Denton cites restaurant for property violations; as neighborhood concerns grow (2024)

Two bullets had hit the side of her house in Southeast Denton, Diana Guerra told City Council members at their Sept. 17 meeting.

Guerra lives next door to Clara’s Kitchen. The bullet holes appear on the second floor. They didn’t go through the bedroom she shares with her husband or the children’s bedrooms down the hallway, she said this summer when she showed them to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

“Who is going to get it next?” Guerra asked. “Is it going to be my daughter? Is it going to be me?”

Her husband, Herso, added, “A stray bullet knows no name.”

Fearing for the safety of their children was why Guerra had decided to come forward and share her concerns with council members.

“Hundreds of high and drunk people come into my yard, leaving broken beer bottles, condoms [and] plastic bags walking back to their cars, which are parked far away,” Guerra said to the council about events at Clara’s. “We have had people pee on her fence and throw up on our fence and rush to our yard [when the police show up].”

Guerra wasn’t the only one to raise concerns at the council meeting. Colette Johnson, president of the Southeast Denton Neighborhood Association, was also there demanding that council members do something since city leaders and the Denton police hadn’t been able to help them.

“Neighborhood people can’t sleep,” Johnson told council members. “Music is loud and all the other activities. We just want peace. We don’t care about the restaurant, but the activities and events after hours don’t make sense. It is not going on in any other neighborhood. It has become a nuisance, and we need someone to do something about it.”

After 91 calls for police service to Clara’s since January 2023, some things did happen.

Six misdemeanor citations were issued to Clara’s Kitchen owners Tammy Bradley and Manuel Gooden, who received three each: two for prohibited land use regarding events on Aug. 17 and Aug. 24, and one for installing a shade sail — basically a large umbrella — without a building permit, according to a Sept. 23 email from Dustin Sternbeck, a city spokesperson.

Billy and Raymond Redmon, the property owners, also received two citations each for prohibited land use.

Each citation carries up to a $2,000 fine. The court date is in early November.

Raymond Redmon, a former City Council member, stressed that neither he nor his father — who operated Sweet Y Cafe at 511 Robertson St. years before Clara’s opened there in 2019 — are associated with Clara’s or any large outdoor events hosted there.

Redmon was surprised by the citations since there hadn’t been a warning. He said it was a shame that young Black people didn’t have a place to celebrate their culture outside of holidays like Juneteenth, but stressed that it should be done without impacting neighbors.

The citations, he said, couldn’t have come at worse time for Black-owned businesses struggling to thrive. He compared Clara’s situation to one from the past involving another Black-owned establishment once located on Sycamore Street, Jon-Jon’s Night Club. He said the police focused on parking enforcement there but not at a white-owned nightclub down the road.

In a Friday morning message to the Record-Chronicle, Billy Redmon shared a statement from his family and wrote that they wanted to assist any way they can and put a stop to “unauthorized violations so they don’t go any further.”

“The Redmon family have lived and worked in Denton Texas for over 40 years with no problems,” Billy Redmon wrote. “We just want to keep it that way.”

Denton attorney Richard Gladden, who represents Bradley and Gooden, said he was thankful for the opportunity to present their case to a judge and argue that his clients do have the right to rent their backyard space for events. He said it needed to be a trial in a courtroom and “not tried on Facebook and not hashed out in City Council meetings or neighborhood ones.”

Sternbeck, the city spokesperson, took the issue to the public when he addressed the Clara’s Kitchen situation in a statement he sent to the Record-Chronicle and then posted on Facebook on Aug. 27. Sternbeck wrote there was “misleading information circulating on social media” that the city wanted to address, and he reiterated them in bullet points: large outdoor parties for hundreds of people, amplified music into the early morning hours, overuse of police resources to respond to 911 calls, and the latest incident on Aug. 24, when organizers promised more than 1,000 people would be at Clara’s, and a “large, loud party” led to more than 20 officers arriving.

“There is a false narrative suggesting the City unfairly targets the operators of Clara’s Kitchen. City officials have met with the owners of Clara’s Kitchen on multiple occasions in an attempt to come to a sensible resolution,” the city statement says. “To be clear, the City’s efforts are based on adherence to City codes and ordinances, that are designed to ensure the safety, well-being, and quality of life for all residents.”

But at that time, city officials had met only once with Clara’s in early May.

A town hall meeting to discuss Clara’s has been announced for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center where neighbors can share their concerns anonymously on question cards for city officials and council members to answer.

Guerra confirmed that someone has been going around the neighborhood to let people know about the town hall, but Gladden questioned the organizer’s motives, given his history with Gooden.

