March 5, 2008
Is Alzena’s gone?
The restaurant sign formerly stapled to the front window of this building is gone, in its place a ‘For Rent’ sign.
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Petersburg People's News - Petersburg, Virginia
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A thousand hallelujahs
Guess that answers a question I had rattling around in my head about whether or not Sycamore was still being blocked off on Saturday nights…..
Does that mean that her alleged lawsuit against the building owner is now a dead-letter?
What was that about? I heard that the owner of that building was trying to sell it and the one next door. Was she sueing to prevent the sale? Was there even a lawsuit?
Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish
From the VA Courts Case Info system online, there was a civil case in the Petersburg Circuit Court between the owner of this property (defendent) and Ms. Mayfield (plaintiff). From that website:
Final Disposition
Judgment: Plaintiff
Final Order Date: 10/09/07
Appealed Date:
Concluded By: Dismissed
As to the nature of the case, who knows except the parties themselves — though I wonder about the rumored intent of the building owner to sell, given that the sign out front now says ‘for rent’, not ‘for sale’ (not that one can infer much from a sign).
Notice also that her name has been roughly painted off the glass over the door.
I suspect the owner wishes to distance themselves from the former tenant.
And yet another Dark Cloud has been Lifted from our fair City. Lets hope that in the future we learn from the Mistakes, of the Past.
The son of Alzena Mayfield, a well honored and highly regarded educator, would like to address the very few speculating bloggers. As a family, WE decided to pursue other business endeavors. For the few negative comments given, there are hundreds of positive comments sent to my email DAILY. If there was not a demand, then we would have been gone years ago. If the owner was trying to sell, why is there a for rent sign on the door. Some of you Petersburg residents are so funny that its sad. Oh, the dark cloud will Only be lifted when the scores of the PPS system is. Apply the energy on Alzenas to volunteering at a school. Better yet, ask those African American businesses in downtown, why they do not have a life size cut-out. Only one-Rob Gray-whats the name of his business down there?
What a crock of…………!!
mj,
Sure, there was demand. There’s demand for a lot of things in this town. :)
I am sorry that you get literally hundreds of positive emails everyday. It must cause quite a headache.
And besides, didn’t your mother state that there are zero african american owner businesses other than hers on sycamore street? I guess that clears that up. Seriously though, its a good question — I would point out that the owner of the building you mention has hired an african american company to do the mason-work, and probably hiring some to do the build-outs. That isn’t chump-change he’s putting into african-american’s pockets. I think that’s more honorable than taking their money and handing them a drink, but that’s just me. I sure would rather get that guy’s business than have a cut-out of my face in his window. I’m curious, what sort of educating do you do? And what are the lessons?
You know, I’d forgotten that she said there were no black business on Sycamore besides hers.
What’s worse is MJ is intimating that blacks were excluded from the advertising campaign and that is clearly false. Is this person just ill-informed or is it something more?
So let’s see, what about the owners of the upholstery workshop and the owners of the Globe? What about Gwen from Second Hand Rose? Acey from the Brick House is there (while not the owner, he sure is a member of the business community). There might be others but I‚Äôm going from memory.
I don’t know if you had to be a member of the Old Town Merchants group to participate but if that is the case, joining would be the simple answer to being included.
I’m sure everyone had the opportunity to be a part of this if they wished.
I am not a drinker either, but some people do drink in social settings without the adversity of gang activity, shootings, fights and streets needing to be barricaded.
It was told to me today that Alzeena’s is moving to another location in Petersburg. If this is true then we may very well see and should hope for a change in the way that the business is operated, free of trouble with forces of drunken and derelict behavior. We may very well see and should hope for a place where one can go for a nice dinner, a dance and a drink of ones favorite beverage. Now that would be an association of people socializing and working for the advancement of the greater good in the community.
Side note: Rob Gray is a musician that adds to the nuance and entertainment that can be found downtown. Perhaps he has played at Alzena’s before? He is a school teacher as well and you should know him and the fact that he is in the entertainment business.
Simply reviewing the reported history of this joint (much less what we don’t know) makes one shudder to think of an Alzena’s operation in another location.
The way things operate in Petersburg, it will likely be in a residential neighborhood.
How can anyone with such a rap sheet get a license to operate? Wake up, Petersburg!!!
To Mj, let us address Mrs. Mayfield in a PPS school. Her granddaugther sat in my class at PHS for the semester (2006). Could not keep her off the cell phone. I suggested that “he” (as in a beau) could wait. Her response was that her mother (Mrs. Mayfield) was texting her! It took me weeks to reach Mrs. M. The texting did cease. As for her tardiness from lunch, the young lady’s response was “write me up, nothing will happen.” I’m new…why not? I was informed that her mother was president of the NAACP and was a community activist. Mi culpa. For me, the camel’s back was broken when this young lady invited me to kiss a certain part of her anatomy during class. Before the class ended, she’d presented a page-long letter from Mrs. Mayfield demanding a meeting with me and school administrators by the end of the day. Excuse me? Suffice it to say that the young lady apoligized to me, and the the next topic was that the father knew some millionares who could speak to the students of PPS about their future.
