Who should endorse nightclubs becomes topic during Waukegan City Council meeting
A number of Waukegan's 69 taverns or restaurants with bars offer their customers entertainment in one form or another but none of the establishments are nightclubs as defined by the city's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) approved in a 6-3 vote of the City Council last July.
Ald. Lynn Florian, 8th Ward, expressed concern at Monday's City Council meeting that Encore Events was about to receive a nightclub endorsement from Mayor Sam Cunningham. The ordinance gives him the sole right to approve an endorsement.
Florian said Encore was denied a nightclub endorsement by the council last year. She and a majority of the colleagues did not think it was appropriate then and she has not changed her mind.
'My (8th Ward) residents overwhelmingly did not want a nightclub there due to the history of the previous nightclub. There was a murder in the parking lot. The fact that it's nestled in a neighborhood and we had approved an assisted living facility on the same property,' Florian said at the meeting.
Cunningham has no intention of giving Encore or any other applicant a nightclub endorsement on its liquor license in Waukegan any time soon until he takes an in-depth look at how the UDO treats nightclubs.
'I'm going to hold off on any nightclub endorsements until we have a better understanding of who can and can't have them,' Cunningham said Tuesday. 'We have a new ordinance out there. We need to know the background of people asking for a nightclub endorsement.'
Both under the former regulations before the UDO was enacted and the current rules, any business serving liquor — nightclub or not — needed a liquor license. Cunningham said the difference is a nightclub imposes a cover charge on all patrons while a tavern offering entertainment does not.
By the time an individual operating a restaurant or bar receives a liquor license, Cunningham said, the person is thoroughly vetted before the City Council votes to approve or reject the application. The police department, as well as those responsible for reviewing business and liquor licenses, must approve.
Before the UDO became law just under a year ago, Cunningham said someone who wanted a nightclub endorsement had to get a conditional use permit. The permit requires additional steps that are no longer necessary.
In addition to getting a liquor license to serve alcoholic beverages, before the UDO, an applicant for a nightclub endorsement was required to make its case to the Waukegan Planning and Zoning Commission for a recommendation before the council took a vote.
Florian said she thinks the City Council should have a say in whether a nightclub endorsement is granted to a business rather than leaving it to the mayor. She thinks a liquor commission, rather than the mayor — state law makes a mayor the liquor commissioner — should make the decisions.
'I believe this is something that should be the decision of the council,' Florian said. ' The alderman of the ward should have a say.'
With the council already approving a liquor license for an individual seeking a nightclub endorsement, Cunningham said he is comfortable taking the information gleaned from the police, the fire department, business licensing, and the liquor staff and deciding whether or not to issue the endorsement.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Making NYC affordable: Where the mayoral primary candidates stand on the housing crisis
NEW YORK — New York City is facing intertwined housing and affordability crises, with record rents and historically low apartment vacancy rates. About half of households struggle to pay for the basics while a quarter live in poverty. Within the debate over affordability, finding ways to create more affordable housing has become a major concern for voters. With the Democratic primary for mayor approaching on Tuesday, the Daily News is breaking down some of the key issues for voters and where each candidate stands on them. Here is how the contenders have proposed tackling the housing crisis on social media, in interviews, during debates and as part of their formal policy plans. We have included the top seven candidates who met the fundraising thresholds to qualify for the second debate. Adams has touted her housing record as Speaker, saying she is 'doing the work' with large-scale rezonings like City of Yes, Innovation QNS and the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan. As mayor she pledged to 'use every tool available' to address the housing crisis by cutting red tape and using emergency powers to get affordable housing built. She and the broader City Council also passed an expansion of the CityFHEPS rental assistance program as part of a protracted legal battle with Mayor Eric Adams. She has indicated she supports a rent freeze at least this year for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments. Cuomo has said he would use 'every option available' to develop 500,000 new apartments over a 10-year period. During the first debate, the former HUD secretary vowed to 'blow up' the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development to minimize bureaucracy, a proposal that was warmly received by real estate players but balked at by tenant advocates. Cuomo has not supported a rent freeze for rent-stabilized tenants, dismissing it as a 'politically convenient posture.' Opponents of a freeze have argued that the cost of operating and maintaining buildings would continue to rise while rents remained flat, potentially putting property owners in a precarious financial position. Lander has said he would be 'the best-prepared housing mayor,' citing his years in urban planning and work passing the Gowanus rezoning while on the Council. His lengthy housing plan involves declaring a housing emergency to expedite the development of 500,000 new units of housing over a decade, including on city-owned golf courses. It also calls for coming down harder on 'irresponsible' landlords and increasing funding for NYCHA and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Lander has called for a one-year rent freeze in his capacity as comptroller and expressed an openness to doing so again as mayor. Mamdani has made freezing rents for rent-stabilized tenants a centerpiece of his campaign, saying he would do so for all four years if elected mayor. His housing plan would triple the City's production of affordable housing with the aim of producing 200,000 new homes over ten years. Mamdani would also fast-track 100% affordable projects, double the money being spent to preserve public housing and beef up municipal housing agencies. Mamdani proposes funding many of his ambitious plans by increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. Myrie has pitched himself as the 'YIMBY' candidate, with a plan to build and preserve one million homes over a decade. It includes revitalizing NYCHA, building more in Midtown, reallocating shelter financing for housing and expanding the Right to Counsel program. Myrie has called for a one-year rent freeze for tenants in rent-stabilized apartments and said he would consider it in the future. Stringer's housing plan — dubbed 'Mitchell-Lama 2.0' — includes developing affordable homes by building on underutilized city-owned lots and reclaiming derelict properties from neglectful landlords. He further hopes to bolster public housing by securing $40 billion for NYCHA improvements. The former hedge fund manager summarized his housing mantra as 'unleash the private sector.' Tilson says he would cut red tape in order to create more affordable housing by streamlining zoning and approval processes, and said the city should be constructing at least 100,000 new units annually. Tilson indicated at the second debate that he does not support a rent freeze for rent-stabilized tenants this year.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Democratic council candidates sound off on 'two-project solution' for the Falls
