Venue Draws Neighbors' Ire

Complaints filed with city question Georgetown Event Center parties

The doors to the Georgetown Event Center, 1215 S Bailey St, are in a parking lot off of Bailey. Neighbors are complaining about parties there and associated issues both inside and outside. (Photo by Steve Lannen)

Thumping bass. Yelling in the middle of the night. Assaults in parking lots. Gunshots.

Those are things Georgetown residents say they have seen or heard in recent months. They blame parties at a neighborhood venue called the Georgetown Events Center at 1215 S Bailey St.

Late on Sept. 13, Audrey Dohm said she heard shouting and glass breaking. She saw people filling a parking lot and alley next to the venue and saw four men with “SECURITY” on their shirts carry a young man outside who appeared unconscious. Then, they dropped him to the ground and stood by as several others struck and kicked the man. She said she also saw two women trying to fight each other before acquaintances carried them away to break it up.

Security officers “weren’t doing anything to keep people safe,” Dohm said. She called police but by the time officers arrived, everyone had gone back inside or departed including the victim, she said.

Loud music coming from the venue as well as patrons congregating in nearby parking lots and yelling or revving engines are also problems, said neighbor Laura Wright. She said she can feel the bass vibrations in her home sometimes until 3 a.m.

“With the airport, we have such a short window of quiet at night in Georgetown” and this disrupts it, she said. A city noise ordinance limits noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., but enforcement is challenging.

Residents also believe a party at the venue is linked to an Aug. 21 shooting down the street that damaged three businesses and three parked cars. Venue managers and a party promoter previously denied any connection to the shooting.

Yet, there could be more.

Complaints filed with the city and state liquor board allege underage drinking and question if the space is operating with all necessary permits. The venue has operated under a temporary license for the past year. An application for a permanent certificate of occupancy filed last month was pending before the city at the time of publication. The certificate is required for a business to operate long-term in a space.

Based on its track record, Georgetown business owner and Georgetown Business Association member Neal Patel said the venue does not deserve the permit. “They are messing it up for the rest” of the Georgetown businesses, he said. “There are other venues in Georgetown, there are concerts, but none of them result in gunshots, screaming and fighting.”

Patel said adults who work in local education related to him that students know some parties held at the venue are a place for underage drinking. He urged any residents with complaints or information to come forward soon as he is collecting evidence to make a public nuisance complaint with the city attorney’s office. Reach him at npatel@gmail.com.

Emails to the venue manager requesting an interview or comment on the complaints were not returned.