A little more than a month ago, I tried to encourage the people that support the Deep Ellum bars and clubs to continue their civic involvement. I was so proud of y'all when I saw the news clips and saw that you packed the City Council chambers once again to make your feelings known.
The Council meeting may have seen long and drawn out, but that's because the council was trying to give each club the benefit of the doubt. In the end, the clubs did very well when it came to getting permits.
Club One and Club Uropa made it very hard on themselves. In terms of Club One, you can't act like violence doesn't occur inside the club. Unlike the false argument made by an owner of Club One, it wasn't racially motivated. I'm Black and I too voted to close Club One at the City Plan Commission level. Violence is violence, and they have a crime problem inside the club.
The owner of Uropa may not have known about his website (maybe someone younger created it and didn't tell him what was on there?), but it is common knowledge that Uropa throws those kind of parties (which may cause you to need special licensing as a sexually oriented business). Uropa's website has been that way for some time. As councilman Dave Neumann correctly stated, getting an SUP is a privilege and not a right. As you all heard again, both clubs have had serious crime issues.
I guess I'm torn on the issues surrounding the clubs. I appreciate what people like Barry Annino and others are trying to do. At the same time, the bad clubs need to go - they only make it harder for the area to be a safe destination for all people.
I just wanted to once again thank all of you for participating, and encourage all of you to keep up on city issues and stay involved.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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2 comments:
Ive said it on the other blogs today, Uropa and One had to go. they've been a serious thorn in the side of the neighborhood for a long time. Hopefully we can begin to attract a decent replacement in both their spaces...
The residents and business owners of Deep Ellum are wonderful, civically engaged people -- and tremendous neighbors. They recently honored Central Dallas Ministries as the recipient of the proceeds from Taste of Deep Ellum.
Thanks to Mike Snyder of All Good Cafe and all of our friends in Deep Ellum for the work that they do. The issues of club violence is a very difficult one, but I am confident that the strong leaders of Deep Ellum will help our whole community to address these concerns.
Jeremy Gregg
Director of Development
Central Dallas Ministries
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