Hamden Officials Urge State to Not Renew Pizza Place’s Liquor License Amid Violent Crimes

HAMDEN, CT — Hamden officials are urging the state Liquor Commission to not renew the liquor permit for Slyce Pizza Bar after numerous violent incidents, including multiple shootings, have taken place outside of the business.

Hamden Mayor Curt Balzano Leng and Police Chief Thomas Wydra were joined by leaders from CONECT (Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut) outside of Slyce on Wednesday afternoon to denounce the multiple shootings and other violence incidents that have occurred over the last two years, and have escalated in recent months, at the Arch Street location.

Wydra sent a letter Wednesday to the state’s Department of Consumer Protection urging the liquor commission not to extend the permit for Slyce, according to NBC Connecticut. Slyce’s liquor license expires on Oct. 25.

CONECT has collected more than 200 signatures from Hamden residents 18 and older on a Remonstrance Petition to the Liquor Commission to force a hearing on Slyce’s liquor license.

In opposing the renewal of the liquor permit, Wydra said that they are “not talking about an anomaly” regarding the number of violent incidents outside of Slyce.

“We are talking about many, many incidents, at least five shootings and other assaults and robberies,” Wydra said, via the New Haven Register. “I think we have enough evidence and support not to renew the permit.”

Odell Cooper, whose son Jonathan Cooper was shot and killed while by a Slyce patron at a stoplight at Arch Street and Dixwell in April, also spoke out against the violence at the event.

Leng said the premise that the violence is to be expected in “this community is a disgrace and an outrage” and he urged the state to support not renewing the liquor license, according to the Register.

Slyce’s owner Fazlay Rabbi told NBC Connecticut that his restaurant is not responsible for the violence and that his business, which offers a $5 pizza deal, would suffer without a liquor license.

Rabbi also told WTNH News 8 that he’s not doing anything illegal and he’s “not in violation with the liquor license, liquor commission. I have good food, my price is fair.”

Read more at the New Haven Register here.

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