00001 1 2 CITY OF MILWAUKEE 3 LICENSES COMMITTEE 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5 In the Matter of the Class "B" Tavern and Tavern Dance 6 application for: 7 RICARDO ARTEAGA "BAR 13" 8 2936 South 13th Street 9 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10 COMMITTEE MEMBERS 11 ALD. JAMES BOHL - Chair ALD. MILELE COGGS, - Vice-Chairman 12 ALD. ASHANTI HAMILTON ALD. T. ANTHONY ZIELINSKI 13 ALD. NIK KOVAC 14 LICENSING DIVISION by REBECCA GRILL POLICE DEPARTMENT by SEARGENT CHET ULICKEY 15 OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY by ATTORNEY BRUCE SCHRIMPF 16 17 Proceedings had and testimony given in 18 the above-entitled matter, before the LICENSES 19 COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, on 20 the 6th day of January, 2009. 21 00002 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Our next item is for 3 Ricardo Arteaga, "R.D. Arteaga, Incorporated", 4 Class "B" Tavern and Tavern Dance application for 5 "Bar 13" at 2936 South 13th Street. 6 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Mr. Chairman. 7 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Alderman Zielinski. 8 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Mr. Chairman, 9 there was a meeting that I held about six or so 10 weeks ago with constituents in the area, and a 11 number of people that were at the meeting, and, 12 in fact, everybody - - a number of people that 13 were at the meeting were under the impression 14 apparently that that meeting would result in them 15 not having to attend this meeting, and I recently 16 found this out. So what I would request is that 17 the people that are here today to testify, that 18 we hear their testimony, we enter that into the 19 record. But then I would ask to hold this 20 matter, so that those other people could be 21 afforded the opportunity to come down here. 22 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. And we'll 23 hopefully try to get them next cycle then? 24 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Yes, definitely. 25 CHAIRMAN BOHL: The meeting 00003 1 individuals? 2 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Thank you. 3 CHAIRMAN BOHL: All right. Could we 4 swear you in then, if we want to - - 5 (Whereupon the Applicant was sworn.) 6 THE APPLICANT: I do, yes. 7 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And for the agent, I'll 8 need your name and address for the record, 9 please. 10 THE APPLICANT: Ricardo D. Arteaga, 11 10431 West St. Francis Avenue, Greenfield, 12 Wisconsin. 13 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. Thank you. And 14 if you want to just identify yourself for the 15 record, please. 16 THE WITNESS: Sylvia Lagiewka. 17 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. 18 THE WITNESS: And the address is 10431 19 West St. Francis. 20 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And could you give us 21 the spelling of your last name, please? 22 THE WITNESS: L-A-G-I-E-W-K-A. 23 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. And your reason 24 for being here? Are you part of the corporation 25 then? 00004 1 THE WITNESS: Yes, a partner. 2 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. Thank you. And 3 from Mr. Arteaga, I'll ask you at this time if 4 you acknowledge receiving notice of today's 5 meeting with the possibility the application 6 could be denied. There is an attached police 7 report, as well as an assortment of neighborhood 8 - - of possible neighborhood objections, as well 9 as a possible denial because the proposed 10 location has been previously found by the Common 11 Council to be in an area over-concentrated with 12 alcohol beverage outlets. 13 THE APPLICANT: Yes. 14 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you. Ms. Grill? 15 Any holds? 16 MS. GRILL: The Health Department has a 17 hold for an inspection, and I would also note 18 that the agent is the only person that we have as 19 part of the corporation in our records. 20 THE APPLICANT: That's correct. I 21 mean, she's my fiance', so. 22 CHAIRMAN BOHL: All right. Sergeant, 23 if we're going to get this - - there's only one 24 item on the police report, and that's just a 25 disorderly conduct that's 15 years old, so we'll 00005 1 just have Alderman Zielinski move to make the 2 entire police report part of our official record 3 in this proceeding, and hearing no objection to 4 that, so ordered. I don't know that that's 5 problematic. Individuals who are here to testify 6 in this matter, if I could see a show of hands. 7 Okay. Anyone who does intend to testify, if you 8 could please keep your right hand up, we'll swear 9 you in. 10 (Whereupon those present were sworn.) 