When Nakkiya Groomes arrived at her business last week, she didn't expect to find her locks changed and a closed sign with a police business card attached.
GG's Bar and Grill, 4529 Vine Street in the village of Saint Bernard, is now closed after being open six months. Groomes, the owner, said her landlord didn't notify her about the closure and police have never responded to a severe incident at her establishment.
Now police are saying there have been dozens of complaints about parking issues, large crowds, possible marijuana use, prostitution and excessive noise. Though officials admit not all the incidents happened inside the bar.
Groomes said she was shocked by the immediate change and thought things were going well at her business and with her landlord, Joe Van Zandt.
She said she then learned of a midnight meeting in January between police officials and Van Zandt.
"I was told that there had been hundreds of noise complaints against the bar and that a meeting was held with the police chief, a lieutenant and the building owner at midnight on Jan. 4 and this was the outcome," Groomes wrote on her GoFundMe account.
'This is Mayberry'
Groomes believes the decision was made to preserve an idealized view of the city.
She said that a month after she opened a police officer told her: "This is Mayberry and that's the way we want to keep it."
She said her clientele was about 80 percent black. Census data show Saint Bernard is about 78 percent white.
Although there are several bars near GG's Bar and Grill, Groomes said, on another occasion, the police chief told her that Saint Bernard is a quiet town and unwilling to bend to the party scene.
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Details of complaints still unconfirmed
Lt. Bill Ungruhe, the spokesman for the St. Benard Police Department, said the agency has worked with Groomes on several occasions and had nothing to do with her locks being changed.
"Joe's decision, after meeting with us, was to go ahead and get with his attorney to break the lease, and that's what Joe did," Ungruhe said. "He came to us asking for our help about problems going on. That's how the whole thing went down."
Joe Van Zandt did not return calls from The Enquirer.
Groomes told the Enquirer that she has asked for the written complaints multiple times and hasn't received them. The Enquirer requested records from the police department on Thursday.
"We have never had emergency response called to the bar, there have not been any physical altercations that the police have had to break up and no one has ever been hurt in the six months we’ve been open," she stated.
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Groomes said she suspects the police department pressured her landlord to close the business in order to save his liquor license.
Ungruhe said the police department only told the landlord what could happen if issues continued to arise. He said police did not threaten him to close the bar.
Plans to move
Groomes started a GoFundMe account to help with retaining a lawyer. To date, nearly $500 has been donated. The total goal amount is $3,500.
"I have obtained myself a lawyer, but with the immediate termination of my only source of income, money has become scarce for a single mother with 3 children," she wrote.
While Groomes does plan to reopen a nightspot, she said it won't be in Saint Bernard. She fears what would happen if she did.
She heard rumors that people feared a shooting would happen and police suspected drug use. She doesn't want her customers getting pulled over just because they visited her establishment.
"I feel like the police will make my life hell, and for my customers," Groomes said.
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January 18, 2020 at 12:26AM
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GG's Bar and Grill in Saint Bernard closes suddenly; owner says she not was notified - The Cincinnati Enquirer
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