Oct 29, 2004  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

A gay business owner and advocate for both gay and straight nightclubs and bars in D.C. has called the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission the worst in the city when it comes to issues of nightlife related entertainment, including gay bars and clubs.

Although members of Dupont Circle’s ANC 2B dispute this assessment, nightlife advocates such as gay club promoter Mark Lee will have little recourse in the Nov. 2 election. All but one of the nine ANC 2B commissioners is running unopposed.

Three of the nine incumbents in the Dupont Circle ANC are gay — Darren Bowie, the ANC 2B chair, Myron Silverstein, and Ramon Estrada. Bowie, Silverstein, and Estrada are among 12 gays running for election or re-election to ANC seats throughout the city.

The Dupont Circle area has the city’s highest concentration of gay bars and nightclubs as well as a high concentration of gay residents.

ANCs were created under the city’s charter to serve as non-paid advisory bodies to the mayor, the D.C. Council and city agencies on regulatory issues affecting neighborhoods. Although they have no authority to set policy or issue regulatory rulings, city officials are required to give “great weight” to their recommendations.

Under recent revisions to the city’s liquor law, ANC commissions were given official powers to file protests opposing applications for liquor licenses needed to operate bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

The city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board makes the final decision on liquor licenses. But protests filed by ANCs or citizens groups can cause long delays in the approval process, creating an incentive for business owners to cooperate with the ANCs to speed up the process.

Lee and other nightlife advocates have accused some of the ANCs of abusing this process, saying they often “extract” unfair concessions, such as shorter operating hours and curtailed activities, including bans on dancing or live music, from bars and nightclubs.

These concessions come in the form of “voluntary agreements” between the ANCs and the businesses, a term derided by nightlife advocates as coming close to extortion.

“They are anything but voluntary,” Lee said.

ANC commissioners, including Bowie, have argued that some restrictions are needed to prevent nightlife businesses from causing neighborhood disturbances such as traffic gridlock and excessive noise during late night hours.

Lee said Bowie and Estrada have generally been fair and balanced in their handling of licensing issues and voluntary agreements. But he said he was disappointed in the two for voting recently with their fellow commissioners to oppose liquor licenses of two clubs, one of which — the Fab Lounge — is planning to become a gay bar.

ANC 2B voted unanimously to oppose the Fab Lounge license and voted 7–1, with one member not voting, to oppose the license of a straight bar and restaurant called Gin Rickey. Commissioners said they would withdraw their opposition if the two businesses agree to certain restrictions, including closing hours earlier than the legally required closing time of 2 a.m. during the week and 3 a.m. on weekends.

Lee said ANC 2B appeared to be pushing its “anti-nightlife” envelope to a new level by demanding early closing hours for businesses that must compete with other clubs that stay open later.

ANC 2B commissioner Rob Halligan, who is among the commissioners running unopposed, said the opposition to the two clubs would be dropped as soon as they enter into a voluntary agreement, which he said would be “fair and reasonable” to both parties.

Halligan said he and his fellow commissioners want nothing more than to insure that businesses such as bars and nightclubs operate in a responsible way.

Lee said nightlife advocates would most likely be supporting the one opposing candidate to emerge in the ANC 2B races — Babak Movahedi, a gay attorney who is running in the single member district ANC 2B07 against incumbent Gerald Allan Schwinn.

The 2B07 district includes the 17th and Q streets, NW, area. Movahedi is a part owner of the newly opened gay bar Halo on the 1400 block of P Street, NW, which is outside the boundaries of ANC 2B.

Movahedi, who lost to Schwinn in a special election in June to replace a commissioner who resigned, said he would ensure that nightlife businesses act responsibly and don’t create neighborhood disturbances. But he said he would oppose a ...