NO ESCAPE? COMMITTEE TO PONDER LICENSE REVOCATION FOR SHOOTING SITE

[Update -- Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 -- The Licenses committee met on December 5th, 2007, and adjourned until Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. Appearing on behalf of the City Attorney was the City Attorney himself, Grant Langley. Appearing for the defendant were the high-power team of D. Michael Guerin and Franklyn M. Gimbel. It was the clash of the titans, and we'll be back for phase II of Smackdown at City Hall -- No Escape!--Ed.]

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

The Licenses Committee of the City of Milwaukee Common Council has scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday, December 5^th, 2007 to consider the request of Acting Chief of Police Dale Schunk to revoke the Class “B” Tavern license for Club Escape, 6263 N. Teutonia Ave.

The tavern was the site of a shooting on November 26^th, 2007 during which security guards employed at the club shot two patrons after an incident. One died at the scene, the other, Mitchell Lamont McCaskill, was wounded and faces charges including Felon in Possession of a Firearm. McCaskill has had a relatively clean record over the past decade, and has only been convicted for second degree sexual assault on a child and cocaine possession in that time. This makes him one of Club Escape's more upstanding customers, it appears.

There are thirty violations in the police report attached to the council file, covering the past few years and the property has been cited for numerous building violations. The club’s license was suspended for 15 days in 2006, and for 35 days in 2007.

Although the tavern’s owner, Thomas J. McNeal has been tenacious about keeping his tavern license at what the chief calls the site of “chronic dangerous and violent activity,” it is a surprise that the office of City Attorney Grant Langley didn’t move to foreclose on the property years ago.

It certainly seems possible he could have done so, since McNeal has been delinquent on property taxes at the site for the years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and has a $24,632.41 2007 tax bill due January 31^st, 2008, which you can imagine he won’t pay as well.

The current and delinquent taxes amount to $84,297.62 and include $10,211.59 in interest and $5,105.80 in penalties.

I don’t know if Ald. Ashanti Hamilton was aware of these figures when I told them to him at Fred Gordon’s fundraiser the other night, but the fact that taxes are delinquent for four calendar years is a significant one. Considering the many violations cited in the police report, and the fact that the place has been on the radar screen for some time, it is inconceivable that attempts were not made to use the power of the office of the City Attorney to shut this place down ages ago. It does appear from a recent foreclosure action against McNeal that the city did make an attempt to claim any surplus funds that may remain after a sale of the property, but that seems minor considering the enormity of Club Escape’s problems.

According to information on Langley’s website, “the City Attorney's office has initiated a higher volume of nuisance actions than ever before, based on building and health code violations, tenant disturbances, drug activity, and irresponsible businesses.”

It appears the documented activity at Club Escape falls under all of the above categories, and that the city attorney’s “higher volume of nuisance actions” is not nearly high enough.