From:                                         May, Michael

Sent:                                           Monday, October 06, 2014 3:13 PM

To:                                               All Alders; Soglin, Paul

Cc:                                               Veldran, Lisa; Woulf, Mark; Zilavy, Jennifer; Lauten, Patricia; Allen, Roger; Gloede, Carl; CL GROUP

Subject:                                     Lakeside Coffee House; Agenda Item 27; Legistar 35086

Attachments:                          LakesideAttachment 35086.pdf; Entertainment License Memos.docx

 

Follow Up Flag:                      Follow up

Flag Status:                              Flagged

 

Common Council Members:

 

Our office received a copy of the attached correspondence to you.  We have concerns about two of the proposed conditions:

 

          1.  Proposed condition 7 asks that the entertainment license be issued for 3 months and then extended to a full year if there are no violations in the first three months.  This sort of license is not allowed under the ordinances.  The Council could ask for a review of the license after a period of time, with the City pursuing the usual revocation procedures if there were problems.  If the applicants agreed, the Council could issue the annual entertainment license but add a condition that there would be no live entertainment after a specific date – sort of an entertainment license that the applicants agreed not to utilize.

 

          2.  Proposed condition 8 asks that future acts be “similar” to those that appeared last summer.  If this is meant to exclude any entertainers who have not previously appeared, we think it is anticompetitive and problematic in that regard.  If “similar” is meant to mean something else, such as that only single acoustic or light rock or some folk groups would be allowed, we think the condition as proposed is so vague as to be unenforceable.  I suppose the City might be able to show that Led Zeppelin is not “similar”, but beyond that sort of case, I’m not sure how else we could enforce such a vague condition.

 

We also question whether condition 9 adds anything, but do not see a legal issue with it remaining on the license.

 

Finally, there have been some questions about the nature of live entertainment allowed under the ordinances.  I attach a brief memo from ACA Roger Allen on this topic.

 

I do not have the emails of the applicants; I would appreciate it if Mr. Woulf or the Clerk’s office could forward this to them.

 

Michael P. May

City Attorney

City of Madison

210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Rm. 401

Madison, WI  53703

608/266-4511

FAX:608/267-8715

mmay@cityofmadison.com

 

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