After 24 police reports involving Pioneer Tap in the first four months of this year, the village ordered the Randolph Street bar to close for a week in April ahead of a hearing to determine whether it could keep its liquor license. At that April 24 hearing, Pioneer Tap was cleared to reopen, fined $650 and its owner Marty Sorice was directed to develop a corrective action plan for the bar.
That correction action plan required Pioneer Tap to increase security staff on weekends, play music at a lower volume, close windows when the music or crowd might be disruptive, make new signage to remind patrons they are in a residential area, and request to meet with the village quarterly to discuss issues and be notified if there’s an uptick in perceived problems.
Nearly five months later, residents who live nearby Pioneer Tap are still complaining about alleged disruptive and criminal behavior at the bar. Three neighbors spoke about their concerns during public comment at the Sept. 8 village council meeting.
“Since the hearing in April, we have experienced relative calm. However, after the Labor Day holiday weekend, we have seen a spike of incidents,” said Liz Gould, a Forest Park resident who lives just north of Pioneer Tap.
Since the April hearing, Gould said she and her neighbors have reported to police that Pioneer Tap has been the site of a fight on May 11 where participants drove off before police arrived, loud talking and music on May 12, fireworks on July 4, public urination on Aug. 30 and a domestic violence incident on Aug. 31.
Gould asked the village to increase police patrols, especially after 10 p.m. on weekend and holiday nights, share how the corrective action plan is being enforced, ask Pioneer Tap employees to pick up trash around the bar, and to meet with the bar’s neighbors quarterly to inform them about the public safety response.
Police Chief Ken Gross, who was out of the country for the Sept. 8 village council meeting, told the Review that police have increased their presence around Pioneer Tap since the April hearing.
“Our officers always patrol that area, but they can’t just be there,” Gross said. He added that police staffed on the late end of the department’s afternoon shift and the early end of the midnight shift patrol more frequently around Pioneer Tap looking for parking and local ordinance violations. “Unless officers are there the whole time the bar is open, sometimes, unfortunately things are going to happen.”
The police department is analyzing the corrective action plan’s effectiveness by monitoring activity at Pioneer Tap, assessing calls about the bar, and surveying emailed or phoned complaints about the bar — of which, Gross said he’s received none.
“Aside from the public comment that was made on Monday in my absence, I haven’t gotten a call about Pioneer Tap, and I haven’t gotten an email about Pioneer Tap in quite a long time,” Gross said. “If there’s a problem that’s sent my way from a resident or staff, I contact Marty [Sorice] directly and tell him, ‘Hey, there’s an issue.’”
If complaints increased, perhaps to the level they were at earlier this year, Gross said there could be another liquor or business licensing hearing.
Pioneer Tap fight
One public commenter at the Sept. 8 meeting brought up a specific example where he disagreed with police action during a disturbance outside Pioneer Tap. Forest Park resident James Michael said that, on Aug. 31, he heard yelling in the street and, from his porch, saw a man hitting a woman while she sat in the car.
“While I’m on the phone with the [911] operator, the man got into the passenger side of the car and just started beating the crap out of the woman,” Michael said. He added that the man stopped when Michael came around to the passenger’s side and police pulled up.
Michael said that, after calmly speaking to police, the man and woman drove off in separate cars. He said he started yelling at police for letting the man go.
Michael said an officer told him “it’s our fault because we haven’t made enough calls. When we call 911, not enough of us are leaving our names. We haven’t given them what they need to do.”
“And then he says it was a mutual combat situation,” Michael added of the officer’s response. “And it certainly was not mutual combat because I was the only one who saw it. The officers were not there, and I was asking them, ‘Let me fill out a statement. Let me give my name. Let me do something.’ They didn’t want to do it.” He added, “I’m not trying to second guess people’s professionalism, but that particular case was not good enough.”
“Nobody wanted to sign complaints,” Gross told the Review about the instance Michael spoke of. “We can’t arrest anybody when we don’t have complainants.”
Another Pioneer Tap neighbor said Sept. 8 that, while the village has acknowledged her and her neighbors’ concerns, the issues have persisted.
“We knew it wouldn’t be a quick fix. It wasn’t something to address in one meeting,” said Maggie Grady Hooper. “We bought our house in 2016 knowing it’s near bars because it’s near fun things to do. Unfortunately, the safety issues and the cleanliness issues surrounding the Pioneer Tap is detracting from our property.”
As the Forest Park Police Department continues monitoring Pioneer Tap, Gross asks for those who have specific complaints about Pioneer Tap to call the village at (708) 366-2323 or email contact@forestpark.net.
