CINCINNATI — The City of Cincinnati wants to permanently shut down the popular downtown bar Rusconi's Bar and Kitchen, claiming the business on 6th Street is a public nuisance because of alleged overcrowding and violent incidents.
Owners Marty and Cherelle Jackson say the efforts to punish them are unfair.
"I've done everything they've asked me to do," Cherelle Jackson said. "I’ve increased parking signage and parking meters, which have increased revenue for the city.”
The Jacksons opened the restaurant two years ago as a fresh start for the Cincinnati restaurant scene after the pandemic shuttered many service jobs.
“She put her life on the line for this business and now they want to take it," Marty Jackson told WCPO. "And if they take it, she don’t have nothing. We don’t have nothing.”
On July 23, Hamilton County Judge Megan Shanahan granted the city’s request to declare Rusconi’s a public nuisance. The court agreed with the city that the owners violated the capacity limitations and admonished them to do so.
Shanahan then extended the order for an additional 14 days at the city's request on Aug. 5.
The city maintains the owners violated the judge’s order by continuing to have more than four times the occupancy limit in late August. Now, they want to shut down Rusconi’s outright. A hearing on permanently closing the restaurant will take place in late September.
The Jacksons' attorney, Carl Lewis, told WCPO and the court Friday the punishment is too severe.
"My clients have a business that is right there in the heart of the development and as a result, there are people that want that property. We understand that you have to abide by the law, follow the rules," Lewis said. "But losing a minority-owned business, an establishment this strong suggests to me that there is something more going on."
The initial order showed Rusconi's was only legally allowed to have 56 people inside. The Jacksons say they can now have 97 people, but the bar can hold plenty more. The city, they said, won't give them the updated permits they need to grow.
The Jacksons said they feel they are being pushed out of their location, but the city denies it. Family and minority business advocate Andrew Williams told WCPO their location is right across the street from 3CDC's convention center renovations.
"Let me speak to the pink elephant in the room," Williams said. "There's a $250 million expansion that's a stone's throw away from Rusconi's and that's what we're dealing with."
The Jacksons have been renting their space for the past two years. When asked about a possible permanent closure, Cherelle Jackson said it would be "devastating."
"I put my all into savings for this business. It would put several of our employees out of jobs — people that were never given a second chance; they have families, they have kids. We have family, we have kids," said Cherelle Jackson.
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