Battle Over A Bar

When one door closes, another door opens, but for neighbors living and working in the 400 block of Dauphin Street, that's the problem.
Jeff Jordan owns a print shop next door to 455 Dauphin Street. For 15 years, he's seen different bars come and go. The most recent establishment was a joint called the Bizmark Saloon.
"There's a lot you hear at night that you don't know what happens until you get up in the morning, and you see the damage," says Jordan, who insists the bar catered to underage drinkers and didn't stop vandalism caused by its customers.
Jordan got so fed up with Bizmark's managers that he finally decided to set up a camera to catch some of the problems in action.
"It picked up a lot of vandalism, and it picked up a number of fights," said Jordan. The footage also showed several people urinating on the sidewalk, and even more people throwing up in front of Jordan's shop.
The Bizmark saloon has since closed down, but a new bar is planning to open in the same spot.
Jordan is urging city council members to vote against approving a liquor license for the new bar, and he wants the council to consider re-zoning the block. During Tuesday's council meeting, Jordan gave each of the council members a DVD showing the problems.
"The problems that Mr. Jordan expressed today, I think we need to take a very close look at," said Councilwoman Connie Hudson. "It's not going to be a livable downtown community with those types of problems in existence," she said.
Councilman William Carroll represents Jordan's district. Carroll says he doesn't think re-zoning parts of downtown is a good idea, but he did say he will look at the problems and see how they can be addressed.
One of the new bar's owners, who did not want to go on camera, tells News Five they are not affiliated with the Bizmark Saloon, and they do not want to be a nuisance to their neighbors. The new owner says they aren't even planning to use the Dauphin Street entrance; instead, their customers will enter the bar through an alley on Hamilton Street South.
The new owners have filled out an application with the ABC board to transfer the old liquor license to the new bar, which the city council will decide whether to approve the transfer next month.