It’s happening again. Nightclubs are struggling with increasing crime in downtown Tacoma, part of a perennial problem that local officials and business owners have wrestled with for years.



While there seems to be ample room for small bars, lounges and other late-night establishments, high-volume clubs such as The Loft, Drake’s, Juno, and McCabe’s have struggled to stay open. Tacoma lost Drake’s and The Loft in recent years for various reasons, leaving big, terribly visible, sadly unoccupied buildings to serve as a reminder.

When one club closes, its remaining counterparts inherit new business and more potential for trouble, and the cycle starts all over again. And again, this isn’t a new problem. It’s not a simple one either.



The bottom line, however, is simple — clubs downtown continue to struggle with crime.

In most circumstances, blame for crimes and nuisance rest with the individual. If someone shoots up a Safeway or a McDonald’s, or drinks a pint of Wild Turkey he bought at a liquor store and drives his car into a building, nobody blames the business owner. But bars and nightclubs are generally held to a different standard, it seems. Even the staunchest believer in individual responsibility will begin looking for a scapegoat if he’s sufficiently annoyed.



So as crime at clubs begins to surge again, some blame club owners, who are sometimes responsible for corralling hundreds of people, ensuring their safety, and making sure the controlled chaos doesn’t spill out into the surrounding neighborhood. Some blame insufficient or lax police enforcement. Many say Tacoma simply isn’t prepared to deal with typical realities of urban nightlife.



If you think you know who’s to blame, read on.



The most recent would-be victim of Tacoma’s club curse is Juno, which occupies a spot on Market Street in the center of downtown Tacoma. It is especially important to note that Juno is not the only club downtown that is dealing with crime. A recent shooting at Chop Suey in Seattle — one of my favorite spots and a well-run establishment — is a stark reminder that no matter what we do there’s always going to be some idiot who shows up to ruin the party for everyone. Clubs in Tacoma such as The Swiss, Cans, McCabe’s, and others that deal with high volumes of customers also see their fair share of crime.



But Juno is the only one currently facing revocation of its business license.

Juno draws big crowds, offers multiple music and entertainment formats, and no doubt pays a nice chunk of taxes. But in the club game, success often brings trouble. Juno has been the scene of typical bar fights and has riled neighbors, who blame the club’s owners for nuisances occurring nearby.



Patricia Lecy-Davis, co-owner of nearby Embellish Multispace Salon building, where she also lives, says she picks up bullet shells and expended rounds, flyers, red cups and other trash from her parking lot, and has been awakened in the middle of the night by gunfire on occasion.



Juno owner Mark Valero contends that it’s unfair that he gets blamed for red cups, flyers, 40 bottles, and cigar stumps that accumulate in nearby parking lots and alleyways. What about the little rat that dropped it? He also says that he spends early morning hours picking up trash along Market Street — whether it’s 40 bottles or Starbucks cups — but he can’t catch it all. As far as other issues go, he wonders why the individuals responsible never get blamed and says the vast majority of the crime occurs off his premises. 

“Most of the issues that they attribute to Juno didn’t occur on the premises or even adjacent to Juno property,” says Valero.



But that doesn’t always get businesses off the hook, says Jodi Trueblood, manager of the city’s tax and license department.



“If you can substantiate that they’re (crimes) occurring because of the business, that’s enough,” she says.



“Almost everything happens in the parking lot after they’ve been kicked out the door,” says Lt. Sean Gustason, who oversees Sector One, which encompasses most of downtown Tacoma.



Once patrons are on the street, it goes without saying that at least some of the responsibility for curbing crime must rest with local police. Juno, for example, pays a hefty fee to Tacoma Police Department for off-duty officers to hang around and keep the peace on the busiest nights, which they often do. Sometimes arrests occur. But people are let go just as frequently. When members of the military are picked up by TPD, for example, they simply get shipped back to base to face their senior officers. When crime occurs at the club, or nearby, and no one is arrested, Valero says it’s unfair to exclusively blame club owners.



“During several of the incidents brought up by TPD, we have actually had officers on duty. On some occasions arrests have been made,” says Valero. “On the other hand, there have been some occasions when we have had four officers on duty paid for by Juno, at the suggestion of TPD, where we have seen incidents occur a block away from Juno and no arrests were made at all. The (off-duty presence) program has helped, but even the TPD has not been effective in prevention or apprehension in some cases. If things still occur, why blame us as clubs when the cops are right there?”



Recently, police officials have asked that Juno’s business license be revoked under a provision included in the city’s chronic nuisance ordinance. The same provision was used to close Browne’s Star Grill, for example, says Trueblood.



“It’s done very rarely,” says Trueblood. “It always happens because somebody asks.”

It is probably important to note that members of the downtown Business Improvement Area are among those calling for the club to be shut down — especially a member of its board, who lives several blocks away from the club and reportedly had a bullet go through the door of his home. 



The official request for revocation comes from TPD, alleging that a disproportionate number of service calls originate there. Translation: Juno allegedly sparks more calls to the fuzz or the fire department than other joints. Valero contends that his establishment doesn’t cause any more chaos than others, saying that often he turns away known troublemakers and assists Tacoma Police in every way he can. Valero has a reputation for cooperating and working hard to maintain security.



But that’s not enough, apparently.



What is certain is that crime occurring near clubs can get darn expensive and drains already meager police resources. Certain calls for police assistance can draw every squad car in the city to go to one place, says Gustason. So when one establishment becomes the locus for a disproportionate numbers of service calls, local officials are forced to act. Unfortunately, because police resources are limited, courts are clogged, and jails are packed, throwing all these criminals in jail isn’t an option.



“You have to look at what kind of crime is occurring at a club,” says Gustason. “There’s typical stuff like fights and domestic violence, and there’s a lot of crime that’s preventable. We know there are going to be issues, but when you have gunfire and violent crime occurring all the time, eventually it stacks up enough that we have to do something.”



Crime associated with club activity has swelled recently, says Gustason, which has forced TPD administrators to take a hard look at addressing community in a coordinated manner.



In hopes of getting up to speed, officers are looking at how clubs in Seattle try and maintain order, for example, and are surveying the best practices from various cities in hopes of developing a plan for Tacoma.



For example, TPD is considering new sting operations aimed at figuring out which clubs are over-serving liquor, which, let’s be honest, is at the heart of much of this.

“If you pack the place elbow to elbow and then you throw in a dollar drink special, you’re going to have problems,” says Gustason.



Also, police and city officials will host an invitational sometime in February with club and bar owners downtown. The intention is to poll local players in hopes of coming up with a uniform plan for curbing crime associated with nightlife activity. If all goes according to plan, city officials will soon require new clubs opening downtown to meet all sorts of new standards, including having a security plan, in order to obtain a business license. Clubs that have problems and that might face revocation of their license could be offered a deference program along with a provisional license.



“Instead of just meeting with club owners and talking about a plan, it will be spelled out, in writing,” says Gustason. “We’re really looking at an overhaul of how we do licensing.”



If the club in question institutes a security program, works with police, or meets other requirements, it would be allowed to stay open. It’s a step that city officials consider a fine alternative to shutting down businesses.