Grand Cafe Mounts A ​“Cheers” Defense

Everybody knows your name at Grand Cafe — which regulars and supporters called a good thing as they appealed to preserve the Fair Haven haunt’s liquor license in the face of organized opposition by neighbors weary of gun violence, drugs, and lewd behavior on the premises.

The bar’s supporters offered that defense Thursday afternoon during the latest public hearing hosted by the state Department of Consumer Protection Liquor Control Commission.

While Grand Cafe itself has been around since only 2008, bar co-owner Jose Rivera said, some kind of drinking establishment has been at that 181 Grand Ave. / 124 E. Pearl St. location for over 40 years.

“Is it fair to describe it as a part of the neighborhood?” the bar’s attorney David Crow asked.

“Yes,” Rivera replied. The same people fill the bar nearly every day. ​“It’s like ​‘Cheers’.”

“Where everybody knows your name?” Crow asked, referring to the popular 1980s bar-centered TV series.

“Yes,” Grand Cafe’s co-owner said.

That was one of the main arguments made by the bar’s defenders Thursday during the two-hour online ​“remonstrance” hearing about whether or not Grand Cafe’s Connecticut cafe liquor permit should be renewed. 

During the case’s first hearing in early November, Fair Haven neighbors urged the state to turn down the bar’s liquor permit renewal application. They described rampant drug dealing, prostitution, loitering, underage drinking, fighting, public intoxication, and gun violence associated with the venue. Those same neighbors also drew attention to and sought to curb those social ills by ​“occupying” the parking lot in front of the bar with music, poetry, and board games for three weeks earlier this year.

The state liquor control commissioners picked up with the continued hearing on Thursday — when Grand Cafe’s defenders had their chance to address neighbors’ concerns and to make their case for why the bar should stay open and keep its license to serve alcohol.

Crow, Rivera, and a handful of Grand Cafe employees and friends stood up for the bar as a working-class hangout where familiar faces come to drink beer, shoot pool, listen to music, and pay $2 to buy the occasional OJ or Red Bull and use the bathroom. 

They noted that Grand Cafe is just one of four businesses in a shopping strip that also includes a smoke shop and a Chinese restaurant. They argued they have no control over the occasional violence and drug dealing that takes place in the parking lot out front or across the neighborhood at large. They said they try their best to run a tidy, safe, and responsible bar inside Grand Cafe itself.

After hearing over two hours of public testimony and closing arguments from both sides, the commissioners closed the public hearing. They promised to deliberate and issue a written decision soon.

Co-Owner: Softball, Halloween, $2 Loo Fees

As his first witness in support of Grand Cafe’s liquor permit and reputation, Crow called Rivera — the bar’s co-owner since 2008.

Rivera said that the bar has two full-time employees and four part-time employees. 

While closed for nine months during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, he had to let his employees go — but he did provide them with food and cash, here and there, if employees came to him in need. 

He also described how the bar installed new tiles, bathroom mirrors, and plexiglass barriers throughout the space during the during their pandemic-induced shutdown.

“You have a softball team, correct?” Crow asked.

That’s right, Rivera replied. He said this year was the first year that the Grand Cafe sponsored a softball game at Criscuolo Park — or ​“Chapel Street park” — in Fair Haven.

“Everybody came down, had a good time,” Rivera said. ​“We came back to the bar. We ate and drank.”

Rivera said the bar has also spent the past five years sponsoring a softball team in Hartford.

“We were the first team from New Haven to go into that league,” he said. ​“This year we won the tournament. So we did good.”

Rivera said the bar also sponsors a pool league (the kind with cues and eight-balls, not bathing suits and swimming.)

And he said Grand Cafe gave out costumes and candy to neighborhood kids this Halloween.

Crow and the three liquor control commissioners asked Rivera for his take on all of the police reports provided by neighbors and city police Lt. Michael Fumiatti about years’ worth of alleged illegal drug dealing at or outside of the Grand Cafe. 

They also asked about neighbor and police reports of recent gun violence, including an incident in September where a man was shot and injured in the parking lot outside of the bar. 

“There’s always been trouble in the neighborhood,” Rivera replied. ​“But it doesn’t apply to us. Shooting, stabbing, selling drugs, prostitution. It’s all over the neighborhood.”

He said the bar has a magnetic lock on the front door that he turns on when things get particularly hectic outside, to keep anyone dangerous from coming in. He said he too has been threatened by people loitering outside the nearby smoke shop.

