Ohio City stakeholders express opposition to nightclub at Rialto Theatre building
by Chuck Hoven

(Plain Press, February 2008) A crowd of about two hundred people packed into the Lutheran Hospital Castele Learning and Conference Center on January 9, 2008 for a meeting on the proposed transfer of a liquor license from a Flats nightclub to the Rialto Theatre building at 1871 W. 25th Street. Most of those in attendance came to show their opposition to locating another nightclub in the building in which the infamous Club Moda operated.

Residents and neighborhood business owners listened politely as two of the owners of the proposed Hush Night Club, Eric Buckner and Mack C. Danzey, Jr., made a presentation. Buckner and Danzey, owners and operators of the Heaven and Earth Night Club on the East Bank of the Flats since 2001, are being forced out of that location due to development of the East Bank of the Flats.

Buckner and Danzey said they have researched the Ohio City neighborhood and the new club would be aimed at a “mature customer base.” They said their primary demographic would be customers ages 24-38.  In addition to running a nightclub at the site, they also plan to use the facility for weddings and sweet sixteen parties. They promised to keep all outdoor and indoor areas secure with the use of off-duty Cleveland Police officers. They also promised to work with other neighborhood bars, restaurants and nightclubs to hire police to patrol the neighborhood in a car at night.

Plans for Hush Night Club call for an international night on Thursday nights with DJs or Bands playing music from a particular ethnic culture. Friday nights would feature invitation-only corporate parties, while Saturday nights would have weddings until 10 p.m. followed by DJ & dancing. Sunday nights would feature an “industry night” for bar and restaurant employees.

In addition, Buckner and Danzey promised a parking lot task force, clean-up crew, landscape services, plowing and trash removal. They also said that Hush would provide access to the space for community meetings,  generate new business for the community and attract an upscale clientele to the community.

The club owners then promised that they would not deviate from their plans despite economic conditions.

After the presentation by the owners of the proposed club, Ward 14 Councilman Joe Santiago spoke briefly, saying he was waiting to see what the community and Ohio City Near West Development Corporation Board of Trustees wanted before making a decision on whether or not to support the leasing of the Rialto Building.

Ward 13 Councilman Joe Cimperman followed Santiago to the podium. Cimperman was emphatic in his opposition to a nightclub locating in the Rialto building. Cimperman’s ward lies to the immediate north and west of the nightclub location. Councilman Cimperman said, “This space is virtually impossible to run.” He cited crime statistics from six month period in 2006 when Club Moda was operating, noting the number of arrests, moving violations, drug law violations, vehicles towed and open container violations. He recounted calls from senior citizens in the Riverview High Rise at 2 and 3 a.m. where they simply held the phone out the window to demonstrate the level of noise they were experiencing. Cimperman acknowledged that the owners appeared to be good club operators and promised to help them fine a suitable location elsewhere.

Residents’ questions followed the city council members’ remarks.  Jason Wein, one of the owners of the Rialto building, responded to a question that the building’s crowd capacity was 550. Wein, who also was part of the ownership when Club Moda rented the space, said he had learned from his experience with a bad tenant and placed requirements in the lease that prohibited underage drinking, hip-hop and gangster rap. He said violations by the tenant would be reasons to terminate the lease.

Paul Cirjak, another owner of the Rialto building, responded to a question as to whether he would want this nightclub next to his house by saying “If you have children or don’t like to live in the inner city, you shouldn’t live in the inner city.”

That comment created a stir in the crowd and one resident noted he lived in Ohio City and was raising his children in the neighborhood.

Second District Commander Keith Sulzer spoke briefly to the crowd when asked about his perspective. He said he was neither for nor against the club. As Commander of the Second District, he said, “I am up to my eyes in irresponsible bar owners.”

Commander Sulzer went on to say, “If they are going to be responsible bar owners, security doesn’t stop at the door.” Citing some of the promises made in the club owners’ presentation (such as the car touring the neighborhood), Sultzer said, “They promised some good things.” He then turned to the proposed club’s owners and said, “Don’t renege on your promises if you get this opportunity.”

A number of residents recounted their horrid experiences during the operation of Moda. Prior to opening Moda, they said, the owners of that club made similar promises to the neighborhood. However, after a short time of operation they began to attract loud crowds whose disruption of the neighborhood included gunshots, playing of loud music from car stereos late at night, and partying at parked cars after closing time.

A representative of the West Side Market Merchants Association voiced opposition to the club based on past experience of the condition of the parking area on mornings following club use during Club Moda’s tenure.

Several people made the point that the nightclub is simply too large to be allowed to operate in the neighborhood. They asked that the building be used for some other purpose. The building owner said using it as a theater was a pipe dream and not economically feasible. The owner of the Alternative Press spoke up and said he had made an offer of  $600,000 for the building, hoping to use it as a location for the magazine headquarters. He said the owners wanted $2 million for the building.

The owners of the building said they were in the process of negotiating with Hush and the transfer of the liquor license to the building. If that fails they said they would consider other offers.

Ohio City resident Ted Thelander spoke of his concern that the neighborhood had become a destination for a club-going crowd such as those that once frequented the East Bank of the Flats. The Hush owners responded saying, “We don’t believe in selling your soul to the devil. The quick fix, hip-hop formula, doesn’t work in Cleveland.”  They went on to speak of their willingness to sign an agreement not to pursue that type of venue.

Tim Del Rupa, a resident and owner of rental properties on Chatham Avenue, made it clear that Club Moda wasn’t the only problem nightclub in the neighborhood. He complained about Club Envy on Chatham and W. 25th. “I didn’t have to be concerned about my safety before Envy opened up, “ he said, citing the shooting that had occurred in the parking lot across from the bar.

Del Rupa later told the Plain Press that a once quiet chiropractor office became Club Envy. Its owners had talked to the neighborhood about opening a quiet jazz club, he said, but that did not last long. They began offering regular reggae and hip-hop nights. He said that while the owners of the bar are gentleman and try to be good neighbors, “their clientele are incorrigible and they can’t control them.”  

When there are problems in the neighborhood, he said, the Envy owners blame them on people they kicked out of the bar. “Even if that is true”, said Del Rupa, “ the problem -causing people were attracted to the neighborhood by the bar.” Del Rupa says three of his four rental tenants nearby have said they cannot co-exist in the same neighborhood as the bar. They have told him, he said, “ either the bar goes, or we go.”

Follow-up

Following the January 9th meeting on the proposed liquor license transfer, Ohio City Near West Board of Trustees wasted no time in meeting to vote on the issue. The OCNW Board of Trustees passed a resolution on January 10th opposing the proposed liquor license transfer.

In explaining the passage of the resolution, Ohio City Near West Board of Trustees President Angela Hummel said, “We did not arrive at our decision lightly. It was based on the grave concerns expressed by the community during last night's meeting and the problems we had in the past with Moda.  Although we feel the operators presented a sincere case to the community, the overwhelming consensus in the community is that a nightclub in that building is incompatible with the residences and other businesses of West 25th Street.”

In an e-mail to residents a week later Hummel reported that on Monday January 14th both Councilman Joe Santiago and Councilman Joe Cimperman sponsored a joint resolution opposing the transfer of the liquor license to 1871 W. 25th Street. She cautioned residents that the proposal to transfer the liquor license still has to go before the State Division of Liquor Control. She urged residents to write to the Hearing Officer and to link to the Ohio City Near West website for more information on the liquor license transfer process. She promised to keep residents apprised of when the teleconference hearing would be held at Cleveland City Hall so residents wishing to testify could be prepared.

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