Neighbors complain about Iguana Cantina

Examiner

One of Baltimore’s premier firms has told the city it may relocate if ongoing harassment and disruptions caused by a neighboring bar are not dealt with.

Employees of Reznick Group, located at 500 E. Pratt St., have “experienced incidents of harassment by disorderly and inebriated patrons of Iguana Cantina,” the accounting firm’s Managing Principal Gary Perlow told Mayor Sheila Dixon and other top city officials in an Aug. 27 letter obtained by The Examiner.

Perlow said in the letter that incidents had occurred on the street as well as in a connected garage and its stairwells.

“It is inconceivable that any city would allow an establishment to exist in the heart of its business and tourism district that is so clearly failing in its obligation to run an orderly and safe operation,” Perlow wrote. “The entire situation defies logic, as we know that numerous issues emanating from Iguana Cantina have been brought to your attention.”

In the letter, Perlow said other businesses have had similar incidents with Iguana patrons, but said Reznick and others had chosen not to go public to protect the city’s image. However, he wrote that the businesses have “reached our breaking point.”

“If matters do not change,” he wrote, “I do not see Reznick Group as a long-term fixture at 500 E. Pratt Street.”

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Iguana Cantina hosts popular college nights, offering admission to 18-and-older crowds. In August, The Examiner reported that the bar had apparently reneged on a 2006 “gentlemen’s agreement” to stop those events in exchange for the City Liquor Board’s waiving of a fine for providing alcohol to underage patrons.