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Dear Neighbor:
I have been petitioning the Department of Business Affairs & Liquor Commissioner to shut down Clutch / Blum for years now, without success.
This bad establishment has been the source of chronic neighborhood complaints and has been linked to prior shooting incidents. Inexplicably, the city has allowed this nightclub to continue to operate, despite my prediction that it was just a matter of time before another shooting incident would occur.
Because the city has failed to close this bar, my office has been working to facilitate the sale of the building to have Blum shut-down and evicted. In fact, the property is currently under contract to be sold next month.
I have asked CPD to issue a summary closure order to ensure this nightclub does not reopen before the building is sold and they are evicted next month. It is my understanding CPD is issuing a summary closure order today.
These late hour nightclubs are a blight on River North, with many catering to gangbangers, drug dealers and gun-toting patrons. Many of the gun crimes being committed downtown overnight are related to fights originating at these late hour clubs, yet these operators are allowed to remain open.
The Commissioner of Business Affairs and his bureaucrats need to do their jobs, stop catering to these bad actors and start revoking liquor licenses. It should not require a mass shooting to result in the closure of a problem nightclub. River North residents and I have been sounding the alarm to the city about Blum for years - yet the city has done nothing to discipline the club.
How many more people need to get shot before the City steps up to the plate and starts shutting down these bad operators? Downtown residents should not be forced to suffer because city bureaucrats refuse to do their jobs.
Sincerely,
Brendan Reilly
Alderman - 42nd Ward
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