Neighborhood Watch and Wait

In the meantime, the neighborhood group that filed suit late last year against MGM's is postponing further legal action pending Martinez's full compliance with the Excise and Licenses agreement. "The stipulations in the contract are all we've ever wanted from Marco," says Jensen. "Despite his claims, we've never wanted him to close down or lose his business. At one point, we thought the only way we were going to get any peace and quiet was if he lost his cabaret license, but that's really not what we're asking for. If Marco does the things he's supposed to in this agreement and things improve, he'll never hear another word from us."

Martinez doesn't believe it. "But what choice do I have?" he asks. "All I want to know is, if this whole thing hasn't been racially motivated, then why did the Jensens spend so much time trying to drive me out of business?"

For Jensen, a stay-at-home mom with seven children who says she and her husband moved from Evergreen to Westwood because they wanted their kids to experience cultural diversity, the whole experience has been an intensive civics lesson. "If I had it to do all over again, I'd be more informed from the start," she says. "There are so many rules, and people have so many rights that they don't even know about. I feel like I could write a book on how neighborhoods can run a successful campaign against a problem bar."

--Wagner

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