Myth nightclub suing Maplewood over city plan it says would threaten its business

The Myth Live nightclub is suing the city of Maplewood, alleging that an action plan imposed by the city in the wake of a heightened number of police calls is "unlawful, arbitrary" and threatens "the very existence of Myth and its business."

The suit, filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court, asks a judge to declare the plan unconstitutional and unenforceable.

At its meeting Monday evening, the Maplewood City Council scuttled plans to discuss police calls to the nightclub, citing "pending litigation." The council pulled the item from its agenda with little discussion.

According to a new report compiled by the Police Department, calls to the club have dropped since the City Council ordered club managers last spring to clean up their act or risk losing their liquor license.

Eight emergency calls for service and no arrests were made at the club between June 1 and Sept. 11, the report said.

In April, city leaders ordered Myth managers to comply with an operational action plan drafted by Police Chief Scott Nadeau after a spate of violent episodes and drug overdoses.

Police had responded to more than 260 calls for service at the club in the previous two years, including a shooting, sexual assaults, brawls and 30 drug and alcohol overdoses.

"We are going to require you to do better," Mayor Marylee Abrams told club managers in April.

The plan seemed to be working, according to the city's report.

"There have been no problems in conforming Myth's business practices to be in compliance with the operational action plan," Nadeau wrote in his report to the council.

The eight emergency calls made this summer included two about intoxicated people, two about people injured in a fall, and one each of criminal sexual conduct in a club bathroom, a fight among patrons jockeying for the front row of a show, a lost ID and a misdial.

The club keeps video recordings for seven days, but Nadeau recommended that period be increased to 90 days. The sexual misconduct report was made well after the victim said it occurred on July 30.

Club managers told the council last spring they wanted to work with the city to improve safety. They called the Myth a "regional asset" and noted that the venue brings 200,000 visitors to Maplewood each year for concerts by nationally known acts. It also hosts community events such as high school proms.

The Myth opened in 2005 in an old shoe store near the Maplewood Mall, closed four years later and reopened in 2011.

Shannon Prather • 651-925-5037