Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the hearing and grant an Entertainment Permit with conditions on the application of Enaid’s Way, Inc., dba Miko’s Sports Lounge, 710 West Willow Street, for Entertainment With Dancing by Patrons and Performers.  (District 7)
Item one report from Financial Management Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record. Conclude the hearing and grant an entertainment permit with conditions on the application of Michael's Sports Lounge at 710 West Willow Street for Entertainment with dancing by patrons and Performers. District seven. Please raise your right hand. You and each of you to solemnly state that the testimony you may give in the cause now and pending before this body shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. Moving on through this hearing, I'm going to turn this over now to city staff. Mayor, members of the council. I believe council member Austin has excused himself due to a conflict that he represents the owner of the establishment in his job as a representative for that group. So he will not be participating in the hearing this evening. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the Council for this item are the staff making. The presentation will be Jason MacDonald, our purchasing and business services manager. Mr. Mayor, council members, Jason McDonald for the Financial Management Department tonight you have in front of you the application for entertainment with dancing for you needs way. Of doing business as Michael's sports bar 710. West Willow and District seven. All of the necessary departments have reviewed the application. The application and proposed conditions are contained in the packet that was provided. We are prepared to address any questions or concerns along with the police department regarding the application or the conditions. Commander Farfan from the police department will address the calls for service. Good evening. Mayor and City Council Commander Rick Farfan, Long. Beach Police Department. During the investigative stage, which takes place from September 12, 2014 until March 17, 2015, we examined calls for service and during this time. We found there were 27. Calls for service, with the majority of them being cleared advise, which means that an officer actually went there and spoke to the owners or made contact with somebody. The remaining was when the officers arrived on scene. They didn't hear any loud music or there was any disturbance. That doesn't mean that nothing occurred, just mean by. The time the officers arrived, they didn't hear any music. We've also discovered that Migos has applied for seven or EPS occasional entertainment permits, and every time they've had an occasional entertainment permit, there's always calls for service, typically involving loud music and loud patrons. Their most recent EP was issued this past. March 12. Through the. 13th, and there were. Five calls for service between the hours of 1050 to 1:00 in the morning. Three were for music calls, and two were complaining about. Large groups that were being loud and disturbing the neighborhood. We've also contacted all residents with a 100 foot radius, and that impacted three of the residents. All three residents are opposed to an entertainment permit, citing various reasons such as loud noise. Large groups leaving trash in front of their neighborhoods, urine as frequently found in their name in front of the residents. That's a very common complaint. That concludes my report. I can be able to answer any questions. Thank you. With that, we're going to go now to public comment for this part of the hearing. So if you're a member of the public, please line up for public comment and then we will go to deliberate through the council. So please come forward. Please come forward and just identify yourself for the record. Okay. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Leslie Harvey and I live in the 2500 block of Main Avenue, right around the corner from Michaels Sports Lounge. I've lived there for 12 years. When my husband and I bought our house on Main Avenue, there was a mom and pop chocolate shop on the corner and a John Edwards paint shop across the street. And adjacent to that, there was a small neighborhood bar. It was a quiet neighborhood. We thought it was the perfect place to buy our first home and to raise our two boys. For many years, the neighborhood was peaceful. Our boys grew, went to school, and the eldest went away to college. This is when the trouble began. The small neighborhood. Bar had changed ownership several times and eventually became Miko Sports Lounge. With new ownership came outsiders to our neighborhood. With these outsiders came a myriad of disturbances and disrespect for the people and properties on Main Avenue. Waking up at two in the morning to loud voices, laughing, shouting, and at times fighting became a regular occurrence. Car alarms going off. Car stereo so loud that they would rattle our windows. Motorcycles revving their motors and cars racing down the street were frequently heard in the middle of the night. People were parking in front of our house, drinking in their cars, getting high, leaving their empty bottles and trash in our garden. And then we would literally watch them walk down the street and go to the bar. After six months, the first six months and over 70 phone calls to the police. My husband and I were absolutely shocked that Mika's application for a permanent business license had been granted. And we are further confounded by the news today that the fire, police and health departments recommend approval of this entertainment permit. The Long Beach Municipal Code States. The City Council shall approve the permit if it finds that it, quote, will not constitute an undue burden on the neighborhood, unquote. How can what we've been through the last year not be considered undue burden? Our peace has been disrupted. We feel like we live in the parking lot of a bar. I hope that after you hear from my neighbors and me today that you will understand our burden and not add to it. Please don't approve this entertainment per permit. Even with the conditions listed, it will add to the existing burden of living near to Mika's Sports Bar. Thank you. Thank you so much. And just as a note, where is the actual applicant? Up