"House of Soul will bring music, art, food to Washington Avenue". Opens this weekend.

https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/ ... cf14f.html

Excellent news! This is one of the place that the Waldrop cabal tried to make sure it never got its liquor license - nobody knows why exactly but people have made suggestions

^Yeah, the article talks a bit about the challenges they had getting their license. 

If it’s a biz with alcohol who’s primary clientele is AAs, the waldrop cabal comes out of the wood work

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/col ... 02b84.html

I kind of like this idea of having a cabal. On a more serious note, a bit of rebuttal to Denis Beganovic aka dbInSouthCity.

The House of Soul liquor license application was made by Nicole Stevenson with no mention of Drexel Stith. As mentioned in the article, Mr. Stith was involved in The Loft in Midtown. He is also involved in Club Marquee. Both venues have had their share of problems in the past.

Before ever applying for a liquor license, House of Soul sold alcohol without a liquor license. TWICE. The second time they did so they had already been cited by SLMPD, but ignored their violation and sold alcohol without a license again. The second time, the proprietor(s) were cited and went to jail.

After House of Soul’s proprietor(s) were taken to jail, they decided to apply for a liquor license. No where on their application did House of Soul proprietors disclose their prior charges. On the record, at the City’s Excise hearing for House of Soul’s liquor license, Landlord Tony Thompson (who has run clubs at this same location in the past, some having major violence problems), admitted he asked City Safety Director Judge Jimmie Edwards to drop the charges against House of Soul’s proprietor(s). Judge Edwards complied and dropped the charges.

The applicant should not even be eligible for a liquor license but our corrupt government acted criminally and threw out charges of selling alcohol illegally. This is all documented. It is fact.

Why did this happen?

I suspect because the landlord here is very politically connected. His mother was a state rep. He has long had influence in St. Louis city politics, where the citizenry is half black. This is favoritism at its finest. Our government ignored laws put in place to protect its citizenry. Shootings & shots fired are directly connected to a concentration of late night bars along Washington AVE.

During the day Wash AVE is a vibrant, diverse, SAFE, thriving artery and NEIGHBORHOOD where people live & sleep in our greater downtown. After 10 PM it can be bumper-to-bumper cruising, an open air drug market, full of non-patrons drinking in their vehicles cat-calling women quite crudely ... and yes, shootings amongst these same non-patrons cruising & sometimes utilizing the Wash AVE club circuit. The concentration of liquor licenses, and lack of scrutiny and enforcement of same, have created a lawless environment after 10 PM. We all know we are down 160 SLMPD. And, in my opinion, we do not receive our fair share of SLMPD downtown given the great amount of revenue downtown produces for the City.

These things are not good for downtown’s image & growth.

We live in a lawless city. The laws are not enforced. And I am not referencing SLMPD here. I am referencing Judge Edwards and Excise.

It’s no wonder downtown office rents are half or less than half of Clayton. It’s no wonder downtown’s apartment rent rates and occupancy rates are stagnant. It’s no wonder, outside of subsidized and HUD-backed Ballpark Village, there is no infill activity in downtown.

-Brad & the Cabal

We live in a lawless city. The laws are not enforced.

gonna have to agree with this.

Thanks for the response Brad. Lots of excellent points. I've been following this forum since at least 2015, and only made a username once the format recently changed. This may actually be my first post. I'm sick of people throwing the race card and hoping it'll stick. I understand a majority of the people on this forum probably lean to the left... but still... this site is getting about as toxic as twitter. All I want is to stay up-to-date on what is happening in our region. Is that too much to ask?

the cabal is always loose with the facts 

"Stevenson was holding an event at Thompson’s building at 1204 Washington Avenue. Liquor was served, but not sold, he says. Twice in May 2018, police responded to the building and cited Stevenson for selling liquor without a license and operating without the proper permits. Thompson said he had wrongly assumed Stevenson could operate events in his building under his business licenses and that she didn’t need her own."   

its a fairly common mistake.    

Billikens_19 i am more sick of parking lot operators deciding which black person can sell liquor downtown.  Considering this regions long history of segregation it’s a bit tone deaf to dismiss black business owners concerns as just playing the “race card”. I don’t care what you want to get out of this forum, you’re also going to get the uncomfortable truth. Cabal Brad will come back and list a 1 or 2 white owned business they went after (also note its way after those business’ opened and trouble started, all were given a pass to open first, wonder why....the same isn’t extended to black owned, which the cabal goes after before even opening) even the example of House of Soul, after a misunderstanding, Ms.Steveson went ahead and did the right thing and get her paperwork in order but the cabal still went after her.  

