[Mintwood-place] More Police at Late Night Bar Hours

[Jim Graham]

You are right about the lack of enforcement of food requirements in the
past, but I think the situation will be markedly different in the future.
What we have done is to fund auditors to get the information we need in
order to be certain that the licensees is out of compliance.  It is (unlike
the past) a very deliberate effort. And we will soon reach the point of
being able to meaningfully enforce the requirement. Bests Jim

  _____  

From: Matt Forman [mailto:Matthew.Forman2 at verizon.net] 
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 7:59 AM
To: Jim Graham; mintwood-place at lists.mutualaid.org;
AdamsMorgan at yahoogroups.com
Cc: 'Cy'
Subject: Re: More Police at Late Night Bar Hours


Jim, as you know, there is no moratorium on new restaurant licenses in Adams
Morgan.  However, the only difference between a tavern and a restaurant
under the ABC laws is the food service requirement for restaurants.  The ABC
Board has not enforced the food minimum in years, if ever, and based on
their abysmal track record on enforcement, is unlikely to do so in the
future (certainly nothing more than slaps on the wrist, at any rate).
Therefore, the so-called moratorium on taverns is a sham.  A prospective
licensee desiring to operate as a tavern need only obtain a restaurant
license and operate as a tavern with impunity, as evidenced by the several
establishments that have done so since the purported tavern moratorium went
into effect.  The Council has also made clear that the food minimum will
never be enforced, as shown by the Council's providing a compliance grace
period and extension thereof.  I'm still not sure why the Council extended
the grace period for a law that not only had been on the books for years,
but which had subsequently been made even less burdensome.  I gather there
was some concern about hardship for established businesses?  If so, then
what possible reason could there have been to extend the waiver on
enforcement to new entrants who were fully on notice of the requirements
before obtaining a license?  The Council's message is clear - there will be
no enforcement of the food minimum.  Therefore, the only way to effectively
impose a moratorium in Adams Morgan is to have it apply to all license
classes, as is the case in all the other neighborhoods.  Given the growth of
licenses over the past several years in the absence of a real moratorium, we
now also need an overall reduction in the number licenses to a more
manageable number.

 

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