here on the OC. So the applicant will go last and the applicant will have an opportunity as part of a hearing for a reasonable amount of time. So anywhere between five and 10 minutes for the applicant, but for public comment, let's get through that first. So please come forward. I. Good evening, counsel. My name is Steven Kirkpatrick. My problem is I have a neurological disease that affects my my muscles and my speech. So please be patient with me. I live two doors down from me cause I take many medications for my disease. And I've been told by my doctor to exercise, get plenty of rest, and protect myself from stress. My doctors say this stress will accelerate my disease. I got my doctor's tests. But Michael's PA has made this hard for me to avoid stress and get plenty of rest. I can't sleep because of loud disturbance of the patrons waking me up all through the night. Some. Sometimes, especially if there's an event at the bar. All of then all of the noise. Start a chain reaction with the dogs barking in my neighborhood. The loud music from the bar wakes me up even when I take medication or when I wear earplugs. How can I? How can I get away from the stress when I feel like the noisy parties in my home. This has been very stressful to keep. My health in check. Late, late, late one night has many, several Michaels patrons just to hold it down. When they when they woke me up, they didn't respond. I felt uncomfortable. Then I went back inside. The next morning, my last sprinklers were damage. More stress to me. My daughter has to park. Down the street one block when she visits me because the bar customers take up the parking in front of my house. I don't like. My daughter has to walk so far to her car at night just to visit me. I take care of my two grandkids after school, after school, when my daughter works three of those days. It bothers me that my grand kids were often hearing offensive language at the bar when they walked, when the patrons walked to the cars in front of my house. My grandkids sense that I'm distressed to me at times because of because of the bar. They don't enjoy visiting me anymore. And so you're going to get additional time. You know, you mentioned the issue, so please continue. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. The bar is is a nightmare for me. And the stress is almost too much to bear. But it's important for me to be here to tell you that I don't just care for my health. I care from a neighborhood. But what you look like for your neighborhood, I think you would. I respectfully ask the council to deny any permits at this location. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you. My name is regular person. My house is right behind the barn. I lived there for 15 years with my wife and kids. You know, I'm a local business owner for 20 years. My wife and I have been married for 23 years. We have a 20 year old girl, Northridge University. A 15 year old girl in Milliken High School. And a 12 year old boy, the Newcomb Academy. You know, Puerto Rican. But Long Beach has been my home for over 20 years. You know, we were a very, very blessed family. Living the American dream. And to me, skateboard came along. You know, I have a number of various I sent to Peter Ronco and Jason MacDonald with loud patron distributors on the street, some living, you know, they were arguing with each other, some blasting their sound system of their cars as they leave. Urinating in my yard in between parked cars, in the alleyways, even some having oral sex. We have all that on video. Loud screaming at 2 a.m. from bar staff, thanking their customers for coming for coming out. You know, I caught people urinating in my yard and I asked them to please go back inside the bar or go home. You know, some of them apologize and leave. But some of them are very aggressive attitude. You know, I've been told cats obscenities even by one of the owners, the bar owners, you know, telling me that she doesn't give an F and to call the police. I have all kinds of harassments. Loud knocking on my front door, screaming from the alleyway, you know. You know, daring me to call the police, you know, on my daughter's 15th birthday, hurting, saying, you know, we were home. Two of her friends, you know, the parents couldn't pick him up from from this alone. So as we open our front doors to walk him out, you know, the parents were picking him up. We saw a patron urinating into my yard. I told to go inside the bar. You know where he told me to go? You know, how's that for a quinceanera memory? But the worst part is the loud music comes from inside the bar, from their jukebox. You know, they have already have a violation sent by Daniel Phillips from the Health Department, who came to my house to monitor noise levels twice. You know, they're still an open case. When he came, it was a very quiet night. You know, my family and I, you know, have three different levels. We cannot live in our house. Please deny the permit. But if you are considered to be out of favor before I urge you to come to my house, there's always three sides to every story. You'll be the third one. I guarantee you that. If you come, you know you. Not only that, you will deny the permit. You will probably recommend to close the bar guarantee, see the lack of sleep, listening to my stress, my health, my house and my business. I have 11 ployees that the job is in jeopardy because I don't think I can keep up with the business and all this stress. I thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is Tony at Cattleman's. I live four houses down from the bar. I moved into my home in 1987. I like that. It's a diverse neighborhood. Lots of pride of home ownership. I have a great neighborhood. I'm against this permit for a lot of reasons and I appreciate the time to tell you why. It's ironic that last week, as I was thinking about what to say tonight, my partner was on the phone calling the police because of a disturbance from Mika's bar patrons. That's what this boils down to. The peaceful enjoyment of our neighborhood has been gone since Migos opened its doors last year in January. Several neighbors and I spoke to the owner of Makos Bar Mzansi in February last year, just a month after the bar opened. There are already disturbances not only coming from the bar, but from her patrons who parked