The owner of a well-known restaurant and bar in National City recently filed a lawsuit against the city in a fight for live entertainment.
The newly filed lawsuit is just one part of a bigger litigation puzzle that McDini’s and the city of National City is entangled in.
Benny Adler, vice-president of operations and licensing owner at McDini’s, said there are about six total lawsuits pertaining to McDini’s against National City in the past few years.
In a temporary restraining order filed in January in San Diego Superior Court, McDini’s owner Charlton Adler, claims in court documents that he is losing out on profits because the city has revoked the restaurant’s conditional use permit for live entertainment. A permit, Adler said, the restaurant has had for more than 30 years.
The temporary restraining order asks the court to prevent National City and all of its sub-divisions from interfering with the non-obscene live entertainment and dancing at its restaurant/nightclub.
Adler said the city revoked McDini’s conditional use permit for live entertainment in 2012, but Adler argues that a conditional use permit for live entertainment doesn’t exist because regulating live entertainment falls within the state of California, not with the city.
“The conditional use permits are used for non-conforming businesses in areas that aren’t zoned for what they are requesting like bars and restaurants,” he said. “Conditional use permits are used, for example, for an establishment that wants to serve alcohol, not live entertainment.”
Currently, Adler said, McDini’s has a conditional use permit that was granted to them in 1982 to allow for alcohol sales.
Adler said McDini’s has complied with all requirements presented by the state of California through the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Adler said the city of National City has bothered the business since his son Charleston bought the establishment at 105 E. Eighth St. for $1.3 million in 2008.
“From the minute we got here, the city of National City, through the Police Department, the city manager, the City Council have just been for some reason very unusually vicious trying to prevent us from making any money,” Adler said.
In 2009, the city of National City made a claim that the restaurant was a public nuisance to the city, indicating there were drugs on the premises, gang activity and violence at McDini’s. Adler disputes the claims and says McDini’s runs a clean business.
The city sued McDini’s and, under a stipulation, the establishment closed from 2011 to 2012 to meet fire code standards.
Adler said the city of National City is going after McDini’s.
“What we think is that somebody (associated with City Hall) wanted McDini’s from the beginning,” he said. “The city manager lives across the street, a block away. She didn’t like what she saw on a personal note. She would bring in the police and the council to take a look around to make sure everything was the way she wanted it to be.”
City Attorney Claudia Silva said she would not discuss the case in detail, but she noted that calls of service to McDini’s have risen dramatically over the years.
“We are in court and we respect the legal process and look forward to resolution,” she said. “We take all lawsuits seriously and defend the city’s interest.
Adler also contends that only the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Alcoholic and Beverage Control can come into the restaurant and conduct inspections. He said the National City Police Department is allowed to patrol the outside of the building or inside the restaurant if there is lewd activity. He said the police overstep their bounds.
“But as far as coming in and checking your business, they don’t have the power in the constitution,” he said. “All they can do is regulate the criminal activity outside.”
He said the type of live entertainment McDini’s wants to offer is dancing. He said the city thinks McDini’s will offer nude dancing, although city officials said dancing was not the central issue.
“Our stuff is G-rated,” he said. “They are referencing R- and X-rated stuff. They don’t have the right to come in here.”
