Council Shoots Down Corner Store’s Attempt to Reopen

200 E. Chambers St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

There was a sense of déjà vu in the Milwaukee Common Council chambers on Tuesday, as the body voted unanimously to close Chamber East Food Market for the second time this year.

Back in April, the Licenses Committee recommended nonrenewal of the license for the convenience store, 200 E. Chambers St., due to myriad issues, including loitering inside the store, illegal drug activity, firearms, public alcohol consumption and more. The full Common Council voted on April 18 to affirm the committee’s decision.

On April 27, attorney Michael Maistelman, who represents store owner Davinderjit Kaur, filed a lawsuit appealing the council’s decision. The store secured a temporary injunction and reopened May 5.

A judge remanded the case back to the council for reconsideration. But the outcome didn’t change.

The license appeared before the Licenses Committee for a second time on June 6. Kaur was present at the hearing along with Maistelman and attorney Vincent Bobot.

During the hearing, the committee rewatched a 32-minute video — the same one that prompted their original decision. It shows a group of people loitering inside the store while playing loud music, openly smoking marijuana, drinking from bottles of liquor, displaying bags of marijuana and waving guns — one of which had a silencer.

“We had an egregious videotape of what is destroying our city and an opportunity to make a correction, and this committee and this council voted unanimously to support that,” said Alderman Mark Borkowski on Tuesday. “And then we’re back here because a judge, who — by the way, if the citizens of Milwaukee have watched that video, they would be stunned that this judge made this kind of recommendation.”

Several neighbors again spoke in support of Chambers East, explaining that they rely on the business for necessities and would otherwise have to travel several miles to the next nearest store.

After the testimony, the committee voted unanimously — for the second time — to recommend nonrenewal for the license.

Maistelman filed written objections to the recommendation ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of the full Common Council. Kaur was present at the meeting, but chose not to testify because her counsel didn’t show.

The lawsuit remains open.