09/12/2024
This is a post we never expected we would have to make.Izzos cafe has been fighting to keep our doors open after they told us we are a public nuisance. previous councilmen Brian Mooney came into izzos in 2022 and told me to get rid of the food truck that we allowed into the parking lot to serve food.(which we never had an issue with) that it was bringing alot of unwanted attention to the area. Also to stop serving them..as in colored people ( he even told us how, as to simply refuse service with no explanation , or Izzos will end up like the other bars he closed. Izzos has always been a diverse bar, we don't discriminate and for that we had to pay with doors being shut down. When Mooney, now judge gave the job to Danny Kelly in ward 11 he never came to tell us he had a problem ( which should have been his job, he just simply submitted to have our license not renewed for 2024 yr. Once I received the letter I called councilmen Danny Kelly about it right away . He called me back and introduced himself and asked what I can do for you .I asked what is this about. I didn't know we had a problem with your office. He continued to say I'm continuing what Mooney started in that he can't talk to me about it we are going to court . I said as a councilmen wouldn't you come in try to talk to anyone in your ward about problems not just take us to court on it . Should a councilmen do that?, and that was that off to court . For his secretary Rose from Westtown community office she went as far to make up her own letter about us being a nuisance to the community. She wrote Identical letters with her own words with no one even contacting her and went from store to store soliciting to get signatures. She got 2 signatures, one fabric store on 100th and an audio spot on 99th. Two stores who don't even have contact with us or Izzos customers , And they only got them to sign. Not one around us signed . So once we went to court they used videos I gave them from incidents that occurred at Izzos. Ones that showed we were victims. One robbery when 2 masked men came in and shot a guy while robbing him . 2. One barmaid hit with a chair when asking a customer to leave . 3. 2 couples fighting and one stabbed another . 4 bar owner attacked for telling a customer your bared . And 1 shooting outside yrs ago nothing from 2024 izzos always took action with security . We went as far to put a buzzer on the door. We asked for police to be at doors and couldn't get help .We asked for police to monitor the parking lot more and couldnt get help. I was told they couldn't come in parking lot. That it was private property ( but came weeks before court raiding cars to try find excuses and lied saying they had drug buys but couldnt provide arrest records. Danny kelly swore under oath in court that he never spoke with me on the phone ( what is the purpose to raise your hand and not be punished for lying on the stand). Could it be they actually have nothing against Izzo's owners or even barmaids? That he really just wants us out for the Variety theater development he wants to do down on Lorain Ave. And forcing us out because we dont fit into his development. We all know his back ground.. but people need to know Izzos . We have been in business and longest lasting business in this community 94yrs. We are not just bar. We are a family who served the community. We provided many with food . We give free food during holidays so people have a place. I helped many with paper work for medical and benefits . We provided many with clothes . We provided many with places to live. No one can say anything bad about the owners we helped more then any source in this area . We never have liqour violations or health codes violations we are a clean bar. We ourselves are just at a loss for words about this . It's crazy government gets rites to just do what they want. We have about 2 weeks to get a final answer for renewal, but with the liquor board telling us to not serve anymore until we recieve an answer back. With them denying the stay open, We strongly believe we lost this battle, we should not have had to fight. For our Izzos family we are so sorry you won't have any place To go to anymore. We are sorry we failed you guys. We will miss everyone of you . I just wanted Izzos cafe family to know what's happening. We Will continue toπ
