00001 1 2 CITY OF MILWAUKEE 3 COMMON COUNCIL 4 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5 6 In the Matter of the renewal application for: 7 SAMAR L. ASAD "LOUNGING AROUND, INC." 8 "ENVY LOUNGE AND NIGHTCLUB" 715-717 South 5th Street 9 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10 11 12 13 Proceedings had and testimony given in 14 the above-entitled matter, before the COMMON 15 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, on the 23rd day 16 of March, 2011. 17 18 * * * * * 00002 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 PRESIDENT HINES: Alderman Jim Bohl 3 will now present the report of the Licenses 4 Committee. For the next several items we will 5 use the services of the Court Reporter. Let the 6 record reflect that the Court Reporter has been 7 sworn in. And will the Clerk please identify the 8 next item before the Council. 9 CITY CLERK: Item number two, the 10 Licenses Committee recommends approval of file 11 number 101007. Motion to approve the 12 recommendations of the Licenses Committee 13 relative to licenses. Included in the file are 14 the following recommendations. Renewal with a 30 15 day suspension of the Class B Tavern License and 16 denial of the Tavern Amusement License, based on 17 items number 13, 16, 18, excluding the dismissed 18 charge, 23 and 25 of the police report, 19 neighborhood objections, Aldermanic testimony, 20 and Milwaukee Police Department testimony of 21 Samer L. Asad, Agent for "Lounging Around, 22 Incorporated," for the premises at 715 through 23 717 South 5th Street known as "Envy Lounge and 24 Nightclub" in the 12th Aldermanic District. 25 Written objections have been filed. 00003 1 PRESIDENT HINES: Have the members of 2 the Common Council read the report and the 3 recommendations of the Licenses Committee and the 4 exceptions filed in these matters? Roll call, 5 please? 6 CITY CLERK: Alderman Hamilton? 7 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 8 CITY CLERK: Davis? 9 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 10 CITY CLERK: Kovac? 11 ALDERMAN KOVAC: Aye. 12 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 13 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 14 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 15 ALDERMAN BOHL: Aye. 16 CITY CLERK: Coggs? 17 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Aye. 18 CITY CLERK: Wade? 19 ALDERMAN WADE: Aye. 20 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 21 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 22 CITY CLERK: Puente? 23 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Aye. 24 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 25 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 00004 1 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 2 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 3 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 4 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 5 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 6 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 7 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 8 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 9 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 10 PRESIDENT HINES: Aye. 11 CITY CLERK: 15 ayes. 12 PRESIDENT HINES: 15 ayes, zero nos. 13 CITY CLERK: Are any of the following 14 or their counsels present, and if so, do they 15 wish to address the Common Council? Samer L. 16 Asad? Counsel is present. 17 PRESIDENT HINES: Alderman Bohl moves 18 that the Common Council resolve itself into the 19 Committee of the Whole for the purposes of 20 hearing arguments on behalf of the licenses in 21 opposition to the report and recommendations and 22 a statement presented by the City Attorney. Is 23 there any objections? Hearing none, we are now 24 in the Committee of the Whole. 25 Each side shall be limited to five 00005 1 minutes. And the arguments shall be limited to 2 the subject matter of the report and the 3 recommendations and any written exceptions. 4 CITY CLERK: The first matter will be 5 the recommendation regarding the licenses of 6 Samer L. Asad, Agent for Lounging Around, Inc., 7 premises at 715 through 717 South 5th Street. 8 PRESIDENT HINES: Again, this is the 9 item for Samer Asad, who is represented by legal 10 counsel. Each side shall be given five minutes. 11 Please identify yourself for the record and 12 continue with your presentation. 