City of Newport News:
“The Newport News City Council on Tuesday deferred a vote
that would've effectively closed Jefferson Avenue nightclub Pur Lux Lounge. They
did so after the club's landlord, Jefferson Restaurant Co., announced at the
council meeting that it has already moved to evict Pur Lux.
Council members were poised to revoke a special zoning
permit issued in September for the property, that allowed club owner Crystal
Sawyer to operate a nightclub provided she met a series of conditions. City
officials have said she failed to meet all those conditions but went ahead and
opened for business in November anyway.
Matthew W. Smith, an attorney representing Jefferson
Restaurant Co.'s managing partner Steven P. Frank, told the council ‘we are in
the process of evicting the tenant from the premises.’ Sawyer, a Yorktown Naval
Weapons Station employee, objected, saying ‘the eviction process is not under
legitimate circumstances.’
She read from a series of emails that she said show city
officials pressured Frank to have her evicted. ‘He did this to satisfy the
city,’ Sawyer said. City officials and Sawyer have clashed since she started
operations. After a series of inspections at the club, the city said Sawyer ran
afoul of the conditions of her permit, as well as the city's fire and building
codes.”
~ Writes Michael Welles Shapiro of The Daily Press
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