Local organization calling out Dover City Council to close Irish Mikes
DOVER, Del. – A recent fight at Irish Mikes has the town yet again considering closing the establishment.
One local organization calling out Dover City Council to close Irish mikes to stop community violence. “The problem is city council wants to do things in their way, they’re not following protocol they’re not even following precedented situations from situations in the past,” says Chelle Paul, Founder of Divided We Fall of Delaware.
Chelle Paul with Divided We Fall Delaware says the decision should be up to the constituents, not the council. According to the Dover Police Department, they are in the process of collecting data on complaints related to Irish Mikes.
“The Dover Police Department and the City of Dover Administration take these and similar concerns very seriously. We are currently in the process of gathering data on complaints related to Irish Mikes. Some of these incidents may occur in parking lots or nearby areas and involve patrons of Irish Mikes. Because of this, it is going to take time to track down an exact number of complaints at or related to the business and distinguish them from other complaints that arise in the area.”
However, Paul believes that Irish Mikes still has the power to save their business. “They have the ability to go through and feed their patrons so they can feed the alcohol so they’re not inebriated when they come out they have the ability to control whatever’s going on and make sure they are removing the patrons causing the disturbance out and ban them from the facility altogether,” says Paul.
The city council says the business has been closed before for issues in the past. “They were temporarily suspended, licensed suspended so they can make some business decisions and make some adjustments to their operations,” says Councilman Andre Boggerty, of Dover.
Once those standards were met the business was reopened, however, the city council says Irish Mikes isn’t the only issue in downtown Dover. “Our concern is not just with Irish Mikes it’s with our city as a whole and any business we expect every business to comport to the policies and standards that have been set forth in our governing rules and regulations,” says the Councilman.
Paul also tells 47 ABC that a recent ordinance is also increasing crime in the area because the council lessened the penalty for crimes. The councilman would like to hear from the community their town meetings are on Mondays.
