Court Watch update 8/31/2009

August 31, 2009 · Posted in Eye on Midtown · Comment 

Sharla Jackson, our community prosecutor, sent this notice out regarding the (hopefully) final hearing for Timothy Kozak. Kozak was among the “Three Burglateers” arrested last August. The second of the burglateers, Jonathan Williams, was convicted and is now serving a prison sentence in custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections. The third burglatter, Michael Jason McGuire, was sentenced to probation, and was found murdered in Bartow County shortly after his release from jail.

Sharla’s notice: Timothy Kozak has just indicated that he wishes to enter a guilty plea to his charges. The Court has scheduled his hearing for Monday, August 31, at 9:00 am in court room 5F. The court house is located at 185 Central Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30303.

Kozak is accused of a series of burglaries in the Midtown and Virginia Highlands areas in July and August of 2009 at the Camden Midtown Apartments, at the Virginia Highland Church and various other residential locations. The Zone 5 and Zone 6 Burglary Units did an excellent investigation on these cases.

The defendant is choosing to enter a non negotiated plea which is a guilty plea where there is no agreement between the State and the Defense. Both sides will present their recommendations for a sentence and the court will impose a sentence on the defendant. It is important that the community be present to express the impact that this defendant’s crimes have had on the community.

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SPI Club Update 8/31/2009

August 31, 2009 · Posted in Eye on Midtown · Comment 

STATUS ON SPI CLUB

We want to thank everyone for sending your thoughts about the SPI Club’s planned opening in Midtown to the list of people we suggested you email. Your response was wonderful and should have an impact on the recipients. We have posted a packet of selected letters in opposition at the link below.

Much more remains to be done, for we have only passed the first hurdle. The Midtown Neighbors’ Board of Directors voted Thursday night to OPPOSE the Liquor License Application submitted by SPI Club for two reasons: (1) the parking lot does not meet code requirements and (2) because the club is INCOMPATIBLE with the neighborhood. As of this writing, the posting of the full statement to the MNA website was still pending.

We face our next hurdle this coming Tuesday (9/01) at the NPU-E meeting, and neighborhood turnout in opposition to the SPI Club’s Liquor License application is very important. You can bet that anyone in favor of the club – including many not from Midtown – will be there. We have to outnumber them.

NPU E will make their recommendation to the city-wide License Review Board (LRB). September 22nd appears to be the most likely date for this hearing, but we should be prepared for a September 8th hearing. We will advise as soon as this is clarified. On either date the LRB meeting would begin at 5:30pm at City Hall. Neighborhood turnout in opposition is absolutely essential. This is one group that actually counts the heads in favor and those against.

  • Tuesday 9/01, 6:30pm, at the Peachtree Christian Church (enter from rear, on Spring Street).

MPSA STATEMENT TO THE NPU-E BOARD

The Midtown Neighbors’ Association (MNA) voted to OPPOSE the Liquor License Application of SPI Club based on two reasons,

  • The surface parking lot fails to meet the minimum landscaping and barrier requirement per SPI 16 standards [MPSA NOTE: Special Public Interest, not to be confused with the proposed club's name. SPI 16 is a zoning overlay affecting Midtown promoting a pedestrian-oriented rather than vehicle-oriented development patterns. The name of the club is pronounced "Spy" - SPI 16 pronounced by saying the letters S-P-I 16]
  • The proposal for SPI Club is INCOMPATIBLE with the neighborhood

The MPSA requests that the NPU-E vote to OPPOSE the Liquor License Application of SPI Club, upholding the MNA vote, which we feel reflects the viewpoint of the majority of Midtown residents. We call your attention to the many emails you have been receiving in opposition to the opening of SPI Club and want to point out the on-line petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/mdtwnatl/petition.html  showing 1300+ signatures of people who oppose the club.

Thank you for supporting Midtown residents in our efforts to protect our quality of life, the value of our property, and the future of Midtown.

MORE ON SPI CLUB OWNERS

The following excerpts came from an August 2006 Letter by Scott Levitan, who was at that time chairperson of NPU-E. The letter was addressed to the President of the Marietta Street Artery association, a group adversely affected by Compound (also owned by the Gidewons).

Operationally – Vision usurped the sidewalk on Peachtree Street with their awnings forcing non-Vision folks to walk in Peachtree Street to get around their queuing lane. They took no responsibility to correct this after repeated concerns raised by NPU.

Vision argued that even though all the leaflets that were on the ground on Sunday morning were a product of hawkers handing them out to Vision guests waiting in line, that Vision’s responsibility for maintenance and clean-up of the neighborhood stopped at their property line. We never could get them to exhibit good citizenship to the neighborhood that played host to their money machine.

