PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County District Attorney, Stephen Zappala, says members of the Liquor Nuisance Task Force met with the Hysyde Lounge owners in June and again in November after numerous complaints of fights and violence.
Zappala says the bar owner agreed to have his security immediately call the police if another fight were to break out, but that doesn’t appear to be happening.
“They had agreed to call 911 immediately and the next incident, that I guess what November 2, there was a fight, a stabbing...they didn’t call 911 until there was a body in the street,” Zappala said.
District Attorney Stephen Zappala is talking about an incident where a fight inside of the Hysyde Lounge spilled out onto California Avenue and a man was stabbed.
“It’s become a dangerous place,” Zappala said.
Two weeks later, a similar situation with an early morning fist fight was captured on video.
“It doesn’t matter where the fight starts and frankly, that was the agreement between the task force and the owners, and this was in November. Early November, so we’re only a couple weeks away and they forgot about what they had promised to do,“ Zappala said.
Neighbors call the Hysyde Lounge a nuisance. From the violence, to noise and parking problems, many say they want the bar shut down.
Neighbors in Marshall Shadeland say that their frustration level living close to the Hysyde Lounge is at an all-time high. Some neighbors say they’ve even been threatened about calling the police to report violence there.
Zappala says neighbors can tell their stories to investigators without having to fear retaliation by calling Liquor Control Enforcement at 412-548-2050.
“People can call and remain anonymous, but it’s really important for us to understand the gravity of the infringement on your quality of life as a neighbor there. That is really compelling to a judge,” he said.
He’s also asking anyone with video to give it to Liquor Control Enforcement.
“Our guys are going to go back and they’re going to tell them that there are certain things that are not negotiable anymore. We’re not playing around with these guys anymore, so hopefully we can bring some relief fairly quickly to that neighborhood,” Zappala said.
Channel 11 spoke to the owner of the Hysyde Lounge, who declined to comment except to say that “being labeled a ‘nuisance’ does not reflect who we are or the work we’ve consistently done in our community.”
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