City officials voted to recommend South Park Street bar R Place's liquor license be revoked Wednesday after repeated acts of violence outside the bar, prompting a racial bias lawsuit from the owner.
Three people were injured in a shooting outside R Place Friday.
According to bar owner Roderick Flowers, R Place took every measure possible to prevent violent activity outside the bar.
""It really has nothing to do with the measures we took,"" Flowers said. ""The issues are the police didn't protect, and the judge Tuesday felt they didn't have to protect.""
Flowers is filing a racial bias lawsuit against the city of Madison because he said he believes he is being discriminated against as an African-American bar owner.
""I personally voted to revoke the license because of the unprecedented number of police calls for service and the unprecedented number of disturbances involving weapons,"" Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said.
The Alcohol License Review Committee considered 15 of 28 counts involving reoccurring violence outside R Place.
Two of the counts considered by the committee included shootings outside the bar in October 2009 and October 2010.
None of the counts the ALRC considered were from 2011, and there were 13 complaints not considered because Flowers refused to agree to the facts in those particular counts.
In addition, the committee was not legally permitted to take the publicity into account, including statements or incidents that occurred recently in or around the bar.
""For an establishment of only 47 patrons, which is one of the tiniest liquor capacities in the entire city, [R Place] really called for the ultimate death penalty,"" Verveer said.
