Members of the NOPD Second District and neighborhood residents march through the rain in the Riverbend area in March. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
Just after the new year, NOPD Commander Darryl Albert invited the owners of four bars to a meeting about complaints he had been receiving from area residents, Albert recalled Tuesday. The owners of Bruno’s and Door’s showed up and agreed to work to reduce the noise and trash they were generating, Albert said, but the owners of Rocco’s Tavern and TJ Quills did not attend.
Later in January, NOPD vice and narcotics officers swept Rocco’s Tavern for underage drinkers and issued 14 citations (finding that 70 of the 100 patrons there were under 21), said Lt. Mike Montalbano of the NOPD Second District. Agents returned a second time and found most of the underage drinking confined to the outside area, Montalbano said, and they also targeted TJ Quills.
Those violations led Rocco’s to an investigation by the city’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board, where the bar was scheduled for a hearing Tuesday on its liquor license. Instead, city attorney Dan McNamara said they had been meeting with both the Maple residents and Rocco’s attorney David Halpern on an agreement that could resolve most of the problems on the street.
McNamara also noted that the city would be bringing charges against another bar in the “immediate area,” though he declined after the meeting to discuss specifics of the case.
“We’re trying to see if there’s something that we can do that addresses the concerns of the neighbors with all the establishments in that immediate area collectively,” McNamara said.
Between the city’s leverage and the bar owners’ attention, the two attorneys said the only remaining piece of the puzzle is to bring all four Maple Street bars and the neighbors together to agree on details.
“It’s critical that we would like to meet with the neighborhood before the next hearing for the chance that we could get this thing worked out,” Halpern said. “If we have a meeting, my client would be willing to do whatever is reasonably necessary and economically prudent to resolve the problem.”
The allegations against the bar included not only the noise and litter violations, noted board chairman Rodney Seydel, but also charges of serving alcohol to underage customers. He asked McNamara if the neighborhood meeting would solve the more serious charges.
“I do think some of those issues go hand in hand with the creation of certain problems in the neighborhood,” McNamara replied. “A collective and global response to the issues would be very, very helpful in easing their concerns.”
Seydel encouraged the two attorneys to consider a model similar to the Fairgrounds Citizens Advisory Committee, creating a venue where residents could be sure that their concerns about businesses in the area would be heard. Further, Seydel said that any solutions that are identified should be implemented as soon as possible, without waiting for the next meeting of the Alcohol Control Board on June 21.
After the meeting, Halpern said the concerns raised by the neighbors and the city about the evening activities on Maple Street are valid.
“It’s not a hotbed of drugs and violence, but it is a place where Tulane and Loyola students go to entertain themselves,” he said. “Younger people probably are noisier and more boisterous.”
Halpern said he hopes the meeting with the residents can be scheduled within the next two weeks.
“In fairness to them, we have to address the abuses,” Halpern said. “We simply have a mandate to be good neighbors.”
Speaking after an NOPD meeting Tuesday night, Albert offered no opinion on the upcoming meeting between the bars and the neighbors. If residents continue to complain about noise and litter around the bars, his officers will keep returning to Maple Street.
“They already know we’re here,” Albert said. “It’s very simple. You’re going to comply, or you’re going to be getting a visit from us.”
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Also on Tuesday’s agenda for the Alcohol Beverage Control Board were the Precinct on Annunciation, the cluster of businesses in the former Wagner’s Meat building on South Claiborne, and the Key Food Store on Louisiana Avenue. All three of those were deferred to the June 21 meeting as well.
To read a recap of our live coverage of the meeting, click “Replay” in the box below.
Contact Robert Morris at rmorris@NolaMessenger.com, or post your comment below.
