Construction of the new Nationals stadium, which hosts its first game on Saturday, displaced several adult gay businesses in Southeast. (Photo by Evan Vucci/AP)
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- JIM GRAHAM
Friday, March 28, 2008
IN FALL 2004, the future of baseball in D.C. was all but certain. However, all-male nude entertainment — centered in what was planned to be the stadium — was in peril. The Williams administration and big baseball had their eyes on a stretch of real estate south and east of the Capitol. That land was far from empty. It was the center of the District’s gay adult entertainment.
In April 2005, I expressed my concerns in these words — “this particular block of O Street, between Half Street and South Capitol, in some ways tells the story of the growth and evolution of the gay community. Gay businesses that were forced out of downtown to make way for the old Convention Center set up shop in the area” — and there they thrived.
The land the nude dancing bars occupied was slated to be mid-field for the new stadium. Under the law at that time, the bars could only relocate downtown, or within a couple of blocks of their current location. For these businesses, downtown was too expensive, and moving from “right field” to “left field” hardly helped. That fall, I met with Mayor Williams to press the issue.
I WORKED HARD to get the clubs out of this legal twilight zone. The first thing I did — as chair of the oversight committee — was to ask the ABC Board whether the restriction could be interpreted to give the clubs more options. The ABC Board later interpreted it to include moving to any similar zoned area. Working with then-Zoning Administrator Bill Crews, we made every effort to find new locations. But those specifically zoned areas are limited. The bars, which included Edge/Wet, Ziegfeld’s/Secrets and Heat, were stuck.
Because the restriction on movement was in a statute, only the Council could change the law to expand their options any further. The ABC Board voted twice to say just that. My next step was to propose a technical but important solution to this dilemma. My bill permitted the clubs to move to zones other than “similar” zones. Without this change, all-male strip clubs in the District would be gone. Today, the strip clubs can go downtown, to a commercial/manufacturing or manufacturing zoned area, or to a commercial area near the stadium. But finding a solution other members could accept was not easy.
SOME ADVOCATES HAD asked, “Why can’t we just let these displaced clubs move wherever they want, all together?” There simply wasn’t support for that on the Council. As it was, I had to resist several amendments that would have gutted the bill.
All along I stressed that we did not target any single ward. Most of the District’s eight wards contain relevant non-residential zones where these bars could have considered going, including Ward 1. In order to get it through the Council, I had to accept several amendments.
The bill survived and became law. The clubs have until Oct. 18, 2008, to transfer licenses. Of course, I could not resolve the economic issues specific to each business, such as rent, parking and transportation. Each club, like every business, has to make those decisions. But, through these efforts, the clubs have a fighting chance. I am encouraged that one of the clubs — Ziegfeld’s/Secrets — has filed an application for a new Ward 6 location, hopefully to open this year.
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