Vision decided to expand their Club in late 2003. They pulled a building permit from the City for minimal interior improvements and then went ahead with a major exterior overhaul, components of which required variances. Midtown Alliance asked the Bureau of Planning to conduct an audit of the permit and discovered 11 non-complying, unpermitted items. Vision never corrected the non-complying issues (over a year, we have looked at their partially constructed, rotting exterior changes while they continued to make more money inside) until they finally abandoned the place when their lease was terminated (thankfully) by Selig for the proposed condo project now under construction.

Bottom line - Vision was a magnet to attract folks from outside of Midtown and NPU-E to be their nighttime playground. Vision never engaged the community in working with us to manage activities that affected Midtown and didn’t care about how their facility affected its host community. They were there for the bottom line, made gobs of cash, and never acknowledged their responsibility to connect with and support the neighborhood that was their host and dealt with their nightly aftermath.

I wish Compound was outside of NPU-E so we could bid them good riddance, but it looks like we still have the Gidewon organizational style within our midst. The problem continues with stapling band posters all over the light poles on the Westside. Now they drive around standing on the roofs of trucks so the band signs are plastered 12′ high on the poles. Completely, illegal, generated to attract the attention of customers to Compound, Compound doesn’t take any responsibility. Can’t really fault APD – do we really want those thin resources dedicated to sign patrol?

Let me put it this way – When I walk my dogs, I pick up their poop regardless of whose property they dump on because the generator of the mess came from my house. I expect a club owner to exhibit the same sense of civic responsibility.

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CALL TO ACTION – Together we can stop Club Vision (now known as Spi)

August 22, 2009 · Posted in Eye on Midtown · Comment 

IN A NUTSHELL:

The club that we had been referring to as “Vision” has filed a Liquor License Application in the name of Spi Club, with the same Agent/Licensee Michael Gidewon.

We need substantial turnout at several meetings! Mark your calendars for August 24th, September 1st, and September 8th.

Midtowners needs to write to public officials expressing their opposition to the prospect of this detrimental nightclub draining the life out of our neighborhood, and CC or BCC MPSA on these e-mails or letters (info@midtownponce.org)

For a thorough review of the issue at hand (including this blast) please see our dossier at http://www.midtownponce.org/news/spi.pdf

CALL TO ACTION #1: ATTEND HEARINGS

1. The Midtown Neighbors’ Association (MNA) License Review Committee will hear the case on Monday August 24th, at 7pm. Because of the large turnout expected, they will hold the meeting at the Piedmont Room at Park Tavern located at 500 10th Street. Due to limited parking availability and set-up for the Red Bull Soapbox Race, we encourage walking, biking or, if you are driving, carpooling. Several liquor license applicants will make their presentation, and SPI Club will be heard last.

The MNA License Review Committee makes a recommendation to the full MNA board, who in turn vote on their stance to be taken into consideration by the Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) covering this area (see next item).

2. Following that review, the Applicant will appear before NPU-E on September 1st, 6:30 PM, at Peachtree Christian Church 1580 Peachtree Street, N.W. Our NPU will then submit a recommendation to the City of Atlanta License Review Board (see next item).

3. They will next appear before the License Review Board (LRB), probably on September 8th, 5 PM, at City Hall. The LRB makes its recommendation to the Mayor who has the final say. We will advise further once we have confirmation of this final hearing.

4. Once they have gone through this process, the Mayor will then have 90 days to (heaven forbid) approve or turn down this applicant.

We critically need high neighborhood turn-out at these public meetings to ensure that neighborhood concerns are well understood and documented.

CALL TO ACTION #2: WRITE TO CITY OFFICIALS

Additionally, you should begin to write to the following, and CC or BCC your neighbors at the MPSA (info@midtownponce.org)

  • City Council Representatives2010
  • Members of the City of Atlanta License Review Board
  • NPU chairpersons

We urgently need their support in our opposition to this application based on the grounds outlined below, with a special appeal to the mayor based on the information printed below from the City of Atlanta Alcohol Ordinance. Also urge them to have a look at our dossier at http://www.midtownponce.org/news/spi.pdf.

Names and email addresses of elected officials and NPU chairpersons:

All of these elected officials and NPU Chairs need to know that the neighborhood is opposed to the return of applicant Gidewon because we know he is a bad neighbor.

For these you can copy and paste into your e-mail: sfranklin@atlantaga.gov; afauver@atlantaga.gov; khall@atlantaga.gov; fmoore@atlantaga.gov; mnorwood@atlantaga.gov; pcheroff@cheroffgroup.com; james.martin@me.gatech.edu

Names and addresses of the License Review Board (LRB). They should all be copied on your email. The LRB is the last to hear the applications and they make recommendation to the Mayor, most likely on September 8th. Mayor has the final approval/disapproval, and should theoretically give considerable weight to their conclusions.

