D.C. Councilmember Carol Schwartz says there is no reason Mayor Anthony Williams cannot speed up the process for obtaining a liquor license in the city.
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LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, April 07, 2006
A church-led protest against a liquor license for a new gay bar in the District’s Shaw neighborhood has prompted owners and supporters of the bar to call for changes in the city’s liquor licensing approval process.
The pastor of scripture Cathedral Baptist Church, who has described homosexuality as a biblical curse, has lined up a small group of residents and a neighboring Advisory Neighborhood Commission to file protests against the proposed license for Be Bar, which seeks to open at 1318 9th St., N.W.
Andrew Kline, Be Bar’s attorney, said the protest could delay the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s decision on whether to approve the license for more than a year, even though most civic activists and neighborhood leaders support the bar.
Among the groups supporting the bar is Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2F, in whose boundaries the bar is located.
"The problem is that no matter how frivolous the protest is, if you couch it in a clause in the law that addresses ‘peace,’ ‘order,’ and ‘quiet,’ you are in the door," said Kline, who specializes in liquor licensing issues. "Once you’re in the door, it could take a minimum of 15 months from the time you apply to the time you get a license."
Kline said the protracted process could cost business owners thousands of dollars in legal fees and result in lost revenue while the owners pay rent or a mortgage on a building they cannot use.
Kline and local nightlife advocates have said the process often forces business owners to withdraw their applications and give up their business plans.
"That’s the result that these opponents hope to achieve," said gay nightlife advocate and event promoter Mark Lee, who has also called for city regulatory changes for liquor licenses.
Lee and Be Bar co-owner Michael Watson said they have urged gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) to introduce legislation to streamline the process. But the two have said Graham has not responded to their requests. Graham could not be reached for comment.
In recent months, Graham has said he has received calls for both easing and strengthening liquor-licensing regulations from groups with sharply differing views on how the city should deal with nightlife entertainment businesses.
Graham and other members of the Council, including Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who represents gay neighborhoods in the Dupont Circle area, have said advocates on both sides of the regulatory debate often attack them whenever one side thinks they are favoring the other.
Evans said he opposes any liquor license protest based solely on discriminatory grounds, such as the sexual orientation of the clientele. But Evans said he would prefer to leave it up to the ABC Board, rather than the D.C. Council, to resolve the Be Bar case.
D.C. Councilmember Carol Schwartz (R-at-large) said she agrees that the regulatory approval process for liquor licenses takes too long, but said the mayor, rather than the Council, should correct the problem.
"There is no reason why the mayor can’t speed it up," Schwartz said.
Mayor Anthony Williams has said he would consider possible changes in the law to ease regulations, but said he wants to make sure the changes don’t result in additional problems in residential neighborhoods.
"People want a vibrant nightlife, and they want it in or near their neighborhoods," Lee said. "People are moving into the city in large part to be part of the rich and diverse cultural mix that makes up our nightlife venues."
In the case of Be Bar, Rev. C.L. Long, pastor of scripture Cathedral, said a bar should not be allowed to open across the street from his church. One of his supporters, Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the D.C. Black Church Initiative, told the ABC Board in a letter protesting the Be Bar license that the bar would "undermine the moral character" of the Shaw community.
"The pending applicant in question will only promote an alternative lifestyle that runs counter to the values of the Shaw community," Rev. Evans said in his letter.
ABC Board spokesperson Jeff Coudriet said there is no provision in the city’s liquor law that prevents the opening of a bar based on the sexual orientation or perceived morals of its clientele. Coudriet said the law, while prohibiting bars from opening within 400 feet from a school, does not include any restriction on its distance from a church.
The board has scheduled a hearing for April 14 on its preliminary decision to determine which groups have legal standing to protest the Be Bar license.
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