No Citations For Burr Ridge Bar's Live Music

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge indicated last month it was looking into possible code violations at a bar with close ties to the mayor.

In response to a public records request in July, the village decided to keep documents about its inquiry secret. It said releasing them would interfere with "active administrative enforcement proceedings."

But the village's responses to records requests in recent days indicate nothing happened with the investigation. At one point, a police officer apparently went into the Are We Live bar and took photos of the DJ playing music.

On Aug. 12, Burr Ridge Deputy Police Chief Marc Loftus said in response to a records request that police have issued no citations against Are We Live.

Mayor Gary Grasso, Village Administrator Evan Walter and Community Development Director Janine Farrell have not returned messages.

In late July, Burr Ridge trustees voted to allow live entertainment, including DJs, in restaurants and wine boutiques in the village's business districts.

Under previous zoning regulations, restaurants had to get special use permits for live entertainment on their properties.

Eight restaurants in Burr Ridge held such permits. Are We Live was not among them.

For months, Are We Live has advertised DJs, even though it had no permit to offer live entertainment.

Under the new rules, Are We Live can now have live music without a permit, as long as it follows the village's noise ordinance.

Last year, when the village considered a permit for Are We Live, the restaurant's representative promised it would not provide live music, only the piped-in variety. That was after neighbors expressed concerns about noise.

In January, the bar appeared poised to violate that pledge with advertisements for a singer, but it backed off after Patch published a story about it.

In April, the Plan Commission started considering loosening the rules for live entertainment, so that venues such as Are We Live can offer music without getting a special permit.

Are We Live and the nearby Capri Ristorante, both in County Line Square, are owned by Filippo "Gigi" Rovito. Until Grasso became mayor again in 2019, he served as Rovito's attorney in a number of cases. A plate is named after the mayor at Capri Ristorante.

Also, Rovito donated $5,000 to Grasso's unsuccessful 2018 attorney general campaign. But the mayor returned the money after a downstate TV station called the donation into question. Grasso has declined to explain why.

Grasso's supporters have criticized Patch for its coverage of the mayor and the village's dealings with Rovito's businesses, saying it has been unfair. They say much more positive things are occurring in town that get no attention in Patch.

For his part, the mayor submitted a piece to Patch last year in which he accused Patch's local reporter of showing an anti-Italian American bias in his coverage. Grasso and Rovito are Italian Americans.

Rovito has not returned messages in more than a year.