Want Some Drugs with Your Pizza?

From our reader emails, last week:

I am sick of Gigios [ed: 4643 N. Broadway] and want to do something about what happens there every night. Until Lawrence is done and I can get off there, I end up off at Wilson and walking on Broadway to get home.

First I had to avoid the west side of Broadway because there were gang members selling drugs in the parking lot. Now I have to avoid the east side because the area in front of Gigios has the same people now dealing drugs in front of Gigios and hiding behind that building they have in front. Can you guys help?

Reader RS is not the only one with an issue, as our inbox has featured complaints about Gigio's and the behavior of people in front of the restaurant for years. But since the "outdoor cafe" opened up late last spring, things are 10,000 times worse.

Another reader sent us an email with this photo and told us a full on party was happening this week in the "outdoor dining area." 

According to our reader's email, there was a fire table inside the hut, with music playing and open air drinking. To add to the 'ambiance,' there were reportedly drug sales going on right in front of the restaurant and drug use in the doorways on either side. 

We got our hands on a couple of photos of the "sidewalk cafe," which features wood paneled walls, a roof, plastic wrap "windows" covered in "Uptown United" banners and a blue tarp. The banners and tarp of course helpfully obscure whoever is in or behind the structure from the prying eyes of the Chicago Police Department. 

We can't say Gigio's knows that drug sales are ongoing right in front of the restaurant, but the windows of Gigio's are clear and the drug market is right outside every night. Also, the add-ons to the "sidewalk cafe," including the roof, tarps, and plastic, seem to have the effect of blocking the view of the police. 

What Gigio's and its staff / owners do know is it's illegal to have a sidewalk cafe with a roof, ceiling and walls. How do we know? A helpful reader sent us the operating rules an owner would get when they apply for approval. 

First, it's illegal to ignore illegal activity: "it is the affirmative duty of the Permittee to report promptly to the police department reported to or observed...on or adjacent to the permitted Cafe Premises."

Second, "Cafe space is not intended for any use except for the operation of a Cafe. If the Cafe is set up...the Cafe must remain operational (tables and chairs set up to serve patrons during Cafe operating ours..." 

Third, a complete enclosure is illegal, as this "would technically add to the square footage of the licensed premises." 

Fourth, a fire table is illegal, as the permittee must "identify the location of any heating equipment on the enclosed plan," (and as far as we know there is no liquor license for the outdoor cafe). [We've seen the plan, nothing there about heating or a roof or walls, see below]

Our reader also sent along the City ordinances that apply:

10-28-825 requires permit holders to "comply in all respects with the specifications set out in the plan submitted to the commissioner."

10-28-855 makes permit holders "subject to and comply with all applicable requirements and standards for retail food establishments... and rules and regulations pertaining to the sale of alcoholic beverages."

And most importantly, Section 10-18-015 states that a public way use permit shall be denied or revoked if: 

(i) the granting of the public way use is not in the best interest of the public, would have a deleterious impact on the neighborhood, or would create a nuisance either on the public way or in the surrounding area; 

(ii) the design of, or materials used in, the public way use does not comport with the quality or character of the existing streetscape; 

(iii) the use interferes with or impedes the flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, or ingress or egress from any surrounding building... 

If you have an opinion on this and want to share with the City, you can do that here. "Sidewalk Cafes" are under "Consumer and Employee Protection" > "License Violations" > "Sidewalk Cafe." 

[By request: the street address is 4643 N. Broadway]