2 say end clubs' 5 a.m. closings

2 options get on LR agenda

After several months of research and visits to the city's late-night clubs and bars, two Little Rock directors recommended putting in place a citywide 2 a.m. last call for alcohol on weeknights and a 3 a.m. club closure on weekends and holidays during a presentation to their fellow board members Tuesday.

While the Little Rock Board of Directors had been contemplating limiting club hours on and off for years, Tuesday's proposal was met by resistance from several board members who favored a less constrictive approach to dealing with what the board has called a public-safety issue at clubs that hold a special state permit to stay open until 5 a.m.

Ward 4 City Director Brad Cazort and at-large City Director Gene Fortson proposed Tuesday's option to mandate private clubs close at 2 a.m. most days and 3 a.m. on weekends and federal holidays, citing numerous statistics that indicate the presence of late-night crime as their reasoning.

Their proposal was touted as a compromise between one submitted in May by at-large City Director Joan Adcock that suggested an across-the-board 2 a.m. closure and a counterproposal offered by City Manager Bruce Moore that month that wouldn't limit club hours but would put in place certain security requirements and give the police chief more enforcement power. Moore's ordinance is preferred by the club industry, which had a hand in writing that proposal.

In separate votes Tuesday, the majority of the board decided to put both Moore's proposed ordinance and the one suggested by Cazort and Fortson on next week's agenda for a possible vote. The board could move forward with deciding on either ordinance at that meeting or choose to read the ordinances at three separate meetings before voting.

Tuesday's agenda-setting meeting was unusually packed, mostly with employees and owners of Little Rock's 5 a.m. clubs.

Cazort and Fortson kicked off the night's discussion by detailing their visits to Little Rock's nine clubs that hold active 5 a.m. permits and presenting statistics from other towns.

They mentioned that Little Rock police data show officers answered 501 calls to those nine bars and clubs in 2013. Of those, 60 percent occurred between 2 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Fortson said that data provided by the Jonesboro Police Department indicate that limiting club hours to 2 a.m there seven years ago contributed to a reduction in crime at the clubs.

Cazort added that he didn't buy the assertion from the clubs' lobbyist that the establishments may have to lay off workers or shut down if they are forced to close earlier.

"I think that particular argument is somewhat saying, 'We are unable to compete with other clubs out there and we have to have this limited monopoly during the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. in order to survive,'" Cazort said.

The two listed a variety of other facts, including that the majority of cities in most states require clubs to stop selling alcohol by 2 a.m., before other directors had the chance to comment on the topic.

Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson questioned the earlier-closure effort's being touted as a public-safety issue, pointing out that it only recently came to the board's attention.

"Do we think that by closing these establishments at this predetermined hour, do we think this is going to change the behavior of people seeking social activities at this hour or do we think this is going to drive it underground, which might create a real public-safety issue where you may not have it monitored?" Richardson asked.

Ward 3 City Director Stacy Hurst said it concerned her that the change would be sudden after the clubs have legally obtained the 5 a.m. permits and have been operating for years. Ward 4 City Director Lance Hines added that "people have built their business models around having these permits, and to jerk the rug out from under them" would be a significant measure, adding that it could better be addressed first by placing security requirements on the bars.

After nearly two hours of discussion, Ward 1 City Director Erma Hendrix motioned to put Moore's ordinance up for vote next week. That was ratified in a 6-3 vote, with Hendrix, Richardson, Hurst, Hines, Vice Mayor and Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright and at-large City Director Dean Kumpuris voting for the motion and Cazort, Fortson and Adcock voting against it.

In a 7-2 vote that followed, with just Hendrix and Wright voting no, the board decided to also put Cazort and Fortson's ordinance on next week's agenda.

Ward 7 City Director B.J. Wyrick abstained from the 5 a.m. club discussion and votes because her son-in-law is a partner at the firm that employs the club owners' attorney.

An association of five of Little Rock's late-night clubs, called the Arkansas Licensed Beverage Association, has hired attorney Justin Allen to lobby the board on its behalf. Allen argued in a 40-page report distributed to city officials previously that limiting club hours will result in a huge drop in revenue for the businesses, thus less tax money coming into the city, and could even end in layoffs and possibly some of the clubs shutting down.

While there was some discussion of this being an economic issue, the greater part of Tuesday night's conversation centered around crime.

Allen has previously said his clients agree that one crime occurring at the bars is one too many, but disagree that crime at the clubs has reached a level where early closure is necessary. Requiring security and giving the police chief the ability to require more in the event of problems is a response "better tailored to address a public safety concern," he has said.

The association is made up of Midtown Billiards, Electric Cowboy, Club Elevations, Discovery and Triniti. The other clubs in Little Rock with 5 a.m. permits are Salut, Paper Moon, Jazzi's and the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. Of those, Jazzi's elects to close by 3 a.m every day, and the Eagles club rarely stays open past midnight.

Many club owners have argued that the majority of the 501 police calls to the 5 a.m. clubs in 2013 were minor matters that they described as lost keys, vehicle break-ins, drunken patrons or small brawls. An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette review of a police database that lists the outcome of the calls largely supports that claim.

The newspaper's review revealed that the most common occurrence was what officers referred to as a "coded call," which is when police are dispatched to a club for a particular reason but cannot locate any criminal activity when they arrive. Of the 622 reasons listed on the database for the calls last year, 172 -- or 28 percent -- were slugged as coded.

Theft of property was the most common offense, occurring 95 times, followed by 51 instances of vehicle break-ins. Third-degree battery took the No. 3 spot with 39 cases, tailed by public intoxication and disorderly conduct charges, which both accounted for 36 instances each.

Some more serious crimes did occur last year. There were calls for 13 aggravated robberies, eight assaults, five second-degree battery charges, a first-degree battery, one bomb threat and one rape. There were also six reports of shots fired and three cases of carrying a weapon or firearm.

Wright pointed out, though, that the data show police have had no issues after 2 a.m. with some of the clubs and very few issues with some others.

Mayor Mark Stodola said that spillover from the clubs into parking lots and other areas, as well as lack of lighting in parking lots, is also a public safety issue he would like to be addressed.

"Most of this stuff is happening not inside the club, but in the parking lots outside the clubs," Hines added. "The fact is that owners or off-duty security are not able or willing to maintain those premises. ... Let's look at more off-duty police, security and trying to get instances in the parking lot down. If that does not work, I think we could definitely consider ... reducing hours of operation."

A section on 08/13/2014

Reader poll

What do you think about Little Rock's proposal to limit late-night club and bar hours?

  • It's unnecessary; clubs should be able to remain open until 5 a.m. 38%
  • Closing at 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends and holidays seems like a good compromise. 34%
  • The hours should remain the same, but with stricter security requirements for clubs. 21%
  • Other (please comment). 6%

238 total votes.

Upcoming Events