Miscommunication left Brick House open

BANY — When Brick House Productions, a business with many criminal incidents noted at its location, came up for business license revocation in July, 2008, Albany City Commissioners did not act.

They were never asked not to revoke the business license, said Ward 1 Commissioner Jon Howard. It was thought there were better plans in store to take care of the criminal situation in his area, he added.

“The chief of police said to me that the district attorney’s office and the drug unit had a better plan,” Howard said. “When the license came up in July, the attorney for the business was not there, so we tabled it.”

The Albany Police Department chief of at the time was James Younger, who could not be reached Thursday.

Since Brick House Productions opened in December 2007, it racked up 30 incidents including five shootings, assaults, narcotics violations, liquor-law violations and other crimes.

A 5:30 a.m. Sunday fight at the business resulted in the shooting death of 20-year-old LaSheldon Kernard Stanford leading to the revocation issue resurfacing.

While the revocation sat tabled, three city law enforcement agencies went through leadership transitions. Albany Police were in transition as Younger was on his way out.

The district attorney’s office faced transition as an election made Greg Edwards district attorney. Derrell Smith the Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit’s commander at the time was also soon to be replaced.

All of the transitions probably helped confuse the Brick House Productions revocation issue, Edwards said.

“I never went to the commissioners and asked them to not revoke the business license,” Edwards said. “I asked code enforcement to hold off on its code violation raid, because we were trying to do a raid that would have given people serious charges and time in prison.”

After the revocation was tabled, Edwards said he did make several serious convictions as a result of investigations connected to Brick House Productions.

A raid that Edwards planned to make last summer on the 1708 Schilling Ave. Brick House Production location that bills itself as a movie/motion picture business fell apart, Edwards said. It was compromised by a leak, he added.

Come Monday’s meeting there probably won’t be any compromises when commissioners consider the revocation of the Brick House Production business license, all officials spoken to said.