(AURORA, Colo.) –
The Aurora City Council is considering requiring events centers to have a liquor license and insurance.
The safety committee of the council discussed the proposal on Thursday. Committee Chair Danielle Jurinsky and council member Stephanie Hancock sponsored the legislation, which the committee unanimously advanced to the full council.
Private event centers currently are unregulated, according to city staff. There have been shootings at the centers when patrons become intoxicated and unruly, police said. Unlike bars, event centers aren’t required to have liquor licenses, city staffer Trevor Vaughn said. Some operators do require lessees to hire trained bartenders, Vaughn said, but others do not.
Aurora Police staff said there have been four shootings at the event centers in 2024. In some instances, events centers are leased to people who operate them as illicit nightclubs, like the one which made headlines in Colorado Springs in April. In others, “Uncle Joe” brings his liquor collection to a family reunion and things don’t go as planned, police said.
Illegal nightclubs
Military.com reported that several recruits from Colorado Springs military bases served as either security guards or patrons at an underground nightclub rife with Tren de Aragua gang members, narcotics, and solicitation. “According to the DEA, during the operation, over 100 illegal aliens, many of them likely to be members of drug cartels and gangs, were taken into custody by our partners at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” according to a statement from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department. “Several active-duty service members from local military installations were also detained by the Rocky Mountain DEA during the operation.”
The new law also would require events centers to have video surveillance of the property. They also would need to keep two weeks’ worth of recordings, according to the law.
Jurinsky was surprised to learn from Vaughn that there are businesses operating in Aurora without insurance. She asked for the law to be written to require insurance of events centers.
Officer Jurinsky?
The safety committee enjoyed a lighthearted moment Thursday during the meeting when Jurinsky suggested she should serve in the police reserves. “On the way over here this morning there were several cars without license plates,” she said. “Now I someone would just give me a light to put on the top of my car…”
Some sitting around the table answered “no” to the feisty Jurinsky as everyone enjoyed a chuckle. The outspoken council member, who served in the military, noted she is qualified to serve in the police reserves.
Later in the meeting, she said she broke up a “car show” this weekend. Many automobile shows take place in Aurora parking lots that also involve racing. She said she broke up the show and was told by police it never had been done so smoothly. “I don’t even need a gun, I just need a whistle,” she said.
