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• Feb 14, 2007 11:48 pm US/Central
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  Dallas Has New Plan To Find Bars Breaking The Law

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Dallas Has New Plan To Find Bars Breaking The Law

Slideshow: "It" Girls Gone Bad

DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ― The City of Dallas plans to crack down on bars breaking the rules. The new policy could force some businesses to close down.

The crackdown is a result of a year long effort by the Lower Greenville Task Force made up of Councilwoman Angela Hunt, the police department and city staffers. Residences said the new ordinance will help solve some of the problems in the area.

When it comes to bars in the Lower Greenville entertainment district, resident Cheryl Kellis says she's seen it all. She listed "urinating on the yard, urinating in front of us, beer bottles tossed in the yard" as just some of the antics she's dealt with. "I had a car that pulled up across my lawn just as a drunk prank."

Now she's encouraged by a city ordinance passed Wednesday that cracks down on bars in Lower Greenville and across the city. The city will now be able to revoke a bar's certificate of occupancy if it fails to comply with an audit into their operations.

Councilwoman Angela Hunt said the problem has resulted from some bars pretending to be restaurants so they can avoid more stringent requirements.

The city is questioning six establishments on Lower Greenville and in the Bachman Lake area.

It's checking to see if they receive more than 75 percent of their revenue from alcohol, which would make them bars, not restaurants. The city wouldn't identify the targeted bars. "We didn't have a way to force them to give us their records," Hunt said. "Now we do."

Hunt said the public can give input before bars are approved by the council. "A lot of these places don't want that input, because they fear if they get that, the neighbors are going to come down and oppose it, and the city will turn down their permit, and they won't be able to operate," said Hunt.

Some bar owners support the ordinance. Kellis said the numerous bars have also caused traffic and parking problems. "I've lived down here for 24 years," she said. "I bought a house here. I didn't move into an entertainment district."

The city said this ordinance will also apply to sexually oriented businesses and massage parlors.

(CBS 11 News)