LOST PASSIONS

Over a year ago, Milwaukeeworld.com told you that Passions Night Club, 200 E. Washington Street, was owned by Rep. Leon Young and his brother. Passions, you learned, had a long history as a lesbian bar, and I was wondering what kind of place it would be under its new owners.
It didn't take long to find out -- within days of my posting, there was a shooting at the bar, and, a couple of months later, another shooting.
This was too much for the neighbors and for Alderman Jim Witkowiak, who pressed in the Licenses committee, which he heads, to see that the bar be closed down.
Today, the Common Council was spared the agony of voting on the issue when Passions voluntarily surrendered its license.
During the committee hearings, representatives for Passions tried to portray the tavern as simply one of many in the neighborhood, and had the audacity to suggest the neighborhood problems there due to activities in area gay bars, most of which, like the Triangle and the Bootcamp, have been in the area for decades without imperiling the lives of their customers with gunfire.
I'm not sorry to see Passions go, and hope Rep. Young will not have lost too much money on this neighborhood disgrace. Maybe he can go back to work now as an assemblyman.
--Michael Horne