Downtown Bar On the Brink

Seventh St. Bar Phoenix May Loose Liquor License

By Jennifer Greenup
QueenCityForum.com Magazine reporter

City Hall--Council voted Wednesday to pass a resolution which objects to the liquor license renewal of the Phoenix Café. They also voted to table objection of the renewal of the liquor license of R P McMurphy’s Pub and Coffee House, relinquishing the case to the Law and Public Safety Committee for further investigation.

Council member Laketa Cole said that she wanted to make sure that businesses who are working with the police and the public are not shut down. She felt that there are still some issues left to be resolved.

“I just want to make sure that businesses that are trying to do the right thing are not penalized for it,” said Cole about the Phoenix, a downtown bar.

Concerned members of the respective communities and the police department attended hearings for both businesses in favor of and apposed to the renewals. Representatives from both of the establishment’s message to council were that they were doing everything within their power to work out the business’s problems with police and neighbors.

Representatives from McMurphy’s spoke at Tuesday’s hearing and Wednesday’s Council meeting in an attempt to resolve this issue. The Phoenix Café only spoke at Tuesday’s committee hearing.

At the hearing, Phoenix representatives told Council that they had not been informed of the April 4th hearing against the establishment.

Moreover, they said that many of the phone calls of concern to police that had been reported at the last liquor hearing had been made by the business’s employees for occurrences outside the bar.

Ms. Cole asked if the police were able to tell Council how many times the establishments in question had called the police themselves about problems on or near their property.

The Cincinnati Police Department representative said that the department does not keep a separate record for each establishment of who makes the calls to the police. In order to find out, the department would have to go back to the date and time of the dispatch to determine the callers’ identities.

The Phoenix’s lawyer, James Nickels said “the tavern has started calling last call at 9 p.m., giving up five hours of business to keep its license.” Nickels said that the Phoenix is the “only tavern downtown that is interrogated” that an average person can go and have an affordable drink.

Several long-time patrons and nearby residents of the Phoenix Café agreed with Nickels and spoke at the committee hearing in support of the renewal of its liquor license.

Charles Herd said that he lives a few doors up from the Phoenix and that the charges against the tavern are unwarranted.

“I go this establishment every day,” said Herd. “I have never seen anything going on in there.”

The Phoenix must now prepare for a hearing before the Ohio Department of Liquor Control.

Reporter Jennifer Greenup covers the City Hall and local politics. The feature appears each Thursday exclusively in QueenCityForum.com Magazine.
contact: jenniferg@queencityforum.com