BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Residents on Taft Place say they are fed up with issues on their street.
"Hypodermic needles, people vomiting in our yards, on the street, people urinating, used condoms, evidence of drug trade and paraphernalia, prostitution, you name it," said Len Cercone.
The breaking point came early Saturday morning when a truck barreled down the street, hitting 12 parked cars, totaling several of them.
"When he hit the twelfth car, that's where he stopped, totaled that vehicle, and apparently he was unhurt, where he fled the vehicle and was apprehended shortly thereafter," Cercone said.
Cercone says it was security from the neighboring Colonie Lounge who apprehended him. Neighbors say he was inside the lounge before the incident, and that the strip club should be held responsible.
"One of the employees, before the police even arrived, told us that they had complained to their manager about his behavior, and the manager just let him stay until closing," said Anna Dickash.
Dickash says Colonie Lounge patrons and employees have been parking on their street for years, and they had a meeting with the owner two years ago about being a better neighbor.
"They promised us that they were going to patrol the streets, and they did that for a little while, and then that stopped and things got worse," Dickash said.
Colonie Lounge was fined $9,000 by the State Liquor Authority last year after the agency said the gentleman's club had a continued pattern of noise and disturbance that affected area residents.
The Liquor Authority says it has opened an investigation into this latest incident, and has reached out to Buffalo police for more information.
Dickash says at this point, only one result will make neighbors happy.
"We want them closed, we want their license pulled; we don't want another strip club here," Dickash said.
The Taft Place Block Club started a petition Tuesday to close Colonie Lounge.
They plan to submit it to the city and to the liquor board after collecting signatures.
The owner of Colonie Lounge has since penned an open letter to its neighbors and customers:
The Colonie Lounge has been in existence for 80 years, 20 of which by the current owner. The Colonie has not experienced any problems for the past 15 years and now complaints are happening in the last 5 years since a few new neighbors have moved into the area. When purchasing a home those few neighbors should have done their due diligence in researching businesses in the area. One would not move near an airport if you did not like airplanes. Same goes the gentleman's club. If you don't like the TYPE of business it is, than it was the wrong choice of homes for them. The Colonie Lounge is a well maintained business and well maintained property. Aesthetically one of the nicer looking buildings in the area. Most of our neighbors express that we are good neighbors.
The Colonie has been continually harassed by certain people on Taft St. They are more recent to the area as the Colonie is well established. In their eyes the Colonie cannot do anything right. We get harassed for garbage, outdoor urination, and for having patrons park on their street . It doesn't matter if we are not responsible for those things we always get blamed. As far as the recent misfortune on Taft, we were already blamed by neighbors immediately following the incident before anyone did any research. We area a responsible business and have not served any patron to intoxication. When the Colonie security heard the noise they immediately left the bar and ran down Taft to see what happened and tried to help. As a matter of fact after the suspect abandoned his vehicle, it was one of my security that apprehended him on foot and called the police for the arrest. The residents should be grateful he was caught so they had someone to pay for the damage to their vehicles. This could have happened anywhere and HAS happened if you check in the City and Suburbs of Buffalo.
The Colonie has reached out to the neighbors and provided them our private cell numbers so they can call us ANYTIME if they feel there are any problems. In the few times they have called we immediately addressed the problem EVEN if it had nothing to do with us. There are many rental properties on the street and the young people living there have parties of their own. But again we are continually harassed and blamed for any problems.
We feel instead of the residents trying to shut down a viable tax based business with 30 employees, they should ask the city to enforce alternate parking all day which would limit the parking spaces.
If you research other businesses such as The Stadium or Arena, people throw garbage AND urinate and talk loudly, but they are not shut down. We should be treated fairly, and no personal feelings should come into play because of the type of business we are.