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Rejection of Hotel California liquor cites Go Go past
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Hotel California was denied its liquor permit because of the arguments Mahoning County assistant prosecutors made during the two-day liquor hearing last November.
Assistant prosecutors Gina Bricker and Dawn Durkin reviewed the past of the hotel’s previous bar area, the Go Go Girls Cabaret, and its legal history from 2009, citing instances of improper conduct, solicitation, after-hours consumption and illegal sale or possession of dangerous drugs.
The hotel is at the corner of 5455 Clarkins Drive and 1051 N. Canfield-Niles Road and is owned by Sebastian Rucci.
“Law enforcement officers and township officials are concerned that the issuance of this permit will cause the problems” of the Go Go’s past “to resurface,” the letter said. The letter was dated Feb. 2 and signed by Bruce Stevenson, superintendent of the Division of Liquor Control, a branch of the Ohio Department of Commerce.
There were four reasons for the denial:
The location would impact the neighborhood. “ ... substantial interference with public decency, sobriety, peace or good order would result from the issuance of the permit and operation under it by the applicant.”
The previous business at the location had demonstrated “a disregard for the laws, regulations, or local ordinances of the state.”
There is not a hotel or motel license at the premise.
Because the Division of Liquor Control has the authority to reject and deny the application.
Matt Mullins, spokesperson for the Division of Liquor Control, explained the third reason.
That permit “can only be licensed to a licensed operator of a hotel/motel,” Mullins said Wednesday. The permit being sought was a D-5A-6.
The issuance of a hotel license is done by state fire marshals, who first need to see a valid occupancy permit.
Rucci has been doing some of the final checks as he nears opening the hotel, but plumbing issues still are being resolved at the facility. He needs to resolve that and get other final checks accomplished before an occupancy permit would be issued.
“The hotel is obviously not operational right now,” Rucci said.
The application was filed under Vitullo Investments LLC, run by Atty. James Vitullo, a friend and business partner of Rucci’s.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Vitullo still had not seen the rejection letter.
“I don’t think it’s anything that’s a surprise. Remember, I’m a new applicant,” Vitullo said of the citations of the Go Go past, when he was not involved with the establishment.
Vitullo and Rucci will now pursue finding a local hotel operator to bring on board.
“I’m going to go back if we find someone that we all agree with,” Rucci said.
He also said that there will be fewer jobs at the hotel now without liquor as the entertainment options will be less.