13 MR. HALBROOKS: Thank you, Mr. 14 President. Members, I am David Halbrooks, 15 Attorney for Mr. Asad and Club Envy. I would 16 like to appear this morning to object to the 17 findings and the decision of the committee, and 18 the objection is the following. I'm going to 19 read you an Ordinance. In a few minutes there 20 will be a motion to nonrenew Envy's license. I 21 just wanted to read you the law that exists in 22 the City of Milwaukee. After these presentations 23 are - - a roll call vote shall be taken as to 24 whether or not the recommendation of the 25 committee shall be accepted. The Ordinance 00006 1 actually doesn't make a provision for changing 2 the recommendation of the committee at this 3 hearing. The reason for that is that the due 4 process hearing that occurs at the committee is a 5 full hearing, both sides, the objectors and the 6 licensee are able to participate, cross-examine 7 people that are appearing against them. What 8 happens on this floor is statements are made. 9 There's no more due process. There's no 10 opportunity to respond to anything that is said, 11 and it is the reason why the committee when - - 12 when a municipality adopts the committee system, 13 the committee is the place where the decisions 14 are made and findings are issued. This Council 15 then just simply votes whether to approve that 16 recommendation or not. 17 With regard to the particular issues in 18 the findings, I had expressed concern about some 19 mistakes that were in the finding to the Chair of 20 the Committee, and asked for a hearing to go over 21 the findings and repair the mistakes. When talk 22 - - talking to the City Attorney afterwards, he 23 assured me that they were all correct. So I'm 24 fairly certain the committee members would make 25 changes to his draft of the findings that the 00007 1 committee has not yet reviewed. 2 One of the things that I want to deal 3 with is a phrase that Alderman Kovac used in the 4 - - in getting ready for his motion. He talked 5 about hearsay exempt reports. The term, as we 6 use it in referring to hearsay, is the hearsay 7 exception. There is no need for hearsay 8 exception in the committee meeting, because the 9 Chair has the discretion to allow hearsay. The 10 problem is that once that hearsay is challenged, 11 it must be corroborated by first-hand testimony. 12 There was no one from the police department 13 corroborate any of the five incidents except for 14 part of one of them. And so when we challenged 15 each of them, the law in Wisconsin is clear that 16 there is not to be any - - There is not to be any 17 - - That cannot be used as substantial evidence 18 unless it's corroborated. 19 There is one item that - - where there 20 was a fight that lasted approximately five to ten 21 seconds between two women. When the police came 22 to investigate, they found out one of the - - the 23 aggressor was a sister of a police officer. They 24 called the off-duty police officer in. He was 25 allowed to come in, sit in Mr. Asad's office. I 00008 1 think that - - And then when the officer who 2 wrote the synopsis, she left out the phrase in 3 the report which said, "Envy had been very 4 cooperative." That led me to find out that a 5 police officer had been involved, and I think 6 it's probably against procedure to call in an 7 off-duty officer to help a relative, but it 8 certainly is inappropriate then to use that 9 against the club. 10 The August 15th date is just wrong. It 11 didn't occur that day. I tried to cross-examine 12 on that particular issue, and cross-examination 13 was not allowed. But the police report, it 14 wasn't copied correctly, and the police reports 15 are confusing. There is no evidence in the 16 record. There is no videotape, because there is 17 no - - you can't show nothing happening. 18 And then, the next incident involves a 19 videotaping of the police as they were doing some 20 law enforcement in the street. 21 PRESIDENT HINES: One minute. 22 MR. HALBROOKS: Nothing in the police 23 report indicated the incident in the street had 24 anything to do with Envy. Mr. Asad was then 25 arrested for videotaping the police from inside 00009 1 his establishment. The City Attorney dropped the 2 charges, saying there was nothing illegal. The 3 committee then removed that item as it related to 4 Mr. Asad. The trouble is the City Attorney left 5 it in, and there was nothing left in the rest of 6 it that had anything to do with Envy. 7 The additional - - 8 PRESIDENT HINES: 30 seconds. 9 MR. HALBROOKS: Yup. Additionally, 10 there's one where there was a broken table where 11 envy called the police. Envy does not know what 12 - - when a call to the police will be used 13 against them and when not. And finally, the last 14 incident where a security guard was hit over the 15 head, the police were there. They videotaped the 16 incident. The guy was running away. Ran into 17 their squad - - or their unmarked squad that 18 everybody knows is a police vehicle, and then, 19 spent an inordinate amount of time trying to 20 issue a subpoena for the video which was going to 21 be available anyway. 22 PRESIDENT HINES: Wrap up, please. 