{image1} These numbers -- $39,724 and $20,000 -- aren't a teacher's annual salary and the price of a new Toyota Celica. They are two ticket amounts the city has issued to Milwaukee bars in recent months for surpassing their legal capacity.

Now, that might all change with a "loophole" in the code that helps determine capacity. In 2000, the code changed from requiring 10 square feet per person to 15 square feet. Recently, there has been an overflow of enforcement on this code, resulting in large, sometimes immobilizing, fines for Milwaukee bar owners.

Josh Krish, co-owner of Lava Bar and Grill, 2028 E. North Ave., has a spiked interest in avoiding overcrowding of his bar after hearing about all the tickets that have been dealt. At first it seemed there was little he, or any bar manager, could do to eliminate such a problem.

However, with the helpful efforts of Third District Ald. Michael D'Amato, license holders' fears have been quieted. D'Amato organized a March 10 meeting for all license holders in his district because of their concerns.

The meeting, D'Amato says, gave owners a better understanding of what the police were looking for -- gross violations that were greatly endangering people's safety, not nit-picky decisions about eight or nine people over capacity.

"The business owners have had a really good attitude," says D'Amato. "They have been thoughtful and understanding of safety issues, but by the same token, they want to make sure they can make money and be successful, and we want to help them out with that."

Krish says he thought the original capacity at Lava could not be increased unless more bathroom facilities were added -- an expensive project. But, inspectors say the bathrooms were not the limiting factor. The code says a bar can be separated into certain areas, and the table arrangement is what was slowing Lava's capacity numbers from rising.

Engberg Anderson, Lava's architects, came up with a drawing that would redefine and rearrange Lava's current areas as well as increase square feet per person. Lava applied for an occupancy recalculation with the city, and after a visit from the inspector six days after applying, Krish had the new permit for almost double the original capacity. "It's a big change for the better," Krish says. "It's nice to know the city will work with small businesses."