When we last checked in with the Taco Bell Cantina on State Street, the restaurant’s liquor license application had been vetoed by Mayor Paul Soglin, despite agreeing to numerous concessions like only serving beer and wine. (What about the spiked slushies, Paul?!)
Now, Bell Great Lakes, LLC, the franchisee that owns this Taco Bell Cantina, is suing the city of Madison, citing treatment that is “arbitrary, unlawful, and unfair.”
And they do have a point. When Soglin vetoed the application, he dropped this little soundbite during a news conference, which is surely going to come up at some point in the litigation:
“I see little public value in issuing a liquor license to Taco Bell to the people of our community and, in turn, to city government. If the license was associated with something of value — a new hotel, a fine restaurant — that’d be another thing.”
While I can’t speak to the legality of this — all of my legal knowledge comes from The Wire, after all — it certainly seems “unfair.” And though it is Soglin’s job to vote on the license, it’s not his job to assign value to businesses like that. I’m sure the people managing and working at the Cantina would love hearing that their work is of no value.
As for “arbitrary,” the complaint cites that just three weeks after the Taco Bell decision, the city approved a liquor license for Chen’s Dumpling House, right across the street. “There was no meaningful or material difference between [Bell Great Lakes’] application and the applications the City later and earlier approved,” it states.
Bell Great Lakes’ spokesman Greg Flynn elaborates: “The bottom line is that while we have been beyond accommodating to all involved parties, we truly believe that the way this matter was handled is due solely to the Mayor’s unwarranted bias against our restaurant brand.”
This is certainly going to get interesting. To quote the great American statesman Patrick Henry, “Give me Baja Blast or give me death!”
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