The Foundry FP event space, 7503 Madison St., was cited for allegedly allowing customers to take alcoholic drinks outside and failing to control rowdy crowds after an Oct. 22 private party. Mayor Rory Hoskins, who serves as Forest Park’s liquor commissioner, will hold a hearing on Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. at the village hall to decide what penalties, if any, he’s going to impose – but until then, the Foundry can’t serve alcoholic drinks.

Hoskins, who is campaigning for reelection in the April 2023 municipal elections, hosted his campaign fundraising kickoff at the Foundry on Oct. 20.

The citations were issued on Oct. 28 at 6:07 p.m., but the actual incident happened at around midnight on Oct. 23. A stop to see if two of the patrons were carrying alcoholic drinks escalated as one of the alleged offenders, a 25-year-old Chicago man, tried to get away and the crowd gathered tried to stop the arrest. The incident resulted in two arrests, and another man was cited for carrying open alcohol. 

The citations don’t stop the Foundry from operating – it simply stopped it from severing any alcohol until Hoskins makes his decision. As liquor commissioner, he has a wide discretion as to what kind of penalties he can impose, but it could be a fine and/or a suspension. While Hoskins can revoke the license, he hasn’t done it in the past unless there have been multiple violations. 

The Review was unable to reach Foundry owner Linda Cibula by deadline.

According to the police report issued at the time and the complaint by Deputy Police Chief Christopher Chin, an officer on routine patrol noticed a 25-year-old Chicago man and a woman standing in the Madison Street median near the Foundry, holding cups. While the two claimed it was juice, the officer determined that the woman’s cup had alcohol. The man drank the contents of his cup, spilled the rest on the ground and walked away. The officer told him to stop, but the man kept walking, and the woman headed to a car parked nearby. 

The situation quickly escalated as the officer tried to arrest the man, and the man kept trying to talk away. The officer ended up “perform[ing] an emergency takedown,” which is when he realized that the man was carrying a gun. 

By that point, police back-up arrived, and the man kept trying to get away. The officers ended up tasering him, which led to a crowd gathering and trying to “intervene in [his] arrest.” While the police officers ultimately took him into custody, they ended up arresting a 36-year-old Chicago man for allegedly threatening to beat up one of the officers and citing a 31-year-old Chicago man who exited the Foundry carrying a cup with alcohol during the commotion for a local ordinance violation. 

The 25-year-old man was charged with one count of carrying a weapon while his FOID card has expired, two counts of resisting arrest and one count of openly carrying alcohol. The 36-year-old was charged with assaulting the officer and obstructing arrest. The officers were unable to locate the woman who had the drink. 

In his complaint, Chin argued that Foundry FP employees failed to “adequately supervise and control its patrons, when departing the Licensed Premises so as to cause a disturbance of the peace,” and that the event space failed to provide enough security to control crowds, which would violate of Section 13(b)-1-2 of the Forest Park liquor code. The complaint also notes that allowing customers to have open alcohol outside the premises is the violation of the code’s Section 3-3-5(I).