The six candidates running in this year's Democratic primary for Niagara Falls City Council have mixed opinions on whether the city would benefit from the so-called 'two-project solution' involving Mayor Robert Restaino's proposed $200 million Centennial Park project and Niagara Falls Redevelopment's plans for a $1.5 billion data center. Niagara Falls Democratic City Council candidates' forum This event was brought to you by the Niagara Gazette and the Niagara Falls NAACP. During a candidates' forum on Tuesday at Bloneva Bond Elementary School, several candidates said they have a wait-and-see approach when it comes to both projects and that they would need more information before they could fully endorse either one. Their comments came a day before Restaino announced that he's holding a press conference today where he is expected to announce more details about the Centennial Park feasibility study, a document several council candidates said they like to see before deciding whether they could endorse the project. During Tuesday's forum, candidates were asked questions by representatives from the event's two sponsors, the Niagara Gazette and the Niagara Falls chapter of the NAACP. The candidates' positions on the events center and the data center are summarized below based on the order in which they were asked to respond. Former city employee Bridgette Myles said she's open to either project or both, mainly because she believes the Falls needs development and job creation. While noting that NFR has failed to deliver on many of its development promises over the years, she said it would be 'awesome' if they actually moved forward with the data center, which the company claims would create hundreds of jobs. Myles said she also believes Centennial Park would be a benefit to the community. 'Any type of development for Niagara Falls is going to be a win,' she said. Michia Lee, a first-time candidate for public office, said doesn't like the Centennial Park concept and believes the data center has more potential to create jobs city residents need. 'I think one would be an asset and one would be a liability,' she said. John Kinney, who worked for the city for 35 years, including most recently as a director of the Department of Public Works under Restaino, said in light of NFR's many empty promises over the years, he questions whether the data center will ever materialize. He referenced a years-old NFR plan to build a $200 million hotel on the site of the former Native American Center for the Living Arts on Rainbow Boulevard. The plan was presented to the city in 2017 but never happened. 'They have promised to build many things many times. Ask them about the hotel at the Turtle. It's not there,' Kinney said. Kinney argued that Restaino's events center has a much better chance to produce benefits for the city. 'The event center is going to keep us year-round in the tourism industry,' Kinney said. Without being able to see the city's feasibility study for the project, candidate Sylvana Rahman said her stance on Centennial Park is a 'no.' 'I really can't vote open something that I'm not getting the full picture of,' she said. She also questioned the cost of the project and who was going to pay for it. 'There would be $200 million coming out of whose pocket?' she said. 'Whose pocket would it be coming out of?' Rahman favors the data center because she believes the project would provide more of what the city desperately needs, and that's quality jobs for its residents. 'The data center will bring hundreds of jobs and opportunities to Niagara Falls,' she said. For the city to be successful, local realtor Noah Munoz said it must embrace reinvention on multiple fronts. He also declined to fully commit to supporting Centennial Park without seeing the results of the feasibility study first and questioned the legitimacy of the data center given NFR's track record in the Falls. 'NFR has made many promises and they have made many many deals with many mayors and they have not come true,' he said. Incumbent Councilman Donta Myles has opposed any city investment in Restaino's arena since the project was first announced in 2021. During Tuesday's forum, he said his stance has not changed because little has changed about one his main concerns — the source of funding for the $200 million project. 'I've been about 'show me the money',' he said. 'I've asked very detailed questions. I would ask $200 million, where's that coming from? Do you have any public or private sector investment? Who's going to pay that $200 million? That's us, pretty much.' Donta Myles said he's also worried that a city-built arena won't be able to compete with other entertainment venues across the region, citing KeyBank Center in Buffalo, Artpark in Lewiston and the Seneca Niagara Casino in the Falls as examples. 'How are we competing with them?' he said. The six candidates are vying for three open slots as the Democratic council candidates who will appear on the ballot for the November general election. The three top vote-getters in the primary will face three Republican candidates, including incumbent Councilman David Zajac, former Falls lawmaker Vincent Cauley and political newcomer Tanya Barone in the general election. Former Falls Councilman John Accardo has also qualified to appear on the general election ballot for city council as a Conservative Party candidate. Residents who are registered as Democrats in the City of Niagara Falls are eligible to vote in the Democratic primary. Early voting is now open. Primary election day is Tuesday.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Rail system 'could transform public transport'
A light rail system currently being developed in Coventry could transform public transport in the future, officials claimed. Coventry's Very Light Rail (VLR) system has been described by the city council as like a tram but more flexible and affordable as well as being an alternative to cars. A 220m (241yd) test track has been giving free rides for the past month and West Midlands mayor Richard Parker said the trial showed the system could "revolutionise" public transport worldwide. Local Transport Minister Simon Lightwood saw the VLR on a visit and said it could "drive growth, create high-skilled jobs and breathe new life" into towns and cities. Parker said it could "revolutionise public transport for millions worldwide". This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Passengers invited to try out new rail system Rail system's first route could be to airport zone New rail system moves towards on-road tests Coventry City Council
