Anti-bar graffiti must go-(go), city asserts

The lounge filed suit against a resident, saying its patrons are being harassed.
YOUNGSTOWN -- James Ludt is sending a message to the New Affair Lounge: Get out of the neighborhood.
And he's doing it by spray painting anti-bar messages on a Midlothian Boulevard building he owns next door to the risque dance club.
Ludt's messages missed their target, though. The city has told him that it's the graffiti -- "Close the 'illegal' go-go bar" and "Save 'R' Neighborhood" -- that must go.
Bill D'Avignon, city planning director, said Ludt is to appear in Youngstown Municipal Court on Wednesday on allegations that he violated the city's abatement of nuisance ordinance. The ordinance includes the removal of graffiti among its provisions.
D'Avignon told Ludt on Oct. 13 that he would have 10 days to erase the writings on his building at 1422 E. Midlothian Blvd.
On Oct. 25, the graffiti still wasn't removed, and D'Avignon said Ludt told him he wasn't going to remove it. The city official then issued Ludt a citation alleging he violated the ordinance.
Arraignment
D'Avignon said he also cited Ludt on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27. Ludt was arraigned in municipal court on the three citations Nov. 10. Ludt's lawyer, Randy Barnabee, entered a plea of innocent, and the trial date was set. The graffiti is still on the building.
Atty. Joseph Rafidi, who represents the New Affair, filed a lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, saying Ludt is harassing bar customers and interfering with the lounge's business.
"He's videotaping patrons," Rafidi said, adding that he believes the New Affair has lost about two-thirds of its business because of Ludt's actions.
The suit seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions to have Ludt stop the harassment.
Neither Ludt nor Barnabee could be reached to comment.