"Black business owners believe that a group of white business owners and loft dwellers — including parking lot operator Brad Waldrup, and the McGowan Brothers Development team that owns several buildings and restaurants on Washington Avenue — are working to block black entrepreneurs from opening bars and nightclubs in the area.

“I want to make sure we are not making decisions to disproportionately affect people of color,” Alderman Tammika Hubbard testified at the hearing."

Since ~1999, and beginning in Soulard, we have been investing through our companies and alongside our clients’ companies in many city neighborhoods. We’re a little more than a parking operator in the City of St. Louis. A little more.

But to address another major fact that debunks your false claims Denis, the proof is in your pudding:

“Twice in May 2018, police responded to the building and cited Stevenson for selling liquor without a license and operating without the proper permits. Thompson said he had wrongly assumed Stevenson could operate events in his building under his business licenses and that she didn’t need her own."

So Thompson wrongly assumed twice? OK.

The two events were over a week apart. The cops raided both. You can’t have a second event after being busted the first time and not know you’re doing something wrong.

Thompson is simply above the law.

Excise, the Safety Director, and many times other City of St. Louis government entities, do not enforce existing ordinances. It shows in our crime rankings, St. Louis’ face to the nation. It shows in our downtown’s growth.

Tony Thompson isn’t the one who is running the House of Soul

And you are 100% correct that the City doesn’t enforce existing ordinances, which would explain how you put up 20 hideous parking lot signs on your lot at wash ave between 18 and 19th without a signage permit for almost 2 years before someone applied for a sign permit for 8 of them last week....same goes for all your other parking lots without signage permit.    not to mention that the parking lot operated illegally for months before a occupancy permit was applied for and issued last September. 

so maybe tone down the "rule of law not followed" bs....

I don’t know if your comments Denis Beganovic warrant my further response. It seems you make a comment, I make a response, then you completely change the subject. Is that because I am responding with facts & logic?

I don’t think it’s worth responding. But there is a pretty big difference in sign permits and the highly regulated field of liquor licenses.

Good luck in your strange personal vendettas and quests to take down our signs. I really hope you’re getting paid to do so. You sure are spending a lot of time doing so. It’s unfortunate you’re on someone’s clock while working on your social media posts and sign vendettas. At least when I’m responding I’m on my clock and I’m only hurting myself.

Hopefully I clarified the Cabal’s position on this liquor license, and anyone’s ... regardless of race or creed.

Downtown needs liquor license legislation overhaul. That is what government is for. This is a highly regulated industry for many reasons, in many prospering cities. Our city is top of the crime charts for unenforced regulations, including these.

Ya know a simple “I’m a hypocrite”
response would have been enough instead of all that spin. Brutal. This isn’t about me Brad, it’s about you stiffing the City out of  permit revenue (which could go towards hiring more police), operating lot illegally for months,  not following permitting laws and than coming here on a high horse to complain about a black woman who made a paper work mistake.

Selling a highly regulated substance, getting cited for same, then doing it again, is NOT a paperwork mistake.  It’s attempting to circumvent the neighborhood and the plat & petition process.  Otherwise the applicant would have sought a liquor license day one.

Liquor licensees are granted permission to have a liquor license only by the neighborhood, hence the plat & petition process.  

When you do receive a liquor license, you receive one as a privilege within a neighborhood.  This Landlord has shown a lack of discretion when allowing bars to operate from his building in the past (Club Isis; Club Formula; Club Lure; non-licensed House of Soul; multiple other parties thrown at this location where alcohol was sold without a license; ...).  Lure specifically was a nightmare.  And, mind you, it was white-owned.  Prior to Lure, a bouncer had his throat slit, murdered on site.  Prior to House of Soul, there was a high school party at this location and a shooting occurred.

All inside the loft district.  All at nighttime.

The neighborhood has a steep financial burden taking a licensee out after they become a problem.  

In the case of Lure, the neighborhood spent north of $20,000, and a lot of time, removing a bad actor.  

So it is in the neighborhood’s interest to scrutinize licenses up front, as was attempted here, with House of Soul, at a location where the neighborhood has seen problems.  

At first there was no planned kitchen at House of Soul.  Then three was, without a gas hood.  The applicant was vetted on many fronts.  And it was determined she lacked experience and funding to eliminate the risk she’d let anyone & everyone into the club to pay the bills ... which is something known as “burning out” in the club/bar industry.

In the end, after her landlord pulled political strings, she was granted a liquor license.

Time will tell.  Referencing my previous post on the other thread:  I am personally against cheap liquor licenses.  I am personally against more liquor licenses in this area.  I believe we should charge more for full bar versus beer & wine.  And the catering laws should be changed such that alcohol cannot be catered into a venue such that an applicant can circumvent plat & petition and neighborhood oversight.  

