The City of Columbus's property action team recommended that city council object to the 2024 liquor-permit renewals or transfers for 10 establishments, citing repeated violent crime, narcotics activity, underage sales and noncompliance with environmental court orders.

Assistant City Attorney Sophie Yano told the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee the team narrows a longer list each year through investigation and outreach and aims to object only to places that have repeatedly failed to remediate problems. “We try to only object to places that we really feel have warranted that kind of action,” Yano said.

Yano and detectives reviewed the 10 sites and summarized key problems:

- Avalon (also called Aura Club): repeat nuisance cases since 2021, a June homicide prompted reopening of the case and an environmental court judge (Judge Mingo) ordered the bar closed for 365 days; the building was boarded but the liquor permit remains active.

- Mart / Mobile Mart (2727 Cleveland Ave): repeat offender under court order since 2020; reports include felony assaults, prostitution, overdoses, shot-spotter alerts and sales to underage persons; contempt hearing set for January 2025.

- Spanky's Tavern (13841386 Sullivan Ave): multiple calls for gun incidents and a lack of recommended security measures; a street-takeover after-party was coordinated in front of the bar this October.

- 3 Star Market (1107 E. Weber Rd): inspection found a jar of unlabeled marijuana, a stolen firearm behind the desk and drug paraphernalia; Ohio investigators cited illegal sale of intoxicating liquor and illegal possession/sale of dangerous drugs.

- Mobile Mart (2635 W. Broad St): repeat offender and allegedly noncompliant with an environmental court order agreed to under prior ownership.

- Circle K (operating as Alpha) on S. High St: 118 calls for service in two years, multiple assaults, robberies and at least one reported sale to an underage person.

- M and M Market (North Linden): subject to a 2020 objection and environmental court order; October 2024 inspections found five to six illegal gambling machines and other violations; the city is preparing to reopen the court case.

- Shell (2441 Lockbourne Rd): high call volume and a year-over-year increase in service calls and violent-crime incidents.

- BP (3140 E. Main St): numerous violent and drug-related incidents, violations for sale of flavored tobacco (illegal in Ohio) and liquor law offenses; Yano said there were about 134 calls for service this year.

- X Gentlemen's Club / Excalibur: previously objected to last year; city renews the objection due to ongoing concerns, including a shooting in August.

Detective Mark Ryan, who inspects carryouts and bars for the city, described onsite evaluations of lighting, security, ID checks and sale-scanning procedures. “If you have overdoses on your lot, why are you selling one-hitters, crack pipes, meth pipes, bongs?” he asked, listing paraphernalia he said is widespread in carryouts.

Yano said the objections will be presented to full council as emergency resolutions on Dec. 9 to meet state filing deadlines; the Ohio Division of Liquor Control will ultimately adjudicate whether objections are sustained, permit transfers are denied, or negotiated conditions are imposed. The committee did not vote on the objections during the hearing.