Birmingham City Council revokes licenses for Five Points South club

The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tues., Oct. 31, 2017, voted to revoke the business license for Skky Nightclub in the heart of Five Points South after complaints about shootings and other disturbances in or near the club over the last 18 months.

The complaints came from the Birmingham Police Department, area residents and the members of the Five Points Alliance merchant group.

The vote was unanimous to revoke Skky's business license and to rescind the resolutions that granted the club its business and liquor licenses.

Two men were injured in a shooting near Skky on Saturday, Saturday, Sept. 2, and police believe the conflict between the men begin inside the club. Police closed down the establishment that night due to a fight that they said nightclub security was unable to control.

The police also had to shut Skky down after a fight on Memorial Day weekend.

And a man was wounded in a shooting inside the club in May 2016.

Capt. Ronald Sellers, commander of the Birmingham Police Department South Precinct, said that policing the activities at Skky on Friday and Saturday nights causes him to use an inordinately large number of officers at a time when the department is already shorthanded.

“We have to use multiple cars every weekend to control crowds and control traffic,” Sellers said, referring to 11th Ave South, 19th Street South and 20th Street South.

“I am pulling officers from other beats to come downtown to deal with this club,” Sellers said.

Sgt. John Green, nightshift supervisor for the Southside Precinct, said that he has to reassign four or five officers to the club each Friday and Saturday night about 30 minutes before it closes to keep control of fights, shootings, theft and other issues.

Several Five Points South residents and business people spoke in favor of revocation, including attorney Steve Alexander, the chair of the Five Points Alliance.

“This has been a problem for well over a year,” he said.

“Five Points is open for business... and one thing we have to deal with is the misperception regarding safety in the area,” Alexander said.

Summer Childers, an official with the Alabama Beverage Control Board, said that Skky has operated with a license as a private club and that the bar had committed some violations – allowing in non-members and not keeping adequate membership records.

She said she has talked to the owner about the club switching to a standard lounge liquor license.

“But that won’t stop the violence,” she said.

Henry Walker, the attorney for Skky Inc., said that the club has been unfairly singled out and that the incidents there have been blown out of proportion.

“People basically take three incidents and universalize them as if they were everyday occurrences,” he said.

He accused the Birmingham police and others of “strong exaggeration of the problems that occur at Skky.”

The council showed a video that was taken at the club during a brawl on September 1 that police said club security was unable to break up.

“That speaks for itself,” Councilor Steven Hoyt, who is chair of the public safety committee, said.

Sellers said the video indicates a lack of security in the club to deal with the issue.

However, the owner of the club, Dan Cooper, said later in the meeting that he has ample security at the club – one security officer for each 30 patrons.

When the video was played in the council chambers a second time, Cooper took issue with the police interpretation of the video and argued that you can see his black-shirted security personnel at the club working to break up the fight.

Cooper said that there have been fights, shootings and other disturbances at other clubs in Five Points but that his club has been singled out for possible revocation.

He also argued that, since the September 2 incident, which he said was “a horrible event,” there has not been a single incident at the club. He also said that Skky is now a 21 and over establishment. 

Skky has created “an atmosphere of fear,” said City Council President Valerie Abbott, who spoke in support of revocation.

“It’s long past time to take action when people are afraid to walk the streets of your premier entertainment district,” she said.