The existence of a magic bubble over Lowest Greenville, where problems like illegally operating bars that would not be open for ten minutes in North Dallas can stay in business for years without interference, is such a fact of life as to be regarded as gospel. And this week, one business is getting its chance to tell City Hall - Up yours, twice!

The Public House has been riding the media train after the alleged incident in which an off-duty DPD officer pulled a gun on the owner and bouncer at 2am. After days of promises, the videotape of the incident has still not been released.

No one is asking, So how come a patron - who just happened to be a cop - was served the point of being intoxicated in your bar in the first place? Yet.

After growing up in Philadelphia, BD is not shocked to hear that various city agencies - possibly as part of the investigation or getting ready for NBA All-Star Week - pulled up all the records on Public House to get a 3,000 foot view of the incident and location. Only in Philadelphia, they would not wait two days to figure out the business did not have a valid Certificate of Occupancy. (Editor's note: Before TX-OU weekend, the City regularly conducts inspections at venues where crowds are anticipated).

Yes, we are not surprised.

According to City sources, Public House had a temporary Certificate of Occupancy which expired in March 2009. No one is clear on the why of the CO, since they have been operating for nearly five years. The temporary CO could have been triggered by something as simple as a kitchen renovation or sign repairs. But between March 2009 and today, they have been operating without a valid CO for almost a year. It's entirely possible City Code Enforcement officers went to the location - in the daytime when they were not open for business like most bars on Greenville. An internal review of the paper trail is taking place now.

Click here to see Public House's most recent CO paperwork on the City's Building Inspections website.

Early this morning, a Code officer posted a Notice of Violation on the front door, noting the lack of a Certificate of Occupancy, and stating the problem must be remedied. On all notices, you will find a comment telling you how many days you have to solve the issue (eg getting 14 days to clean your alley of weeds). In this case, the number of days was a big fat zero. They were not allowed to open the doors and serve customers until they had a Certificate of Occupancy and all the related issues (eg inspections that might have been required in March 2009).

Let's remind you this is the same business owner who thinks his neighbors need to mind their own business and he does not need any permits to take over city-owned parking spaces for a patio. Back in October, during the controversy over stolen spaces, Public House owner Adam Seigel told BD...

According to Seigel, his lease with Andres Properties since 2004 has included the right to operate a patio on what are City-owned right-of-way parking spaces. When told his landlord can't lease what he does not own, Seigel replied, Who cares about f*cking permits? We want our patio now.

Seigel contends that BD single-handedly shut the construction down and is directing all the efforts to shutter what he called legitimate business activities, and should now direct his efforts to telling City Hall to let the patio construction start again. BD responded if he had such god-like powers and did indeed smite the construction process, he would have used said magical powers to close Public House and all the other scumbars with the wave of his magic menorah years ago.

Siegel said the neighbors need to mind their own business when it comes to property rights, public right of way, noise issues, Certificates of Occupancy and any legal issues being used to control his and all the other good businesses on Lowest Greenville Avenue.

It's no one else's f*cking business what we do out here. I live in the neighborhood too, and I want this patio. We don't need permits, we can do whatever we want, and the neighbors just need to mind their own f*cking business. Instead of having a patio on the second-busiest weekend of the year, I've got a construction site in front of my bar. My life savings are tied up in this place and I am tired of being told what to do, he said (not sic).

So can you guess what happened? Instead of getting out of bed earlier than 11am and running to City Hall to do the right thing, Seigel sent someone to the front door of the business to grab the notice and read it to him on the phone. Then they opened their doors to the public.

The City's Code Enforcement team did not have enough time to get out and write a citation this evening, but they promise to be on the street on Wednesday afternoon. Every time the doors are opened to the public, another citation can be written, until the Certificate of Occupancy is issued. And the longer Siegel pisses off the City, the more questions will be raised about what else might need a review or inspection.