A months-long saga over Peoria’s liquor licenses has finally come to an end.
Highly Flavored restaurant is banned from serving alcohol at its new location in the Twin Towers Mall following a controversial 6-4 vote by the Peoria City Council on Tuesday night.
The vote followed nearly two months of deliberations over whether or not to allow the company to serve alcohol at its new location in downtown Peoria.
During the months-long debate surrounding Highly Flavored’s application for a liquor license, opposition to the restaurant never seemed to focus on any one position for too long, and on Tuesday night, City Council members publicly questioned for the first time whether opposition to the restaurant was based on race.
Some argued before the council that the issue had nothing to do with race, but when the council took its vote, the four black members of the Peoria City Council voted to grant Highly Flavored a liquor license, while the rest of the council voted against it for a variety of reasons.
Mayor Rita Ali, Council Member Andre Allen, Council Member Denise Jackson and Council Member Bernice Gordon-Young voted in favor of a strong flavored liquor license.
Council members Denis Cyr, Zach Oyler, Chuck Grayeb, John Kelly and Kiran Velpula voted against the license, citing the restaurant owner’s failure to pay taxes, a lack of faith in the business’s success and opposition from residents and business owners at the Twin Towers Mall.
Council member Mike Vespa abstained from voting because he owns property in the Twin Towers.
More: There have reportedly been few police operations related to a Peoria restaurant’s application for a liquor license
“At some point you have to call something a thing”
Gordon-Young, a council member without portfolio and one of the council’s four black members, questioned Tuesday night whether Peoria was “redlining” its businesses by barring a black-owned business like Highly Flavored from downtown.
In her argument, Gordon-Young pointed out that the reasons for rejecting “Highly Flavored” had changed as new facts emerged.
“At first we said, ‘You’ve had too many calls to the police.’ Well, we looked into it and realized there were no calls to the police – there were three, and out of those three there was nothing that was problematic,” Gordon-Young said. “Then we said, ‘OK, it’s about taxes,’ so we came up with a plan for that. Now we say, ‘Nobody wants to play with you.’ At some point you have to call a thing a thing.”
Gordon-Young, Andre Allen and Ali all pointed out that there are other businesses operating in the Twin Towers Mall with a liquor license. Kickback on Fulton is in the building and has a license, and the Creve Couer Club has operated for two decades with a liquor license in the location where Highly Flavored is moving into.
Kelly opposed the location permit for Highly Flavored, saying he didn’t think the company should be rewarded for having unpaid city taxes. Highly Flavored owes Peoria about $1,900 in unpaid fees and has set up a payment plan to pay off the debt.
Allen countered this argument by saying that there are six businesses in Peoria that have unpaid city fees and taxes and also have a valid liquor license.
“I don’t want to call anyone out for director here, but we have to decide when we want to be accountable and when we choose to be accountable,” Allen said. “When I look at what happened in downtown Peoria a few weeks ago – I don’t want to call anyone out for director here either – but we decide when we want to be accountable and that’s why I want Highly Flavored to get approval for their location.”
City Councilman Chuck Grayeb, in whose 2nd District the Twin Towers Mall is located, said his opposition to the site was based on feedback he received from residents and business owners in the complex.
“If you don’t have the consent of the affected property owners in any neighborhood, you as council members should answer a simple question, a very simple question: ‘Who comes first?’ The correct answer is the neighbors every time, before any subsequent liquor license applicant,” Grayeb said.
More: “Forcibly abandoned”: Restaurant in Peoria to vacate Landmark Recreation Center site
Gordon-Young still wondered where exactly the resistance to “Highly Flavored” came from.
“The Creve Couer Club had been operating for a long time and had exactly what they are now demanding: a liquor license,” Gordon-Young said. “So what are we really questioning? What are we really questioning… so I ask my colleagues to ask themselves, what are you really questioning?”
Ali also stressed that the Creve Couer Club has had a liquor license at that exact location for many years and urged the council to be “fair” in its decision on the liquor license. She said while it may be a black-owned business, it is not a black-only business.
“It would be a damn shame if that operation was denied and another operation came along a little later and got the site approval for a liquor license, even though we can approve the site approval for that operation,” Ali said. “Before the liquor commission recommended approval, it was said that staff recommended approval, an operations plan is pending. The concerns about police operations at Landmark have been addressed. So the only thing left is that somebody doesn’t want them to be there, that’s all that’s left.”
Council member Denis Cyr said he opposed the location request because he did not want the business’s owner, Jeremy Sargent, to lose any more money on the venture and he did not think it was a good idea to open the store downtown where others have recently closed.
Riggenbach and Oyler did not give any reasons for their opposition on Tuesday evening.
Highly Flavored’s long road to rejection by the Council
When Highly Flavored first proposed moving downtown, opposition to the move centered on allegations that it would increase crime and police activity at the Landmark Recreation Center, where it previously operated.
That argument was based on a letter from Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria to the Peoria Liquor Commission in which he stated he was “significantly concerned” about Highly Flavored’s operations at Landmark Recreation, citing that there had been 911 calls for police at Landmark while Highly Flavored was operating there.
Landmark management also wrote a letter opposing Highly Flavored, citing the calls to police while also saying that Highly Flavored has raised safety concerns on their property.
As it turns out, there were actually fewer police calls at Landmark during the eight months Highly Flavored was there than during the same period the previous year, City Attorney Patrick Hayes told the City Council.
More: As part of the relocation, the Peoria restaurant faces “significant concerns” regarding alcohol licensing
Hayes told the council he reviewed all 18 written police reports from Landmark during Highly Flavored’s tenure there and found that Highly Flavored was actually mentioned in only three of the reports. He said none of those reports indicated that Highly Flavored was responsible for the police presence.
“I cannot demonstrate to the council that there is any verifiable evidence of an increase in crime or calls for services related to Highly Flavored’s operational problems at Landmark,” Hayes said. “Other people may have anecdotal issues, but I could not prove a case if I stood before you and wanted to penalize Highly Flavored for their operations during this period.”
Jeremy Sargent, the owner of Highly Flavored, said the time it took for the city council to make a decision about his business had an impact on his family and his finances.
His business moved out of Landmark in May after eight months and soon after announced plans to open downtown. Since then, his store has been in limbo over whether it would be allowed to sell alcohol.
On Tuesday evening, Sargent received his long-awaited answer.
More: Four deaths since 2021: Chronology of accidents at Caterpillar plants near Peoria
