Buffalo District B Police Chief Donna Berry asked the Regional Community Policing Center, an initiative of the University at Buffalo, to help find a resolution. The center attempts to partner law enforcement agencies, government officials, local businesses and residents to analyze issues and improve quality of life.

Pamela K. Beal, a senior research support specialist for the UB group, drafted an action plan in October that comprised both short and long-term solutions to the problems that emerged this summer between some Allentown residents and the gay bars.

In July, Kym Mosgeller, of North Pearl Street, wrote a letter to Ellicott District Councilmember Brian Davis listing complaints, mostly in regard to noise levels, against three gay bars on Allen Street - Cathode Ray, Adonia's and Q-44 Allen. She attached a petition signed by other neighbors of the street who were unhappy as well.

Afterward, John Little, owner and operator of Cathode Ray, hung posters in his bar under the headline "Gay Bar Bashing" accusing Mosgeller of trying to close the gay patios, "but allowing the straight patios to remain open." He was referring to the patios used by patrons of nearby Mother's and Fat Bob's.

Mosgeller, Little and Davis are all members of the mixed use group formed by Beal's action plan. Their organizational meeting was scheduled for Nov. 28.

At that meeting, Little planned to turn over his own petition, signed by 43 residents of North Pearl, who do not agree that Mosgeller's complaints are valid.

"We go to every limit we can to keep it quiet enough for the neighborhood," Little said.

The noise emanating from the bars' patios is the sore spot for Mosgeller. Her complaints do not include Mother's and Fat Bob's, she said, because they close their patios earlier in the night than the gay bars. The action plan drafted by the Regional Community Policing Center in October said, "We would be successful if the noise level from the bars was not disturbing people after 11 p.m. and if the bars continue to flourish." Cathode Ray is designated as a sidewalk café. According to their permit, the bar's patio must close for the evening at 11 p.m. and must not be open past Nov. 15. "The new smoking law," Little said, "made a big difference in the number of people who go out to the patio."

Limiting the number of people allowed on bar patios after 11 p.m. is one of the short-term solutions that the action plan calls for. There will also be limits to the number of tables and chairs on the patio. After 11 p.m., patrons would be allowed only to smoke, not drink, on the patio. Adonia's patio does not have the sidewalk café designation and it is allowed to stay open year round, day or night. Q-44 Allen has a small smoking area outside along the side of the building, but does not call it a patio. Bar owners feel their patios are essential to their business. Aware of that, Berry said bar patio ordinances throughout Buffalo are not strictly enforced.

When residents find the bar patrons to be too noisy, they should call the bars, the action plan states. If that doesn't work, the Buffalo District B Police should be called directly. As a long-term solution, the action plan states that the mixed use group will "ask the county and state to consider rolling back the smoking ban for bars." The group will begin by writing letters to local officials. The group will also work with the county as it revisits the idea of changing bar closing times to 2 a.m., according to the action plan.

Little has agreed to be a part of the mixed use group and work toward a resolution, but thinks residents ought to be more understanding.

"If they're in this area," he said, "they have to put up with this kind of noise…They have to realize Allen's a busy commercial street." Little invited a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union to attend one of the meetings with the residents. He continues to keep the organization abreast of what is going on between the bars and the residents. And, he still hasn't removed the "Gar Bar Bashing" posters.

"(The Mosgellers) are definitely homophobes," Little says. Mosgeller and her husband operate under the guise of a Block Club, he says, but they are really a "vindictive group," meddling and causing problems for good neighbors.

In her letter to Davis, Mosgeller called herself co-chair of the North Pearl Street Block Club. No such block club, however, is registered with the Board of Block Clubs of Buffalo in Erie County, Inc.

Mosgeller called Little's accusation "a blatant lie" and "could not believe" he displayed her letter and the gay-bashing poster in the bar.

"If I had an issue," Mosgeller said, "I would have moved a long time ago.

"We are very diverse here. We welcome anybody."

Tim Finnegan, who also leases from Little to operate Q-44 Allen, stands in full support of Cathode Ray.

"There are other places with patios (around here)," he said. "Mother's, Fat Bob's. They haven't named them.

"So it certainly seems like (homophobia). It affects all of us. The more united we are, the stronger we will be."

Yvonne White operates Adonia's and leases her building from Little. She does not see the Mosgellers as homophobic.

"I don't believe it's to that extreme," she said. "I have never had a problem as far as homophobia. They have respected me."

White said she gives "kudos" to Berry. This is the first time in years, she said, that a police chief has tried to get everybody who is involved together to talk and reach a resolution.   —Michael Rizzo