Who said you can’t have fun in a small town?
In the center ring of this three ring circus is George Barlas, owner and operator of Chop/Eleven restaurant & lounge. At issue with police are the man hours consumed by addressing trouble calls “outside” of the above mentioned establishment. The key word here is “outside”.
The police have confirmed that 284 such calls were attributed to Wal-Mart west of the city in a 12 month period. While there is a myriad of reasons the police were called to the retail giant, it is the cost related to man hours that seems to concern both Brent Trout and the good Captain and others at the MCPD. It is entirely OK that both these gentlemen can deal with 15 times more such calls to the west side to preform duties commiserate with services paid for with our tax dollars, but have difficulties tolerating 19 calls that fall under the exact same purview. And a much longer drive from headquarters, I’d add.
In addition there is a bar/restaurant not far from there that has 63 calls to their establishment during an 18 month period. That adds up to over double the amount of calls to Eleven Lounge.
Now look up “Double Standard.”
Peter Children
I say you all should roll joint, smoke it and chill the fuck out
I understand that other “watering establishments” are concerned that these patrons will move to them ( and the fights) if Eleven’s license is revoked. I just don’t understand– I think Eleven is somewhat pricey! But I’m never there after 8 pm. (I know–I am old.)
The Barlas Family WAS at the top, but that was years ago. Today they are no better or worse than anyone else. They have struggled with personal, professional and financial issues, family feuding as well as some lingering rumors regarding questionable business practices. Lets be fair and give them credit, the benefit of the doubt or a “shame on you” when deserved.
The Barlas family are at the top of what they do and offer this area. There are no better chefs than what their establishment offers this area. But while their expertise lies in the kitchens they should not be penalized because of what takes place on the side walk. This family did not come to the city asking for financial assistance like so many others
Some said the mayor is “allowing” them to remain open while the council contemplates their fate. Let me tell you this; the mayor has his own problems as does the council and I don’t think at this time they want to add to them. That said I am sure this community is grateful to the mayor for his kind generosity.
Top of what they offer or not, they are responsible for taking out the trash from the kitchen AS WELL AS the bar. Every other establishment is not allowed to dump their crap onto the sidewalk for the city to deal with. Why should Eleven be given special treatment?
I think it’s more likely that the liquor license issue was pulled from the Council’s agenda because they didn’t have the votes to revoke the license. Hickey wasn’t at the meeting and one position is empty until thy hold the special election. It takes 4 votes to pass a resolution and there were only 4 members in attendance. It would only take one vote against revocation and I bet that vote was Jean Marinos. Say what you want about Bookmeyer, but he can count to 4.
I believe this city has problems, But eleven isn’t the problem, Its out side, Eleven bans people that cause probs there, I think George should hire an off duty police officer to stand out side, Because this place is nice..
Am I the only person that realizes clean up crew is Peter Lagios? Pretty hiprocritical, he says he hates NIT, because he has been BANNED, yet he continues to post.
@Anonymous- you are not the only one who knows that the P.O.S. who goes by the Name of Peter has so little class he continues to post on NIT. He is not wanted here or anywhere else. He is a totally worthless person with no life, no hope and no future. His brain has been completely fried with the illegal drugs he uses constantly. This is my opinion but it is shared by everyone else.
I am of the opinion the city council does not want an establishment of [insert dog whistle term for blacks] anywhere near their cultural crescent. They wouldn’t want their(our) huge investment in downtown sullied by the less desirable.
With that being said I’ve been to Eleven a couple of times and it truly is a cesspit, nothing of value would be lost if it was shut down
Look…..there are license holders with more calls and also with less, that is the nature of the beast. The point is how can the city justify this sort of action when in effect its their job description….its what they do, its what we pay taxes for. Does anyone know if this sort of program has been implemented in other cities of like size?
I can easily see it as a deterrent to community filth if someone does not lean up their property or has rotting garbage that poses a health risk….bur bars, taverns and other such places that dispense liquor beer & wine are going to have such incidences due to the nature of their product. There should be a level playing field is all I am saying and…
Yeah, the level playing field should include Hookah lounges, Cannabis Cafes, and Heroin Dens….because Alcohol is far worse a poison than any of the 3 mentioned.
Seriously Peter Lagios…..shut up. You were banned from this site. You claim to hate this site, yet you continue to post. Take your hiprocritical attitude somewhere else.
Peter Lagios, why do you continue to post here on NIT? You have created a Facebook page proclaiming how much you hate this site and are “trying” to get people to follow you. Yet you continue to use to post here. You are truly a hiprocrate.
Here we go again. Peter Lagios posting his views that illegal drugs should be legal. When is he finally going to banned from this site?
Philly, keep your comments to your Facebook oage. You aren’t welcome here.
Sounds like people are wanting a la carte’ services for the police. Should people pay for each call as they do for an ambulance ride? Something to think about. Of course the poor would have no representation, and a “Cop-aid” program would need to develop, thereby stigmatizing the recipients such as done with Medic-aid.
Here we gonagain. Phillys pro drug crap. Just because he chooses to partake in illegal drugs doesn’t mean they should be legal.
What establishment?
And your right never saw that part. I was trying to figure out how you could compare, eleven to Walmart. How many time were the police called to the northwestern? That would have been a better comparison.
Minors aren’t allowed in eleven and people do not go to Walmart to drink. Comparing apples to auto parts.
