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In a public meeting held Wednesday, concerned Westwood residents and the Los Angeles Police Department requested Madison’s improve its security staff and screening of underage drinking, and reduce the restaurant’s hours of operation.

The hearing was held at the West L.A. Municipal Building and chaired by Lourdes Green, an associate zoning Administrator with the Los Angeles Planning Department, which oversees land use.

The meeting was called on the behest of the LAPD, which had received numerous complaints from some Westwood residents that Madison's is not abiding by its Conditional Use Permit.

Sergeant Carmine Sasso of the LAPD’s West L.A. Vice unit recommended seven additional conditions be added to Madison’s permit. The recommendations included reducing the restaurant’s closing hour to 12:30 a.m., making the establishment provide a state-licensed security staff, and the installation of a screening machine for fake I.D.s.

Sasso said that his officers, while investigating Madison’s over some months, had issued several citations to either underage patrons drinking alcohol or to employees for serving them.

Fights over the past year, some involving UCLA athletes and resulting in substantial injuries, were mentioned as reasons for Madison’s to improve security.

But it was also mentioned there have been no major fights since May, and Sasso and Madison’s principle proprietor, Milton Zampelli, have been working together on solutions.

“We have all the tools necessary ... all we have to do is work it out,” Sasso said.

However, some community members are not interested in working things out, alleging Madison’s has violated its permit.

Madison’s permit maintains – among other things – that it operate as a restaurant, and in doing so, its alcohol sales cannot exceed food sales.

Sandy Brown of the Holmby-Westwood Homeowners Association said Madison’s is doing only a small amount of business selling food with most profits earned through bar sales, which violates its permit.

Both Brown and Laura Lake, of Friends of Westwood, urged the zoning administrator to revoke Madison’s Conditional Use Permit, claiming the establishment has historically proven to be a “problem site,” even under previous owners.

Brown also mentioned that happy hour specials reducing drink prices, such as Tuesday night “Pint Night,” are prohibited as one of the conditions of Madison’s permit. She later recommended the restaurant’s central bar be torn down.

“The physical aspect of the bar contributes to these cheap drinks,” she said.

In frustration over what he feels has been a systematic targeting by special interest groups, Zampelli said his staff voluntarily wrote a petition to save Madison’s, which was signed by over 500 people.

“I feel that there has been a systematic elimination over time (of nightlife in Westwood),” Zampelli said, adding when he first came to Westwood the Village had several nightspots which have since closed.

“I’m looking for a buyer and to call it a day,” he said.

Zampelli said he is looking to sell Madison’s by next year, and that he will tell the new owners to “tear down the bar, or not to bother.”