Why do you think there are so many problems in the parking lot? Liquor Control Commissioner Anne Stiber asked.

“Marijuana,” Rivera replied.

Some of the police reports mentioned how visitors to the Grand Cafe would have to pay $2 at the bar, Crow asked Rivera. ​“What’s that all about?”

Those police reports described a system whereby someone would pay $2 at the bar for orange juice to signal their interest in buying illegal drugs like cocaine. 

That’s not the case at all, Rivera said.

“You can’t come into my establishment without buying something to drink,” he said. ​“You want to use the bathroom? You got to pay $2. You want to play pool? You got to pay $2.”

He said that system is in place to make sure that people are spending money in the bar and not just hanging out for free all day.

"A Neighborhood Bar"

Grand Cafe’s second witness was Rodney Rivera. The Hill resident said he has worked as a ​“barback” — or someone who cleans up, stocks liquor, shovels snow, and a whole assortment of other small tasks — at the Grand Cafe for the past eight or nine years.

He repeated Jose Rivera’s explanation of the $2‑for-something rule.

“So the $2 is for what?” Crow asked.

“Not just to hang out,” Rivera said. 

“So just no hanging out at the bar?”

That’s right, Rivera said.

He said that he has never seen any drug-dealing in the bar, and he’s never seen anyone arrested for drug dealing inside the bar. 

When he does see illegal activity taking place in the parking lot outside, Rivera said, he lets the bar’s co-owner know. The co-owner would then call the police for help.

“How often does that happen?” asked Karen DuBois-Walton, who lives nearby on East Pearl Street. DuBois-Walton took the lead during the Liquor Control Commission hearings in advocating on behalf of neighbors for the bar to have the permit renewal application denied.

“When it gets pretty crazy out there,” the barback replied. ​“Maybe twice a week?”

DuBois-Walton said she has not seen any records showing that Grand Cafe’s owner or employees have called the police twice a week about concerns with what’s taking place in the parking lot outside.

“I’ve seen him make the call myself,” Rivera said about the bar’s co-owner.

Next up was Julian Welch.

The West Haven resident and nursing home chef said he has been a customer at the Grand Cafe for the past five years.

Ever since the neighbors started protesting outside the bar in September, he said, he has volunteered at the door — checking ID’s, searching for weapons, using a metal-detector wand on customers, whatever needs to be done.

“If you witness any activities in the parking lot, what do you do?” Crow asked.

“I’m in the bar,” Welch said. ​“What happens out there is not my place.”

What’s the atmosphere like at the Grand Cafe? Crow asked.

“Friendly,” Welch replied. ​“I’ve met so many different people there. I’ve learned different types of music. I’m a chef, so I’ve picked up catering” jobs.

What about the clientele?

“Working class, if not retired,” Welch replied.

“Would you describe it as a neighborhood bar?”

“Yes,” Welch said.

DuBois-Walton asked Welch if he received any training before he started volunteering providing security at the front door.

“I received no training,” he said, ​“but I am good at deescalating situations without violence.”

Jose Rivera added that roughly a decade ago he hired a New Haven police officer to park in the parking lot to provide an extra level of security He said he’d be open to hiring a police officer again in the evening outside the bar in an attempt to quell the violence, drug dealing, and loitering outside.

The bar’s third witness was India Perez, a Cedar Hill resident who has worked as a bartender at the Grand Cafe for the past five years.

Crow asked Perez about the $2 rule.

“The bar is an establishment,” Perez said. ​“It’s not a handout. We try to require people to buy something to drink or have something to eat if they’re going to come into the bar to play pool. We have expenses — toilet paper, napkins, cups. We try to charge people when they come in.” He said the bar’s bathroom is also locked and deadbolted, available for use only by customers.

Crow asked Perez about the atmosphere at the bar.

“It is a local bar,” he replied. ​“I have customers who come in every day.”

And what about what goes on in the parking lot outside?

“They’re not patrons,” Perez said. ​“They’re actually annoying. They’re outside of the bar every day. The customers are slowly not coming to the bar because of that hangout there. We want to get rid of that.”

Have you ever seen any employees or customers dealing drugs in the bar? Crow asked.

No, Perez replied. ​“I’m the main employee there, and I do not deal drugs.”

Last up on behalf of Grand Cafe was Grand Cafe manager Michael Kifer. The Exchange Street resident said he has worked for the bar for 13 years and has been going to drink at this same spot for nearly three decades. 

