SAN DIEGO : Overcrowded Bar Shut Down for Week
Ole Madrid, a popular downtown San Diego restaurant and bar, was ordered by San Diego Municipal Judge Rafael A. Arreola to close for a week starting Sunday as punishment for chronic crowding.
The three owners of the business, in the 400 block of F Street, were told that, if the bar again is found to have more than 49 patrons inside, each of the owners will be automatically jailed for 120 days.
“I hope proprietors of other bars and restaurants will sit up and take notice that the city is serious about enforcing occupancy load requirements,” City Atty. John Witt said. “The safety of the public should not be compromised by overcrowding.”
The business’s owners, Luis Amutio, Luis Anaya and Jorge Martinez, pleaded guilty in December to one misdemeanor count of overcrowding the bar. Each was fined $1,000 and ordered to restrict occupancy to 49 patrons.
But since then, the business was found to be overcrowded twice--once with 120 patrons, and again with more than 80.
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