$2 For OJ … & Illegal Drugs?

A month and a half after ​“occupying” the lot in front of a problem bar, Fair Haveners showed up in force yet again to try to solve the social ills emanating from Grand Cafe — this time online, through over three hours of testimony urging the state to pull the venue’s liquor permit.

That latest community effort took place Thursday afternoon during a state Department of Consumer Protection Liquor Control Commission remonstrance hearing about Grand Cafe’s renewal application for a Connecticut cafe liquor permit.

The three-and-a-half-hour-long public meeting took place via Zoom. It marked the latest organized effort by Fair Haven neighbors to curb what they have described as rampant drug dealing, prostitution, loitering, underage drinking, fighting, public intoxication, and gun violence associated with the bar at 181 Grand Ave. / 124 E. Pearl St.

The push to get the state to ban Grand Cafe from legally serving alcohol comes soon after many of the same neighbors who testified Thursday — including Karen DuBois-Walton and Fair Haven Alder-Elect Sarah Miller — led a three-week, music-infused sit-in atop Grand Cafe’s surface parking lot. 

After collecting ​“hundreds” of signatures to trigger the remonstrance hearing, neighbor after neighbor after neighbor on Thursday implored the three-person regulatory commission to deny Grand Cafe’s liquor permit renewal because it is a ​“lewd” and ​“disorderly” establishment. Per state law, that would be grounds for the state Department of Consumer Protection to revoke or deny the venue’s permit.

This is about ​“a diverse set of neighbors that just became frustrated with ongoing violence spilling out into our neighborhood” from the area around Grand Cafe, said East Pearl Street resident and youth nonprofit leader Henry Fernandez.

“The noise and the nonsense that goes on across the street has always been bad, but it’s escalated in the past few years, along with the violence,” said East Pearl Street resident Elizabeth Flournoy. ​“It’s all just nasty, and I’m glad the community is finally getting together to do something about it.”

“There’s a constant sense that it is a dangerous place,” said Miller, who lives on Clinton Avenue. ​“There are people loitering. There’s sex work happening, drug exchanges happening all the time. … It’s really kind of destabilized our civic ecosystem.”

“I beg you not to renew their liquor license at all,” said Atwater Street resident and Livable City Initiative (LCI) neighborhood specialist Carmen Mendez. ​“They have been nothing but a problem for the neighborhood since the jump. And they have really hampered the delight that at one point I had about living in Fair Haven.”

Attorney David Crow, Grand Cafe owner Jose Rivera, and Grand Cafe liquor permittee Cruz Vazquez had little time on Thursday to respond to the neighbors’ hours-long push for the state to turn down the bar’s liquor license.

That’s because Crow had another obligation Thursday evening, and — after the hearing had gone on for three and half hours already — the Liquor Control Commissioners agreed to continue the matter to another to-be-determined date.

That’s when Crow, Rivera and Vazquez will get their chance to call witnesses and make their case for why Grand Cafe should continue to be allowed to serve alcohol.

Crow’s brief cross-examination of Fair Haven District Manager Lt. Michael Fumiatti Thursday offered a peek into what some of that defense may look like.

Crow focused on how most of the alleged drug dealing and violence cited in various police reports submitted to the commission on Thursday appeared to occur outside of the bar. He also pointed out how most of the alleged illicit activity cited in those reports resulted in no arrests. (See more below on those police reports.)

During an interview with the Independent in mid-September, Rivera defended Grand Cafe as a working-class watering hole that is clean, safe, and community-oriented on the inside. He and fellow bartenders and customers said then that the bar’s workers and patrons have little to no control over whatever takes place in the parking lot outside.

$2 For Orange Juice … & Drugs?

The first hour-plus of Thursday’s hearing consisted primarily of DuBois-Walton, Fumiatti, and Crow dissecting a dozen different police reports related to Grand Cafe.

Those reports, which ranged from 2016 to 2021, described drug dealing inside of the bar, assaults outside, and a non-fatal shooting that took place in the bar’s parking lot this September. DuBois-Walton said that the police reports she submitted as evidence to the commission on Thursday documented just a fraction of the ​“long history of concerns with the Grand Cafe.”

Four police reports from August 2016 offered some of the more revealing details about how drug dealing allegedly occurred at Grand Cafe. All four saw police and cooperating witnesses (CW) make controlled buys of drugs, typically cocaine, from the venue.

