residents who live 23 there. It affects every new business. It will 24 drag down Center Street from 55th to 50th for as 25 long as it's there. We cannot take the risk that 00098 1 a four year old, a five year old - - Would any of 2 you take your kids to a day care in that area? 3 Would any of you? No. 4 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman, we have 5 a day care center that operates and has been 6 operating for at least five years directly behind 7 the establishment. I find it absolutely 8 incredible that this establishment, which has - - 9 which has been in existence for nine year, now 10 has become - - I mean, that used to be a district 11 that I represented. There are new businesses 12 right across the street that have opened up. 13 There used to be four bars on that - - on that 14 block. There's only one bar on that block now. 15 And to attribute all of these issues and - - and 16 the deterioration of the neighborhood, which is 17 not true, to this one establishment is unfair. 18 You know, a ruling was made by this committee, 19 and, you know, this is an extraordinary situation 20 where you're taking testimony, you know, from 21 business owners who have zoning issues who want 22 to operate a business. They should be before the 23 Board of Zoning Appeals. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Gordon, 25 any - - somebody could come from California to 00099 1 testify if they wanted to. 2 JARED: We just heard testimony from 3 six of your supporters that don't live remotely 4 close to this neighborhood. Not even close. 5 Everybody in this neighborhood - - 6 THE WITNESS: And I visited this 7 establishment. 8 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: All right. Are 9 there any other questions of this witness? Okay. 10 Thank you. Could we hear the next witness, 11 please? 12 THE WITNESS: Sure. 13 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you for your 14 testimony. 15 THE WITNESS: My name is Dorothy 16 Wonjay, and I live at 4023 North 46th Street. 17 I'm a contractor in this city for the past 21 18 years. I rehab day care centers. I've heard 19 from the ladies that have been talking to my 20 daughter, who own day care centers in the 21 neighborhood. And I've talked with them about 22 the situation that they have in having to close 23 at eight p.m. It wasn't until that body was 24 found near Infinity that the alderman decided to 25 have the day care centers to close at 8 p.m. No 00100 1 day care center in that area that opens up can 2 open up past 8 p.m. And Alderman Murphy has made 3 it perfectly clear that the reason is because of 4 the Infinity Lounge. No day care center can be 5 opened, because he's afraid that the gunshots 6 that have been reported numerous times is going 7 to affect these children. 8 When my daughter and I, my - - my two 9 daughters here, went for a meeting with Alderman 10 Murphy, petitioning to him to allow her to open 11 up her day care center past eight p.m., this is 12 what he stressed. So we know for a fact that the 13 reason the day care centers are not open in the 14 area past eight p.m. is because of the Infinity 15 Club. We know this. Also, a lot of the traffic 16 - - And when I say "traffic," I mean the driving 17 up and down the street, and all around the 18 neighborhood, just for pleasure. These guys are 19 not going into the bar. They're just in the area 20 circling. Keeping up noises. Drinking, throwing 21 beer cans out the window, hollering at girls, 22 trying to pick up women, all of this comes from 23 this bar. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. 25 Any - - 00101 1 THE WITNESS: Also, cars are being 2 vandalized over there. A friend of mine had his 3 car vandalized on the parking lot near the club. 4 The people that he had confrontation with was 5 patrons of his bar, and which he had to drive off 6 to keep from being beat down with a bat. All 7 because of people that came from this bar, that 8 he confronted about vandalism to his car, that 9 he's witnessed, and they denied it. 10 JARED: Mr. Chair. 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Jared. 12 JARED: This testimony is exactly what 13 we hear from every resident in the area. I have 14 never had a resident deny that this is taking 15 place or say anything different than exactly what 16 she's saying. The only witnesses that are making 17 these denials and don't even agree with each 18 other are from miles away who happen to patronize 19 the bar. 20 THE WITNESS: Also, I will - - 21 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Wade. 23 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Wade. 25 ALDERMAN WADE: It doesn't - - It don't 00102 1 really matter if everything she's saying is true. 2 We're in front of the wrong board. This is the 3 Board of Zoning - - Board of Zoning and Appeal 4 issue. Even if - - I mean, that's a zoning issue 5 she's talking about. That has nothing to do - - 6 The - - It's not cited on the - - on the things 7 for day cares. It's not on the citation for day 8 cares, so we shouldn't be considering things that 9 it's not cited for. Now her issue is decided by 10 the Board of Zoning and Appeals. 