As Daily RFT reports this morning, St. Louis city officials are cracking down on three downtown clubs -- Lure, Sugar, and F15teen -- over security concerns. This comes two days after a Monday shooting near Lure, which is just the latest incident near the Washington Avenue club. As Chad Garrison reports:
St. Louis police inform Daily RFT this morning that police have been called to the three clubs on 76 occasions in the past year. That includes 36 calls to F15teen, 30 to Lure and 6 to Sugar -- for incidents involving everything from fights to lost cell phones. Of those 76 calls, 30 ended with police reports.
In June, members of the Downtown St. Louis Residents Association held a meeting about their concerns; among the ones singled out was Lure.
The club isn't taking the attacks lightly, though. Yesterday, insidestl.com published photos of signs in the windows of the club that say "Jim Crow is Alive and Well in Downtown St. Louis" and "Downtown Doesn't Like Black People."
Says Garrison: "[Lure co-owner Nick] Trupiano, who is white, says his club earns 60 to 70 percent of its business from its hip-hop nights." The venue also hosts special events -- in fact, Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas will be DJing there on Saturday, August 14 after the BEP's Scottrade Center show.
