Feb 17, 2006  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Vincent Orange, who currently serves on the District’s Council, is continuing a campaign to block adult gay entertainment businesses from moving into Ward 5, the area of the city that he represents.

Several gay entertainment venues are expected to be displaced by a new Major League Baseball stadium that is moving into Southeast D.C. near the Anacostia River waterfront, where the gay venues are located.

Although Orange’s effort has yet to gain resonance among his rivals in the mayoral race, the possible relocation of the gay businesses in Ward 5 has become a hot-button issue in the multi-candidate contest for the Ward 5 Council seat that Orange must give up to run for mayor.

Three declared candidates for the Ward 5 seat and a community activist expected to enter the race say they oppose allowing the gay entertainment businesses to move into the ward because of the adult nature of the clubs, not because of the clubs’ gay clientele.

Among those opposing the clubs is Harry Thomas Jr., son of the late Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Sr. Thomas has yet to declare his candidacy, but is expected to do so shortly. Others are Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Franklin Wilds, and civic activists Audrey Ray, Regina James and Raenelle Zapata.

Owners of the adult gay entertainment clubs, now located on O Street, S.E., between South Capitol and Half streets, have been looking at Ward 5 for possible relocation sites because the ward is home to most of the city’s industrial and warehouse zones.

Nowhere to go

Representatives of the clubs have said they prefer to move into an industrial or warehouse area to avoid infringing upon residential communities. But the clubs recently discovered that current city zoning regulations prevent them from moving anywhere other than the downtown business district.

Excessively high rental rates and nearby residential buildings have prompted them to rule out the downtown area as an option, club owners said.

Club owners and supporters in the gay community said the only option left to save the clubs from becoming extinct is to petition the city to change the zoning laws.

The city’s Home Rule Charter, which Congress wrote in the early 1970s, created an independent D.C. Zoning Commission as the sole entity to write or change zoning laws and regulations. The D.C. Council, which writes all other laws, has no authority to interfere in the zoning process under provisions of the charter.

Gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham, who represents Ward 1, has joined gay activists in calling on the Zoning Commission to make the necessary changes to allow the gay clubs to move into other warehouse or industrial districts.

Graham and the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance wrote letters last week to D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams urging him to petition the commission to make the changes.

Under the Home Rule Charter, the mayor appoints three of the commission’s five members. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Architect of the U.S. Capitol appoint the other two commission members.

Williams has said he supports efforts to find a new location for the gay clubs, and he has directed the city’s property management office to help the club owners in their search. He has yet to respond to the request by Graham and GLAA that he formally petition the Zoning Commission for a change in the zoning laws.

Rick Rosendall, spokesperson for the GLAA, said Orange appeared to be using the gay businesses as an election campaign ploy to stir up interest in his race for mayor. Rosendall criticized Orange’s attempt to block the businesses from moving anywhere in Ward 5, even in areas far from residential communities.

"It’s very sleazy for him to pull this at this time," said Rosendall. "He is aware that his ward has more industrial areas than any other ward. He is being unreasonable."

Mayoral contenders back O Street clubs’ relocation

Each of the five candidates running for mayor also expressed general support for allowing the displaced gay businesses to move. But the candidates expressed their views last year, before news surfaced about the need to change local zoning laws.

Mayoral contenders Adrian Fenty, the Ward 4 councilmember, and Marie Johns were the only mayoral candidates to respond to a Blade inquiry this week about their position on a zoning law change to allow the clubs to move.

"I definitely support it," Fenty said.

"There is no doubt that the Zoning Commission must make the necessary ...