Latest news with #Lagunas
Chicago Tribune
08-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
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.
Chicago Tribune
20-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Dozens appear before Waukegan council in appeal to reopen sports bar
A showing of support from more than 40 one-time employees, friends and others at a Waukegan City Council meeting may not be enough to enable Edwin Lagunas to reopen La Catina, a sports bar he owned and operated on Washington Street for more than two years. Though he operated La Cantina with the knowledge of city officials, based on guidance he said he was given, he had an issue that prevented him from obtaining a liquor license in the state of Illinois — a DUI on his record — despite having cured other concerns with the establishment. Lagunas, his attorney, former employees and others, made their case for the reopening of La Cantina during the time set aside for public comment at the City Council meeting Monday at City Hall. La Cantina is located immediately east of Toluca's Restaurant, a longtime Waukegan eatery owned by his father. They are separate businesses. Marcus Martinz, an attorney with Waukegan corporation counsel Elrod Friedman, said they are separate operations with distinct licenses. Martinez said in an email Wednesday, Taqueria Toluca II, Inc. operates the business known as Toluca at 1419 Washington, and La Cantina is their business name of Toluca's Restaurant and Cantina Inc., at 1415 Washington. During his three-minute speech to the council, Lagunas explained how he was guided to open La Cantina by city officials during the summer of 2022, he followed their advice and opened La Cantina in September of that year. 'I was given the green light to open my business with some conditions — no liquor license and an expansion of the restaurant — which is why I named it Toluca's Restaurant and Cantina,' Lagunas said. 'I had to put a wall preventing access from the bar to the banquet hall, which I did.' As patrons and former employees told the council about the community formed at La Cantina, they made it sound like a gathering place for people who enjoyed talking, drinking, eating some food and watching sports. Lagunas said Wednesday there are eight screens there. While at La Cantina on Dec. 13, Lagunas said the city posted a notice requiring him to close. He complied, and then tried to learn what was behind the notice. It took two weeks before he got a response and began his effort to reopen, he said. 'I passed the inspection done by the fire marshal, and we opened,' Lagunas said. 'I was told I was running a bar with no permit or license. So, two years running a bar in Waukegan and nobody knew.' Starting the process to reopen, Lagunas said he applied for both a business and liquor license. Martinez said the Waukegan liquor commissioner denied the request for a liquor license on March 18. Martinez said in his email Illinois law does provide a number of reasons a person cannot be issued a liquor license, and a DUI conviction is one. Lagunas admitted at the meeting he had one. He said he was disappointed he was not told it was a problem before his hearing before the commissioner. 'I'm upset the background check was done a month ago, and I'm just being told about it,' Lagunas said. 'If the communication was there, I could have switched the application to my wife's name or my dad's name.' When he was given guidance to open La Cantina more than two years ago, Lagunas said he was also told not to use the name of his former business — La Bombo. It was a bar operated at the same location as La Cantina. It was closed by the city in August of 2019, because of filed police reports.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Yahoo
‘Liam's Law' bill stems from street racing accident that killed Gaston County 6-year-old
GASTONIA, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A bill just filed in Raleigh, named Liam's Law after a Gaston County 6-year-old, would strengthen the penalties for street racing when someone is injured or killed. Liam Lagunas was killed in 2021 in Gaston County. He was riding with his father, when two people in other cars started an impromptu street race. Family, friends and law enforcement came to the Gaston County courthouse Friday to talk about why Liam's Law should become state law. One killed, two others injured in crash along The Plaza in east Charlotte: CMPD Lagunas was only 6 years old, but his mom says he lit up the world. 'He would literally have talked to everybody in this room and he would have tried to make everybody laugh,' said Brandi Birrittier, Liam's mother. Liam's smile is what his dad remembers that night in June 2021, and Liam hugging his brother. 'I took him to get ice cream, we went to have a dinner,' said Santiago Lagunas, Liam's father. The crash on U.S. Highway 74 happened so fast. Liam and his dad were trapped in the car. Santiago Lagunas handed his son over to first responders. 'I screamed because I wanted him to wake up, he never did,' said Lagunas. The tragedy never should have happened. State Highway Patrol says Donnie Cobb and Gracie Eaves were street racing and caused the crash that killed Liam and injured Santiago. 'When you think about someone that recklessly did something means they had no care in the world for the other person's life, so we don't necessarily want to be driving on the road with those same kind of people,' said Birrittier. Cobb had a history of traffic violations, including impaired driving, so he got harsher penalties. But Eaves did not. 'What was missing was the element of malice, it was difficult for us as a prosecutor to prove malice in that case against Ms. Eaves,' said Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page. H246v0Download Eaves only got several years in prison, but under the Liam's Law bill, she would have gotten double or triple the time in prison. 'Obviously we never get Liam back so as far as justice there, there's no justice but legally there's justice,' said Birrittier. And that's what they want for other families. Because that's what Liam would want. 'I bet he's happy and I bet wherever he's at right now, he has that smile on his face,' said Lagunas. Next month the Gaston County DA plans to meet with lawmakers about getting Liam's Law passed in Raleigh. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
