BY TRACY BAIM
While the owners of Circuit continue their months-long process of buffering the sound to accommodate new neighbors in the Dakota condo complex, it appears some of their opponents might be negotiating in bad faith.
Some of the people who have been part of the meetings with the liquor commissioner and Circuit have allegedly been passing out petitions trying to vote the precinct Circuit is in 'dry,' which would strip the bar of its liquor license, despite spending nearly $200,000 in renovations this past year to eliminate noise concerns.
Allies of Circuit are outraged at this new tactic, which they claim is aimed specifically at Circuit, since no other liquor establishments are within that precinct (on the east side of Halsted, between Waveland and Addison, to Pine Grove on the east).
If the petition drive gathers enough signatures, it would be on the November ballot, where a simple majority could win a victory against one of the community's largest gay bars. With the increasingly residential makeup of Halsted, this could be an omen of future residential votes against gay bars.
'We meet with them because we have been requested to do so,' said Circuit's Patrick Harms. 'Obviously, they don't think us spending $184,000 to soundproof is worth anything. They are not getting what they want ... so they want this back-door approach. We believe the meetings have been productive. We are almost to the end of the soundproofing process. There is another meeting with the liquor commissioner July 28. At that time we'll have completed the bass absorbers and sound baffles, and will have just fine tuning and testing. We should have no problem complying with the law.'
'We look forward to continuing the process until we can get the dance floor moved to the north side of the building,' Harms said.
Opponents of the bar need at least one in four of the registered voters of that precinct to sign the petition.
'They [the opposition] are not practicing good faith,' said one of the bar's supporters. Those against the bar include straight and gay residents of the Dakota complex. Some of the same people who attended the liquor commission meetings last week, later that same day were passing out the petitions in the precinct, alleges one Circuit backer.
Circuit is located in the 46th Ward. Ald. Helen Shiller's spokeswoman Maggie Marystone said the alderman does not support the petition drive. The bar hopes to work with Shiller to satisfy noise requirements, and to head off the precinct 'dry' vote.