DA's office moves to close problem bar

By John Loftus

Times Staff Writer

The city district attorney's office has moved to deprive a Castor Avenue bar of its liquor license.

Assistant District Attorney Beth Grossman, chief of the Public Nuisance Task Force, said a suit was filed against the owner of the E'Z Up Lounge, 6053-55 Castor Ave., in late December.

The bar has been the subject of numerous neighborhood complaints, and police have made several arrests in and outside the property, said Grossman and the 2nd Police District's commander, Capt. Michael McCarrick.

Addressing members of the 2nd Police District Advisory Council at their Feb. 8 meeting, Grossman also said that another local bar is in jeopardy of losing its liquor license.

The state Liquor Control Board has some objections to renewing the license of Bella Noche, a tavern at St. Vincent Street and Bustleton Avenue. The bar was the scene of an attempted murder and suicide in October - a domestic confrontation between a couple - and also recently lost a bid to get a license for takeout beer sales, McCarrick said in a Feb. 10 interview.

That bar, too, has been the subject of neighborhood complaints, he added.

Grossman said the LCB objection to renewing Bella Noche's liquor license doesn't mean that it won't be renewed. Liquor licenses in Pennsylvania rarely are lifted or not renewed.

In an interview Feb. 11, Grossman said the E'Z Up suit, if successful, could strip the license from owner James Ross for a year and require the bar to be padlocked. The license would be held in Harrisburg, she said.

Grossman didn't believe that Ross had yet answered the lawsuit, which was filed Dec. 30. The complaint, filed under Section 6-611 of the Pennsylvania Liquor Code, might be listed for trial in about nine months, Grossman said.

If a serious incident at the bar were to occur while the suit proceeded through the courts, a hearing could be sought to petition a judge to close the place, she said.

Ross, the owner, could not be reached for comment on the issues. The bar's phone number is disconnected.

The complaint against E'Z Up was filed by the district attorney's office and the state Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement. On Feb. 10, McCarrick, the 2nd district commander, said E'Z Up has been a long-standing problem, one he became aware of as soon as he took command of the district more than five years ago.

"There have been a number of violent crimes and nuisance issues," McCarrick said, noting that he had experience with nuisance bars during a previous assignment in West Philadelphia.

McCarrick knew that his officers needed to document the numbers of times they were summoned to a bar and the situations they encountered.

"We started doing that immediately," he said, referring to E'Z Up.

McCarrick said the bar has been shut down on code violations and for gambling.

"We've locked up a number of patrons with guns," he explained.

He said the bar had been closed down for three months, culminating with an agreement that the business would be operated legally, but it didn't happen.

In August, there was a shootout in front of the E'Z Up. No one was hurt, the police official said, but 25 bullet casings were found.

He described a persistent frustration level "when you have one location with such a history of violence, narcotics and community issues, and it's still open," McCarrick said.

Closing the bar has been discussed frequently at PDAC meetings over the past year or more.

"I know it's a long and tedious process," the captain said. "It takes a lot of documentation. It isn't something that happens overnight."

The district attorney's complaint against the bar lists incidents from December 2008 through November 2010. Those infractions include weapons, disorderly conduct and narcotics arrests, fights, gambling, underage drinking and shootings.

The complaint further states that the bar's continued operation is a public nuisance "harmful to the community's health, welfare, safety, tranquillity and morals."

As for the other tavern, Bella Noche, McCarrick said there have been a number of complaints about that establishment as well.

In October, the bar was the scene of a fatal shooting. McCarrick said a man shot his wife seven times and then shot himself. The man died; his wife survived.

In other business during the PDAC's Feb. 8 session at the Philadelphia Protestant Home on Tabor Avenue, police officers Diane Conn and Robert Sharp were honored as Officers of the Month for November for collaring two robbery suspects.

At about 10 p.m. on Nov. 3, a robbery victim told Conn and Sharp he had been walking on the 1400 block of Robbins Ave. when the occupants of a black car made some remarks to him. The victim responded to the men; one produced a gun and told the man to empty his pockets.

The victim flagged down Conn and Sharp, who were patrolling in the area. The officers had noticed a black Nissan Altima with Pennsylvania license plates pulling away just before the victim sought their help.

They saw the vehicle on the 1400 block of McKinley St. Sebastian Sanchez, now 20, and Jevan Lundy, 17 at the time, lived on the block and were identified by the victim.

The officers obtained a search warrant and found a black handgun in the car.

Lundy and Sanchez were charged with robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and weapons offenses.

Sanchez, who posted bail, subsequently was charged with burglary in December.

Also, at the Feb. 8 meeting, PDAC members welcomed back former chairwoman Lynn Genetti and former secretary Christine Houck. Genetti and Houck did not seek re-election in the fall, but Ken Hyers, who was elected chairman, and Lorraine Busch, who was elected secretary, resigned for personal reasons before officially assuming their posts.

Genetti and Houck agreed to fill their former positions.

Reporter John Loftus can be reached at 215-354-3110 or jloftus@bsmphilly.com