11 Any alderman in here, everybody in here 12 probably got at least one day care in their area. 13 I got a million in mine. The alderman only can 14 suggest that the time be this or the time be 15 that. We don't have the authority to make the 16 Board of Zoning Appeals designate the time we 17 want. The Board of Zoning Appeals is it's own 18 independent body, and they decide on that. It's 19 many times where I've decided that I wasn't in 20 support of something in my district, and the 21 Board of Zoning Appeals supported it. There's 22 been times where I've been in support and they 23 didn't support it. That's a zoning issue. 24 That's not a Utilities & Licensing issue. 25 THE WITNESS: Alderman Wade. 00103 1 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: She's testifying 2 to items that are in the notice. 3 ALDERMAN WADE: Okay. 4 THE WITNESS: Exactly. And this is 5 what I'm - - This is what everyone is testifying 6 to. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Let the - - Let 8 the City Attorney speak for a minute. 9 MR. SCHRIMPF: Mr. Chairman, I just 10 want to caution the committee about one little 11 item that's coming up here. A number of 12 individuals have raised apparently a homicide 13 that occurred around the neighborhood, possibly 14 next to the bar. That is not in the police 15 reports. That is not in any of the testimony or 16 evidence. There is - - There - - Frankly, 17 there's nothing about it in the notice. And 18 whenever I hear people talking, drawing some sort 19 of a connection between an alleged homicide, I'm 20 afraid we're going to mess this record up, 21 because there's just nothing about it in the 22 police reports, and it's just not an item of 23 evidence before you. 24 THE WITNESS: Okay. I'm not going to 25 mention that. But I know that it was around the 00104 1 time that this happened that Alderman Murphy 2 changed the ruling and the times that the day 3 care centers could stay open. Also, I just want 4 to say that Alderman Murphy's assistant brought 5 up an issue that was relevant. I remember two of 6 the supporters of the Infinity Club mentioning 7 that there was incidents. When two mentioned 8 that there were not incidents, none, whatsoever, 9 beautiful, perfect record. That's - - That 10 doesn't jibe. How can two people, two workers 11 say there was nothing going on - - Well, one 12 worker said nothing ever, and then one patron, 13 who is a day care lady behind the bar, said 14 nothing happened. And then the disc jockey and 15 another - - and another - - 16 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman, I don't 17 want to hear - - 18 THE WITNESS: - - and another 19 witness - - 20 ALDERMAN GORDON: - - her characterize 21 testimony that this committee has already heard 22 and already decided on - - 23 THE WITNESS: - - supporting - - 24 ALDERMAN GORDON: I don't want to hear 25 her - - 00105 1 THE WITNESS: - - contradicted - - 2 ALDERMAN GORDON: - - characterize and 3 mischaracterize what people have testified to. 4 THE WITNESS: They're contradicting 5 each other. 6 ALDERMAN GORDON: This is outrageous. 7 THE WITNESS: This is four people - - 8 ALDERMAN GORDON: This is outrageous. 9 THE WITNESS: - - who - - 10 ALDERMAN GORDON: This is not a witness 11 who is testifying. She's trying to characterize 12 testimony. 13 THE WITNESS: - - was in support of 14 them. And their testimony was contradicted by 15 people who was supposed - - supposed to be 16 supporting him. 17 ALDERMAN GORDON: Why are you allowing 18 this? 19 THE WITNESS: How can you say nothing 20 at all happened? 21 MR. SCHRIMPF: Mr. Chairman. 22 THE WITNESS: This lady said nothing 23 happened. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I think - - I 25 think - - I think you all are confusing everybody 00106 1 right now, because you lost me about two minutes 2 ago. 3 THE WITNESS: Yeah, but he - - I guess 4 the point I'm trying to make is that his own 5 people who are supporting him contradicted 6 themselves. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. 8 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chair. 9 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: All right. All 10 right. Are you finished with your testimony? 11 THE WITNESS: Yes. 12 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Thank you. 13 Alderman Bohl. 14 ALDERMAN BOHL: No, I - - I just 15 concur. Ultimately, this committee takes first- 16 hand testimony, what you have seen or witnessed. 17 It is not a forum to extrapolate on one's views 18 about other testimony. You take that 19 frustration. You send an e-mail. You can 20 request a meeting with the alderman. But that's 21 not for one to come here and provide testimony. 22 And it just - - It does. I - - I understand her 23 frustration, but it does make a mockery of this 24 body. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Next person to 00107 1 testify, please. 2 THE WITNESS: She doesn't want to say 3 anything. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Is there 5 anyone else here to testify? I - - I would - - I 6 would really - - I suppose nobody wants to tell 7 me, but I would really like to know who - - who 8 came up to you and said that you can't testify at 9 this meeting. I - - That bothers me a lot that 10 some - - that somebody did that. 11 JARED: This sort of intimidation goes 12 with this establishment, Mr. Chairman. 