Austin city attorneys are asking a Travis County judge to clamp down on a Sixth Street bar they say has turned into a repeat trouble spot. In a new civil motion, the city targets Pour Choices at the corner of Sixth and Trinity streets and urges the court to force the owners to take concrete steps to stop illegal activity on and around the property.
City filing paints Pour Choices as repeat trouble spot
In the filing, submitted in Travis County court, the city cites at least 17 separate incidents at or near the bar. According to KXAN, those incidents include alleged drug distribution, underage drinking and an assault inside the venue. The motion also points to an employee arrest for disorderly conduct and accuses bar staff of obstructing investigations.
The city argues that together, those examples amount to a pattern that owners and operators have failed to address, and it is asking the judge to order measures intended to shut down criminal behavior at the location.
The owner named in the suit told KXAN he had not yet been served with the official paperwork and declined to comment further. The filing, which the city characterizes as an abatement action rather than a criminal prosecution, puts the onus on the bar's owners and operators to fix what the city calls an ongoing nuisance.
What the law allows
Under Texas law, cities can sue to abate a "common nuisance" when a property is maintained for criminal activity and the owner knowingly tolerates it. Courts can then impose "reasonable requirements" intended to stop the nuisance.
The Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code lets judges issue temporary injunctions, require defendants to post bonds and order other measures designed to curb unlawful conduct while a case is pending. Those tools give Austin city attorneys several options if a judge decides they are likely to prevail.
Context: Sixth Street safety push
This latest legal move lands in the middle of a broader effort to tame Sixth Street's rowdiest blocks. The city has already tweaked weekend operations on the strip, including reopening parts of the roadway to vehicles at night and installing barriers to break up large, tightly packed crowds.
City staff also rolled out an updated redesign that would narrow vehicle lanes and widen sidewalks to put more space in the hands of pedestrians, according to KUT. Local coverage has linked those policy changes and physical upgrades to years of violence and crowd-control problems on Sixth Street, including several high-profile incidents that helped spur a wider overhaul.
What happens next
The case will play out in civil court as judges decide whether the city has met the bar for preliminary relief. If an injunction is granted, Pour Choices could be ordered to alter its operations on a relatively short timeline while the lawsuit continues.
Until then, neighbors, other bar operators and city officials will be watching the court docket for a hearing date and any early rulings that might signal how far the court is willing to go to reshape one corner of Sixth Street nightlife.
