Bill threatens liquor licenses of businesses where gangs gather

Doesn't this just put the onus for controlling gangs on the owners of these establishments? What will the police be doing while somebody else is doing their job?

Get Myra and the city council to tax the gangs at 50 to 60% of their annual revenue. This way when they pay their bills like honest citizens do Myra won't have to worry about the 20% homestead exemption because the gangs revenue would be enough to cover the loss. Runnymede will still get their development contracts and Mr. Barrett will remain wealthy with the taxes paid by the gang members.

Hopefully after they see how much of their money will go to taxes they'll lay down their bandannas and nines and become honest, hard working, politicians. But then we'll start the whole cycle again because they'll eventually turn to their old ways and steal money legally from the people in this area...

on second thought, just throw them in jail and leave them there...

;-)

"Submitted by Richard Puller on Fri, 02/15/2008 at 2:05 pm.
Eventually Virginia Beach is going to find a way the De-Thug the Oceanfront so it stops being a zoo in the summertime"

Just go to the beach at night when it rains. A girl I knew told me her boyfriend never went to the beach to hang out when it rained. It was impossible for him to just hang out on the streets and not spend any money if it rained.

Funny actually. The beach ran off the locals and we got replaced with this trash. Enjoy.

and will take many steps to get these gnags under control and hopefully locked up. Any effort to clean up our cities of gangs is a positive not a negative.

Dang how did I miss that...There are no legal implications. It looks like all the power here is in the ABC's hands. Guess I'll have to keep my reputation clean , so my local watering hole doesn't loose their license, while I'm having a 40 with my shorty.

Actually was just wondering, how they determine who is or who is not, a person of ill repute. It seems to me that a reputation being bad or good is a matter of opinion. How bad does the reputation have to be? How are parameters drawn on a reputation ...at what point does it become ill? Are people that sell/serve alcoholic beverages somehow trained to ascertain if a prospective customer is of ill repute, or do they just simply ask the customer, along with ID, & hope they know? Anyway seems like the law is putting a lot of legal responsibility to those in the booze trade. Good luck with that, &/or getting convictions on violations.

on another note, with a tie to this story...in case anyone missed it here's the link. What's a business owner to do?

http://hamptonroads.com/node/333561

Just start playing country or hard rock music!

Do not feel any remorse for a bar owner if they get shut down because of this. I own the Cave nightclub and grill and we take an active stand to combat this exact situation. We do not allow any bandannas or bead necklaces as certain colors on them represent gang affiliation. We also do not allow any gang or neighborhood signs inside the building. We immediately remove any patron seen throwing up "gang signs." If you own a bar or nightclub you have to be blind if you don't recognize a prevalence of gang members in your club. They do not exactly make an effort to hide themselves. If you let them hang out at your bar and act like gang bangers then you deserve to have your license pulled. Take personal of your club and assure the safety of your patrons and staff. If you don't good riddance.

Well, since the liquor license will be at stake, this will provide plenty of incentive for business owners to discriminate on the basis of appearance.

What a great idea.

jmo

If the police know where the gang congregates, why don't they make their presence known to the gang members? If their meeting place is open to the public the police should be notifying the owner of some of the patrons activities. I don't think every place they meet is aware that they are a gang, and it would be a shame to shut a business down because of something they are not aware of. If the gangs are meeting in a public venue, why aren't the police attending the meetings? Sounds like a very good oppportunity to investigate, just sit back and listen. You would be surprised what you hear if you just listen, I was, and the restraunt was a very prominent one. Don't victimize unwitting shop owners.

Why add something about gangs when it already says "or persons of ill repute"? That should already cover gang members. Perhaps though, instead of taking away an establishment's liquor license, they should just arrest these gang members if they know they're there...

Eventually Virginia Beach is going to find a way the De-Thug the Oceanfront so it stops being a zoo in the summertime.

"an establishment’s liquor license can be taken away if it is a meeting place for... persons of ill repute."

If that's so, I guess politicians have to buy theirs at the liquor store, and take it home.

"an establishment’s liquor license can be taken away if it is a meeting place for... persons of ill repute."

If that's so, I guess politicians have to buy theirs at the liquor store, and take it home.

These people appear to show up in Richmond and Washington with no ideas. She hears about the fact that gang members may frequesnt a bar more than others and comes up with this? How exactly would a bar owner enforce this when the police themselves cannot tackle the issue. Just making laws to look busy. A waste of everyones time.