That’s why I said compare eleven to the northwestern.
A steakhouse isn’t a bar.
Better than Walmart comparson. You can drink and eat at the steakhouse. And Calvin is correct eleven is a cesspool. last time I was there the bathroom didn’t work and everybody needed to go into chop to use theirs. Peter you perhaps didn’t know they are connected even share the same entrance. Hence the comparison to the steakhouse.
Savage: Apparently you only see what you want to see. I stated there was another bar in town with 64 trouble calls in a 18 month period. Chop was 19 over 12 months. On a “per month” basis the other license holder had an average of 3.5 calls a month to Chop’s 1.5. What were you saying about cutting it in half? You can cut this anyway you want, the figures just don’t add up to equal treatment.
Thanks Peter. Now you are on the right tract. Since this is a matter of public information would you name the establishment with 64 trouble calls or let us know where we might obtain this information.
You can obtain all these figures from the Mason City Police Department; its public information.
compare Eleven to any other establishment that serves alchohol, and I bet the calls are cut in half.
Remember, this opinion is that of a former aluminum siding salesman. You don’t have to agree with it, but he’s still entitled to it.
The comparison of Eleven to Wally World is an insane argument/analogy. I would have rather seen you examine Elevens history relative to other places that serve alcohol and point out inconsistencies. You hinted at that in your last paragraph but came way short of a convincing slam dunk. Just my opinion.
Barney they stated they were concerned with “man hours” so I focused on their primary interest….understand. To them the nature of the call was irrelevant.
Appreciate the clairification, thanks.
What a surprise. Peter sticking up for a fellow Greek and Matt letting him stick up for a big advertiser.Will the wonders ever cease. I know of several altercations that started in the bar and instead of breaking them up they,the bouncers,just pushed them out the door.
Reggie do you want the bouncers to sit these fellas down and lecture them? Maybe offer some sort of counseling….is that what you want? A bouncer’s job is to evict trouble makers
Reggie why does everything with you smack of a “foreign element?” I was born in America, in fact I was born in this city as was my mother. The same is true for Mr. Barlas as well as his mother making us both “second generation” Americans. Do you think that by injecting an ethnic connotation to this conversation you are somehow degrading us? If you are degrading anyone its only yourself.
I’m not degrading anyone, just making an observation. Did you stick up for Alley Katz with such fervor? I think not. People of the same ethnic background have a tendency to empathize with the plight of each other.
this comment was mine
Eleven and Chop do not advertise on NIT. Slow down, Reggie. Rage causes folks to make simple mistakes.
I could be wrong but up until recently eleven DID have a advertisement on the main page. Nice sleight of hand Matt.
This one too
Put up a Confederate flag hire some big Harley rider’s that has got baseball bats in there hands and some you know what’s in they’re boots. Like to see what them D-boys does then. A lot of ways to skin them alley Katz.
I can go for that, we need to run those boys out of town. They fit in better in some place like Waterloo or Des Moines. Not up here.
Just you wait, the infamous black boot gang will be here soon!
Daycare providers make more money than some teachers. Teachers are so disrespected. They deal with rotten kids, and rotten parents. Not all kids are rotten, but the ones that are upset the entire classroom, forcing teachers to become babysitters. As far as working only nine months, that’s not even close. Summer break isn’t 3 months. Some teachers work in summer school, they have continuing education, and other school duties on the summer. Teachers need to be praised in today’s society.
Oops, wrong article.
we teachers is are smart lol
It’s painfully abvious that I’m not a teacher….since I didn’t get my comment on the right article. And I don’t know how to copy and paste with my smart phone, because it’s smarter than me.
Alley Katz was closed. There was no tabling. But, it was a north end bar NOT owned by the Barlas family. Seems the city is dragging their feet on this issue because the owners are one of their elitists. This bar is a problem. Fights, over serving patrons, and drugs.
aint this why we have cops?
You have no idea what your even talking about. You are just trying find a way to bitch about the city. Walmart has more people through their doors in a hour than eleven has in a month. You are trying to compare the two?
Walmart catchs the crooks and calls the police, to press charges. Eleven has the fights start inside and sends them outside so they become a problem for the police.
In your case can only say this; “nothing is more dangerous than organized ignorance.”
You have proven a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Mind your business or the city will be forced to do so.
LVS: to answer your concerns; no merchant can police the outside of their property nor should they be expected to. That is what property tax covers. Next question would be….where does the “outside” begin and end? There is no guessing here, I pointed out the differences under the same ordnance. Trout and the police captain said they were only concerned with “man hours.” Are city services like health insurance where only certain procedures are covered?
@Peter-what you say is true, but I know people who go there and the fights do start inside where they have control. (I have never been there). I hear about drug deals being done in the bathrooms. They used this same reason when the closed Alley Kats and it just moved the problem to the Eleven Club. Maybe the answer is to jail them when they disturb the police and the fine them. Maybe that would stop them. They seem to have almost as many calls to the bars on the plaza.
This place must have a curse! Even before it was Eleven, the previous bar had some issues with fights. They woull have rap shows, you would see the rapper on stage, then that same rapper would be outside fighting.
Were you drinking when you wrote this?
Interesting article. My concern with the eleven club is not the number of calls but, the type of calls. Public disturbance and fights as well as drug calls. The issue is if they shut it down they will just move to another place until tat is shout down too.