You can copy and paste these into your e-mail: jcbpark@yahoo.com; fmccomb@mindspring.com; minyin@bellsouth.net; julia@emmons.com; jcloveiii@gmail.com; Will.lobb@opco.com

Please be sure to copy us at info@midtownponce.org

CITATIONS FROM CITY ORDINANCE AND COMMENTS

Sect 10-57 Grounds for denial

In addition to all other grounds for denial, no application for any license under this division shall be granted if the application or the evidence on a hearing before the license review board shows:

(1) The applicant is of bad moral character or has a bad reputation in the community or does not have sufficient mental capacity to conduct the business for which application is made.

(2) The applicant has had any license issued under the police powers of the city previously suspended or revoked; provided, however, the license review board may waive this subsection if two years have passed since any prior revocation of any license held by the applicant.

MPSA NOTE: We are not sure at this writing if the licensee has had a license revoked in the past based on the shooting at Club Compound. This question needs to be answered.

(3) The applicant for a license to sell alcoholic beverages at a nightclub, other than those within a special entertainment district, does not furnish evidence of adequate parking for a nightclub, as defined by section 10-1, available to the applicant’s patrons for the term of the license applied for and within 400 feet of the proposed licenses premises.

MPSA NOTE: The DRC has requested a detailed traffic management plan and documentation of the granted permission to use an off-site parking facility to satisfy a request for additional parking space made by MNA and DRC.

(4) The applicant as a previous holder of a license to sell alcoholic beverages, has violated any law, regulation or ordinance relating to that business within a five year period immediately preceding the date the application is heard by the license review board.

MPSA NOTE: We have copies of a large number of police calls from Vision and there were a number of calls from Compound. Do all those calls and the shooting constitute “violating the law”? All three of the review groups need to answer that question.

Sec. 10-109. Procedures

(g) The mayor may, upon a finding of due cause, deny revoke, suspend or refuse to renew any license upon a determination that public convenience and advantage would not be promoted by the approval of an applicant’s application. In making such a determination the mayor may consider the general welfare and safety of the community, noise, parking and traffic with reasonable consideration being given to the character of the area and its peculiar suitability to the proposed uses and the stability of the neighborhood as they may be impacted by the proposed licenses premises.

MPSA NOTE: Note here that the general character of the neighborhood has changed substantially since Club Vision, owned by Michael Gidewon was located across the street from where Spi Club is planning to locate. The former location is now a high-rise condo building, across the street is the new Lowe’s Hotel and another new office building, neither of which have opened yet.

COMPOUND: Another club about ready to reopen on Brady Avenue surrounded by neighborhood protests, and owned by Michael Gidewon, in located in Felicia Moore’s Council District and Jim Martin is head of that NPU D. We are not certain at this writing if Michael Gidewon was the Agent/Licensee on the Liquor License Application in place at the time of the shooting at Compound (link to shooting), but if he was that should disqualify him from getting another license in this city, in our opinion, based on the following:

Sec. 10-57 Grounds for Denial

(5) the applicant as a previous holder of a license to sell alcoholic beverages, has violated any law, regulation or ordinance relating to that business within a five-year period immediately preceding the date the application is heard by the license review board.

Sec 10-109 Procedures

(f) For due cause, if a violation of the chapter occurs which results in an emergency situation in which continued operation of the premises by a licensee endangers the health, welfare of safety of the public, the mayor or the mayor’s designee may suspend any license. Any such suspension mhttp://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/04/18/clubshooting_0419.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13ay be made effective immediately and shall remain in force until the next regular of called meeting of license review board.

VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY (Please send us letters like this)

1. Comment from Mary M., a neighbor of Compound - From personal experience, we have had to contact police regarding Compound on many occasions due to music that can be heard over a mile from the source. We are not saying just the tunes of the music we are saying that the LYRICS could be heard with distinction. Simply put they are not good neighbors and “they” (the establishment) cannot control their club’s crowds or the music and nuisance that is generated from their facility!

2. Petition – Also worth noting are the 1300+ signatures on a petition against the return of this club at http://www.petitiononline.com/mdtwnatl/petition.html

3. Letter from Dan L., a Midtowner - It is unfortunate that we are in this position, seemingly “coming from behind” as this applicant is well known to us. We do not need to give this application the benefit of the doubt, because we have an established track record of insensitivity and non-compliance with community concerns and local ordinances at the former Vision location (now 1010 directly across from Loews).