According to one of those reports, from Aug. 13 of that year, a CW told police that ​“a person looking to purchase illegal drugs from Grand Cafe must first purchase any two ($2.00) dollar drink from a bartender. Immediately after purchasing a drink, the buyer must inform the bartender of his/her interest in purchasing illegal drugs. At that time the bartender will direct the potential buyer towards the subject selling illegal drugs.” That CW later made a controlled purchase of cocaine for the police via the process they described.

Another police report from Aug. 14 of that year described a CW entering Grand Cafe, walking to the bar, and purchasing orange juice for $2 from the bartender.

Another police report from Aug. 19 of that year again referenced a CW familiar with the operation who described the process of paying for a $2 drink at Grand Cafe to signal one’s interest in buying drugs.

In a fourth report from Aug. 21, DuBois-Walton pointed out, ​“there again seems to be another reference to this $2 purchase of orange juice from the bartender to signal the purchase of drugs.”

For all four of those drug-related police reports from 2016, Crow asked Fumiatti to confirm that ​“no arrests were made.” He cited the conclusion of each of those reports, some of which said that parts of the alleged drug buys were captured on audio and video surveillance.

“No arrests were made. This case will be closed with no further action,” Crow said, reading from the end of the Aug. 19 report. Is that correct? He asked.

“That’s correct, sir,” Fumiatti replied.

Before walking through the reports, DuBois-Walton asked Fumiatti a series of questions about his familiarity with Grand Cafe — and in particular if he has received complaints from neighbors about ​“nuisance and criminal activity” at the site, which is so close to an elementary school, a public library, senior apartments, and a healthcare center.

“Yes ma’am,” Fumiatti said. ​“All of those concerns are part of the complaints” he has received.

Neighbors: A Uniquely ​“Dangerous Corner”

The remaining two and a half hours of Thursday’s hearing, meanwhile, consisted of a host of Fair Haven neighbors and community leaders talking about the problems they’ve seen and heard about at Grand Cafe — and why the state should turn down its liquor permit.

Some of those who spoke up on Thursday included Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo, Wooster Square Alder Ellen Cupo, State Rep. Al Paolillo, Jr., Grand Avenue Special Services District Director Frank Alvarado, city Director of Legislative Affairs Kevin Alvarez, Mary Wade Home President and CEO David Hunter, and Fair Haven Community Management Team Co-Chair Lee Cruz.

New Haven Public Schools teacher Jessica Light told the commissioners that, when she used to teach at Davis Street School in Westville, she had ​“multiple cases where parents came to me and asked me to have buses rerouted away from stops at Grand Cafe, citing safety concerns.”

That was and remains unique in her local teaching career, she said. ​“There’s no other cafe or restaurant or bar in the city that I have ever been told as a teacher was a danger for a school bus stop to be near.”

Carlos Galo and Cruz both focused their testimony on how one of Grand Cafe’s business neighbors is a daycare center.

“I’m really concerned about the impact this is having on young children,” Galo said about the drug dealing, prostitution, and violence around Grand Cafe.

Cruz recalled seeing daycare center workers pushing baby carriages filled with four, five, and even six kids at a time down the block a few years ago.

“Since there’s been an increase in the violence, that has ceased,” he said. He doesn’t see those baby carriages and daycare workers out on the street anymore near Grand Cafe, even during the daytime.

Front Street resident and city parks staffer Martin Torresquintero and Mendez both described changing their commuting routes — Torresquintero on his bike, Mendez in her car — to avoid Grand Cafe at all hours of the day.

“The drinking in the parking lot and the illegal use of drugs has become a hazard for cyclists like myself,” Torresquintero said. ​“I no longer feel safe driving or riding my bicycle around there.”

“I don’t want to drive by there” anymore, Mendez said. ​“I find a whole other route.” She’s also stopped eating at other nearby restaurants after dark because she doesn’t want to be near whatever’s going on at Grand Cafe.

Perkins Street resident Abigail Storch said that she still walks by Grand Cafe every day while walking with her dog.

“I have never seen a place where this kind of activity is as severe as it is at Grand Cafe,” she said. ​“Many days I watch drug deals take place as I pass by with my dog.”

Do you see that type of drug-dealing activity anywhere else in the neighborhood? asked Liquor Control Commissioner John McKinney.

“Not on my daily walking route,” Storch said. ​“It is the only place where I genuinely become extra alert when I walk by, because I know it’s a dangerous corner.”