Kifer said he works from 6 to close every night but Friday night. He serves as a bartender, takes care of paperwork, orders liquor, throws out rowdy people, and fixes broken cabinets and appliances and whatever else needs to be repaired.

“You wear a lot of hats,” Crow noted.

Kifer shrugged and looked to the distance.

“Don’t we all?” he said.

What’s it like at the bar? Crow asked.

“I’ve been hanging there approximately 30 years,” he said. ​“I’ve met a lot of people. They’re all middle class people.”

Would you describe it as a neighborhood watering hole?

“Oh yeah,” Kifer replied. ​“The atmosphere is: People come in. They enjoy themselves. They listen to music. They play pool.” He said the bar has two TVs, three video games, and a pool table.

“With regards to pool, who’s the local champion?” Crow asked.

“Me,” Kifer replied. ​“I’m the best in there.”

Kifer repeated the same explanation the others had given about the $2 rule.

“It’s not a hangout,” he said. ​“I’m not paid to babysit.” People have to pay $2, and they get ​“a soda, a juice,” sometimes even milk, if they want to spend time in the bar.

“You have to purchase something or you can’t come in.”

“It’s not a big bad place like everybody makes it out to be,” he continued. ​“We have our little issues. We can’t correct them all if we’re not getting no help.”

He was asked about a recent incident in which two underaged people were found drinking in the bar, and one 19-year-old was found with a gun in his possession.

Kifer said the two underaged people were sitting at a table far from the bar, with an adult, eating food. He said the gun was found on a young man who came in looking for those two people.

Liquor Control Commissioner Dominic Balletto said he was surprised at how ​“lightly” Kifer seemed to take the issue of having had the police find minors drinking in the bar.

“I don’t take it lightly,” the manager replied. He said that they were there for only a few minutes, and that he thought it was OK because they were at a table with an adult eating food.

Parable Of The Porn Shops

Before the hearing concluded, Crow and DuBois-Walton made closing pitches to the commissioners.

DuBois-Walton went first. She focused her remarks on Fair Haven’s ​“beautiful and wonderful community that is being harmed by the presence of an establishment that has failed for too long to take responsibility for its impact on the community.”

She said the bar’s owners and employees have done too little to work with neighbors and police to address the ongoing problems that take place right outside of the bar. 

She called the commissioners to ​“hear our plea to help save this corner of the community” by not renewing Grand Cafe’s liquor permit.

For his part, Crow commended the neighbors for their organized efforts to improve the place where they live.

“Community action is not easy, and instead of waiting for someone else to do something, they’ve taken action, and they should be recognized for that.”

He repeated the arguments made over the course of the hearing that the drug-dealing and violence of concern have taken place in the shared parking lot outside,not inside the bar itself. He pointed out that the police reports cited by the neighbors time and again did not result in arrests.

Then he launched into a soliloquy to guide the commissioners’ decision.

“I come from a place, it’s a long way from here, where we had problems of joblessness, poor education, tremendous economic pressure,” Crow said. These problems ​“shattered families” and ​“spawned drug use.”

In that environment, he said, there were three ​“pornographic movie stores” that the community did not want.

So neighbors gathered together and turned to a community leader, a pastor, to figure out how to get those stores to go away.

The pastor told the neighbors, ​“The first thing you’re going to do is pray for the people who own those stores.”

Next, he said, meet with them, share your concerns, find a way to work together.

The ​“first gentleman” whom the pastor and community members spoke to heard those neighbors’ concerns, and decided to close down the porno store.

“He opened an ice cream store instead.” The ice cream store is still going strong, Crow said.

The owner of the second porno store also closed down his business and moved out of town after talking with neighbors and the pastor, Crow said.

The owner of the third porno store ​“stayed open” despite the neighbors’ and pastor’s pleas with him to close.

So what did the community do? They saved enough money and bought the building that housed that third porno shop. When the lease for the store expired, the new owners didn’t renew it.

Crow finished his closing statement by reminding the commissioners what he saw as the true source of the problem at this corner.

“The problem is the scourge,” he said. ​“The problem is the drugs. The problem is the people in the parking lot dealing the drugs.” That’s happening outside, he said. 

He implored the neighbors to work with the Grand Cafe employees and customers and city police to address the true source of the problem outside the bar, and not to blame it all on the neighborhood bar itself.