GLASS HALF FULL?
Council hears both sides of Elks Lodge liquor license request
POTTSTOWN >> Leaders of the Montgomery Elks Lodge on Walnut Street told borough council Wednesday night they had learned from past mistakes and asked for a second chance at a liquor license.
But residents of the area who spoke out opposed the request, saying they were disturbed late at night by fights and loud people when the club held a liquor license.
The club is seeking council’s permission to transfer a club liquor license from the Gilbertsville Fire Company No. 1 to the Elks club at 605 Walnut St.
In 2015, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board refused to renew the club’s license, largely due to the
large number of police calls that had occurred there, including one shooting and assaults on police officers.
“Officers responded to 129 incidents of disturbance near the property between May 2012 and May 2014, including one instance on Feb. 2, 2014, when a patron was shot immediately outside and police were ‘attacked by an aggressive and antagonistic crowd while the Lodge’s security personnel stood by and did nothing’ while officers were trying to administer first aid to the victim,” according to a Nov. 9, 2015 article in The Mercury.
“There was a lot of noise, very disruptive. There have been fights you can see out the door.” — Preference Watts, Walnut Street resident “These people love Pottstown and we’re tired of being looked upon as a bully and eyesore.” — Vincent Artis, Montgomery Elks Lodge
But those days are behind them, said Vincent Artis, a Pottstown resident for more than 50 years who spoke for the club Wednesday.
Artis said he had spoken with both Police Chief Michael Markovich and his predecessor, Rick Drumheller, about making improvements at the club. He said the club is in the third year of a five-year improvement plan.
“I see the progress in the mindset of the members who are there,” Artis said.
In 2013 there were 173 police calls, he said. But in 2016 there were only three calls; eight calls in 2017 and in 2018, there were 16 calls.
“These people love Pottstown and we’re tired of being looked upon as a bully and eyesore,” Artis said of the members. The club recently hosted a Christmas party for 183 local children. And it also holds Halloween parties and Easter Egg hunts, he said.
Real estate agent Salvatore Gambone, who specializes in liquor license transfers, told council the leadership of the club, about 30 members, realizes mistakes were made in the past.
Gary Clifford said many of the things that happen in that neighborhood are blamed, unfairly, on the Elks club. He used the example of Pottstown Middle School students misbehaving on their way home down Franklin Street.
“Do you blame the school district for that?” he asked.
But most of the others who spoke from the audience opposed allowing the license.
Mary Walsh said she has lived on Walnut Street for nine years and the last four or five years has been quite quiet since the liquor license was taken away, adding that she used to be awoken at 2 a.m. when the club had the license.
Preference Watts also lives on Walnut Street and said when the club had a liquor license, there was a lot of noise late at night. “There was a lot of noise, very disruptive. There have been fights you can see out the door.”
Christopher Carter, also of Walnut Street, said sometimes when the club closed, you would see or hear fights “where people got knocked unconscious. “And then they would just get into their cars and drive away. No police, no ambulance was called,” he said. “They do not act like outstanding citizens when they leave.”
Councilman Joe Kirkland said a survey of neighbors found that 75 percent of those asked opposed allowing the liquor license. Those who did not oppose it, still did not want it, but did not want to impede the club’s ability to make money, Kirkland said.
Markovich said some of his officers also surveyed the neighborhood and the majority did not want it. He also said “the public nuisance calls and problems we had are not with the members themselves. Issues happen when the building is rented out on Friday and Saturday night and it becomes an after-hours nightclub.”
Bishop Everett Debnam, pastor of Invictus Ministries and the police department’s chaplain, said what no one else had yet — that part of the opposition to the liquor license is “due to the fact that this is an organization of color.”
“My concern,” said Debnam, “is not with the Elks, but with the attitude of this community. If this request was being made three blocks away, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. My suggestion is, give them a chance. If they mess up, they mess up, at least they’re trying. I thought this was the land of second chances. All the rest of us have gotten at least 14 second chances.”
Gambone said while there is no such thing as a “conditional license,” he noted “if they get out of hand and they complain, LCB will come out here and shut them down in a heartbeat.”
Borough Solicitor Charles Garner told council that theirs is not the final decision. If the council votes in favor of allowing the transfer of the license, it must still be approved by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
He also said to keep within the timeline set out in the law, council must vote at Monday’s meeting on whether to approve the transfer or not.
“[Opposition is] due to the fact that this is an organization of color. My concern is not with the Elks, but with the attitude of this community. If this request was being made three blocks away, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” — Bishop Everett Debnam, Invictus Ministries Inc. “The public nuisance calls and problems we had are not with the members themselves. Issues happen when the building is rented out on Friday and Saturday night and it becomes an after-hours nightclub.” — Police Chief Michael Markovich