“We should have the benefit of a proceeding and determine the truth in a fair manner,” Gladden said. “... It’s been frustrating for some people to try these matters on Facebook and other forums that aren’t appropriate. I’d much prefer a determination of the facts and applicable law and determined in court, and not at a town hall or Facebook, based upon unsworn assertions or claims made by the detractors of Clara’s Kitchen.”

On Thursday, the town hall organizer, Nate Johnson, acknowledged that he has history with Gooden but said the community asked for his help to organize the event, so he set aside his differences and met with him this past Sunday to discuss it.

Johnson wasn’t aware of the citations that had been issued.

“The meeting isn’t a Clara’s Kitchen one,” Johnson said. “It’s for people who live on the street and live in the community. They have questions and haven’t been able to talk with the people in charge. They can’t move on the street [due to all the cars parked for Clara’s events] and want to know why that is and why the city is allowing it to happen.

“It’s their right to ask for questions.”

Neighborhood concerns

The advertisement for an Aug. 24 back-to-school party for University of North Texas students at Clara’s Kitchen appeared on social media in a post that promised “all the Greeks” and the best DJs would be in the building along with a mechanical bull.

“LAST YEAR WE DID 1000+ people,” the post read. “AND THIS YEAR WE DID IT BIGGER.”

More than 20 police officers — Denton and UNT police — showed up on Aug. 24. Sternbeck shared a screenshot of the social media post where the claim was made about hosting a large gathering without the proper permit.

In April, a police officer was injured at Clara’s in response to a call for service. A 21-year-old Dallas resident was arrested and later indicted by a Denton County grand jury on Aug. 22 on a charge of assaulting a police officer.

Neighbors, many of whom wished to remain anonymous, mentioned Gooden’s criminal history, which, according to court records, involves a charge of murder intending serious bodily injury causing death from the 1990s that was adjudicated on March 24, 2000, two drug possession charges from 2015 and a sex offense involving a 16-year-old from 30 years ago. Gooden, now in his early 50s, is required to register as a sex offender.

“This place does not support the community,” a neighbor wrote in an email to the Record-Chronicle shortly after an early May article about Clara’s Kitchen. “They are a hang out. They claim to do drives and volunteer events but they don’t. They don’t have daytime events, just club-like events with bass and music that you can hear for blocks and blocks away.”

Another neighbor mentioned an event attendee who had gotten arrested on drug and gun charges after leaving Clara’s and said that Clara’s owners need to take responsibility instead of acting like the neighborhood is overreacting.

“That is the kind of the stuff they are allowing,” the neighbor said. “They are pretending it is not, but they are turning a blind eye to it and to our community’s rich culture.

“The community work they do is fantastic, and I know that they do things for helping people with car payments and serving free food. I wish they would focus more on that and instead of putting all this energy to negative things. It feels like a lot of this is damage control. ‘Hey, look at these great things we are doing but ignore the other stuff.’”

Still, another neighbor added, “I got to where I don’t call the cops anymore because half of the time they don’t show up. Nothing is happening.”

Gooden’s arrest record appeared in the comments to the Aug. 27 post about Clara’s on the city’s Facebook page, which received more than 450 comments.

“If you will notice almost all that is 20 yrs old except the new trumped up one (I’m sure you love the word trumped),” a Clara’s supporter responded.

That apparently referred to Gooden’s Aug. 23 arrest by The Colony police, who picked him up on a warrant out of Little Elm for failing to comply with sex offender registry.

Gooden posted $7,500 bail on Aug. 24 from the Denton County Jail, according to court records.

Neither the Denton police nor city officials have mentioned Gooden’s criminal history in their discussions about Clara’s, either publicly or with the Record-Chronicle over the past several months.

Gladden, the lawyer defending Clara’s, stressed that Bradley and Gooden have not been arrested, charged or issued a citation by police for events at Clara’s. He called what the police did to them on Aug. 24 “swatting.”

Another neighbor, who grew up in Southeast Denton, said that what Gladden’s clients are doing is disrespectful to the community.

“Do really have to explain that you don’t have a party at 2 or 3 in the morning? Do you really have to explain that?” he asked. “I want that restaurant to be a successful business. However, do you have to explain why you don’t want someone in your backyard, front yard or in your vicinity blasting music at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.? Do you have to explain that, is that even debatable?”

Guerra and others point out that the police’s response is for legitimate reasons based on their complaints.

“Why are they not empathic to us?” asked Guerra. “They have grandchildren. Would they like someone to come at 3 a.m. and start blasting music? All the fighting and drinking and videos of girls twerking on my mailbox. It’s funny but not funny, and it’s my property. My rights are being violated.”

The charges

Caleb Norris, a zoning compliance officer, was the one who stepped in and, in a way, offered the neighborhood hope when he swore two probable-cause affidavits on Aug. 27 to Bradley and Gooden for installing shade sails without a building permit.

