Evanston City Council rejected The Keg of Evanston’s bid Monday to become the first bar in the city to serve alcohol until 3 a.m.
Aldermen cited the bar’s record of liquor violations and frequent calls for police intervention in breaking up fights as factors in the decision. The council voted 7-2 to reconsider The Keg’s application in three months.
Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said a fight in the early hours of May 10 in front of The Keg, 810 Grove St., further convinced her that the bar did not deserve the chance to serve alcohol later. Four cop cars were called to the scene of the fight, and eight arrests were made, Rainey said.
“A liquor license is not a right,” Rainey said. “A liquor license is a privilege.”
Rainey said the application should be reviewed in three months, giving The Keg time to improve its record.
Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) agreed The Keg was not ready for a new license, citing reporter that said the bar had multiple city liquor codes violations.
Newman and Rainey were joined by Alds. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd), Melissa Wynne (3rd), Steven Bernstein (4th), Joseph Kent (5th) and Gene Feldman (9th) in delaying The Keg’s attempt for a new license. Alds. Edmund Moran (6th) and Stephen Engelman (7th) voted against the delay.
Tom Migon, The Keg’s owner, attended the meeting but had no comment on the vote.
The new license would have allowed the bar to stay open until 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and until 2 a.m. the rest of the week. The result puts 1800 Club, 1800 Sherman Ave., in position to become the first bar in Evanston with the new license. The council could vote on 1800 Club’s license at its next meeting on June 10.
The council also rejected a proposal that would have made it illegal to move a car to another space on the same block downtown to avoid violating the city’s two-hour limitation on parking in one spot. Feldman said creating signs to explain the new law would be impossible, and employees who take up spaces all day would continue to do so.
“Why would they not just trade spaces (by) crossing the street?” Feldman said. “This doesn’t make any sense to me.”
David Jennings, Evanston’s director of public works, said the plan had been his “creative solution” to the “severe problem” of employees swapping spaces. City officials had wanted to prevent people from parking in any new space downtown after their first space’s meter ran out but were told that plan was impractical, Jennings said.
Newman, a member of the city’s parking committee, said he questioned whether the council was committed to improving the availability of parking downtown.
Engelman said he agreed the lack of parking was a problem but felt there would be better ways to address the issue.
“This ordinance is not the way to solve the problem,” he said.
The proposal failed 6-3. Engelman, Feldman, Jean-Baptiste, Kent, Moran and Rainey voted against it. Newman, Wynne and Bernstein voted for the proposal.
In other action, the council approved
_Ѣ a liquor license for D&D Finer Foods, 825 Noyes St., making D&D the first grocery store of its size to be allowed to sell liquor in Evanston;
_Ѣ a liquor license for The Presbyterian Homes, 3200 Grant St., making it the first retirement home in the city to be allowed to serve liquor to residents at meals; and
_Ѣ Evanston Athletic Club’s offer to provide aerobic and aquatic programs at the new Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave., which is scheduled to open June 3.