11 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. What we'll ask 12 here at this time, if you could take the - - if 13 you could all move into the front row here. 14 Unless you are not able-bodied, in which case you 15 can take a seat. If you are able to, if we could 16 just proceed in an orderly procession with the - 17 - with the standing microphone, and if we could 18 take the front seat here. What we'll need is - - 19 And the first person, sir, if you want to move 20 forward. If you - - The first person to come 21 forward can go right to the microphone, if we 22 could do that. What we'll ask of you is if you 23 could provide, again, your name and your address 24 for the record, and if you have a difficult 25 spelling or an unusual spelling to your name, if 00006 1 you could please spell that out for our Court 2 Reporter. So we'll start with you, if you could 3 do that. And this is flexible, so you can move 4 it up to your mouth then if you want to. 5 THE WITNESS: My name is Vojislav, 6 V-O-J-I-S-L-A-V, Tubic, T-U-B-I-C. Tubic, 7 T-U-B-I-C. 8 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And your - - And your 9 first name, again, sir? 10 THE WITNESS: V-O-J-I-S-L-A-V. 11 Vojislav Tubic. 12 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you. And - - And 13 your address, sir? 14 THE WITNESS: It's 3703 West Ruskin 15 Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53215. 16 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you. Mr. Tubic, 17 please proceed with your testimony. 18 THE WITNESS: Well, I - - I've had the 19 building since 1982, and I've had the place that 20 had the license all those years. We never have 21 any problems. Building was sold to Mr. Stojan, 22 and he had it now for two - - three years, but I 23 am still a second mortgage holder on the 24 building. The building was always maintained, 25 and it's a commercial building, four apartments, 00007 1 and there was a George Webb there for years, now 2 it's a Spanish restaurant. And there's a variety 3 store. We maintain the building, too - - too, 4 and all the people that - - the inspectors can 5 tell you, that's one of the nicest and best 6 maintained places on the south side. I used to 7 have weddings there, funeral, meetings, and that 8 was a restaurant/bar for years. We never had any 9 problems. I never had any problems. 10 I don't know, Mr. Zielokoski - - 11 Zielinski, I apologize, supported this license 12 for years, and I - - it's to my amazement that 13 for whatever reason, he's against it. It doesn't 14 make any sense. This is a commercial street. 15 There's no neighbors around, the people that live 16 upstairs. It's strictly business, and it - - it 17 just doesn't make any sense, because we never had 18 any problems there. And we invested, like the 19 last two years, over 150,000 dollars to the 20 building itself, everything was renovated just 21 like the City Hall was. And whoever those people 22 are that he claims there are, I - - I don't see 23 them. I've been on the street for over 30 years, 24 sir, and people - - I never have problem with - - 25 with nobody. Neither did the people after me. 00008 1 There was a lady that's next door now, Tatiana 2 that runs the restaurant, she was there for two 3 years. Mr. Zielinski, he approved the license 4 before, and to my amazement it doesn't make any 5 sense why this is happening. Because there was 6 no problems there ever. And these young men that 7 took over, I'm - - I'm 67 years old, I couldn't 8 run the business anymore. But we never had 9 problems there. No - - No neighbors had problems 10 there. And I'm very upset, as you can see, that 11 this is happening. This has happened every time 12 we applied since he became an alderman. I don't 13 know why. We don't do anything wrong. So it's 14 just to me, doesn't make any sense that he's 15 doing this to us, specifically forming this 16 supposedly people that are against us. There's 17 nobody there against us. There's no neighbors 18 nowhere. So I don't know, to me it just doesn't 19 make any sense. And that's all I can say. 20 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you, Mr. Tubic. 21 THE WITNESS: And this is the God's 22 truth. 23 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you, sir. If you 24 want to just hold on, Mr. Tubic. 25 THE WITNESS: Yes. 00009 1 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Are there questions by 2 committee members of Mr. Tubic? 3 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Mr. Chair. 4 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Alderwoman Coggs. 5 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: It's not a question, 6 it's just a comment. It's not just for you, but 7 it's for the viewing public and any other person 8 who is prepared to come testify down here for 9 this case or any other. We are a decision-making 10 panel. There's no one person that makes the 11 decision. So I just, while we appreciate hearing 12 the commentary, I just want to caution you that 13 we all have a choice in this. So to - - to 14 center your arguments towards one individual, it 15 doesn't benefit you at all. I'd rather hear 16 about why you're for or why you're against the 17 establishment. Because that's what I'm going to 18 use to make my decision. So that's what - - 19 that's what we need to hear. So I just want to - 20 - And I'm not looking for a response. I just 21 want to say that, like I said, it's not just for 22 you, but it's for anybody - - 23 THE WITNESS: I would like to respond. 24 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: You don't have to. 25 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry. 00010 1 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: So that's just 2 important to - - in our decision-making process, 3 that we just hear why you support it or why 4 you're against it, and - - and that will be 5 great. Thanks. 