Earlier this week, Atlanta’s Fox 5 news reported that T.I.’s Club Crucial was about to have their liquor license suspended and be fined $50,000 for violating a city ordinance.
The ordinance says that the city can suspend a liquor license if they feel that the business in question is too violent or unruly and apparently the City of Atlanta feels that Club Crucial is too unruly.
Anybody that’s been there before knows that’s far from the truth. The club has been host to several concerts and the location of several video shoots. Yeah… there’s fights occasionally but Crucial is just like any other night club. In fact, a bit of research shows that Club Crucial actually has far less violent activity than other Atlanta clubs.
So the big question is… is T.I.’s club being unfairly targeted?
Club Crucial is located on the infamous Bankhead Highway (which is now named Donald Lee Hollowell), so a stigma has always been attached to this club. But anybody that’s gone there before will tell you that this is a fine establishment that just so happens to be in the middle of the ‘hood.
Fellow blogger Maurice Garland compared Club Crucial’s “rap sheet” to that of several popular nightclubs around the Atlanta area, including Luckie Food Lounge and Opera. What he found was direct proof that perhaps the city of Atlanta is targeting T.I.’s club for some reason.
It seems the City of Atlanta may have set it’s sights on Club Crucial and it’s surrounding area because it’s considered prime real estate and perhaps City Officials are preparing to redevelop the area, which is not a far stretch of the imagination. Bankhead is the latest on the list of communities to be stripped and gutted just like other lower income housing projects like Bowen Homes, Hollywood Courts and Bankhead Courts have all disappeared.
According to Maurice,
After years of carrying a bad reputation, some may wonder why the city has set its sights on Bankhead? Bankhead Highway is the only strip of highway that connects the more affluent Cobb County directly to Downtown Atlanta. Thus, Bankhead has become an important strip in Atlanta’s growth plans.
Establishments like Crucial are viewed as a threat to those plans. Even with thousands of Bankhead citizens being erased from the community, many of them still return every week just to go to Club Crucial. It’s one of the last places standing, it’s one the last landmarks of many of these people’s lives, so of course they “come home.” As long as “these people” continue to be in the area, people with new interests in the Bankhead area will not be so quick to move in.
Politics are definitely at work regarding this issue. It seems that Club Crucial hasn’t even been able to properly represent themselves in front of the board since they were practically attacked out of nowhere with the decision.
As of now, Crucial is still in operation, so do not believe the rumors that they are shut down. Their liquor license has not been suspended, yet. The motion has to be passed by Mayor Kasim Reed. This case will be presented to him sometimes in the next ten days.
I am posting this information hoping that it will spread awareness and hopefully get into his ear so that he doesn’t sign and stamp it without knowing what is going on.
Maurice has done some awesome investigative work and posted the full incident reports from Crucial as well as Opera and Luckie to offer his comparisons.? It’s an interesting read!