on her streets because there's inadequate parking at the bar. We thought we could work something out with her to improve the problem. She said, quote, She had no control over her patrons outside the bar and her advice was to call the police when our piece was being disturbed. So my neighbors and I took her advice. We call the police when her patrons were fighting in the street, when they were yelling loudly, going to their cars, one, two, three in the morning, waking us up. We call the police because of some lewd acts in front of our homes. When the music from the bar, especially the bass, was so loud, it shook our homes. You get the idea. Loss of sleep, lots of stress. The past year has been an emotional roller coaster ride of stress. We've worked hard with our neighborhood, with city departments, police nuisance abatement and others, all in an effort to get this bad business neighbor to fall. Follow just the basic ordinances set by the city. Stop disturbing the peace. That's a lot of city resources concentrated on one disruptive business. For the record, we're very appreciative of all the efforts that the city department certainly PD has put into this issue. There have been improvements regarding Migos disruptions in the neighborhood, but the disturbances haven't gone away. Please consider this from the beginning. Miss Yancey solution was to let the police handle her disruptions rather than working things out with the family neighborhood that she moved into. Mico Sports Lounge wants to expand itself into a nightclub with live entertainment to attract more patrons. Where are they going? To park. The location is not compatible with a long established family neighborhood setting, and the bar has an established history that it is not a good business neighbor. This is a neighborhood, not Hollywood. I want the peaceful enjoyment of my neighborhood back. Please don't reward make those bad behavior. Deny the request. Thank you. Thank you. That speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Dana Dedmon and I live on Main Avenue with a view of the Mico Sports Lounge parking lot for my living room. I fell in love with and purchased my beautiful home in 1989. I was young and to be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the fact that it was near a bar . Thankfully, it turned out to be a quiet little neighborhood bar half the size that it is now. The prior owners of my house never disclosed that there were any issues. Stemming from the bar. I assume that's because there weren't any. Unfortunately, I am now experiencing all the michos related disturbances mentioned by my neighbors and friends. Although not my day job. I am a licensed real estate agent. I am trained to know. That if anyone affected by. The nuisances created by me goes were to sell a home and failed to disclose it on the transfer disclosure statement. It would be considered fraud. None of us want to sell our homes except maybe Rickey. But a buyer interested in purchasing one would most likely move on to other listings or cancel escrow after reading a truthful disclosure . Or they might make an offer with a serious discount of, say, 50 to $100000. You've heard my neighbors stories and mine, but I'd like to comment a few things that haven't been covered. Number one, as I recall from conversations with nuisance control, conditions were imposed on vehicles that are not being adhered to. Music should be contained within the bar, but the bass is rattling our homes. The rear door was to remain closed except in emergencies, and people are still going in and out. The bar is to have security guards and they do. But they are clearly not effective and frequently add to the noise problem. They were to stop the loitering on Main Avenue and behind the bar. It is still continuing. Number two In a recent meeting with the bar owner, Selina and council member during his office asked the bar owner to reach out to the neighborhood. And that didn't happen. Last weekend, just days before this meeting. The bar produced noise and patron issues comparable to some of the worst, resulting in numerous calls to the police. This either demonstrates her inability inability to control her bar or her defiance of any restrictions imposed on her. Number three, a petition requesting denial of the entertainment permit was delivered to our councilman's office earlier. Today and submitted to the city. Clerk. Before the meeting. It is signed by over 80 people, mostly living within two blocks of the bar and every household in the 2500 block of Main Avenue. If a permanent entertainment permit were approved, I believe this would increase the noise and bad behavior stemming from Michael's further affecting enjoyment of our home health and prosperity, property values. I urge you to deny this permit. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please. I have a little breathing problem today, so if you'll bear with me, please. No problem. My name is Delores. Can you hear me? Delores, would you mind maybe speaking into that, Mike? This one? Yes. I thought that was okay. All right. We'll start now. Um. My name is Delores Williams I've lived in. Oh, I live for houses down from Michael's bar. I lived in my home for I've lived in my home for 28 years. I have the same nuisance complaints as my neighbors. However, I'd like to speak to the city about the nonconforming status of this location and how it contributes to the nuisance problems we are experiencing. Here's a little history about the property. The building was built in the late fifties in 1995. The city approved a permit to expand the bar to a pool hall. Not a not expand the bar, but to expand to a pool hall that doubled its size. With only 11 parking spaces. I believe it's a it's now a 3000 square foot building with a capacity load of 150. As my neighbors have said, Michaels has caused parking, congestion and noise generated by their customers. Parked on our streets at all hours, perhaps as this property was brought into compliance with city codes. Our neighborhood would be less impacted. With regards to the bathrooms. Are there enough toilets and urinals to accommodate 150 people? Again. This was built in 1959. Are the bathrooms ADA compliant as required by the city for properties offering entertainment? As you have heard, we have a big problem with bar customers