Let me portray that experience to you as prelude to the future if we are unsuccessful in blocking this action. Rather than talk in terms of “traffic congestion” and “safety,” we experienced thundering noise that relentlessly pounded windows and prevented normal conversation and restful sleep, cruising and cursing and public urination, with bullets occasionally flying through the air , thugs loitering on the sidewalks and in the shadows. Our public safety agencies were overwhelmed and could not and did not police the area in any way that served as a deterrent… at best, they were reactive and woefully lacking in that. Like the “broken window” syndrome, the more Vision defied ordinance the more emboldened they became – and the community became numb as a result of continuous inaction by authorities.

To have Vision return to Midtown is to invite misery into the “Miracle of Midtown.” The approval of this establishment is profoundly inconsistent with the vision we have all embraced as Midtown residents and business owners, as it would lead to crime, disinvestment, and impairment of the reputation that we have spent years building.

DIGEST OF NEWS REPORTS

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VISION Nightclub Update 8/15/2009

August 16, 2009 · Posted in Eye on Midtown · Comment 

#1 – A meeting was held earlier this week as Club Vision appeared before the Development Review Committee (DRC), which was attended by 70+ neighbors, all of them either opposed or very concerned about the impact this club may have on the quality of life in the neighborhood, should it get approved by city officials.

We are a little confused as this DRC meeting was for comment only, in other words, not official. Club Vision has already done the renovation to the building – without going through the proper process – and now, they have to file for the Special Administrative Permit (SAP) which they should have done before they did the renovation. Make sense? No, it does not. The Vision (we call it that because we don’t have another name at this point) owners apparently feel they don’t have to follow the rules. They did not follow them when they were in Midtown before, just across the street from where they want to open now. Nor did they follow them at Compound, on Brady Avenue….and plan to reopen that facility very soon. So why should they follow the rules now?

To sum up the bits and pieces of information that we have now, we assume that the owners of the new Club Vision will apply for the SAP for the 1021-1029 Peachtree Street location and start the Land Use reviews all over again. The DRC expertly and carefully laid out a list of issues that must be addressed, including parking and traffic, queuing, noise, litter and public safety in the surrounding area.

#2 – Rumor has it they will also apply for a liquor license for that same location within the next few weeks, and, they are planning to open by Labor Day.

#3 – In our last e-blast we reported that the capacity would be “upward of 600” patrons. Several people wrote to us advising that the figure would be more like 1200-1500. This makes the specter of Vision’s return all the worse given that many people would be vying for the same (just under) 300 parking spaces we told you about earlier.

We will keep you informed as we learn new information. Meanwhile be prepared to attend all public meetings on this issue. We will prepare and publish a list of officials and their email addresses, to whom you should send emails voicing your opinions of having this club reopen in Midtown.

Media Links:

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MPSA Mailbag 8/15/2009

August 15, 2009 · Posted in Eye on Midtown · Comment 

What the Neighbors are telling us. As always, mailbag items do not necessarily represent MPSA position…

#1 – This evening I saw a man loading what appeared to be some sort of large electronic into his car in complete darkness. Something about his body language when my headlights shined upon him made me question. After going over the next hill out of sight I turned around to get a second look and a license plate just incase a theft was occurring. He was driving a [Vehicle description omitted.] After I passed, he immediately turned around and drove of quickly in the opposite direction of me. His actions could have been completely innocent. He may have even lived there, but I live around the corner and drive on this street at least 3 times each day and don’t recall EVER seeing this car parked there before. I just felt I should report what I felt could have been a robbery incase someone does report it. I hope that is not the case, but if it is I hope my information will help. MPSA Reply: Trust your gut feeling and always call 911 when you se e suspicious activity. The police would much rather check out something that turns up totally innocent rather than take an incident report later.

#2 – I just wanted to let you all know what happened to me yesterday behind Papi’s restaurant off of Ponce de Leon. I walked into the restaurant with one of my friends on my lunch break. I walked back out into the parking lot, and tried to start my car. It would not crank. This man comes out of nowhere and explains that he knows exactly what is wrong with my vehicle, and can fix it. I explain to him no, no, I will call AAA but thanks. He insists he knows what is wrong with it, gets under the front of my Ford Explorer and it all miraculously cranks. I decide to take my car into the ford dealership later and have them take a look. Steve Watson, at Tim Stewart Ford explains to me he sees this scam quite often. Needless to say this homeless man wanted my money, and wanted to act like he could fix my car that he actually messed up himself. This man was a light skinned African American. He was most likely in his early 50’s late 40&rsquo ;s. He was missing a front tooth. He has a tattoo on his left upper arm. He hair was turning white/gray. He was wearing some type of sports jersey with light blue shorts. I could pick him out in a line up. He was about 5’4. He told me that he sleeps over behind Papis and stays in that area. He also mentioned that he was sitting there because he was waiting for a lady to get home down the street to “fix” her car, as he was a mechanic. I sure hope this helps!

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