Velvet Rope club fined; agrees to plan
The Velvet Rope nightclub near Baltimore's Inner Harbor, scene of a recent disturbance and then a shooting linked to patrons who had been kicked out for fighting, was fined by the liquor board today. But the troubled club staved off harsher penalties.
As you might recall, Baltimore's police commissioner called for the club to be shut down after patrons stormed the doors after a show was overbooked, leaving paying customers stranded outside. It took officers from several districts to quell the disturbance and club security guards sprayed mace on the crowd. The shooting occurred about two weeks later.
Here is some of what Brent Jones reported from todays Liquor Board hearing:
Police had publicly petitioned to shut down Velvet Rope after that incident on Feb. 25 and a shooting authorities say spawned from a fight inside the club a week later. But Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III and the bar's owner reached an agreement announced at the liquor board hearing, and Velvet Rope will operate under a new security plan and employ valet parking for certain events.
The deal also calls for the club's management to actively discourage illegal activity within or nearby the business in the 200 block of E. Redwood St. About 10 other minor liquor violations were postponed until May 1.
Asked why police reached an agreement with the club to remain open, department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: "The bottom line is we're concerned about violence. We're not concerned with putting people out of business, we're concerned with making them safer."
Paul W. Gardner, the club's lawyer, said he was disappointed with the amount of the fine but pleased he was able to find common ground with the Police Department.
Comments
Any word on the bar that got raided the other week in Federal Hill for narcotics.
Sounds like a rumor. From what we can tell, the bar never closed. -Justin
Posted by: southbaltimores finest | March 26, 2010 4:15 PM