13 ALDERMAN WADE: But, Mr. Chair. 14 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman. 15 ALDERMAN WADE: Mr. Chair. 16 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Wade. 17 ALDERMAN WADE: Thank you. Mr. Chair. 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Wade. 19 ALDERMAN WADE: This - - This - - This 20 is a - - This is a body that has rules and 21 regulations. I sat in this room, like everybody 22 else, and I heard you ask, going once, going 23 twice, if anybody want to testify. At the last 24 second Mr. Deboe got up and testified, after you 25 had - - They heard you saying it. I heard you 00108 1 saying it. 2 THE WITNESS: But we also - - 3 ALDERMAN WADE: You - - I - - I have 4 the floor, thank you. You conducting the 5 meeting. It don't matter what somebody out in 6 the audience talk about. You the Chair of the 7 meeting. If you asking folks to come forward to 8 testify and they choose not to do that, for 9 whatever reason, that's the opportunity that they 10 have been given. If they don't take advantage of 11 that opportunity, that's not the fault of the 12 committee. 13 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: If someone was 14 told by someone else that they could not testify, 15 and - - and that's the honest reason that they 16 sat there silent, I want to know about that. 17 ALDERMAN WADE: But, also, if the Chair 18 of the committee tells them that they can 19 testify, you can come forward and testify. I 20 mean, who you believe and who you listen to, this 21 is official meeting. All of us are here for an 22 official reason. 23 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: If I would have - 24 - If I would have said you - - I want you to 25 testify whether you live close to the place or 00109 1 far away from the place or in Menomonee Falls, if 2 you have something to say, I want you come to the 3 table and say it, I think they would have come 4 forward. 5 THE WITNESS: Yes. Exactly. 6 THE WITNESS: And after hearing that 7 guy being drilled about where he lives - - 8 (Whereupon Alderman Wade leaves the 9 meeting.) 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. All right. 11 Alderman Gordon, anything to say in closing, 12 again. 13 ALDERMAN GORDON: Mr. Chairman, you 14 know, I understand these women's concerns about 15 their business practices, and obviously the Board 16 of Zoning Appeals, as Alderman Wade indicated, is 17 the appropriate form to deal with those kinds of 18 issues, and they should certainly approach that 19 board and raise those concerns. I mean, I can't 20 understand why any elected official would tell a 21 business owner the reason why you can't expand 22 your hours is because of an establishment. You 23 know, that - - that's really troublesome to me. 24 Because the Board of Zoning Appeals is an 25 independent entity that sets those guidelines. 00110 1 They take the recommendations, but they make 2 their own decisions, just like this committee. 3 This committee - - This committee heard 4 testimony from witnesses in support and in 5 opposition of this license. And you have a 6 police report. You have a police report with 7 three incidents, one which is dubious at best, 8 which could not be corroborated by the police 9 department. One, another, which is a noise 10 complaint, which is - - which is pending. 11 Another, which no citation was written. And that 12 is within the last licensed year. So I think Mr. 13 George should be given the decision that was 14 rendered by this committee before this committee 15 took the extraordinary step to hear testimony 16 from three women who apparently were intimidated 17 by who knows who, and have offered testimony that 18 is not germane to this proceeding. It is not 19 germane. And as a result, I believe that the 20 decision that this committee made was made by 21 this committee hearing direct testimony. It was 22 weighed properly. You're all veteran 23 alderpersons on this committee. So I would ask 24 you to maintain the decision and the 25 recommendation that you made prior to this 00111 1 extraordinary situation that just occurred. 2 Thank you. 3 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. First 4 of all, a reconsideration is not an extraordinary 5 thing. It happens often, and that was done 6 legally, and I felt that the testimony that was 7 given was germane. So, Jared, you have something 8 you'd like to say in closing. 9 JARED: Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's 10 largely what I was - - what I wanted to point 11 out. You've seen these three women who feel 12 intimidated. You're not seeing the 50 behind 13 them that aren't here, because they're 14 intimidated, who call us, and will call us and 15 call us and say, "You need to represent us." I 16 understand the committee can't take testimony 17 from people that aren't here. I understand that 18 you have a difficult decision, and that a liquor 19 licenseholder has rights, and that they have to 20 be - - that you only have the narrow constraints 21 that the State law gives you. 22 In this case we have done everything 23 that was asked last year when a warning letter 24 was given, which was outrageous. A ten day 25 suspension is - - is a slap in the face to the 00112 1 residents of this community. We have certified 2 letters to Mr. George asking for cooperation. He 3 claims he goes to these meetings. The 4 neighborhood association leaders that I speak to 5 on a regular basis don't see him there. The 6 neighbors don't see him there. They don't see 7 the charitable man that you hear about from the 8 customers in his bar. They - - They see a man 9 who is out of town to such an extent that Mr. 10 Gordon writes the reason that he can't reply for 11 a month and a half is that he was out of the 12 country. Ten days. It's outrageous. This bar 13 needs to be shut down to bring this neighborhood 14 back to where it can begin to improve again. 