Even though downtown Morgan Hill has been mostly free of violent
incidents in recent weeks, the city council will continue to
discuss the problems associated with bars and their patrons who
occasionally cause trouble when they become intoxicated.
Even though downtown Morgan Hill has been mostly free of violent incidents in recent weeks, the city council will continue to discuss the problems associated with bars and their patrons who occasionally cause trouble when they become intoxicated.
City officials are seeking ways to permanently halt a pattern of alcohol-fueled violence that has increased in recent months despite a few weeks of calm. Wednesday the council will consider passing an alcohol policy that will regulate hours of alcohol service and what types of bars can open downtown, and hear from city staff and local business owners about how to keep violence from flaring up.
“The city is looking for a long-term strategy to deal with whatever issues happen,” Morgan Hill Police Cmdr. Joe Sampson said. “We saw the violence trending upward, so obviously you have to take a look at it.”
The council last discussed downtown crime at the June 16 meeting, when Police Chief Bruce Cumming asked the body to request a hearing with the California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control on the alcohol licenses for M & H Tavern and Dirty’s Tap and Taco – both on Monterey Road in downtown Morgan Hill. The council did not take action at that meeting, and instead gave the businesses a few weeks to shape up.
Since then, only two incidents involving allegedly drunk people leaving one of the establishments have occurred. One of those was a DUI arrest involving a suspect who had just left the Tavern, and a woman arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness outside the bar, police said.
City staff as well as downtown residents and businesses have become increasingly vocal about the need for new rules or better enforcement of the rules downtown in response to a wave of both minor crimes and escalating violence in the last year.
The most recent incidents are a shooting that took place outside Dirty’s May 29 that involved people who had allegedly been drinking alcohol at the bar, and a fight outside the Tavern May 9 in which a man was stabbed in the neck and sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and another with a broken nose.
A number of factors have combined to reduce violence since the shooting, Sampson said. One of those is MHPD’s street crimes officers begun regular foot patrols of downtown Morgan Hill, walking through the bars and making contact with patrons and employees when problems are anticipated, Sampson said.
And a “major factor” in the reduction of violence is the permanent closure of Dirty’s, formerly located at 17330 Monterey Road, Sampson said. In June, the ABC declined to renew the temporary alcohol license the business was operating with, due to the number of calls for police service and alleged violent incidents involving the bar, its employees and its patrons – including fights and death threats to the owner. The bar has been closed since it lost its alcohol license.
Taking over at the same location is the former Dirty’s manager’s brother, Adolf Sanchez, who hopes to reopen the establishment later this week as Champs Family Bar & Grill. Sanchez, whose family owns the business, said the new place will be “a completely different flavor.”
Champs will require a strict dress code that prohibits gang attire, bandanas and foul language, and will cater to a more diverse crowd.
The new restaurant will also feature an upgraded surveillance camera system, according to Sanchez. It will also have better exterior lighting toward the back of the building, where drunk people have been involved in problems in the past – both at Dirty’s and the building’s former tenant Legends Bar & Grill. Sanchez was able to gain a new temporary alcohol license from the ABC that has added restrictions, including a prohibition of “happy hour” specials, a requirement to designate at least half of the building’s seating to meal service, and no live entertainment allowed on the premises.
The council will also consider a “downtown alcohol policy” proposed in June by the Morgan Hill Downtown Association at Wednesday’s meeting. The policy, which is almost identical to one adopted by the city of Campbell a couple years ago, would discourage the opening of new standalone bars, require restaurants with alcohol licenses to serve meals, and prohibit the sale of alcohol past 1 a.m.
The council will also hear from city staff regarding the requirements for events on public property, including the Mushroom Mardi Gras, Taste of Morgan Hill, Fourth of July celebration and wine strolls – which tend to result in a higher-than-normal volume of police calls.
