Residents of a condo development built along heavily commercial Halsted Street are among those who signed a petition to vote their precinct dry this November. But not all of the residents support the petition, which would effectively shut down one of Chicago's most popular gay bars, Circuit, 3641 N. Halsted.
Last weekend, as hundreds of thousands attended Northalsted Market Days just south of the Dakota, 3631 N. Halsted, many of the balconies displayed support for the bar and displayed big red signs saying 'No Dry Vote.'
On Aug. 3, the 'dry vote' proposition signatures were submitted to the Chicago Clerk's office. Reportedly, just three of the condo units helped in the petition drive.
'I found it interesting that only five units on the north side of our building, and four units from the south side of the building signed the petition—out of 56 units,' said Dakota resident Steven Heintz. 'Our neighbors collected almost 100 of their required signatures from the 707 W. Waveland Co-Op. and almost 50 signatures from residents along Pine Grove Street—the furthest point from here in our precinct. Is this all really about noise to someone that far away?'
The petition asks that a question be placed on the Nov. 2 ballot to vote the precinct fully dry. The city created the 'vote dry' to take back neighborhoods, and clean up areas where crime, drugs, and prostitution run rampant. To empower citizens, the requirement was lowered to only 25% of registered voters in the precinct for a dry-vote. 'This is why, in our neighbor's fight to close Circuit, they only needed 177 signatures (25% of the 706 registered voters),' Heintz said.
Because of low voter interest, the back-of-the-ballot initiatives usually attract only those most passionate—and 13 of 14 recent vote-dry attempts have passed, Heintz said.
'I honestly don't think it is the intent of our neighbors to be 'anti-alcohol,' or even 'anti-gay.' But a lot of things are going to start happening at this point. There are specific 'faith-based' organizations in Chicago that will lend their financial support and resources to any opportunity to vote dry a part of Chicago. ... On the other side, in addition to the community organizations that have been involved supporting Circuit so far, the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, and other groups will begin a campaign to protect this business district. I'm sure that our neighbors, using this legal-loophole for their Circuit battle, don't even realize the extent that other precincts go through when faced with this type of vote,' Heintz said.
The Dakota board passed a three-day exemption to their ban on signs for Market Days. The signs read 'NO DRY VOTE' and 'I SUPPORT CIRCUIT.' At least one unit carried a 'VOTE US DRY' sign.
'I pushed for the banners mainly to issue a crystal-clear, once-and-for-all message that 'The Dakota' should not be part of this upcoming war,' Heintz told his fellow residents. 'It will take a long time for the bad feelings to go away if it's perceived that 'The Dakota' forced such an extreme change on this neighborhood.'
Circuit has spent nearly $200,000 on renovations to deal with the sound concerns. While the bar was there long before the condo development, the new neighbors immediately began complaining about being next to a noisy bar. Some compare this to developing a condo next to Wrigley Field and complaining about the lights. Halsted has long been a noisy club street, but with more and more residential developments, and fewer gay-owned businesses and bars, the newer voices are beginning to have clout.
In their battle with the city's liquor commission on noise complaints, Circuit has allies in local politicians, including Ald. Helen Shiller and Ald. Tom Tunney, and activists.
One couple who lives at the Dakota, Evelyn and Tom DiLisio, are among the loudest complaining, but they failed to show up at a recent hearing on the issue. The couple are also behind the 'vote dry' petition drive, an end-run around the liquor commission. They also didn't attend a planned city noise testing, and that has been rescheduled.
One Dakota resident wrote an anonymous e-mail saying this effort 'is not about closing a gay club, or 'changing a neighborhood' ... . It is about noise. ... ... We don't want to get Circuit closed down.... we want to sleep through the night.'
