Business Violations to Be Treated As Crimes
Police can now treat some business-rule violations as crimes.
The City Council this week approved an ordinance that makes certain violations of conditional-use permits--the terms that businesses must follow to operate in the city--as misdemeanors. Penalties can be fines and/or jail time.
The law, which takes effect next month, was prompted by several recent permit violations, officials said, including one in which a topless dancer performed at a pizza parlor bachelor party and another in which a coffee shop allowed smoking.
Officials said misdemeanors would be issued chiefly in cases in which operators knowingly or repeatedly violated the law.
“I feel this is a good ordinance and establishes some teeth for people who are flagrant violators,” Mayor John J. Collins said.
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