23 MR. HALBROOKS: And - - And all of that 24 was then left in the police report. So we 25 believe that none of these issues will hold up 00010 1 when under review, and I believe that you should 2 take all that into consideration in your 3 deliberations. Thank you. 4 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you. Attorney, 5 please stay for - - stay here, please. Are there 6 any questions that members may have of the 7 attorney relative to this item? If not, thank 8 you, sir. 9 MR. HALBROOKS: Thank you. 10 PRESIDENT HINES: We will now hear from 11 the City Attorney's office, who also will have 12 five minutes before this body. Please identify 13 yourself for the record. 14 MR. STEPHENS: Good morning, Mr. 15 President. Adam Stephens, Assistant City 16 Attorney. Good morning, members of the Council. 17 This matter became before the Licenses Committee 18 on March 7th of this year. There was an 19 extensive hearing. My recollection is this 20 hearing lasted several hours. And the licensee, 21 through counsel, did contest a variety of 22 matters. Several witnesses were sworn. And as 23 the Council is aware, Milwaukee Police Department 24 produces a synopsis report outlining events that 25 had some connection with the licensed premise or 00011 1 patrons of the licensed premise. 2 After the hearing occurred, certain 3 findings of fact were made by the Alderperson who 4 made the motion for the recommendation that is 5 currently before you. The findings of fact, 6 conclusions of law, the committee's report, are 7 the facts in which you must base your decision on 8 whether or not to renew the license, to nonrenew 9 the license, or renew the license with a 10 suspension between ten and 90 days. These are 11 the facts that were found. That is the duty of 12 committee to find the facts. It is the 13 obligation of the Council then, once it has the 14 facts before it, to decide basically what to do 15 about the matter. And as I indicated, the 16 Statute provides your authority to renew, 17 nonrenew, or renew with a suspension between ten 18 and 90 days. The findings of fact largely 19 mimicked the police synopsis report, although as 20 indicated by the City Clerk, and ultimately by 21 counsel by the licensee, one portion of the 22 synopsis was removed at the request of the - - 23 the moving Alderperson, and that was a 24 disposition as to a citation that was issued. 25 I am happy to answer any questions, 00012 1 although I would note that this hearing today is 2 based on legal arguments, based on the findings 3 of fact that were already made by the - - the 4 Council, and that - - Excuse me - - by the 5 committee, and that no further facts should be 6 considered by this body in deciding what to do 7 about this license. 8 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you. Are there 9 any questions of the Assistant City Attorney? If 10 not, thank you. 11 (Arguments presented for Club Bari.) 12 PRESIDENT HINES: Alderman Bohl moves 13 that the Committee now rises. Hearing no 14 objections, so ordered. Are there any motions 15 relative to these matters? Are there any motions 16 relative to these matters? Chair recognizes 17 Alderman Witkowiak. 18 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you, Mr. 19 President, members. Notwithstanding the 20 recommendation of the Committee, I move for 21 nonrenewal of the Class B Tavern License for the 22 establishment known as Envy 715-717 South 5th 23 Street. 24 PRESIDENT HINES: That's an appropriate 25 motion. On the motion, why don't you comment 00013 1 further, Alderman. 2 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Thank you, Mr. 3 President. As I stated at committee, how many 4 times do we have to go through this? How many 5 years do we have to torture our neighbors and 6 constituents? How long are we going to let the 7 disturbances caused by patrons of this club tear 8 down the - - all the progress that's been made on 9 South 5th Street over the years. Tens of 10 millions of dollars of investment, we're seeing a 11 reversal on that. Many businesses that had 12 located there and had flourished there are now 13 considering leaving the area because of the 14 problems caused by this club. How many times do 15 we have to go over this? 16 And let me - - let me remind the 17 Council that this, approximately a year ago, the 18 Council nonrenewed the tavern dance license for 19 this location. And the counsel for the applicant 20 has succeeded in stalling this thing in court for 21 over a year. And there's times when the police 22 show up for problems at this location, and the 23 police are told by management in this 24 establishment, "Oh, you can't do anything to us. 25 We're - - We're open under injunction. You can't 00014 1 do anything to us." Well, is this Council going 2 to cower to a judge that, for whatever reason, 3 his calendar is too busy, or he doesn't want to 4 address this, or he wants to pass the ball to 5 somebody else. Is that what we're going to do? 6 Is that what we're going to say? Is that what 7 we're going to say, okay, let the court system 8 control this Council? I don't think that's wise. 9 We've taken our position. We will hold our 10 position. Our very competent City Attorney is 11 going to work this through the court system and 12 eventually we will prevail. 