urinating in public. They urinate in the streets, in the alleys and on our lawns. This behavior is offensive, unhealthy, and it's illegal. Perhaps if this property had better bathroom facilities. We would have fewer people relieving themself in public. Foremost is the difference between 1950 and the 21st century. It's technology. Please consider how digital surround sound can amplify the jukebox of today as compared to the jukebox of the fifties. In addition, and this is a big one. Social media and Internet access increases the owners ability to market to massive numbers of people within seconds. The city. The city has not recognized how unsuitable and obsolete this building is. Ma'am, I know you said you had a breathing issue, so I'm going to let you continue. Okay. Just to. Oh, no. I'm going to let you. I'm going to let you continue past the time. So. All right. Thank you very, very much. Absolutely. And congratulations, by the way. Thank you, ma'am. So the city is not recognized as a small bar. It had little impact on the neighborhood as a small sports bar. The impact on the neighborhood has grown to an intolerable level, with live entertainment being packed can only be increased. And I'd like to say that I'm disappointed with the way the city has handled this nonconforming building that's 45 years old. This building was abandoned for one year, 30 days before Michaels moved in. That was a chance for the city to jump on it and make it conforming. We would not be here today. None of us. Miss Yancey wouldn't be suffering. We wouldn't be suffering. If you guys had been doing your duty. Thank you very much. And happy St Patrick's Day. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, sir. Hi. Good evening. Staff and council members. My name is Steve Duprey. I've been a resident of the Wrigley neighborhood for over 12 years. I also volunteer at the Peace Garden, founded by Dee Andrews at the Martin Luther King Park. The biggest issue we have here is the negative impacts on the neighborhood. We've we've got a conflict of interest where we've got a commercial district impacting a well-manicured, well-maintained residential neighborhood. We it's been a neighborhood where you didn't have the lock the doors. You didn't have to make sure your car was locked all the time. Can I have a brief show of hands of everyone who thinks there will be a negative impact that is in the neighborhood? Okay. Their concerns are increased crime, public urination, discarded liquor containers, numerous transient individuals drinking doing drugs in cars. And if this was on your block, this is not the neighborhood. You would feel safe with your children or to leave a door open. The police department has been overtaxed, responding to the numerous complaints and enforcing any kind of curfew, further taxes, city resources. So the people who raised their hands, those are the neighbors who have pride in their neighborhood and feel stressed and impacted. And when you look at the definition of entertainment with dancing by patrons and performers. It even raises a higher question of, you know. Of what further impacts are going to be on the neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Good evening, Mayor Garcia and members of the City Council. My name is Joan Greenwood. I live at 2091 San Francisco Avenue and frequently pass by this establishment. Sometimes later at night that I would like. But I do. I am here speaking on behalf of our organization, the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance. Our members have taken a vote following meetings and discussions and firmly stand behind the residents of the 2500 block of Main Avenue. I don't know why what they're saying tonight should surprise you, because it seems to me I've heard the residents of Belmont Shaw, I've heard the residents of downtown Long Beach say much the same as neighborhood bars. Restaurants suddenly have become clubs, nightclubs. I looked up the definition of a nightclub. A nightclub is a bar that serves more liquor than food. A nightclub requires a special federal license. Has the city checked to make sure they have that federal license? I believe the documentation says that they have complied with all local, state and federal licensing requirements. This is an expensive license to obtain. We would love Mrs. Monte's business to be successful and to be a successful Wrigley neighborhood place. But I look at what's happened since the downtown on Pine Avenue has become a hot club spot late at night. I work in the Security Pacific Bank building. And you know what my colleagues are telling me? They come back to work late at night and they're finding patrons of the club, the vault up on the second level , drinking, loosening up and urinating. Maybe it's only 20% of the patrons that carry this behavior, but we see it. We saw it with the party busses. We're seeing it down. I see it in our parking garage, the auto part right over here in First Street. I went out one night leaving the office around 10:00 at night. There were six young men waiting to go clubbing, boozing it up, putting their bottles and glasses on someone's brand new white Prius, which I know was not theirs. There's the smell of vomit in the garage because before and after they drink, they vomit. They urinate. I'm sorry. Whether it's 20% or 10%. A nightclub does not belong in a residential neighborhood. You wouldn't let that happen any place out in the city. It's a bad, bad precedent to set to say that we can continue to grandfather in these activities that put a burden on the local residents and no benefits. Thank you. Thank you. Next, bigger plead. Good evening, Mayor, and members of the council. My name is Jill Hill and I have lived in the Wrigley area since 1995. I've been active in neighborhood association ever since then, ever since moving three months after I moved in. So I've seen a lot of things over the last 20 years and experienced a lot of stuff. And we have had an incident like this come up before, and you were not around at that time. This was about 1999, 2000. Our council member was regroup and ski and across the street. Then a few doors down was Showtime Sports Bar. I don't know if you remember anything from that day. Hopefully our council member. Durango remembers that they were applying for entertainment permit as well. Our