Making It Easier to Shut Bad Bars Down

By Rachelle Bowden in News on May 11, 2005 4:16PM

Is that bar 3 doors down from your apartment keeping you up at night with its loud music? Is it attracting the wrong kind of people to your neighborhood? The kind that puke in your yard and leave trash all over your stoop? Well, kick them out! Tell them you don't want them in your neighborhood! It's about to get easier than you thought.

Mayor Daley is introducing a new ordinance to City Council. Under the measure, 51% of voters living within 500 feet of a liquor store or bar could sign petitions saying it's having a negative impact on the neighborhood. The owner of the liquor establishment would then have to prove that they're not a nusience. As it is right now, residents who complain have the burden of proof. This ordinance would switch that burden over to the business owner.

Negative impact is defined as hurting property values, increasing noise, litter or congestion, or leading to repeated arrests in the area. If a petition is signed by more than 50% of the neighborhood, the bar can't prove they're not having a negative impact, and the commission rules against a bar, the bar will close and can only reopen with a court order. Right now the bar or liquor store may stay open until all of its appeals are exhausted.

Imave via Blizzo's Flickr photostream