Yes, Mj, perhaps we Petersburg residents are funny. Maybe we are a peculiar people. We may not all be as erudite as you, yet we love our city. We hope and pray for a lifting above the clouds that have darkenend our horizon these past decades. Can you and company say the same?
Charlie B.
University of Mary Washington (BA)
Medical College of Virginia (MHA)
There is a sizeable population of people in Petersburg who are so ignorant and stupid that they will believe literally anything. These pitiful creatures aren’t really to blame - TV, resistance to education, and government sanctioned policies of blaming failure on those who have achieved success are the culprits.
The literate people of the city must accept that the mindless zombies who constitute a majority of the local populace can easily be led astray by any Hitleresque clown who uses the power to publicly blame a minority of successful people to enrich themselves and obtain ever more political power.
It would probably be hard to find a better example of low-class degenerates than the vultures who have seized the reins of power within the disadvantaged community here. It’s just another cruel hoax in a long series of unfortunate events.
As responsible, productive, contributing members of the legitimate community, we need to continue to rely on criminal prosecution and incarceration to remove the worst of the detritus. While that is an overwhelming portion of the populace in our city, the fact that over 1 in 100 Americans is now imprisoned shows that we can do it.
The ringleader is headed for jail because she was greedy and thought she had ascended to a perch high above the law. She failed to consider that tax evasion brought down her establishment counterpart Duke Cunningham. Her progeny are headed in the same direction, and hopefully their collective terms of incarceration will be long enough to wipe them from the face of the Petersburg governmental scene.
Don’t think for a second that a single word coming from these burdensome louts carries even a hint of truth or merit. We are not the problem, they are. We need to learn to love our own achievements without letting selfish charlatans and arrogant criminals trick us into questioning our value to the city. As soon as we start to individually accept blame for the collective acts of societies that have long disappeared, we have surrendered and handed the entire community to the beasts.
It a wonder that ANY good teachers stay in Petersburg with leaders such as these. That must be the whole plan: keep petersburg stupid and trashy so no one will want to move here, and one can remain King of Thieves. Meanwhile, local talent leaves and never looks back.
Joe,
Preach it Brother!
I’ve said as much but could not have put it so well.
And Shawn is correct also…. The big fish in the small pond don’t like the idea of the pond growing and other fish perhaps participating or worse, taking over.
Thank you tg4360 - I’m glad I’m not the only one who isn’t ready to let the animals take over the zoo.
I note that the lone voice of support for this criminal cites the great demand in the community for the product they were peddling.
Hmmm… let’s see. What were they selling? The biggest source of revenue for this den of iniquity was (surprise surprise) substances of abuse!
Ahh, yes, the best way to help our downtrodden brothers and sisters in the community is to give them a place for substance abuse! Alcohol and cigarette smoke are what we need to lift the oppressed people from their state of miserable destitution, right Alzena?
And while we’re at it, let’s damage their hearing with extremely loud music that features poisonous themes of violence, misogyny, criminal exploits, and more substance abuse. Let’s make sure there is plenty of opportunity for bumpin’ and grindin’ because we clearly don’t have enough unwed mothers here in the community.
Oh yeah, and when the munchies strike, let’s serve up some fried fatty foods and sugary snacks that are great for people prone to diabetes.
And of course we have to be prepared to defend ourselves when the inevitable tax evasion or embezzlement or racketeering or bribery or (insert corrupt act here) charges are levelled against us: let’s blame the klan!
Forget the fact that nobody has seen a klansman in Petersburg in decades, let’s just conjure up the specter of the evil Caucasin and pander to the fears of the downtrodden. After all, if we don’t put our race baiting theories in the press, how will we distract attention from the open and obvious criminal enterprise that is enriching us at the expense of our pathetic brethren?
Joe,
I’m in awe.
I was writing my comment before I saw yours. I shoulda just let you say it.
Dogpile on the rabbit!!!
Wait a minute — since when is dancing to loud music with a few drinks on board a problem? When I was in my young 20s, that was totally how I spent my weekends. If the choice (or loudness) of music of a particular venue is not your cup of tea, you don’t have to patron the place. Further, some of the issues that Joe raises are not particular to any one business or another, but apply much more widely (across the country) — check the book Ghettonation by Cora Daniels, http://www.coradaniels.com/ghettonation.html
Sure huh?, I’m with you. I spent some time doing that too — but I never considered the club owners to be some kind of heros, and I’m sure my parents didn’t either. They seemed like shady small business people, often with connections to organized crime, and corrupt government officials. The upscale clubs too.