council member at that time denied that permit because he listened to the residents of the neighborhood. The people that lived behind there had the same complaints that all these members that are here today are telling you, I'm not in support of this permit. The quality of life, everybody's neighborhood association is all. About quality of life. And we're no different than anybody else. We don't want to disrupt our long term neighbors that have been there the majority of their life. It's just not fair to them. I wish businesses success. I have a business. I've been a business owner for 30 years. But you know what? I'm a good business owner. I don't do things that hurt my neighbors. And in looking at some of these conditions, if this business has not done the right thing or been a good business partner up to this day, do you think that they will once you allow this permit to go through? I highly doubt it. And one other little fact that the officer who gave you some stats did not say is in the first six months that they were open, there were 60 calls that residents made about noise issues. So, please, I respectfully request that. You deny the permit. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Good evening, John Dietsch, 3600 Pacific Avenue. But living Wrigley, I've never lived in Wrigley and I don't live near the sports bar. But for about 12 years, the late eighties, early nineties, I was a neighborhood association president in the lot through this neighborhood, and I enjoyed tremendous reciprocal support from the folks in Wrigley. I owe them. This is a minimum to come down and support these folks. Friends of longstanding. I know their trustworthiness. I know their credibility. Nobody's pulling your leg about what goes on there. I don't think there's anybody behind that rail it would tolerate this kind of activity. Within a block of your personal residence. One of the things that concerns me and I'm not just about this, but things in general is about enforcement. Enforcement of conditions, enforcement of a lot of different things in this sitting right now. When I was here a couple of weeks ago, I guess it was for agenda item 23 regarding the airport. SAT through the hearings regarding the permit application where somebody wanted the one of you wanted the food sales to always exceed the alcohol sales. Who enforces that? That is to the job. Does she have staff to do that? Do you supply, you know, time and talent to. Do that as the police department have orders to do that? I lived through that very issue where I have maintained a second residence in Comber, Georgia. Police chief and I were on the same page about how to bring forward a totally enforceable situation down there. Instead, there carpetbagging city attorney copied the Athens, Georgia ordinance. You just plagiarized it. It's absolutely, totally, 100% unenforceable. And also my personal observations. I go over there quite frequently at night and as recently as 23, 28 hours yesterday, there were patrons out on the street, on the sidewalk, on Willow. And I have been asked by certain folks, the police department or are you calling 911 when you see that? Well, first of all, I'm driving and you're not supposed to use a cell phone when you're driving. Secondly, 20 years ago, if I so much as mention this to anybody in the police department with one or more stars on this caller, there would have been an undercover vice people dispatched there to either confirm or deny my observations. And every time I made allegations like this. Vice people were under cover of ice, persons were dispatched and every time my observations were validated. So I would respectfully request that you. Denied this application. People have said it's out of control. It needs to be reined in as it is right now before any more generous permitting is given. Granted. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. And then I believe just just for the notes of the hearing, the last speaker on this list, that is the applicant, is that correct? Okay. So closing the speakers list with the applicant last. Please can't. Tornado. Renfroe I live within a few blocks of Michael Sports Lounge. I have supported Michael's Sports Lounge since it's opened last year. I am grateful and I acknowledge Michael's sports lounge for doing business in the Wrigley area as a loyal customer. The lounge has served multiple purposes for my friends, family and I. We have celebrated birthday parties, graduation, and it has become a place for after high school, athletic games and other school events. The occasional entertainment permit plays a great role in keeping us there, spending out money and providing a great alternative to going to Los Angeles in Hollywood. We can easily spend our money in other cities, but we choose to keep our money in the Wrigley District in which we reside and we work. In the in the area. I hope that you all will better position Mieko for greater exposure, marketability and support to maintain its long term success and growth in the Wrigley area . And making a fair decision in I am for the bar. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, everyone, I am to Michael Lewis. I'm part of sports. I'm out. From the first day. Like I said, we've been here a year now. We can judge from the past bar pretense. That's not fair. You should never be raised that never judge no one until you learn them yourself. Right. That's how we all raise. We are being judge from the previous bars. If everything is indicated that we're have been done, where are the police reports that all this has been failed, that we are a new set? Yes, we have again the calls because they are being losing calls because that's how they get their way in. But it's okay because we still try to be in compliance. So then we have our security guards all day outside. In the back, we have three security guards front door, inside and back. Sometimes these things can be, you know, uncontrollable, but it's not a forest. They walk up the street too long. We controlling our air. We try to give the respect. I'm in front of this because I have never been here before, so maybe I might be short of words and not be saying things right. But I feel that we need to be treated fair. Where? Give us a chance. You guys, judging on what was there 40 years ago, we just been here a