A String of Shootings by their Negro Patrons Finally Shuts Down Chicago's The Shrine at 2109-11 S. Wabash Ave

When the City Council enacted a summary closure ordinance in June 2015, it seemed tailor-made for a nightclub like The Shrine.

A string of shootings outside the nightclub over the course of a year had created a dangerous situation for The Shrine's neighbors in the South Loop. But it wasn't until last month, after a patron was shot in the head outside the hip-hop club, that city officials finally shuttered it.

The city's failure to respond to complaints of neighbors and even the concerns of a top police official shows how ordinances meant to deal with neighborhood nuisances like The Shrine can prove ineffective when pitted against the bureaucratic process.

Indeed, a Police Department commander testified at a hearing at which The Shrine sought a license to extend its closing time from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. that the club already consumed more than its share of police resources. The department was armed with the summary closure ordinance, which was intended to give the city the ability to close a business when its operation was deemed a threat to public safety.

"It has been one of the most frustrating things, trying to shut some of these places down," said Ald. Scott Waguespack, who was not involved in the dispute over The Shrine but whose North Side ward includes several troublesome clubs, including The Dolphin Club and Crush, which later became Koncrete.

"Attorneys come in and they try to run out the clock and ask for extensions."

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