Councilman Chris Monzel said his resolution urging the state liquor control division to speed up its action against a troubled Avondale bar would send a strong message that Cincinnati is serious about crime and blight.

        But Mr. Monzel couldn't get enough of his colleagues to agree, and City Council voted down the motion, 4-4.

        To many, Uncle Milt's bar has become the latest front in Cincinnati's war on crime.

        Last weekend, five people were arrested there on drug charges after a police raid found marijuana and cocaine.

        “As a City Council, if we want to send a message that we're serious about law and order, let's start here: 857 calls for assistance in that block in the past year. Police seized 9 grams of cocaine and 43 grams of marijuana. And as a city, we have a crime rate that's rising,” Mr. Monzel said after the vote. “And we have a resolution that simply asks for an expedited hearing to possibly close it down, and we can't do it?”

        Councilmen John Cranley, Pat DeWine and David Pepper joined Mr. Monzel in voting for the resolution. Opposed were Paul Booth, Minette Cooper, David Crowley, and Alicia Reece.

        Councilman Jim Tarbell did not attend.

        City Council was already on record as opposing Uncle Milt's liquor license, voting 7-2 in April to send an objection to the Ohio Division of Liquor Control.

        Ms. Cooper said she wanted to give the bar's owner, Deanna Morgan, an opportunity to turn things around.

        Mr. Crowley, the owner of Crowley's Pub in Mount Adams, said he wasn't sure that the resolution would accomplish anything.

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