Council opens door for Waukegan sports bar to reopen; ‘A road map for how we circumvent our ordinances'
Closed since Dec. 13 because of code and licensing questions, La Cantina will have the opportunity to reopen its Washington Street location in Waukegan as soon as its paperwork is in order and it passes the required inspections.
Though Edwin Lagunas opened La Cantina, a sports bar, in July 2022, following guidance from city inspectors, in December the city posted a notice ordering him to close. He later had to obtain a liquor license, which was denied on March 18 because of a previous DUI conviction.
As Lagunas worked with city officials to find a path to reopen La Cantina, he ceded management of the restaurant to his wife, Maria Garcia, and she applied for the liquor license which required approval by the City Council.
The Waukegan City Council voted 6-3 to grant a liquor license to Toluca's Restaurant and Cantina — which does business as La Cantina — Monday at City Hall after Lagunas and Garcia persuaded a majority of the members that they had met the requirements to operate.
During a meeting of the council's Community Development Committee on Monday before the council meeting, Garcia told the five-member panel through an interpreter that she is going to be both the liquor license holder and the manager. Lagunas will handle the marketing, she said.
Located immediately east of Toluca's Restaurant on Washington Avenue, a longtime Waukegan eatery owned by Lagunas' father, Lagunas said he followed city officials' guidance on how to operate La Cantina. That advice later led to the December closing.
When García was questioned at the committee meeting about the previous events, Stewart Weiss, an attorney with corporation counsel Elrod Friedman, said the previous situation was remedied as the parties worked together to find a solution.
'Toluca's received a citation for their business license, not their liquor license, that they were doing business in the adjacent area,' Weiss said. 'They paid a fine. We did not have any issues of noncompliance after that.'
During the council meeting, Ald. Thomas Hayes, 9th Ward, questioned perceived inconsistencies and wanted to know whether a nightclub endorsement was to be included with the license. The resolution was amended to include the endorsement.
Hayes was one of the three council members opposing the resolution. He said the substitution of the license applicant and management responsibilities sends the wrong message to the community. It shows a legal loophole was the solution to a problem, he said.
'What we did was publish a road map for how we circumvent our ordinances,' Hayes said. 'We accepted an application from an individual who was not able to have a liquor license, and that application was blatantly withdrawn. His wife was then put on the application.'
Ald. Jose A. Guzman, 2nd Ward, who voted for the license, questioned the law disallowing a person with a DUI conviction from having a liquor license. Weiss said the prohibition was part of the city's liquor ordinance. Guzman said he did not think it was important enough to be a barrier.
Ald. Lynn Florian, who opposed the resolution, countered Guzman's suggestion that people with a DUI conviction should not be prohibited from holding a liquor license.
'It's very important,' Florian said. 'When you have a liquor license, one of the things you have to do is not overserve your customers. If you have a DUI, you have overserved yourself, gotten in a vehicle and put hundreds of people, maybe more, at risk by driving drunk.'
With the liquor license approved and the nightclub endorsement needed, mayoral Chief of Staff George Bridges Jr. said after the meeting that steps to reopening remain. The license should be granted quickly, but the endorsement requires more.
'The building inspector and the fire marshal have to make an inspection for the nightclub endorsement,' Bridges said. 'Once they pass the inspections and get the endorsement, they can open.'
Joining Guzman voting for the resolution were Ald. Sylvia Sims Bolton, 1st Ward, Ald Juan Martinez, 3rd Ward, Ald. Victor Felix, 4th Ward. Ald. Keith Turner, 6th Ward, and Ald. Michael Donnenwirth, 7th Ward.
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