By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade
Apr 30 2009, 9:57 AM |
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A slate of candidates running for leadership positions in the influential Dupont Circle Citizens Association, including four openly gay candidates, are being challenged by a competing slate of candidates considered hostile to gay bars and other gay-friendly businesses, according to activists following the development.
“In the past 10 to 15 years, there has never been a contested election,” said Ronald Clayton, one of the gay candidates, who is running for president of the DCCA.
Clayton said he and the other three gay candidates are running on a slate with four other candidates who were nominated by an official DCCA nominating committee in a process the citizens group has followed for at least 20 years.
He said he doesn’t believe the rival slate is running because four of the candidates on his slate are gay. Instead, Clayton and other Dupont Circle activists familiar with the DCCA say the opposition is based on the perception by the rival candidates that the official DCCA slate is too supportive of nightlife businesses and restaurants in the Dupont Circle area, including the area of 17th Street, where a liquor license moratorium has been in place for more than 20 years.
“We view ourselves as moderates who believe the businesses and the residents can get along together harmoniously,” Clayton said.
The DCCA election is scheduled to take place at 7:15 p.m. Monday, May 4 at the Universalist National Memorial Church at 16th and S Streets, N.W.
Nightlife advocates say the rival slate represents the DCCA's "old guard," which they say is attempting to retain influence in a DCCA that has begun to move away from its longstanding reputation of being hostile to bars and clubs, including gay bars.
The rival slate includes Robin Diener, who’s running against Clayton for president; Phyllis Klein (second vice president); Dave Mallof (director); and Lex Rieffel (director).
Mallof created a stir in April when he disclosed he was considering organizing an effort to petition the city to revoke the sidewalk café license for Trios and Fox and Hounds, two popular restaurants on 17th Street.
Mallof charged that the restaurants were seating more people on their patios than are allowed under agreements reached in the past with city regulatory agencies.
Mallof and the other candidates running on his slate have said consistent enforcement of regulations against bars and restaurants is needed to prevent excessive noise and disturbances in a neighborhood where businesses and residences are lumped together. They have noted that the city’s existing liquor law calls for preventing an over concentration of liquor-related businesses in residential neighborhoods.
But other civic activists in the area say Mallof and his allies in the DCCA are pushing overly restrictive regulatory policies that could hurt local businesses at a time when the economic downturn is already threatening to force neighborhood businesses to close.
“The slate selected by the nominating committee has exhibited a willingness to work with businesses and residents to address neighborhood challenges,” said Jack Jacobson, a gay member of the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission and a DCCA member.
“The other slate seems to have a history of hostility toward LGBT businesses and other businesses that cater to a gay clientele,” Jacobson said.
Mallof declined to comment and other candidates running against the DCCA slate could not be immediately reached for comment.
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