“According to pictures posted on Facebook by ... Tammy Bradley, these new shade structures were installed around August 5, 2024 for the benefit of Clara’s customers,” Norris wrote in the Aug. 27 affidavit.

On Sept. 3, Norris swore four probable-cause affidavits for two separate violations for prohibited land use to Bradley, Gooden and the Redmons.

“When the owners of Clara’s Kitchen — including the defendant [Gooden] — arrived on the scene to speak with police officers [on Aug. 17], they were dismissive of the noise and the disorderly conduct complaints of the neighbors, and were also dismissive of the officers’ suggestions that the event occurring at 509 Robertson St., 511 Robertson St., and 621 Maddox St. be shut down,” Norris wrote in the Sept. 3 affidavit.

Scott McDonald, the director of Denton’s development services department, determined in May, based on his authority to do so in Subsection 5.2.4 of the city code, that Clara’s backyard doesn’t “fit within an existing use category” and the director can “determine if the unlisted use is appropriate based on potential impacts of the use,” Sternbeck wrote in an Aug. 30 email.

McDonald had sent the May 7 letter to Billy Redmon, alerting him that he had made this determination and that if he disagreed with it, he would have needed to file an appeal.

Gladden also received the letter from McDonald and said he understood it was addressed to the owner of the property and Clara’s Kitchen.

“This section specifies that appeals of administrative decisions regarding unlisted uses follow the Appeal of Administrative Decision process, which has strict timelines based upon state law,” Sternbeck wrote in late August. “In this instance, a complete appeal was not submitted within the specified timeframes in order to be considered.”

In a June 26 email, Gladden said his clients’ position was that McDonald doesn’t have unilateral authority to override an explicit vote of the Denton City Council. That council vote on March 5, 2019, Gladden wrote, included the use of the entire property as part of Clara’s zoning change, according to the zoning map that Gladden said was part of the backup materials for council members to refer to before their vote.

Gladden compared what Clara’s Kitchen is doing to how Andersons Eatery and Distillery on Bell Avenue often uses its outdoor space for musical events — such as earlier this year, when council member Joe Holland performed Beach Boys covers.

However, Sternbeck disagreed with this comparison in his Aug. 30 email. He wrote that Clara’s Kitchen is zoned mixed-use neighborhood and has a certificate of occupancy for a restaurant only, while Andersons is zoned mixed-use neighborhood and has a certificate for occupancy for their restaurant and bar. A land occupancy permit, if no structure is on site, he wrote, would be required for Clara’s to use that property.

In his June 26 email, Gladden wrote, “My clients do not intend to ‘cease operations’ of Clara’s Kitchen as demanded by Mr. McDonald, and they will address any citations issued by Mr. McDonald, or at Mr. McDonald’s behest, concerning any attempt to enforce Mr. McDonald’s arbitrary and unlawful determination that Clara’s Kitchen is not operating in compliance with applicable city codes.”

On Sept. 21, Gladden posted his concerns on social media and shared that neither Bradley nor Gooden have been arrested, charged or given a noise violation citation.

But the Denton police, according to a spokesperson, generally doesn’t give citations for noise violations if the music is turned down.

This stance is part of the problem, according to neighbors, because they said the music would turn up when officers leave.

“The owners of Clara’s Kitchen have entered a plea of not guilty to this absurd allegation because, among other things, the Denton Code provision relied upon by Mr. Norris — Section 105.1 of the Denton Ordinance Code — does not require a ‘construction permit’ before placing a ‘shade sail’ over a picnic table or, for that matter, before opening an umbrella when it’s raining,” Gladden wrote in Sept. 21 social media post.

“We have confidence a jury of our peers will agree.”

Interference

Nearly a week after his social media post, Gladden was questioning the way the citations had unfolded via the zoning compliance office. It was unusual, he said, because the municipal prosecutor wasn’t involved as she normally is with these kinds of cases.

The municipal prosecutor, Stephanie Berry, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Gladden also said he wondered why City Manager Sara Hensley was trying to influence the judicial process by speaking with the municipal judge about Clara’s case. He said Hensley had approached Bradley at the Sept. 17 council meeting and told her she was confident the citations would be resolved without financial harm to them.

In a 2016 report by the Texas City Attorneys Association, San Antonio attorney Ryan Henry wrote, “The best way to think about the court is that a municipal court is a state court that is hosted by the city. This means it is not the city’s court.”

“Sara [Hensley] is not an attorney representing the city of Denton, and if she had been, she would have lost her license for approaching the judge without opposing counsel,” Gladden said. “I’m surprised that she inserted herself in a pending criminal matter without opposing counsel and without Stephanie Berry [the municipal prosecutor] and the State Bar.”