Nothing is going to change economic growth wise in downtown for as long as there are gun shots after 10 PM.  This is reflected in our occupancies & rent rates.  

In the end, this is a neighborhood with a high concentration of residents. The neighborhood has matured beyond a dense club district. Club districts bring many activities that can clash with residential activities. This is why Krewson put a moratorium on 3 AMs in the CWE years ago. This is why Cortex isn’t dropping clubs into ground floor space.

I feel like I’ve clarified my positions enough.  I’m not going to dignify Denis Beganovic’s personal attacks with any further responses.  If anyone else is concerned with my positions or actions you can reach me at bw@bradwaldrop.com and we can set up a call.

Brad you operate multiple lots where you had to get multiple OPs and sign permits, you know the law you choose to ignore it

parking lots are awful, and ignoring signage permits and temporarily operating a lot without a license isn't exactly forthright, but it's not comparable to knowingly and repeatedly serving alcohol without a license, which certainly appears to have been the case here.

now f*cking stop the back-and-forth.

Don’t be silly man, they sold booze twice at one off events. I mean heck go take any shuttle from Soulard to the sports stadiums and driver with “sell” you a cup and give you a free beer for each cup you buy.  It’s not that serious.  All that is irrelevant, this lady went ahead and gained approval by collecting signatures from the neighbors

Meanwhile county Brad is stiffing the city on sign permit revenue, on occupancy permit is revenue and I would venture a guess he is under reporting parking lot revenue to avoid a paying fair share of taxes.

great, she should have done that before illegally selling alcohol. not interested in hypotheticals, nor do they excuse her. club violence is a big problem downtown. as such, liquor licenses should be strictly monitored/enforced.

Brad's parking lot permits, while concerning, are a separate issue and nobody is getting shot because of his signage.

.....what the hack are you talking about.  Has anyone ever been shot at House of Soul one of events? Has there been a hint of issues there?  None.    How about the guy that wanted to open a comedy club at the old alpha brewery spot?  The cabal protested that one too before it even opened, why?  Black owner

2 people shot at ballpark village, the cabal has yet to protest their liquor license

my comment was pretty straightforward. none of the nuggets you keep repeating dispute it. moreover, BPV went through the proper channels to get their license before selling liquor. House of Soul broke the law twice before finally applying for one.

and with that, i'm out. not doing this social media argument bullsh*t anymore.

Well with the that logic you should have been out before that post. So what you’re saying is 2 shootings at BPV are fine bc BPV got a LL before holding any events but biz that had 2 one off events and no accidents what so ever before or after getting a LL should be shut down.....strong logic, stroooong

bradwaldrop wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2019

I kind of like this idea of having a cabal.  On a more serious note, a bit of rebuttal to Denis Beganovic aka dbInSouthCity.

While dbInSouthCity's identity might be something of an open secret, it's his to share, not yours. You seem to be "doxing" him to make some kind of point. Frankly, that's nasty enough I'm not even interested in reading the rest of your point. If you have a point to make then stick to the facts. No need to engage in the adolescent behavior of sad puppies and incels.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Oct 22, 2019

bradwaldrop wrote: ↑

Oct 21, 2019

I kind of like this idea of having a cabal.  On a more serious note, a bit of rebuttal to Denis Beganovic aka dbInSouthCity.

While dbInSouthCity's identity might be something of an open secret, it's his to share, not yours. You seem to be "doxing" him to make some kind of point. Frankly, that's nasty enough I'm not even interested in reading the rest of your point. If you have a point to make then stick to the facts. No need to engage in the adolescent behavior of sad puppies and incels.

Not even sure what he’s trying to accomplish, everyone that’s fairly active here has seen me link to my twitter account many times.  Heck it’s even in my profile here.  It’s bizarre, in another thread he made up bs that I was apparently fired from city job, it’s creepy that he thinks about me that much to make up stuff like that.    

Brads obsession with me started when we both ran for downtown Neighborhood association board of directors, I won, he lost and couple more people that ran with him lost. They tried to stuff the ballot box by having his individual parking lots each get one business vote.  Their grand plan was to get on the DNA board and use it to fight the Downtown CiD and harass black owned businesses. Brad become so enraged when he lost that the board couldn’t be seated for a month because he threatened to sue.   We finally got seated as a board of 9 white people representing a very diverse downtown.  Brads cabal lawyer was on the board, I pushed his buttons enough to get him to resign.  Got a few AAs on the board so that we can truly represent downtowns entire population. I myself resigned in Jan because of work travel but the board is now healthier then ever with 4 white members and 3 AAs, it’s doing great things for all residents.   Anyway, congrats House of Soul

Beganovic, out.

I think it's all time we reveal our identities. STLRainbow, you first. 

You first AP Rice!