It ABSOLUTELY was our community's doing. Originally he was planning on expansions to Chicago, then a couple of other locations. When he rejected the dancer I mentioned, he went to an activist, who went to a local news org, who all then went to a neighborhood planning committee meeting to pressure the planners to reject the club with the owner/coinvestor present. He immediately walked back the plans with Matt and wedged him out of the entire city. They even brought in a former Florida community commerce activist to testify against his business practices and warn the committee against approving the club. They made all sorts of wild accusations and hyper-political claims. I know. I was there. And I was part of the private discussions where the committee agreed that his presence was political dynamite and it was an election year. So yes, this was our community being overly woke and killing a much needed institution. That's my firsthand experience, If you've got firsthand experience proving otherwise, please share.
He got boxed out and his reputation took a nosedive. He didn't like being under the microscope. He had no choice but to sell.