6 THE WITNESS: Because I invested so 7 much money into it and this is a commercial 8 building that's maintained throughout the years. 9 This license was here before anybody was born 10 here, since 1920, and these other places 11 supposedly that are - - there's a place right 12 across the street that was given a license while 13 the gentleman was alderman there. My place was 14 there for years. We never had problems. We kept 15 it maintained, improved and up to date to this 16 day. So that's all I - - I want to be honest 17 with what's going on. I'm not trying to pick on 18 anybody. But the thing is we don't understand 19 why is this happening. This, you know, if it was 20 anything wrong in the place, if he maintained it 21 wrong, the people were there making - - If he had 22 any problems, with police, okay, I understand. 23 But we never had any problems. And you people 24 mostly you know me here. I've been coming here 25 for the last 20 years, at least. Thank you. 00011 1 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Any other questions by 2 committee members of this witness? Okay. Thank 3 you. Thank you, sir. Good morning to you, sir. 4 THE WITNESS: Good morning. I am 5 Stojan Coralic. 6 CHAIRMAN BOHL: You're going to have to 7 spell that, because - - Bob, you're not that 8 good, are you? 9 THE COURT REPORTER: No. 10 CHAIRMAN BOHL: If you could spell your 11 - - your name now, please. 12 THE WITNESS: Stojan, S-T-O-J-A-N, 13 first name. Last name, Coralic, C-O-R-A-L-I-C. 14 It's 3101 West Coldspring Road. 15 CHAIRMAN BOHL: I have one question for 16 you. Is it Russian or what nationality is? 17 THE WITNESS: Serbian. 18 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Serbian, okay. Thank 19 you. 20 THE WITNESS: 3101 West Coldspring 21 Road, Greenfield 53221. 22 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And your testimony, 23 sir, please. 24 THE WITNESS: And I - - I go that 25 building and I have that license for last two 00012 1 years, from that - - that building, I'm the 2 owner. And now Arteaga, he want to continue to - 3 - to have a bar and restaurant. That's why he's 4 leasing from me, and we didn't have any - - any 5 problems since when I'm there. 6 CHAIRMAN BOHL: I have a question for 7 you. 8 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 9 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Are you currently 10 operating a bar or a restaurant or - - or what - 11 - what is it that you've been operating it from? 12 THE WITNESS: Well, it - - We operating 13 bar, but we like to open a restaurant, too, but 14 we didn't opt to upgrade it for - - for 15 restaurant. 16 CHAIRMAN BOHL: You have upgraded it 17 for a restaurant? 18 THE WITNESS: We haven't. 19 CHAIRMAN BOHL: You have not. So you 20 are - - 21 THE WITNESS: It was a restaurant - - 22 restaurant before, and only we need to put 23 make-up there to - - to open a restaurant. 24 CHAIRMAN BOHL: The - - Is the place 25 currently operating as a bar right now? 00013 1 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 2 CHAIRMAN BOHL: So there is a license 3 that's currently there. 4 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 5 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. 6 THE WITNESS: And we didn't - - we 7 didn't have any - - any problem, any complaints 8 from neighbor or any - - anyone. 9 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you, sir. 10 Questions by committee members? Okay. Thank 11 you, sir, for your testimony. 12 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 13 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Next witness, please. 14 Same protocol, sir. 15 THE WITNESS: Luis Santiago. 16 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And your address here. 17 THE WITNESS: It's 26 - - 2936A South 18 13th Street, apartment one. 19 CHAIRMAN BOHL: S-A-N-T-I-A-G-O? 20 THE WITNESS: Yes. 21 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you. Please 22 proceed. 23 THE WITNESS: I support the bar, 24 actually. I - - Since I've been living there, 25 I've been going there. I mean, it's a nice 00014 1 environment, no problems. I've been to other 2 establishments in the area there. It's a bit 3 crowded, you know, a little, you know, sort of 4 the younger crowd. We have a fair crowd there, I 5 believe, you know, the building is maintained, as 6 they say. I see them al - - always around, Mr. 7 Arteaga always checks with us, makes sure we 8 don't have any problems with any of the patrons, 9 any parking problems, you know. I support it 100 10 percent. 11 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And how close do you 12 - - do you live to this place? 13 THE WITNESS: Upstairs. 14 CHAIRMAN BOHL: You are upstairs, okay. 15 All right. Very good. Thank you. Questions by 16 committee members of - - of this witness? Thank 17 you, sir. Next witness. 