15 There are good people that live here, and they're 16 counting on you to do the right thing. They're 17 counting on me, the alderman, to represent them 18 because they're largely too afraid or too busy to 19 get here to this committee. I - - I beg you to 20 do the right thing and close this bar down. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: This matter is in 22 committee. 23 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, I would 24 move approval of the renewal of the license with 25 a ten day suspension, based on the police report 00113 1 as well as neighborhood objections. 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 3 Bohl is to recommend renewal of this license with 4 a ten day suspension based on items contained in 5 the police report and neighborhood objections and 6 testimony. Any discussion on the motion? Is 7 there any opposition to the motion? 8 ALDERMAN PUENTE: I'll - - I'll be 9 opposed. 10 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I object, also. 11 Motion - - Motion fails on a vote of two to two. 12 This matter is still in committee. 13 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, I would 14 move approval of the renewal of the license with 15 the issuance of a 20 day suspension, based on 16 matters contained in the police report as well as 17 neighborhood objections. 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 19 Bohl is to recommend approval of the renewal of 20 this license with a 20 day suspension based on 21 items contained in the police report and 22 neighborhood objections. Any discussion on that 23 motion? Are there any objections to that motion? 24 ALDERMAN PUENTE: I'll object. 25 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I'll object, also. 00114 1 Motion fails on a vote of two to two. This 2 matter is still in committee. 3 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Bohl. 5 ALDERMAN BOHL: Clearly, I'm just going 6 to offer a suggestion. It's just a matter of 7 suggestion. Ultimately, I've offered the two 8 suggestions that I'm going to offer here at this 9 time. I - - My - - It doesn't have to be, and 10 it's just a suggestion would be that one of the 11 members that oppose try throwing something out 12 and see if something sticks against the wall. 13 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: What? I'm sorry. 14 ALDERMAN BOHL: That one of the members 15 who has opposed the previous ones throw out 16 rather than having me playing a guessing game. I 17 have no idea where you're at. So if you throw 18 out - - One of you two want to throw out a 19 motion, I'll get a sense on where you're at, 20 whether or not I can accept it. Because 21 otherwise I'm playing a guessing game with you. 22 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Mr. Chairman. 23 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman 24 Witkowski. 25 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: I can't discount 00115 1 the residents living nearby's testimony, which is 2 why I've supported both motions. These things 3 are real. People have testified to it. I have 4 heard testimony that - - from people who either 5 park their van on his lot, work for him, are not 6 there all the time, as Jared has pointed out. 7 Who are - - who have - - have some gain of - - a 8 co-bar-owner. I can't give a lot of weight to 9 - - to that testimony compared to the 10 neighborhood testimony. So I - - We may well 11 remain deadlocked for a long time, because I do 12 think that for me this matter hinges on the - - 13 the objections of the neighbors, if that gives 14 you any clue as to where I'm going. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you. This 16 matter is still in committee. 17 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, I would 18 move approval of the renewal of the license with 19 a 40 day suspension, based on matters contained 20 in the police report as well as neighborhood 21 objections. 22 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 23 Bohl is to recommend approval of the renewal of 24 this license with a 40 day suspension based on 25 police report and neighborhood objections. On 00116 1 the motion? Are there any objections to the 2 motion? 3 ALDERMAN BOHL: I will object. 4 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I will object, 5 also. Motion fails on a vote of two to two. 6 This matter is still in committee. 7 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, I will 8 move approval of the renewal of the license with 9 the issuance of a 50 day suspension, based on the 10 same reasons - - 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 12 Bohl - - 13 ALDERMAN BOHL: - - police report, 14 neighborhood objections. