LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Metro Government has issued an order to vacate to Dino's Food Mart, a gas station with a long history of criminal activity located at 26th Street and West Broadway in Louisville's Russell neighborhood.
Citing a failure to reduce activities constituting a public nuisance at 2601 W. Broadway, Metro Government's Department of Codes and Regulations issued an order to vacate the premises "immediately" on Wednesday and a civil penalty of $400, according to documents obtained by WDRB News.
Members of the community have pushed to have the business shut down due to concerns about violent crime, drugs, and prostitution.Â
"You're talking about over a thousand runs in less than two years, year and a half, from fire, police and EMS," said District 5 Metro Councilwoman Donna Purvis, who represents the Russell neighborhood. "That's a lot of wasted resources that can be utilized somewhere else, and that is in my opinion abuse of taxpayers dollars."
Dino's was deemed a public nuisance in early April due to multiple citations for criminal activity occurring on the property. Its owners on July 24 appeared before Codes and Regulations to appeal the public nuisance notice, but their appeal was denied.
During the appeal hearing, MetroSafe said police had responded to Dino's approximately 500 times in the previous 12 months.Â
"From murder, to selling of spice, to selling of crack kits, to prostitution — you name it, it has happened on this parking lot," said Louisville Metro Council President David James, who in July spoke in favor of shutting the gas station down.Â
In denying Dino's appeal, Codes and Regulations issued the gas station a final order, meaning the city would issue an order to vacate if the business received another notice.
According to the order to vacate notice, three public nuisance "qualifying events" have occurred at Dino's since the owners' met with Codes and Regulations to appeal the notice. Those events were two cases of fourth-degree assault, one on July 25 and the other on Aug. 8, and one case of possession of synthetic drugs on Aug. 8.
According to Chapter 156.057 of the Louisville Metro Code of Ordinances, a public nuisance can be defined as: "Any premise or place where law enforcement officers have, on more than one occasion in the preceding 12-month period, criminally cited or arrested persons for violations of the law governing prostitution, gambling, the sale or use of alcoholic beverages on or from either licensed or unlicensed premises, trafficking in marijuana or any controlled substances, or any felony offense provided under KRS Chapter 218A."
"No owner of residential, commercial or vacant property located in Louisville Metro shall allow his or her property to be used as the site for any public nuisance after having received notice pursuant to this chapter that the property has been used for the commission of a public nuisance," the ordinance says. "A legal or equitable owner of such property is deemed to have knowledge of such activity upon receipt of the notice as set forth in this chapter."
Dino's owners have seven days from receiving the order to vacate to file a written appeal of the public nuisance citation with Codes and Regulations. The business can remain open during the appeals process. If they lose the appeal, they must pay the $400 fine, and the city will work out a timeline for the business to vacate.
If the owners choose not to appeal, they must pay the fine, and the city will work out a timeline to vacate. If they do not pay or leave, the city will enforce the order to vacate and forcibly shut down the business.
When WDRB News contacted Dino's by phone, the woman who answered said we were welcome to speak to their lawyers at a future date. For now, no one from the business was willing to comment.
Dino's is also near the site of the fatal shooting of David McAtee in the early morning hours of June 1. McAtee, who owned Yaya's Barbecue adjacent to Dino's at 26th and Broadway, was shot and killed by members of the Kentucky National Guard when authorities responded to a crowd gathered in Dino's parking lot just after midnight.
Marvin McAtee, David McAtee's nephew and co-owner of Yaya's Barbecue, told WDRB News in July that he wasn't sure if closing Dino's was the answer to reducing crime in the area.
"I've been here for a long time," Marvin McAtee said in July. "The name just changes; the area won't change; the people won't change."
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