By Heather Graves
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – After deliberating in closed session for nearly 30 minutes, city alders voted 9-3 to uphold the non-renewal of El Presidente Mexican Kitchen’s liquor license at its meeting Tuesday, June 18.
The license renewal was originally denied at the council’s May 7 meeting after the establishment, located at 219 N. Washington St., in downtown Green Bay, received multiple citations for fights, underage drinking and staying open past closing time.
From there, the issue went before the Protection and Policy Committee for an evidentiary hearing on May 22.
Based on the evidence presented, the committee recommended the non-renewal of the license be upheld.
El Presidente owner Marco La Porta filed an objection to the conclusions of the committee, which brought the issue back to the common council.
La Porta’s attorney, Eric Pangburn, and City Prosecutor Rich Maes both provided oral testimony on the subject Tuesday.
Pangburn noted La Porta wasn’t there to deny there have been issues with the bar portion of the business in the past.
La Porta asked the council to approve the renewal on the agreement that it would only be used for the restaurant and the bar would not be reopened – which has been the source of the issues.
“This is an opportunity for this council to allow Mr. La Porta to keep his business going and to continue to be a good corporate citizen with the restaurant portion,” Pangburn said.
The restrictions on a liquor license is what is defined as the licensed premise – the boundaries of where the license will be used.
Maes asked alders to uphold the non-renewal decision, saying La Porta has had many opportunities to change things and he did not take the necessary actions to fix the issues.
Maes said El Presidente’s renewal application described the licensed premises as a two-story commercial building – including the restaurant downstairs and the bar and nightclub upstairs.
“They had no intention of shutting down the poorly run nightclub operation until non-renewal was presented by the city,” Maes said.
Maes urged the common council to send a clear message that the city doesn’t have unlimited patience when it comes to liquor law violations.
“The City of Green Bay has so many great establishments that play by the rules,” Maes said. “However, those establishments that choose not to follow the rules run the risk of loosing their liquor license.”
The future of El Presidente the restaurant is unknown.