City objects to eight bars, carryouts getting renewals
Columbus wants to cut off eight local businesses that city officials say are violating state liquor laws and, in some cases, attracting violent crime.
The Columbus City Council voted Monday to object to the renewal of liquor licenses for eight businesses, including Park Street Cantina, a wellknown bar near the Arena District that investigators say has become a haven for underage drinking.
“We are picking the worst of the worst. We are presenting strong cases to the Division (of Liquor Control),” said William Sperlazza, an assistant city attorney. “We are not picking on anybody. We aren’t picking permits for any other reason other than evidence and facts of the law.”
Ohio’s Division of Liquor Control issues permits, but it gives local governments a chance to object. And in the recent past, that has meant in most cases those permits are not renewed.
Since 2012, the city has objected to 78 permit renewals, with 66 of them not renewed. In 2015 and 2016, the city objected to 22 permits. So far, 21 have not been renewed. The outcome of the last case is pending, Sperlazza said.
Sperlazza said the city works with several other agencies throughout the year to determine for which permits to file objections. Sometimes they come up through citizens’ complaints; others are provided by police.
Investigators look for liquor violations, violence, drug or gang activity and property crime, among other offenses, to build cases against permit holders, he said. They also have discovered food-stamp fraud and lottery violations.
Between January 2016 and November 2017, Columbus police took 98 reports at Park Street Cantina on a variety of calls. Investigations by the Ohio Investigative Unit led to 48 criminal charges for underage possession of alcohol or selling alcohol to a minor between July 2016 and August 2017.
“I think it’s fair to say this is the place off-campus where underage individuals go to buy and consume alcohol,” Sperlazza said.
Park Street Cantina’s owners did not return calls Tuesday. The bar is next door to several others that recently closed to make way for a planned development of a hotel and office building across from the North Market.
The rest of the city’s objections are scattered across Columbus. Sperlazza told City Council members on Monday that the Turbulence Sports Lounge (O-Lounge), at 1536 N. Cassady Ave., has attracted violence near John Glenn Columbus International Airport. Columbus police have responded to a brawl involving more than 100 people there and shootings at the Waffle House restaurant across the street that spilled over from the club, he said.
Sperlazza said that the Glow Lounge, 1024 Shady Lane Road, was operating as an after-hours club and investigators found it also was an illegal strip club.
Ron Eiland, the permit holder for Glow Lounge, said he has put his permit in “safekeeping” with the state after he learned about the violations by an operator to whom he sublet the business. He said he is planning to move the permit to a Downtown restaurant.
The other permits that the city objected to: A to Z Market, 1015 E. Hudson St.; Moses One Stop Shop, 1609 Cleveland Ave.; High Five Spice Emporium, 1178 N. High St.; United Food Land, 2222 Summit St.; and Town Market (Vans Market), 1270 W. Town St.