{"id":900629,"date":"2026-10-31T03:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T03:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900629\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T03:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T03:28:11","slug":"rabbit-hole-books-owner-refuses-to-close-as-dispute-with-city-of-dayton-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900629\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabbit Hole Books owner refuses to close as dispute with City of Dayton escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF) — One of the largest book fairs in the country is this weekend in Dayton. The event takes place in two buildings, with 55 tons of books, and welcomes book lovers from across the country. <\/p>\n

But for Executive Director Larkin Vonalt, the fair is not the only thing on her mind today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really have gone down the rabbit hole. You know, this is crazy,” said Vonalt.<\/p>\n

As previously covered by Dayton 24\/7 Now<\/a>, Vonalt has been keeping the community updated on an almost year-long disagreement between her independent bookstore and the City of Dayton.<\/p>\n

Rabbit Hole Books has been under temporary occupancy since May, and the issue reached a new height on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Vonalt shared the City notified her that Emily Crow, the Deputy Director of Planning, Neighborhoods, and Development, would be closing the store on Monday, despite her understanding that Rabbit Hole Books has the clearance of the structural engineer that the city uses.<\/p>\n

In addition, Vonalt shared on Rabbit Hole Books’ Facebook page<\/a> that Crow wanted her to meet with herself, the city attorney, a functionary from the city manager’s office, the landlord, and Vonalt’s attorney on Friday, the first day of the Dayton Book Fair, and on a day’s notice. <\/p>\n

Vonalt says, “It has, I have to say, clouded somewhat my enjoyment of this fantastic event because I’m so worried about it, you know, and it’s like, I don’t know why they can’t just leave us alone.”<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, the City says,<\/p>\n

The owner was required to install a second means of egress for tenant Rabbit Hole Books, including a new exit door and garage opening. Although the plans were submitted and approved, the work has not been completed or inspected. Because this required safety improvement remains unfinished, the City cannot continue to support occupancy under the existing temporary authorization.<\/p>\n

But, Vonalt says Rabbit Hole Books has three exits, three doors that open on to First Street, and the garage is closed off because of the City\u2019s construction. <\/p>\n

She also says a button does open the garage door.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve had a structural engineer in multiple times to have a look at the building, and he has certified and stamped that the building is safe,” said Vonalt.<\/p>\n

Vonalt says the situation is \u201cridiculous\u201d, and after trying to work with the City for months, she plans to take legal action.<\/p>\n

“They’ve pushed us up against the wall. We can’t keep doing this. This feels like harassment,” said Vonalt. “We are talking to our attorney about seeking an injunction so that they will stop harassing us.”<\/p>\n

The City says the temporary occupancy authorization will be revoked this Monday, but Vonalt assures everyone that their doors will be open.<\/p>\n

“We are not going to close on Monday. I am going to be there on Monday to make sure that we are not closed, and I am willing to go to jail for this,” said Vonalt.<\/p>\n

She says the continued support of the community is what keeps her and Rabbit Hole Books going. <\/p>\n

Dayton 24\/7 Now will continue to follow this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF) — One of the largest book fairs in the country is this weekend in Dayton.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,88],"class_list":["post-900629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}