CHICAGO — Because the beleaguered Logan Square nightclub VLive is operating as a better neighbor, it has been freed from the city's public nuisance process, city attorney Jim Potter said Tuesday.
The announcement came at the fourth, and what would be final, meeting between VLive staff and community members to discuss any problems generated by the club, located at 2047 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Previous complaints included a high number of calls to police and parking issues.
Chicago Police Department Sgt. Joe Giambrone said there were 28 calls to police in the last eight weeks since the previous public nuisance meeting, versus 72 in the same time period last year —about a 60 percent drop overall.
Three of those calls were for battery, including a fair-sized scuffle in the early morning hours of March 23. A large crowd had gathered to get a glimpse of Rihanna, who was scheduled to appear for an after-party at the club following her United Center performance.
"Rihanna was supposed to show up, but she didn't and people got upset," Giambrone said. "But [VLive security] handled it well and called police to get help."
Neighbor Diane Miller said she was still thought parking was a problem. Another neighbor, Dimitri Pavlotsky, said he was still bothered by bass in his upstairs bedroom, forcing him to sleep in the lower part of his house.
Kavitt Pizano, president of Midwest valet, the parking company VLive uses, assured Miller that 400 spots were open for valet use in nearby lots, though he conceded that some club goers who don't want to pay might end up parking on residential streets.
As for the bass noise, VLive attorney Dimitri Christopoulos said his clients had tried to fix the problem of a rattling window at the club, which hadn't seemed to help, and promised to have a sound engineer look at the issue.
Other reactions from residents were positive, including Sally Hamann, who thanked staff for consistently providing residents with a schedule of upcoming events so they know what to expect.
Another longtime resident, Joe Kopera, said he also thought the club was being a good neighbor.
"VLive has been pretty cooperative all along, even from the beginning," he said. "They're actually doing what they're supposed to do — call the police."
At the end of the meeting, Potter said he felt VLive was improving enough to no longer need the public nuisance meetings, but advised them to continue the dialogue with residents on their own.
"I think it's important to see the lines of communication stay open, to see the other side's point of view and keep a common ground," he said.
