Quite a scene down at City Hall this very moment, as the council chamber's filled with Deep Ellum and Exposition Park regulars who jammed into the joint like there was an open bar and the promise of a Funland reunion. Alas, only bad news so far for most who'd come to the City Plan Commission's meeting during which several bars and live-music venues are having their specific use permit hearings.
Just moments ago, the commission voted, by a margin of 9-3, to deny without prejudice the Monkey Bar's SUP, which means that unless the venue formerly known as XPO Lounge (and, well before that, 500 Cafe and Mac's Barbecue) can get the city council to overturn the commission's vote, Monkey Bar is gone.
"Sure, we could appeal to the council, but I don't know what good it's going to do," Gerald Stogsdill, owner of the Monkey Bar (and former co-owner of XPO Lounge), tells Unfair Park. "Now it's going to be nothing. They'll have a vacant building down there."
After Monkey Bar's fate was decided by the comission, Minc Lounge's was put on hold for one week. Monkey Bar likewise got a one-week extension last Thursday, only to discover it was but a stay of execution after a majority of the commissioners sided with the handful of Monkey Bar neighbors who complained of excessive noise and, oh, the occasional vomit on the sidewalk. More to come shortly. --Robert Wilonsky
