Licenses committee renews Casablancas tavern license with warning; Keefe warehouse matter left open

The Licenses Committee voted Nov. 6 to renew Casablanca Restaurant LLCs Class B tavern and related licenses for agent Ala I. Musa while issuing a formal warning and holding a separate police-referred matter connected to 900'910 East Keefe open for further review.

The committees action followed hours of testimony from Milwaukee Police Department officers, Department of Neighborhood Services inspectors and neighborhood witnesses about incidents at properties tied by investigators to the licensed agent.

Why it matters: committee members said they were weighing the agents long-standing operation of Casablanca on Brady Street against testimony that police and building inspectors presented about a separate warehouse complex at 900'910 East Keefe. That property was the site of a December 31, 2024 unpermitted event that MPD described as an assembly-like gathering; officers showed body-worn camera footage and said one arrest was made after an altercation during police entry. The Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) reported that inspectors found unsafe, occupied residential-style rooms in a tower at the Keefe complex and had issued a placard deeming portions unsafe; DNS and…