year ago. So that bar there 40 years ago, was they from us being to make our Mico Sports Lounge today because we are being in compliance we do shut the door will sorry that if the delivery people come in and bring in our orders. Okay, well how can we keep the door shut if our orders can't be in here? Okay. Yes, it might be people outside being able to see, but that's not totally on us. But we do keep it in fair. But all I'm asking you guys just give us a chance because we're being judge what was there prior before us. That is chemical sports now because there's not the indicated in the police that we have been totally erroneous to this neighborhood bar. You know, and what I have to say. Thank you very much. Okay. Finally, we're going to have the applicant. So as part of the hearing, the applicant gets what's called a reasonable amount of time, which in this case, I'm not sure if we need more anywhere between five and 10 minutes. If you don't need that time, that's fine as well. Okay. Okay. But please, please begin. My name is Didi Yancey. Demetrius Yancey, born and raised in Long Beach. Um, let me see. What. What state of California license take years. So, um, I decided to open a business. I came back to Long Beach to do a business. My mother was instrumental in starting the Martin Luther King Parade. She actually got the statue put up at King's Park. So, yes, I've been in Long Beach forever, all my life. My dad. Born and raised in North Carolina. We worked for the city for 33 years. So the thing about it is, did you laugh? You could come, go to North Carolina, start a business, have one in Sacramento. I want to come back home and start a business. I didn't know it was going to be all like this, but it is what it is. I'd like to thank the neighbors for coming out and saying wonderful stuff about me. You like that? And in my whole world, I have never cussed. I do not cuss at all. So for them to say, for this young man to say, I dropped the F-bomb. Never did that. You would ask any of my customers, do not cuss cause that probably what? I got kicked out of school. Never cussed again. How about that? So everything that they saying, like I said, what the police calls the service. It's natural. A lot of times we should look into it a little deeper. I did not tell them to call the police as an alternative. What I told them is. I'm trying to do the best that I can. I want to have the security guards walk the customers to their car. I have, um. We exit out in tears. We do last call, and we get a group out. Then we get another group out. And then we leave. We have been closed at probably for the last couple of months. We've been closed like about ten, 11:00. The ladies will do as well. We will get calls for service on days that we're shut. Just because these people have gone to the city and the city have given them the the power to say do calls for service, do calls for service that would help them that would help you to push them out. I've been told by a couple of these people here that you're not going to be here much longer. We're going to shut you down. I've had some of these people come to my customers in the parking lot. This young lady here, I guess this is her because a customer told me I'm out there getting ready to come in. She was asking me about the toilet stalls. You don't ever have to ask about the toilet stools. Come in and look at the toilet stools. Who had been on the outside? I welcome everybody to come in. I said my place could be used for whatever. We have had meetings in there. We've had repass this. We've had wedding receptions. We've had whatever you want. Fashion shows in the daytime is. I'm not there. It's just there for me almost right now. I want to say I think it's a black thing, but I'm not black. Hispanic. No. I'm sorry. But the thing about it is, whatever they're complaining about is that's that's not true. I have my log here where I have my security guards write down every time a police car for service has come. Each time a police calls for service has come, it always said nothing. Nobody. The police said nothing. I've had where the nuisance guy came out and talked to me. He said the young man said it was someone urinated in his yard. At 930, maybe ten, we went back, looked at the cameras. They said they urinated in the yard, dropped the F-bomb on him, then came back in the back door and sat in the bar. Man. The nuisance guy looked at the footage. Only people that we saw was this man dropping his family off in the front. There was no customers in the bar at all from 930 to 1030. So at what point do you keep giving them ammunition to fight me? When I'm showing you what's going on is not really what's happening. They're just looking for a reason to fight. So. And any way if they if if they have any problem. I've always told them make a come talk to me. I had this young man here call me and stated and some people out in front arguing, fighting in this truck. This lady she has on this is this. He's texting me on my phone. I said, okay, I'm I'm there. He didn't know I was there. I was sitting in a parking lot. He's describing what's going on that was not even there. And I was just like, wow, he's telling me somebody in front of his house is doing this, this and that, and it didn't even happen. So my thing is, we can't fabricate sometimes and it's okay. They don't want the bar there. I do. I want the body. That's why I bought the business. I would like, you know, two small business owners to have more say in the seventh District. I went to the meetings with the. Two associations. And what I got from them was they were upset about the Wrigley District because it was all $0.99 stores. Um. Mexican restaurants. And nasty cheese that nobody could go in. So if we trying to run businesses in the district, what kind of residents, ah, do we have that's supposed to be supporting us? That's talking about our own businesses. You know, they don't. They don't care anything about the small business owner. And that's okay because they like he said, he owned his own business. If I roll by in front of his business, sat out in front of it, taking pictures of it and everything, like he do me, what would that make me? A predator. Some type of predator. But my thing is, I am applying for a business entertainment permit because I don't want to have live