In a Sept. 17 email sent earlier that day to Clara’s, Hensley wrote, “I spoke with the judge! Tony [Salas, assistant police chief,] is speaking with the attorney [Berry] who would be carrying the case once I have their information about what she will do. I will follow up.”

Hensley told Clara’s in a follow-up email at 6 p.m. Sept. 17 that she couldn’t intervene now that Gladden had notified the City Attorney’s Office that he would be representing Clara’s.

In a reply sent a couple of hours later, Clara’s owners wrote, “Per our conversation, we clearly asked you not to speak on our behalf as you were aware from our previous meeting earlier this month and today that we are being represented by an attorney. When speaking with you and Tony Salas today, we informed you that we would have our attorney reach out to them even though you were adamant on doing so.”

It’s unclear if Hensley has done this before with other cases. On Friday morning, Sternbeck said that Hensley wouldn’t answer questions about it or provide comment outside of the city’s prepared statement.

“A priority of the City of Denton has been to support our local businesses, and while we must address the recent citations for ordinance violations, I want to emphasize our goal has been to help them achieve compliance,” Sternbeck said via email on Sept. 23. “We value the contributions of small businesses and are committed to working collaboratively to ensure they meet city regulations so they can thrive in our community.”

A place to gather

Since May, Bradley and Gooden have been taking steps to address the issues with the neighbors by limiting the events to Saturday nights with a cutoff time at 2 a.m. They fixed up the outdoor area with help from the community. They also make sure that the promoters do have event security. The event on Aug. 24, for example, had eight security guards who, Gladden said, were using clickers to count the number of people entering and leaving as well as using a decibel reader to make sure the music volume was within compliance of the city noise ordinance.

But they can’t do anything about the parking situation since the nearby school parking lot is no longer available to use after the shooting.

“Clara’s also warns guests not to illegally park when attending these events, and has reported such parking violations to the police themselves when the owners of such vehicles could not be contacted to move their vehicles,” Gladden wrote in a message Friday.

They also met on Sept. 11 with Hensley, Salas and Police Chief Jessica Robledo, who was Denton’s interim chief at the time, and left the meeting “with all sides in agreement that further discussions would take place about Clara’s Kitchen and police responses to meritless unreasonable noise complaints,” Gladden wrote in an email earlier this week.

The meeting with Hensley occurred shortly after an Aug. 31 meeting with council members Brian Beck and Brandon Chase McGee with a goal of finding a way forward. The promoter of the Aug. 24 event, Robert Lamb, was also in attendance, as was the DJ, whom Lamb said police had threatened to arrest, and the person in charge of security.

Lamb, who is only one of the promoters to host events at Clara’s, reiterated what he told SEDNA in June: that Clara’s was giving Black college students like himself a safe place. He said they’ve been hosting the events for nearly two years at Clara’s, but they aren’t hosting them every weekend.

The events, he said, also help pay for books and school fees.

“The events that we throw aren’t criminal events,” Lamb said. “They’re events to bring the community together at UNT and TWU, and a lot of kids come to college from out of state and out of town, and Clara’s is one of those sanctuaries that do allow us to throw events and enjoy our time in college.”

But Lamb also acknowledged they have been having issues with Denton police since they first started holding events at Clara’s. He said police would park across the street, in the parking lot of Fred Moore High School, and just watch them.

In an April 27 police call report, Sgt. Anthony Fletcher reported that around 11 p.m. he spoke at Clara’s with Gooden, who told him that an “Officer Langford” was parked across the street in the school parking lot, shining the high beams of his police vehicle directly into Clara’s.

Gooden told Fletcher he had politely asked the officer to turn off the headlights shining directly at his business.

“I did not see a reason to have the lights on at this time and instructed Officer Langford to turn off his headlights,” Fletcher reported in the April 27 report.

Officer Langford claimed that he had been given orders to have his red-and-blue lights on at first “but was given the opportunity to use them [the headlights] if needed,” according to the April 27 report.

“Officer Langford was assigned there off-duty,” Fletcher reported. “The orders were given from another supervisor, not the on-duty supervisors.”

When the police showed up in force on Aug. 24, Lamb said he was told it was due to noise complaints, though he said the music wasn’t loud.

Lamb stressed that Clara’s is a family environment where people look at Bradley and Gooden as an auntie and an uncle.

“I said this at the SEDNA meeting,” Lamb said. “Let us know how we can help. We’re trying to bridge the gap, and as the promoter we’re the gap between the older generation who live in the neighborhood and to the new generation who are here. ...

“God forbid they do decide to shut it down; they’ll be taking that away from a lot of people other than Clara’s Kitchen.”

Denton cites restaurant for property violations; as neighborhood concerns grow (2024)
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