And these were also places that didn’t require anything like the security that Alzena’s eponymous establishment required.
Besides, I really doubt I coulda patronized it anyway. My father and uncle were visiting from out of state, and they stopped in to get a drink and some food like the banner said. My father said they practically backed out of there due to the hostile looks everyone in the place gave them. For all this crowd’s promiscuous accusations of racism, that place seemed to be a hotbed of it. Probably the least diverse bar in town.
Piggybacking on huh? and Shawn, and taking a macro view, bar/clubs are seemingly a difficult thing for a community to balance. In Richmond, I recall some splash in the papers about the police starting to use spotlights outside the venues in the Bottom (plus increased police presence). And did I read about noise complaints in the same article (was a while ago…don’t recall the details clearly)? I don’t live there and am not party to the discussions among the locals, but from what the paper suggests folks don’t have issues with the venues per se, so much as the behavior of the customers when they are outside the venues. Tis a tough nut to crack.
Thank you friends, thank you.
When you look at the net effect of the establishment, ’tis possible to see what manner of “leaders” had their tentacles firmly entrenched in P-Town.
Everybody deserves the right to a place to shake their booty, to get a little bent, to eat drunk food, and to cut loose. That’s not a problem. But the quality of this dive was just what you would expect from hacks who cheat, steal, foment hatred, and then claim to be saviors.
They attracted just the clientele that we don’t need on the Petersburg scene. Rather then create an inflow of such “thug life” devotees, we should be seeking to export their ilk to Richmond and points beyond.
Petersburg is in the midst of a tremendous renaissance. We must nurture it, not trade away our gains for the sake of empty and destructive social schemes.
But you knew Joe Rocker would leap to the defense of the ‘burg. Sleep well my fellow comrades of Cockade City.
Who’s talking about “dancing with a few drinks on board.”
Good lord, people, we’re talking about illegal drugs, guns and violent behavior. We’re talking about thugs & illegal operations. We’re talking about barricading the main street of Petersburg (from where some of the fine patrons of Alzena’s rolled two barricade barrels at my vehicle one fine night). Clubs like this don’t exist for long in decent towns. They are closed down.
On a tangent, maybe we can get Emilio’s to open a 3rd venue in this corner of the planet. At their Broad St. location they serve yummy dinner and tapas, the live music rotates jazz/salsa/flamenco/classical/? throughout the week, and the place is packed with a diverse crowd no matter the slice/dice (age, etc.). (Hey, I can dream…) :-)
Shut my mouth and call me happy. You’ve said it all. So…. let’s continue to watch and pray, observe and participate, inspire and motivate…. with as much sincerity and clarity that can possibly be generated at sites such as PPN and into the greater Petersburg community. This is a good time to be ALIVE and WELL in Petersburg!
” I don‚Äôt live there and am not party to the discussions among the locals, but from what the paper suggests folks don‚Äôt have issues with the venues per se, so much as the behavior of the customers when they are outside the venues.”
Where I am from, places like these don’t last for long. That hardly means that the clubs that are not percieved as a problem are clean. The owners are usually politically connected (and, if they are not, they had better be squeaky-clean, which is easier said than done) They keep the OBVIOUS thugs far away, and make sure any illegal trade is on the down-low. I knew one nice club that was a mix of gay/straight black/white (so rare!!) that also had a lucrative cocaine trade going on in (but not by) the club. The police caught wind and shut the place down by busting the place for serving minors — but that is how the police usually have to do things.
I do know that the more crime-filled neighborhoods of DC have a lot of prolems with clubs, and there have been instances of people being stabbed in the club, and the bouncers dumping the victim OUTSIDE the club to make it look like it happened outside, as the authorities apparently can’t do anything to a club for activity that occurs OUTSIDE its doors. There is some sense in this rule, but it causes its own problems. “Take it outside” where I am from meant a brewing fistfight.
I second the motion regarding Emilio’s.
mj,
I know you are related to alzena. Know why? Because I drove by the “faces of old-town” display, and I counted fully THREE unambiguously black faces, not one. Are you bad at math or are you uncomfortable with facts as they are?
Maybe ALL the faces should be dark, hmmmm?
I disagree with your count Shawn. But I noted when walking in front of the display that I would come to the same conclusion as MJ if I happened to be taking in only those windows facing Sycamore (some of the display faces Washington) — see my comment to Tiffany et al. on the bomb threat at PHS thread to see where I’m coming from on this one.
And now is a good time to point out that while I’ve been practicing the art of not nuking comments in recent days (to the appreciation of folks on other threads that have pointed out that they’ve had an opportunity to learn something new as a result of the exchanges), don’t complain if on some occasion testy comments get the ole hammer. Meanwhile, this thread is locked down to further comments, as I don’t have time to keep an eye on it over the next few days.