entertainment partying and stuff like that. I just want to be in compliance in case we are in there dancing. We could say, yes, we have a permit and we're dancing and we're permitted. I work for the state of California and are licensed daycares, so I make sure they stay in compliance. I want to be in compliance since I applied for the entertainment license. I had that new park and I have pictures here of how the place used to look before I got there. The parking lot. We all got new pavement put down. The guy came by and cited me because I had the sign. The old sign fell off the wall and it had adhesive tape on the wall. He literally cited me because I needed to maintain the wall how it was additional. So I did. But my business partners next to me, they have graffiti on their walls and the same. Adhesive tape on the wall. Did they get cited? No, they did not. We all put new pavement down. I got a citation saying I needed a handicapped parking space. Nobody else in that whole business not got anything. That said, they need a handicapped parking space. So did I put it down? Yes, I did, because I'm trying to be in compliance. That's my whole thing. I don't have. Any problem talking with any of them. Like I told them, I'm more than open to go and talk to them. I went to the little daisy. Parade that they had. Not the parade, the daisy. Picnic when it was Martin Luther King's Day. On Martin Luther King's Day. They had a little gathering on Daisy in 19. I went out there, set out with my stuff and was introduce myself to them. So when they asked me, did I want to come out and talk to the neighbors again? No, I did not, because I already spoke with them and they already knew who I was. Those that really wanted to meet me, I put myself out there to them. So why should I have to start back over? Just so they could delay my entertainment. They know who I am. I put myself out there. So I don't know what else it is they want me to do. Do I have another hour to talk? No, just a reasonable amount of time. So I think. Oh, if you want to begin to maybe wrap up that your case. Okay. So my, my thing about it is I asked if I could, you know, really do this hearing because. Seven days a week. Entertainment stops at ten. There's no place in the world or anybody goes where you could go out and you have to stop Entertainment ten. You actually leave your house at ten. So my thing is, I'm just trying to compete. I'm not trying to have a live band. I'm trying to get a kitchen put in. So I wanted to have a little small SpaghettiOs. That's what I was trying to go for. But if not, I just have to be patient and wait. I want to do karaoke. That's what I want to do. And I want to have a deejay. I have one live band there. That's the time when the guy got the decibel levels. He said the sound was so loud. He came out there like I told him that Levels was 55. He got, what, 55.7? So my thing is I told them, how can I fix that? I told them I won't have any live bands. So what? That's it? What? Everything. They come to me with. I do it in compliance and I do try to stay in compliance. Everything they told me to do, I have done with no problem. No problem. And if you want to come see the toilets, there's more than enough toilets in here. And we are handicapped. Approved. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, ma'am. Okay. So the work, including the hearing, is now concluded and we're moving back to the council for deliberation. So I'm going to begin by turning this over to Councilmember Ranga, and then the council will go to a vote. Thank you, Mayor. Now, first of all, I want to thank all the neighborhoods, the other neighbors in the really area, those in Maine who are directly affected by this tour taking time to be out here this evening. There were a couple of other issues that that were brought up that I think I'd like to have staff refer to. One of them was the most last one regarding the noise levels. If I could have Mr. Nelson Kerr from the Environmental Services, you can please step up and give us a report on what you found in terms of the noise levels and when and how often and what did you find? Thank you, mayor, and members of the city council. I'm Nelson Clear. I function as the bureau manager for the Bureau of Environmental Health at the Health Department. And under that bureau is the NOI a community noise program. And I also serve as the community noise officer. The complaints that we received started in July. So I'll just go through a quick chronology for you. On July 2nd, we did respond to a complaint that we received. This is July 2nd of 2014. That resulted in a notification letter being sent to the owner of Nico's with a CC to the complaining party. This process is complaint driven. We received additional complaints which resulted in a scheduled noise measurement which we took on the weekend night of January 3rd. And at that time, it was about 1130, between 1130 and midnight. And there was no live music at that time. The background noise is very important. In this case, it was above what the normal noise thresholds are. It was at 56 decibels. We did get a measured level outside of Nico's at 52 to 54 decibels. And we did receive additional complaints after that. So there was no violation. There at that initial reading. The next reading we took. Was on January 17th, also a weekend night. And this was after 10:30 p.m.. And the background noise at that point was 54.7 decibels. We did create a new standard to accommodate that at 55 decibels, and we measured the sound outside of MCUs at 55.7 decibels, and that was a violation. We did issue a notice of violation to macOS Bar on January 29th. I would also like to point out that this is a logarithmic scale and if it's 55 is the standard and you're at 55.7, it's not just 0.7 above 55. This is an order of magnitude higher. This is a logarithmic scale similar to earthquakes or scales. So it's not just a little bit above it's a lot above the din. That in that where we stand now is, like I said, it's a complaint driven process. We have received additional complaints since then and we are in the process of scheduling in another reading. If we get another violation, we will have to refer the matter to the city prosecutor. That concludes my report. Thank you. Counsel Marie Ranga. Thank you, Mr. Kirk. I also want to add that we