18 THE WITNESS: My name is Joseph 19 Karolewicz, K-A-R-O-L-E-W-I-C-Z. I live at 3060 20 South 10th. Just here in support of Rick. I've 21 known Rick a few years, and I frequent the 22 establishment pretty often, every weekend. It's 23 a nice place, friendly atmosphere. I have had 24 any - - never had any problems there. I - - I 25 walk from my house. I only live three blocks 00015 1 away, so when I leave - - when I leave the 2 establishment, I'm walking home. It's - - I 3 never had any problems. Like I said, it's a fair 4 crowd in there. It's - - I like the music in the 5 place. There's no problems there. I - - That's 6 about all. 7 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Were you - - Were you 8 privy to - - Did you attend a neighborhood 9 meeting that - - that was scheduled at all? 10 THE WITNESS: No, I didn't want - - 11 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. All right. 12 Questions by committee members of this 13 witness? Thank you, sir. Next witness. 14 THE WITNESS: Yes, my name is - - 15 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And you know what? You 16 can pull that microphone down here to your right. 17 THE WITNESS: Sure. My name is 18 Jetzenia, J-E-T-Z-E-N-I-A, Medina, M-E-D-I-N-A. 19 And I live at 2936A South 13th Street. 20 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. 21 THE WITNESS: Apartment four. 22 CHAIRMAN BOHL: All right. And your 23 testimony, Ms. Medina. 24 THE WITNESS: Yes, I live upstairs. 25 And then since they opened the bar we never got 00016 1 no problems is now, you know, no drug people, no 2 gangs, no nothing. I live upstairs for two 3 years, and I support the - - every week I go 4 downstairs and have fun, and then we never got 5 nothing, no fights, no nothing. 6 CHAIRMAN BOHL: You have had no 7 problems there in the two years you've been at 8 that - - 9 THE WITNESS: No. 10 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. All right. 11 Thank you. Questions by committee of - - of this 12 witness? All right. Thank you. Was there 13 anyone else? Sir, did you - - Were you sworn in? 14 THE WITNESS: No. 15 CHAIRMAN BOHL: All right. We'll - - 16 We'll swear you in. We'll have to have you raise 17 your right hand. Next time when I ask for takers 18 here, you - - 19 THE WITNESS: Yes. 20 (Whereupon the witness was sworn.) 21 CHAIRMAN BOHL: And your name and 22 address for the record, please. 23 THE WITNESS: Marko Coralic. That's 24 - - That's my dad. 25 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. Give us the 00017 1 spelling of the name again, though. 2 THE WITNESS: M-A-R-K-O, C-O-R-A-L-I-C. 3 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. Your testimony. 4 THE WITNESS: I've been - - as I've 5 been helping my dad pick up rent and going around 6 the place to help out, whenever we've been 7 working on the building, I've never seen 8 problems. When the bar is open, I know I 9 come around - - around. I got friends down, 10 living close to there, so I've been down by 11 the bar and never seen problems, and I don't 12 really - - My dad's had the license for two 13 years, and I don't see why it still can't go 14 on. There's never been any problems with 15 anything, so. 16 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. Thank you, Mr. 17 Coralic. Question by committee members of this 18 witness? Thank you, sir. 19 Mr. Arteaga, anything you want to add 20 at this time? You'll be given another 21 opportunity here and - - and I promise you that 22 we'll - - we'll reschedule you here for the next 23 cycle three weeks from now. Did you want to hold 24 off in terms of making comments to that time? 25 You will given an opportunity then, as well, too. 00018 1 Any - - Any testimony that you want to provide 2 right now? 3 THE APPLICANT: Yeah. 4 CHAIRMAN BOHL: You want to provide - - 5 THE APPLICANT: I'm just going to be 6 doing the same thing in three weeks, I might as 7 well wait. 8 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Okay. What I will say 9 then, at that time is - - is I know that you've 10 had a number of individuals who are here as 11 supporters. I will ask at that time - - I don't 12 - - I don't want to get to the point where we 13 have individuals that will come and provide the 14 same testimony. If you have others that you know 15 that are supporters that you want to bring, if - 16 - if there's anybody who is here who has 17 additional testimony above and beyond, I will let 18 them provide that only if it is new to the 19 committee. Otherwise, if you have additional 20 supporters, you - - you will be able to bring 21 them here, if you have other individuals you have 22 that support the license, and I'll provide them 23 an opportunity, as - - as I would any others to 24 provide testimony at that time then, okay. 25 THE APPLICANT: Okay. 00019 1 CHAIRMAN BOHL: But we will - - we will 2 provide you that notice. We will reschedule you 3 for three weeks and - - and our apologies then 4 for - - for the inconvenience of this here, so. 5 With that, Alderman Zielinski would move to hold 6 this matter at the Call of the Chair. And 7 hearing no objections to that, so ordered. 8 THE APPLICANT: Thank you. 9 CHAIRMAN BOHL: Thank you. 10 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 11 * * * * * 00020 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 transcript of "Bar 13" taken in 11 the foregoing proceedings and completed under my 12 direction. 13 14 15 16 17 18 JEAN M. BARINA 19 Court Reporter 20 21 22 Dated this day of January, 2009. 23