Apr 04, 2008  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

Washington Chief of Police Cathy Lanier informed community activists on Monday that the department would not oppose the reopening of a gay nightclub displaced by the Washington Nationals baseball stadium, despite concerns raised about the reopening by one of her district commanders.

First District Commander David Kamperin initially told Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D that he had “reservations” about Ziegfeld’s-Secrets relocating to a warehouse district in Southwest Washington known as Buzzard’s Point.

The gay club was forced to close two years ago at a site on O Street, S.E., where it operated for more than 30 years as a popular nightspot offering drag shows and nude male dancers. Owner Allan Carroll said he hopes to reopen the club at 1824 Half St., S.W. in time for D.C.’s Gay Pride week festivities in June.

“The type of club he is proposing has its own inherent problems and I would question if it is appropriate for an area in transition,” Kamperin said in an e-mail he sent last week to members of the ANC’s committee that monitors liquor license applications.
“I can see a potential for a high demand for calls for service and a drain on police services in that area,” he said.

Lanier responded by sending her own e-mail to subordinate police officials and community activists, including members of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, after GLAA raised strong objections to what it said appeared to be police opposition to the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets reopening.

The group sent an e-mail alert addressing the issue to a list of local gay activists as well as city officials, including the mayor and all members of City Council.

“All, let me start by saying the MPD will not protest the relocation of Ziegfeld’s/Secrets,” Lanier said in her e-mail. “This was obviously a misunderstanding on the part of the [Patrol Service Area] lieutenant who attended the [ANC committee] meeting and the District Commander. If the relocation is approved, I look forward to working with the club owners to ensure a security plan is drafted to ensure the safety of all parties.”

Kamperin told the Blade on Tuesday that his main concern was to ensure the safety of the patrons of any new club that opened in the Buzzard’s Point area and that he never said the police would oppose the liquor license transfer of Ziegfeld’s/Secrets.

He noted that he informed the ANC committee about serious problems requiring frequent police presence at a straight nightclub called Lime that had operated out of 1824 Half Street for the past several years. Lime, which rented space in the building, closed about six months ago.

Kamperin, who only recently began his job as First District Commander, said he was not familiar with the Ziegfeld’s/Secrets clientele and assumed it was a straight club that planned to offer nude female dancers. It was only this week, when gay activists reacted to concerns about the club by First District officials, that he learned the club catered to the gay community, Kamperin said.

Chief Cathy Lanier, head of D.C. Metro Police Department, is widely seen as a friend to the Washington gay community. Her promise not to disband the GLLU and now a pledge not to oppose the relocation of a gay male strip club have led many local gays to view her as an ally. (Blade file photo)

“As you will note, I stated that I had no information of any problems with the Ziegfeld’s/Secrets in S.E. but [had] problems with the Lime location,” he said. “[It] was not intended to indicate that we could take a paint brush and apply it to Ziegfelds/Secrets,” he said in an e-mail to the Blade.

News about possible police opposition to Ziegfeld’s/Secrets’ relocation to Buzzard’s Point surfaced at a March 26 meeting of ANC 6D’s Alcohol Beverage Control Committee. Three people who attended the meeting said First District Lt. Nicholas Gallucci said at the meeting that First District officials were concerned that some of the same problems associated with Lime would also occur if Ziegfeld’s/Secrets opened in that location.

In a phone interview with the Blade, Gallucci said he listened to Ziegfeld’s/Secrets owner Allan Carroll tell the committee that his club was largely problem free in the more than 30 years it operated at Half and O Streets, S.E.

Yet Gallucci said that experience with other nightclubs in the city’s warehouse districts shows that similar problems often arise with most of them, including car break-ins and ...