As council meetings go, the January 5, 2008 gathering was a fast one. It clocked in at just 53 minutes. There were about seven people in the audience. Several of the ordinances on the docket were deferred because they were still being debated in committee meetings. A bunch of other ordinances received a second reading, including the proposed daytime curfew law.
Council honored Daniel Brennan (whose flower shop was burglarized not once, not twice, but three times in 2008. Luckily, the crook was caught.) for his five-year term of service on the Architectural Board of Review. To his credit, he stuck around for just about the entire meeting. Honorees usually head for the exit as soon as the picture taking is over.
A decent portion of the meeting was spent discussing the city’s approach to the state liquor license renewal and application process.
The Flying Rib, located at 11926 Madison, filed a request to remove the name of a former co-owner from its liquor license. The bar is currently closed, but is expected to reopen in the spring. Councilperson Thomas Bullock (Ward 2) received a police incident report summary just prior to the council meeting and didn’t feel comfortable voting without being able to further review the data. He glanced at the number of incidents – 12 in 2008 – and said “It raises a question: Just where is the threshold for this city, and what will we tolerate?”
Councilperson Mary Louise Madigan (Ward 4) disagreed with Bullock’s desire to postpone a decision. She was familiar with the bar owner from Architectural Board of Review hearings and said, “This is a man who is reinvesting in the community.”
Councilperson Kevin Butler (Ward 1) pointed out that most of the incidents were minor in nature and far fewer in number compared to other Lakewood bars. He recalled a review of McCarthy’s liquor license during the previous administration that showed 50 incidents in a six month period.
There was some uncertainty over how much time the city had if it wanted to file an objection. Law Director Nora Hurley said there was a 30-day window under normal circumstances and the state takes 10 to 12 weeks to process a request. She noted The Flying Rib filed for the liquor license adjustment on September 11th . Council learned about the request on December 15th and deferred discussion on the matter during its final 2008 council meeting.
Councilperson Brian Powers (At-Large) appreciated Bullock’s scrutiny of the matter, but didn’t see the need to object to the liquor license change because it was minor in scope and had been vetted by the law and police departments.
Bullock expressed concern that he had no way to monitor the amount of trouble occurring at Lakewood bars. (Psst. Someone tell Bullock the incident log binder is available for review at the LPD 24/7. Rumor has it, too, that there’s a Web site out there somewhere that has a searchable archive of incidents going back almost a full year)
Mayor FitzGerald said he and his people having been monitoring bar-related problems on a regular basis, and The Flying Rib is not considered to be a trouble spot.
Channeling a bit of his inner-Dick Cheney, FitzGerald said, “I probably haven’t shared all that we’re doing.” When it comes to dealing with the Ohio Liquor Control Commission, “you have to pick your battles carefully,” he said.
FitzGerald said the city has historically had little success in dealing with the commission and lost credibility with them. He’s spoken with them and learned that to be more successful, the city needed to do a better job of picking its targets.
At this point, Bullock realized that The Flying Rib wasn’t a battle worth fighting. His concern shifted to the process the city and council use in dealing with liquor license transfer and renewals. Instead of a simple yes or no vote on whether or not to file an objection, he wondered, “Is there another step we might take?” such as more direct communication with bar ownership regarding problems.
“We’re kind of doing that,” FitzGerald said, and noted that the city stays in touch with all of its beer and liquor license holders.
Councilperson Michael Dever (At-Large) wrapped up the debate and said the whole process needed to be reviewed. Council unanimously voted not to object to The Flying Rib’s request.
At the end of the meeting, FitzGerald announced the police department hired a new full-time officer. The Cook Ave. resident is attending the police academy for training and will join the department later in the year.
Public Comment
An older fellow from 1354 West Clifton, apt. 5, dramatically told council he recently learned of something “very disturbing” that he described as “slow motion genocide.” He was referring to the presence of calcium chloride in Lakewood’s drinking water.
He said it is responsible for low IQs in children and is a “very dangerous carcinogen.” He rambled over his five minute time limit repeating his claims about genocide and cancer. “We have to take actions,” he said.
Council treated him decently. Dever politely tried to get him to end his speech. When that didn’t work, councilperson Nickie Antonio (At- Large) hopped in and kindly told him she appreciated what he had to say. Finally, Butler pulled the pin on the courtesy grenade and said in the nicest possible way, but with a hint of exasperation, “This is beyond us. I would like to read more about it, but I can’t listen to more of it because I can’t follow you.” He told the guy to give copies of his studies on the issue to the clerk and she would circulate them to council.