Ongoing issues at the Pompeii Lounge are continuing to be a problem for the community.
This time, the Waterbury-LaSalle lounge and bar located at 3133 East Tremont Avenue was the subject of a Department of Buildings inspection on Sunday, March 20 that resulted in a summons for having more than 74 people inside without an active assembly permit.
Pompeii’s management is free to apply for a new assembly permit at any time, but have not done so, DOB spokeswoman Ryan Fitzgibbon said.
“When we went out there on Sunday, March 20, we found that the establishment was operating with an expired place of assembly permit,” Fitzgibbon said. “If you have more than 74 people in a commercial space you need to have a place of assembly permit, so we issued a violation to the owner, 3131 Enterprises.”
A hearing will be held and a fine could be imposed for the violation, she said.
According to sources close to the investigation, a tip on Tuesday, March 15 brought out both the buildings and fire departments to investigate Pompeii Lounge, which has been the subject of numerous city and state inquiries since early 2010.
Someone, believed to have been inside the club, was involved in a shoot-out with an off-duty police officer on the street after the lounge closed in the early morning hours of April 2010. The off-duty officer got out of his parked car when he saw a fight erupt outside of the club, and was allegedly shot at.
There have been other fights, most recently one that spilled out of the club in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 6, resulting in the arrest of four people and minor injuries sustained by two police officers.
“If it closed down, we would not miss Pompeii” said Andrew Chirico of the Waterbury LaSalle Community Association. “They seem to have attracted a bad element, and there are a lot of families with children in our area.”
Neighbors on Coddington Avenue, E. Tremont Avenue, and LaSalle Avenue have been reaching out to elected officials such as Senator Jeff Klein, who has called for investigations by the State Liquor Authority and other agencies. The club has received numerous SLA violations.
“The first thing I am going to do is to make sure that Pompeii does not have their liquor license renewed in May,” Klein said. “Of course, we are also going to see if it can be revoked before May.”
Pompeii has been called to the SLA to answer to charges of possible violations of their liquor license on September 15, 2010, November 10, 2010, Wednesday, January 12, and Wednesday, January 26.
