The saga of the Horoscope Lounge may be over, but many residents of Garfield fear a sequel.

The state Liquor Control Board has received letters from 34 residents and the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. protesting a liquor license application for "Belvy's LLC." An orange notice is posted on the door at 5431 Penn Ave., where the Horoscope Lounge once was located.

The bar had been under scrutiny for more than a decade by the Nuisance Bar Task Force and was the scene of many shootings.

The site was padlocked in March 2006 by District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. Angelo Restano of Verona, who owned the Horoscope and the property, entered a consent decree with the district attorney.

Michelle Jimenez, 30, whose address is on Centre Avenue, Uptown, applied for the liquor license with the intention of opening a restaurant and bar.

In communications with the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., she stated that she wanted to bring classiness to Pittsburgh from her native New York, where she said she is from and has restaurant connections. The BGC furnished the correspondence.

She told the BGC she owned a store Downtown, Exclusive Fashions, but the Pennsylvania Department of State's Corporation Bureau names the owner as Terrald Bennett. Some in the neighborhood know him as Belvy, said Aggie Brose, deputy director of the BGC.

Ms. Jimenez did not return calls for comment.

Mr. Bennett has a criminal record. He has pleaded guilty to robbery and firearms violations and has been arrested and charged with other crimes, including two assaults.

During one arrest, Mr. Bennett gave his address as 1516 Rockland Ave. The owner of that property, in Beechview, is listed on the county's website as Michelle Jimenez.

Earlier this year, Ms. Jimenez met with representatives of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. and Friendship Development Associates to lay out her plans.

"We sat there thinking, '...That'd be nice having a restaurant there,' " Ms. Brose said.

Ms. Jimenez told the neighborhood groups her parents own restaurants in New York and would help her get the business up and running. She provided menus of those restaurants -- Caridad in the Bronx and Floridita in Harlem.

Gino Cevallo, the manager at Floridita, said the owners had no daughter by that name. Ms. Brose said she spoke with the owner of Caridad, Jose Almonte. She said he told her he had "never heard of her." The Post-Gazette couldn't reach Mr. Almonte.

"We have a practice that if someone applies for a liquor license" within the BGC's purview, Ms. Brose said, "we meet with them, convene a community meeting." Nearby residents are invited to attend, she said.

At a neighborhood meeting, according to representatives of the BGC, Ms. Jimenez explained that she was seeking her own liquor license as a tenant of the building, which Mr. Restano still owns. His license for the former Horoscope cannot be used.

Jami Rutherford, who lives nearby, said she had concerns about Ms. Jimenez when she presented a plan at the community meeting. "She didn't present a clear plan on how she would operate. And if she associates with people who have criminal records, what kind of clientele is she interested in attracting?"

"Given the history of that site, it is a troubling development to have any bar move in there," said Matt Galluzzo, arts district manager for Friendship Development Associates. "Now, the mounting evidence against this potential proprietor has the community even more concerned."

The bar's neighbors now include The Sprout Fund, Grow Pittsburgh, and Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest. Since the Horoscope closed, the difference in the scene outside is "like night and day," Ms. Brose said. "The house behind it sold. There are no 911 calls.

"We have invested too much in this neighborhood not to look at who's coming in," she said.

A liquor control board hearing is pending.

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