13 In the meantime, I can't see burdening 14 our neighborhood for yet another year with the 15 presence of these patrons that causes 16 disturbances because this club is there. This 17 license, may I remind you for this 100 times, is 18 a privilege. It's not a right. Privilege has 19 been abused. My job is to protect and ensure the 20 health, safety and welfare of this neighborhood, 21 and that's what I intend to do, to the Nth 22 degree. I'm all for entertainment 23 establishments. And I understand that there is 24 no such thing as perfection. Occasionally, there 25 will be a problem in a place that's well run. 00015 1 Because when you - - you mix alcohol with a busy 2 weekend, things can happen. 3 But this place is a constant, listen to 4 the police reports, it's a constant - - a 5 constant source of police calls. The amount of 6 time that the police department is spending 7 babysitting places like this is unbelievable, and 8 we can't afford that. 9 I also want to mention that the - - for 10 those of you that didn't have the benefit of 11 listening to the committee, there was a 12 constituent that lives next door. I'll tell you 13 something about the attitude of this club. 14 Constituent that lives next door testified that 15 he saw patrons come from Club Envy, sit on his 16 front porch, and roll up and light up marijuana 17 cigarettes. And he went out there to confront 18 them, and they wouldn't leave. So he called the 19 owner of the establishment, and the owner of the 20 establishment came over - - responded, came over, 21 talked to him, and said, "Hey, what am I supposed 22 to do about it? It's a cultural thing." 23 Basically saying that - - This is testimony at 24 the committee, for the benefit of those of you 25 that - - that didn't see it, from the neighbor 00016 1 that lives next door. Basically saying that the 2 - - the owner of this establishment condones that 3 sort of activity. 4 How are we ever going to get back to - 5 - to peace and tranquility in that neighborhood 6 when you have licensees coming in there and 7 saying, I don't care what the laws are. We don't 8 have to operate within the law. My - - My 9 patrons can do this because it's a cultural 10 thing, okay. And I don't have to listen to the 11 police, because we're open under injunction. So 12 you all want to - - You all want to cower down a 13 notch and say let the courts make all these 14 decisions. Or you want to do the right thing, 15 stay the course. We have to - - I have to answer 16 to my constituents. We have to stabilize this 17 neighborhood and get that good investment to come 18 back there. We have a lot of plans for the 19 future there. And it's not going to happen if we 20 have places like this, we have people come in 21 from the outside with no vested interest in the 22 neighborhood at all. These people do not live in 23 the neighborhood. They do not own the building. 24 They're simply there on a lease. They come in 25 from the outside. They take what they can out of 00017 1 a place. They disrupt the neighborhood. And 2 they go home to Pleasant Valley Sunday, wherever 3 they live. And we're left to deal with the 4 carnage. 5 So I'm asking my members here to please 6 support me on nonrenewal of this Class B Tavern 7 License. Thank you. 8 PRESIDENT HINES: Thank you. Are there 9 any additional comments relative to the motion? 10 If not, we're going to take action on the motion 11 that's been proffered by Alderman Witkowiak. Mr. 12 City Clerk, call the roll, please. 13 CITY CLERK: On the amendment to change 14 the recommendation to nonrenewal. 15 CITY CLERK: Alderman Hamilton? 16 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 17 CITY CLERK: Davis? 18 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 19 CITY CLERK: Kovac? 20 ALDERMAN KOVAC: No. 21 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 22 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 23 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 24 ALDERMAN BOHL: No. 25 CITY CLERK: Coggs? 00018 1 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: No. 2 CITY CLERK: Wade? 3 ALDERMAN WADE: Aye. 4 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 5 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 6 CITY CLERK: Puente? 7 ALDERMAN PUENTE: No. 8 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 9 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 10 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 11 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 12 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 13 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 14 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 15 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 16 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 17 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 18 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 19 PRESIDENT HINES: No. 20 CITY CLERK: 10 ayes, five nos. 21 PRESIDENT HINES: 10 ayes, five nos. 22 The motion carries. Any additional motions 23 relative to items contained in the file? Any 24 additional motions? If there is no further 25 discussion, I request a vote of those Council 00019 1 members present to approve the recommendations of 2 the Licenses Committee as contained in file 3 number 101007. Will the City Clerk please call 4 the roll? Before you do so, the Chair recognizes 5 Alderwoman Coggs. 