GREEN BAY (NBC26) — At a meeting Tuesday night, Green Bay's Common Council unanimously voted to deny a downtown bar's liquor license renewal.
Stage 1 on North Broadway could lose its license, after Green Bay Police recommended the council deny it due to 18 violations or disturbances in the past year.
Alexander Graziano, the owner of Stage 1, says he plans to appeal the denial.
"We will appeal that decision, if for no other reason than to publicly make known our side of the story, one which we believe highlights a pattern in the city of shutting down establishments deemed to serve a demographic that the city seems to view as a problem," Graziano said at the meeting.
"Some of it was out of his control, and that may very well be, but the responsibility still rests on him," District 4 alderman Bill Galvin said. "This is just like if I had a party at my house, I'm responsible for what takes place there, and unfortunately, in this case, he is the one that's responsible."
The Council cited a report submitted by Green Bay Police, which asked the city to take away the license.
"We've got eight stipulation violations, eight disturbances, one nuisance," alderman Bill Morgan said. "The bars I've worked at, if they had that kind of a record, the bosses would have fired us."
Stage 1 can keep serving alcohol until the appeal process plays out. If Graziano files the appeal a quasi-judicial hearing will happen at one of the next two Common Council meetings.
"Shutting down another establishment such as ours is a short-term solution to what is clearly a long-standing struggle," Graziano said. "The struggle being providing forms of entertainment representative of all our community members, but in a manner that keeps all members of the public safe and free from harm."
The Council also voted 8-3 to allow Jam-Rock — a karaoke bar on Bodart Street — to keep and renew its liquor license, despite the police department also recommending denial for Jam-Rock. Jam-Rock's owner, Recordo Neil, is currently charged with battery and endangering safety after an alleged fistfight in the bar in January 2024, but the Council does not plan to take the license unless he is convicted.
