Reportedly, the closure was due to a rent dispute, but the shop's case certainly wasn't helped along by Aurora Councilwoman Molly Markert's morally outraged letter to the property's manager not two weeks before the landlord put the kibosh on the whole operation. Coincidence?
Whatever the case, Markert's track record of vigilante tactics in the face of opposition doesn't stop with preachy letter-writing. All we're saying is Hot Chick-a-Latte better watch out.
For some time now, Markert's had beef with Aurora's first bikini coffee shop. She evidently could quell her indignation as long as the girls stayed inside the place, but when they ventured outside to sell hot dogs, the councilwoman took it to the management. "There is nothing per se illegal about the antics he insists on forcing on the neighborhood," she wrote of Perky Cups owner Jason Bernal, but "When one of his employees is raped and murdered we will all mourn the loss."
On the other hand, if one of those employees were, say, assaulted -- and we're not making any accusations here -- Markert herself might not be a wholly unlikely suspect.
See, back in April of 2007, Markert was involved in an "incident" when a staff member at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora told her she couldn't come into a closed meeting about her daughter's graduation. After some terse words, an infuriated Markert screamed "Do you know who I am?" and jabbed the staffer with her forearm.
Initially charged with harassment and third-degree assault, Markert pleaded down to one count of "interference with school staff," and had to do 24 hours of community service.
But alas, those Perky Cups girls are still gone, clothed or moved on to jobs in auto-show modeling. Luckily for Aurora, the aforementioned Hot Chick-a-Latte just moved in on East Colfax to fill the bikini-coffee vacancy.
Just a word of advice to the girls who work there: If Markert's trying to get in, don't stand in her way.
