KC council wants to crack down on unlicensed businesses that lead to violence
A Kansas City council committee on Tuesday will get its first look at a proposed ordinance aimed at stopping unlicensed businesses from hosting after-hours events that lead to violent incidents.
The city’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety committee is scheduled to consider the proposal that would declare businesses operating without required licenses or permits to be considered a nuisance. That would allow the city to use its current nuisance enforcement regulations against the illegally operating businesses.
Mayor Quinton Lucas proposed the ordinance earlier this month in response to the mass shooting near 79th Street and Troost Avenue that injured nine people.
The shooting happened even after a 311 complaint warned the city a full week before the event that social media posts were advertising an unlicensed business’s plans to serve alcohol without a liquor license.
Lucas said in a news release that the city needs to crack down on unlicensed businesses skirting city regulations that are too often connected to violence.
“These operations don’t follow the rules that protect people: no safety inspections, no occupancy limits, no accountability,” Lucas said in the news release. “The ordinance gives us a clearer path to shut them down and keep our neighborhoods safe.”
The proposal is also meant to apply the nuisance codes to temporary and pop-up businesses, such as the alleged nightclub that hosted the after-hours event.
Under the proposed ordinance, unlicensed businesses can be considered a nuisance if they never have a license, have their license revoked or suspended, or disobey the terms of their licensure, such as violating occupancy restrictions or operating after permitted hours.
City codes show violators of the nuisance ordinances could be assessed fines in municipal court.