6 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: To be consistent 7 with my vote in committee, on the Club Envy 8 component of the file, I just want to be marked 9 as abstaining. And for Club Bari, I would like 10 to be marked as no. 11 PRESIDENT HINES: Did you want to 12 change your vote from a no to abstention? That 13 was the motion that was put forth by Alderman 14 Witkowiak relative to - - 15 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Not for his motion, 16 but for the - - 17 PRESIDENT HINES: For the file then. 18 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: - - committee's 19 action - - Yeah, for the file. 20 PRESIDENT HINES: For the committee's 21 action. The committee's action was wiped out by 22 the Council's action on the motion that was 23 proffered by Alderman Witkowiak. 24 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Oh. 25 PRESIDENT HINES: And so - - 00020 1 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Well, then scratch 2 that one. 3 PRESIDENT HINES: We'll let the record 4 reflect then, and it has not changed the outcome 5 of the vote, so - - so it will be reflected. 6 Okay. With that, now we'll take the roll call 7 vote on the file, it would be the file as 8 amended. 9 CITY CLERK: Alderman Hamilton? 10 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 11 CITY CLERK: Davis? 12 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 13 CITY CLERK: Kovac? 14 ALDERMAN KOVAC: Aye. 15 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 16 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 17 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 18 ALDERMAN BOHL: Aye. 19 CITY CLERK: Coggs? 20 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Aye. 21 CITY CLERK: Wade? 22 ALDERMAN WADE: Aye. 23 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 24 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 25 CITY CLERK: Puente? 00021 1 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Aye. 2 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 3 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 4 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 5 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 6 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 7 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 8 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 9 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 10 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 11 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 12 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 13 PRESIDENT HINES: Aye. 14 CITY CLERK: 15 ayes. 15 PRESIDENT HINES: 15 ayes, zero nos. 16 The file is adopted. Is there any further 17 discussion on the committee report? Any further 18 discussion on the committee report? Hearing 19 none, Alderman Bohl moves for the approval of the 20 remainder of the report of the Licenses 21 Committee. Will City Clerk please call the roll? 22 CITY CLERK: Alderman Hamilton? 23 ALDERMAN HAMILTON: Aye. 24 CITY CLERK: Davis? 25 ALDERMAN DAVIS: Aye. 00022 1 CITY CLERK: Kovac? 2 ALDERMAN KOVAC: Aye. 3 CITY CLERK: Bauman? 4 ALDERMAN BAUMAN: Aye. 5 CITY CLERK: Bohl? 6 ALDERMAN BOHL: Aye. 7 CITY CLERK: Coggs? 8 ALDERWOMAN COGGS: Aye. 9 CITY CLERK: Wade? 10 ALDERMAN WADE: Aye. 11 CITY CLERK: Donovan? 12 ALDERMAN DONOVAN: Aye. 13 CITY CLERK: Puente? 14 ALDERMAN PUENTE: Aye. 15 CITY CLERK: Murphy? 16 ALDERMAN MURPHY: Aye. 17 CITY CLERK: Dudzik? 18 ALDERMAN DUDZIK: Aye. 19 CITY CLERK: Witkowiak? 20 ALDERMAN WITKOWIAK: Aye. 21 CITY CLERK: Witkowski? 22 ALDERMAN WITKOWSKI: Aye. 23 CITY CLERK: Zielinski? 24 ALDERMAN ZIELINSKI: Aye. 25 CITY CLERK: Mr. President? 00023 1 PRESIDENT HINES: Aye. 2 CITY CLERK: 15 ayes. 3 PRESIDENT HINES: 15 ayes, zero nos. 4 The Committee report is adopted. The Court 5 Reporter is dismissed. Thank you for your 6 service. 7 * * * * * 00024 1 2 3 STATE OF WISCONSIN ) 4 ) 5 MILWAUKEE COUNTY ) 6 7 I, JEAN M. BARINA, of Milwaukee Reporters 8 Associated, Inc., 5124 West Blue Mound Road, 9 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53208, certify that the 10 foregoing proceedings is a full and complete 11 transcript of Lounging Around, Inc., Envy Lounge and 12 Nightclub" taken in the foregoing proceedings. 13 14 15 16 17 18 JEAN M. BARINA 19 Court Reporter 20 21 22 Dated this day of April, 2011. 23 24 25