By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WEST VILLAGE — One of the only black gay bars in the Village is closing its doors, with owners blaming financial troubles stemming from discrimination by the state and city. Community members and the local precinct, however, say the bar was a longtime hazard to public safety.
Ronelle McKenzie, 40, co-owner of the 12-year-old Chi Chiz bar at 135 Christopher St., said the cost of fighting numerous citations from the State Liquor Authority and paying tickets from the NYPD drained at least $50,000 from her savings and forced her to walk away from her business.
"Anyone who loves the West Village and knows what Christopher Street means to the gay community would never want this to happen," said McKenzie of the bar's imminent closure on Jan. 3.
Tom Shanahan, a lawyer for Chi Chiz, said McKenzie and her co-owner Alex Everett Ray have an ongoing lawsuit against police for selective enforcement and discrimination. He claimed police unfairly targeted Chi Chiz instead of other bars and restaurants with a wealthier clientele and a worse track record, such as the Gansevoort Hotel, where Hollywood scion Cameron Douglas was arrested for dealing meth and cocaine, and the SoHo House, where designer Sylvie Cachay was found dead in a bathtub surrounded by half-empty prescription drug bottles.
"There's a double standard when it comes to minority-owned businesses and businesses aimed at minorities," Shanahan said. "The message the 6th Precinct sent is that we're not welcome in the Village anymore."
But according to Officer Martin Baranski, community resource officer at the 6th precinct, the reason police have maintained a strong presence at the bar on Christopher Street was because of neighborhood complaints about blocked sidewalks, rowdy patrons and unsafe conditions.
"We did not harass the bar," Baranski said. "It's in a problem area right next to the PATH station and, in the evenings, it's hard to get to the station."
He denied claims his precinct targeted the bar because of its predominantly black, gay and transgender patrons, saying the problem was the litany of public safety issues raised by residents.
"It's not that we don't like it because of the patrons that they serve, it's just a tough spot," Baranski said. "If there hadn't been any calls, we probably wouldn't know the place was there."
The bar has had a string of citations from the SLA dating back to 2004, including a violation for serving alcohol to a minor, the SLA's records show.
But the biggest problems for McKenzie and Ray came in 2009 when police made three consecutive drug arrests at Chi Chiz in July, August and September, SLA records show.
Police also made a fourth drug arrest at the location in January of 2010, when two men were convicted for the sale of cocaine and marijuana to an undercover officer outside Chi Chiz before making the cash exchange inside the bar, according to officials from the city's Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
An SLA judge's decision last week to uphold the four drug charges, which a spokesman with the agency said would result in high fines and a possible revocation of the bar's license, was the last straw — prompting owners to shut down Chi Chiz for good.
"We have a large support group but it's impossible to fight the city," McKenzie said.
McKenzie acknowledged that Christopher Street, particularly the PATH station next to Chi Chiz, draws unsupervised and unruly LGBT teens after dark, but said that police and residents didn't differentiate between that crowd and her clients.
"They don't understand that those kids in front of the PATH are not my customers," she said. "I think they want to gentrify this neighborhood and they feel like what's happening on Christopher Street hinders that."
Some community members, who said the bar attracted drugs and prostitution and had been problematic for a long time, applauded the departure.
"Most people who live here would say they got what they deserved," said Dave Poster, a member of the Christopher Street Block Association. "It's been a problem for quite a while."
The bar's patrons frequently blocked the sidewalk and were a public nuisance, said Poster, who also patrols the street as part of the Christopher Street Watch.
"I think it will benefit the community not having it there," he said of Chi Chiz.
McKenzie said she didn't have any special plans for Chi Chiz' last call on Jan. 3, but promised a good party.
"We have to finish up all the liquor," she said.
