Liz and I “attended” the meeting — which of course had the Malecon items pushed
to the end of the agenda! There were three violation events on the agenda (2
with illegal smoking and all three with noise violartions). The Malecon folks
didn’t have a lawyer and didn’t contest the smoking violations (but voiced that
they felt that there are plenty of other establishments that weren’t being
cited while they were). They did contest the noise violation, so the City’s
attorney Talia Gee presented the case against them, including Liz’s 911 call,
the police body cam footage and police officer testimony that she could hear
the noise when she turned on the Chestnut from Mattoon. Since the limit is 50
feet, all the Malecon folks could rebut is that “they were being targeted and
that there had been noise complaints when they didn’t even have music playing”
The License Commissioners just stuck to the facts that on March 6 the evidence
showed that the noise ordinance was being violated. They levied a penalty for
the smoking violation (two Thurs - Sat shut downs) and for the noise violation
(two additional Thurs - Sat shutdowns). Then Malecon decided not to contest the
other two violation events on the agenda (April 21 and May 27), so the
Commissioners levied the same penalties for a total of nine weekend shut-downs
going through most of August.
The Malecon folks indicated that they are considering trying to sell the
restaurant or just close it.
The Entertainment License issue is still not settled. It seems like the Mayor
is holding off on this to see if there are any additional violations (ones
where the police document the noise after receiving a 911 call.)
On Jul 13, 2022, at 10:46 AM, Liz and Jim Supbaru <formattoonmail@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
The postponed hearing from June;
SUBJECT: Notice of Meeting
FROM: Rosa Espinosa, Chairperson The Board of License Commissioners will hold
a Meeting on Wednesday, July 13, 2022; Virtual Public Hearing (ZOOM) at 5:30
pm.
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85182049881?pwd=YzZPODU2TE4rNm9tMlVuVVRUT1Zzdz09 ;
<https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85182049881?pwd=YzZPODU2TE4rNm9tMlVuVVRUT1Zzdz09>
Meeting ID: 851 8204 9881
Passcode: 163985
Let's see if this happens today:
Zamiah Restaurant, Inc. d/b/a Malecon Restaurant located at 137 Chestnut St;
Genesis Pujols, Manager of Record;- Incident of 4-21-22; 1- Allowing the use
of smoking material without required smoking bar permit in violation of MGL
chapter 270 sec 22; 2- Failure to abide by Springfield Noise Ordinance.
Zamiah Restaurant Inc. d/b/a Malecon Restaurant located at 137 Chestnut St;
Genesis Pujols, Manager of Record; Incident of 3-6-22; 1- Allowing the use of
smoking material without required smoking bar permit in violation of MGL
chapter 270 sec 22; 2- Failure to abide by Springfield Noise Ordinance.