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 16 Bohl is to recommend approval of the renewal of 17 this license with a 50 day suspension based on 18 items contained in the police report and 19 neighborhood objections. Is there any discussion 20 on the motion? Are there any objections to the 21 motion? 22 ALDERMAN BOHL: I will object. 23 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I object, also. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion fails on a 25 vote of two to two. This matter is still in 00117 1 committee. 2 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, I will 3 move approval of the renewal of the license with 4 a issuance of a 75 day suspension, based on 5 matters contained in the police report as well as 6 neighborhood objections. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 8 Bohl is to recommend approval of the renewal on 9 this - - of this license with a 75 day suspension 10 based on items contained in the police report and 11 neighborhood objections. Is there any discussion 12 on the motion? Are there any objections to the 13 motion? 14 ALDERMAN BOHL: I will object. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I will object, 16 also. Hearing two objections, the motion fails 17 on a vote of two to two. This matter is still in 18 committee. 19 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, I'm going 20 to move approval of the renewal of the license 21 with the issuance of a 30 day suspension, based 22 on matters contained in the police report as well 23 as neighborhood objections. 24 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 25 Bohl is to recommend approval of the renewal of 00118 1 this license with a 30 day suspension based on 2 items contained in the police report and 3 neighborhood objections. Are there any 4 objections to that motion? 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I'll object. 6 ALDERMAN PUENTE: I'll object. 7 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Hearing two 8 objections. The motion fails on a vote of two to 9 two. This matter is still in committee. 10 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Mr. Chairman, it 11 seems we've tried the other end. We'll try 12 motion for a 15 day suspension. Renewal with a 13 15 day suspension, based on police report, 14 neighborhood objections. 15 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I believe we tried 16 that. Didn't we? 17 ALDERMAN BOHL: No. 18 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: No, we were at ten 19 and 20. 20 ALDERMAN BOHL: We were at ten and 20. 21 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Okay. Motion by 22 Alderman Witkowski is to renewal of the license 23 with a 15 day suspension based on the police 24 report and neighborhood objections. Are there 25 any objections to that motion? 00119 1 ALDERMAN PUENTE: I'll object. 2 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: I'll object, also. 3 Motion fails on a vote of two to two. 4 ALDERMAN BOHL: Mr. Chairman, 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Alderman Bohl. 6 ALDERMAN BOHL: I will move approval of 7 the renewal of the license with the issuance of a 8 90 day suspension, based on matters contained in 9 the police report as well as neighborhood 10 objections. 11 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Motion by Alderman 12 Bohl is to recommend approval of the renewal of 13 this license with a 90 day suspension based on 14 items contained in the police report and 15 neighborhood objections. Are there any 16 objections to that motion? 17 ALDERMAN BOHL: I will object. 18 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Let's do a roll 19 call on this. 90 - - 90 day - - 90 day 20 suspension, based on the police report and - - 21 and neighborhood objections. 22 CLERK ELMER: Alderman Bohl? 23 ALDERMAN BOHL: No. 24 CLERK ELMER: Alderman Puente? 25 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Aye. 00120 1 CLERK ELMER: Alderman - - Alderman 2 Witkowski? 3 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 4 CLERK ELMER: Mr. Chair? 5 CHAIRMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 6 CLERK ELMER: Motion is approved. 7 Three to one. 8 MR. SCHRIMPF: Mr. George, the 9 committee is going to be doing findings of fact 10 and conclusions of law recommending renewal of 11 this license with a 90 day suspension. You will 12 receive a copy of that recommendation, and you 13 will have an opportunity to submit written 14 objections to that recommendation, and if you do 15 so, they must be received in the office of the 16 City Clerk, by 4:45 p.m., June 14th, 2007. If 17 you choose to submit written objections, then you 18 will also have an opportunity to appear before 19 the Milwaukee Common Council when it meets on 20 this matter at approximately nine a.m. on June 21 19th, 2007. Understand all that? 22 THE APPLICANT: Yes. 23 * * * * * 00121 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 foregoing 10 proceedings is a full and complete transcript of 11 the Licensing Committee hearing. 12 13 14 15 16 17 JEAN M. BARINA 18 Court Reporter 19 20 21 Dated this day of , 2007. 22