Envy Lounge fights for survival
by Joe Narkin

(Plain Press, November 2008) The co-owner of the beleaguered Envy Lounge, Zlatan Miskin, says that he recognizes there are formidable forces aligned against his efforts to keep his bar and restaurant open for business at 2132 West 25th Street in Ohio City and he knows he will need to move.

“I am a small business that is ready to give up and go” and “I am trying to find a solution to leave out of here,” said Miskin. Until he finds an appropriate location and the finances to relocate, however, Miskin said that, “I am already pushed to the wall and I have no choice (other than) to fight for survival.”

Miskin says that he relied heavily on loans from his father and other relatives to open his business and that he has “borrowed even more money from them” as adverse publicity has reduced his customer base and as attorney fees associated with defending himself from legal actions have left him without the cash to make a move possible. “Right now, I doubt if I will ever be able to pay them back because business has declined by 70 to 80% due to bad publicity,” said Miskin. He also said, “it will take a lot of time and effort” to find another location for his bar and the actions taken against him have left him depleted in time and energy.

According to Miskin, the most powerful forces aligned against him are racism and the financial interests of those who are heavily invested in the economic development of the Ohio City area. This has resulted in adversely differential treatment by the City of Cleveland for his bar, which primarily serves a minority clientele, he said. “Ohio City is developing and if you are not the white, yuppie type of establishment, they do not want you,” said Miskin.

In their fight against what Miskin views as discriminatory treatment, unfair community opposition, and a three-pronged legal attack (a charge of operating an illegal dance club, an objection to a renewal of the club’s liquor license tendered by Ward 14 Councilman Joe Santiago, and a pending eviction action by a new landlord), Miskin and his partner, Davorin Stenanovic, have retained the services of Terry Gilbert, a prominent local civil rights attorney.

Based upon preliminary guidance from Attorney Gilbert, Miskin believes the only way out of his current financial dilemma and the only way to successfully move his business to another location will be to seek recovery of lost income and legal expenses by filing suit in federal court on the basis of civil rights violations by the City of Cleveland Police Department and his critics in the community, including the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation (OCNW).

Miskin reports that Cleveland Police have referred to his African American clientele as “monkeys” and “animals from the East Side.” He also says that “certain people” in opposition to his business have referred to him as “an Arab” and upon learning that he was an immigrant from Serbia, spread rumors that he is a member of “the Russian Mafia.” Miskin claims to have numerous witnesses to such statements.

Believing that OCNW “has played a big role in all of this,” Miskin said that “OCNW could have helped by acting as a mediator in this matter, rather than taking sides, but they have never offered,” adding that he believed that OCNW was acting exclusively as “a tool of developers” who think that the African American patrons of the Envy Lounge “are bad for their business interests.”

An off-duty Cleveland Police Officer who has provided security for the Envy Lounge for over a year (who desires to remain unidentified) and a neighbor, Mike, who lives above his woodworking shop, confirmed to this reporter that prejudicial statements were made in their presence. The off-duty police officer said, “If there were different clients, there would be no problems with the bar.”

At a hearing on Tuesday, October 14, 2008, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrian dismissed charges against Miskin that cited him for operating an illegal dance hall. The judge also terminated Miskin’s probation for a previous dance hall violation to which he had pled no contest before Judge Adrian. Miskin claims that he pled no contest to the initial charge out of fear in the face of threats from police officers that he would face jail time and that his bar would be subjected to increased harassment by inspection if he did not do so.
Attorney Gilbert characterized Judge Adrian’s ruling as a finding that “the conduct of the police in issuing a citation for a dance hall violation was against Club Envy’s constitutional rights” and that the judge further found that the citation constituted “an effort to close the business, rather than a violation of law.” It is uncertain, at this time, whether the judge’s ruling declares the Cleveland Dance Hall Law, established during the 1930’s, to be unconstitutional.

If the City of Cleveland Law Director Robert J. Triozzi does not heed the encouragement of opponents of the Envy Lounge and appeal Judge Adrian’s decision, the matter of the dance club violation would seem to be at an end, but this does not mean that the bar can return to providing live DJ entertainment and allow dancing in the establishment. The Envy Lounge would still appear to be legally constrained from doing so by Cleveland Zoning Ordinance 347.12 governing live entertainment and nightclubs.

In November of 2006, the Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals denied a request for a variance that would permit live entertainment and dancing at the Envy Lounge. Miskin admits that he provided DJ services and permitted dancing for several months after being denied a variance and that he was subsequently fined $100 by Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond L. Pianka. If, as Miskin reports, Club Envy has discontinued live entertainment and dancing, there would appear to be no basis for future legal action in this regard against the Envy Lounge.

Miskin says that the enforcement of the Dance Hall Law and Zoning restrictions governing dancing and live entertainment appears to be selectively enforced in the City of Cleveland and that there are several bars in the Ohio City and Tremont areas that are openly operating in violation of City Laws, but are not subject to active enforcement. “Most of these clubs operate without even trying to get approval,” said Miskin, “at least I tried to do what is right.”

On September 26, 2008, the Ohio Liquor Control Board held an initial hearing by teleconference at Cleveland City Hall in response to an objection by Ward 14 Councilman Santiago to the renewal of Envy Lounge’s liquor license. During this hearing, two neighbors attributed nuisance offenses such as public urination, public indecency, fights, loud voices, foul language, loud music from cars, and property damage near West 26th Street and Chatham Avenue to patrons leaving the Envy Lounge. The parents of a local resident who reside in Lisbon, Ohio also reported that they were no longer able to stay in the home of their adult son during visits due to an inability to sleep due to fear and late night noise caused by Envy Lounge Patrons.

Witnesses at this hearing also attributed the fatal shooting of Anthony Jackson, 25, in a nearby parking lot during the early morning of June 18, 2006 to Envy Lounge patrons. Miskin says that reports that Jackson was an Envy Lounge patron who was earlier involved in an altercation in the bar are based upon unfounded rumors.

Second District Vice Detective Matt Stepic, a 14-year veteran of the Cleveland Police Force, testified at the Liquor Control Board Hearing that he issued the first dance hall citation to Miskin after observing dancing to music provided by a live DJ upon responding to neighbor complaints around 11:00 P.M. on January 11, 2007. Detective Stepic reported that the bar appeared to be occupied in excess of legal occupancy, but reported that he did not conduct a head count since such occupancy violations were under the jurisdiction of the Cleveland Fire Department.

Miskin claims the Fire Department had responded and left without finding an occupancy violation on the night in question and that they left about 5 minutes before Detective Stepic’s arrival. Other than the aforementioned Dance Hall and Housing Court violations, Club Envy had never received any citations despite “between 20 and 30 inspections by the Police and Fire Department since the bar opened in 2006,” said Miskin.

A second Liquor Control Board Hearing about the license renewal status of the Envy Lounge has been scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Friday, November 7, 2008, in the Council Conference Room in Cleveland City Hall.

In July, MRN Limited Partnership, new owners of the property in which the Envy Lounge is located, issued an eviction notice based upon the contention that Club Envy was operating in contravention of its sublease agreement and local zoning law as well as creating a nuisance to the community.

Miskin claims his sublease for the property remains in effect for an additional three years subsequent to his exercise of his renewal option in September and that he has an option to renew for an additional three years at the conclusion of the current term. Attorney Gilbert, on behalf of the Envy Lounge, has requested a jury trial in the eviction case. MRN attorney Jonathan Greenberg said that the he expects to proceed with the eviction process.

News & Articles | Archives