had a series of meetings with with Mr. Yancey regarding we had a large meeting with the staff there, and I shared with her the concerns that we had regarding not only the the loitering or the patrons going into neighborhoods, but also the noise levels, the the control of the back door. We also proposed some conditions. One being the ability to to shut down entertainment at 10:00. We asked her directly if she would be abided by that. She did not give us a response. The again, I want to thank the staff for their efforts in helping me, trying to determine what is the best route to take with this. I want to thank the neighbors for coming out and sharing their views. I also want to acknowledge that they're cooperative with us, including Ms.. Yancey, in meeting with my staff and with myself to try to work things out. But I am disheartened to come to the conclusion that as a representative of the really, really community and the entirety of a district, that I make the motion to deny the entertainment permit. Okay. Is there a second to the motion, please? Okay. There's been. Actually, it's okay. Council, can we count some of your anger? Can you make. Thank you. There's been a motion and a second counsel. Did you want to. Yes, I'd like to say a few words. You know, first of all, I'd like to thank everyone for coming out tonight and responding to this situation. I look at all of that. We look at languages as, you know, business friendly. And I'm actually Mr. Johnson, I know very well. I know the family. But the thing about it here, I'm just trying to find out where do we go from here? I mean, have we sat down as individuals and tried to speak with each other? I mean, we have businesses all over the city of Long Beach. Is it really that bad that we really can't sit down with each other and try to find a peaceful way of working with these individuals? You know, we can't and we just can't. But I think that in this situation, I'd like to know where do we go from here? If we deny this tonight, is that it? That they will never get another chance to be able to. Because I would just like to know and I would just really like for Mrs. Yancey and Michael's Bar that I really think that it's time for you guys to really kind of sit down and really come to some form of, you know, an understanding that if there's going to be one, yeah, you must respect the neighbors. That's anywhere. Not only just I mean, I mean in the streets, everywhere else you go, because people do really seriously, they want to have a peaceful, you know, be able to sleep at night. They want to be able to do this. They don't want to have to go through that. But I would just like to see us be able to maybe some might come to some form, you know, a conclusion that we can sit down and maybe come to some type of, you know, a better understanding with each other, because I'd like to see everybody's business thrive, but it is what it is. And I just would hope that, you know, we could get along, you know, as friendly neighbors. Thank you. Thank you. But I'm going to go back to Councilmember Turanga and we're going to go to a vote. Oh, actually, did you know what, Councilman Price? I want to echo what councilman has just said. I think that's really important. I represent a district that has a lot of restaurants that are right alongside residential communities, Belmont Shore. And now we have some restaurants and establishments on Broadway. And this is an issue that comes up for us all the time. And one of the first things that I always look for is what efforts has the business owner made to try to mitigate and try to address the issues? So, you know, I'm with Councilman Andrews. I would hope that this wouldn't be the final step, that that maybe there would be some dialog down the road. But at this point, it seems like the situation is such that if things continue to go the way that you all think they're going to go, it's going to impact your quality of life in a negative way. And so we like to see, you know, in our office and I'm sure in all the offices, people come to the middle and do what they can and not be, you know, to be neighborly and be good community partners. And that's always what we're looking for when we have hearings like this. Thank you. And finally, Councilman Ringo. Before I continue my final final comments on this, I'd like perhaps the city attorney to describe next steps. What is the process from here on out in terms of what what is the meaning of this motion. Before you this evening? Is the application for the entertainment permit. If denied by the Council, pursuant to our municipal code, the owner of the establishment will be prohibited from reapplying for a one year period. Thank you. So basically what we have at this point is that we're going to have one year of a moratorium, if you will, of being able to provide any kind of entertainment in this establishment. But there is an opportunity as well to improve those relationships with the neighbors. It's beginning to hear. Okay. To make amends or to work with the community, to try to work with them, to come to a to a that's a center so that you can thrive in your business because we all want businesses to thrive. There's no question about that. We had a bad start. I would say that there's an opportunity to do a do over, start again, meet with the neighbors and speak with them. And and if there are some issues or concerns in the future, there's an opportunity to open that door and to have open and free discussions as to how they can be a. I think that what we're trying to do at this point is to address a current issue so that to bring it up to the forefront so that we can address them in the in the back. So I hope that this is an opportunity for you and for the poor, the neighbors, or those affected by the by the business to get together and work things out. So I'm hoping that this would be the beginning of a better relationship. Thank you. Thank you. And there's a motion on the floor to deny the entertainment permit that's before the council has a hearing. So, members, please go ahead and cast your vote. Motion carries seven zero. Motion denied. Thank you. We want to thank you all for for coming out tonight. And now we're going to be moving on. Real briefly, through the consent calendar, which is 210, item 12 and the record of public comment.