Single Member District 1C-03
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Single Member District 1C-03 |
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Bryan Weaver Office hours: |
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Commissioner Weaver's latest neighborhood update October 3, 20061) ANC Monthly Meeting - Wed., Oct. 4th, 7 pm, @ Mary's Center -- The Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 1C) holds its monthly business meetings on the first Wednesday evening of each month. Our next meeting will be held this Wednesday evening, October 4th, at 7:00 pm at Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care, 2355 Ontario Road, NW (enter through the "pink building"). In addition to our monthly neighborhood crime report from MPD, the agenda will include consideration of the following:
We reserve 10 minutes near the beginning of each ANC meeting for members of the community to address the Commission for up to 2 minutes apiece on any issue, question or concern that is not a part of the final agenda. Additional items may be added to the agenda between now and the time of the meeting. Please come out next Wednesday evening to participate in your neighborhood's governance. For more information about the ANC and its committees and committee meetings, visit our website at http://www.anc1c.org/. 2) ABC Board Hearing on ANC Request for Tavern Moratorium - Wed., Oct. 11th -- The ABC Board will hold a hearing next Wednesday, October 11th, beginning at 10:30 am, to hear from ANC 1C and members of the public regarding the ANC's request that the Board place a cap on the number of tavern licenses permitted within Adams Morgan and to prohibit any further conversion of restaurant licenses into tavern licenses. This is not considered an adversarial hearing -- witnesses deliver their own oral and written statements, there is no cross-examination by opposing counsel, and the Board endeavors to hear from all interested parties. If you are interested in testifying in support of the ANC's request to limit any further tavern conversions, please do two things: First, call Cynthia Simms of the ABC Board's staff at 442-4496 by COB this Friday and ask to be put on the witness list; and second, please contact me by reply e-mail or by phone (667-7812) so that the ANC can arrange the witnesses for an orderly presentation in support of its case. As previously discussed in this newsletter, our ANC in July filed this request with the ABC Board in the wake of a flood of such conversion applications being filed by Adams Morgan establishments with restaurant licenses. The existing Adams Morgan ABC moratorium prohibits new tavern licenses from being issued here and prohibits new restaurant licenses from being converted into tavern licenses. Unfortunately, however, when the ABC Board issued its decision on those restrictions in July 2004, it did not prohibit existing restaurant licenses from being converted into tavern licenses. As a result, while few new restaurants have appeared in the last two years, a steady stream of older restaurants have been taking advantage of that loophole to seek a conversion. What's the difference? A restaurant is required by law to derive at least 45% of its gross revenues or $2,000 per seat annually from food sales, whichever is less. By contrast, taverns are not required to serve any real food at all, or to keep any books and records showing food sales as distinct from alcohol sales. A majority of the ANC has been concerned that the gradual disappearance of food availability in many of those bars and restaurants is not entirely unrelated to the recent marked increase in reports of violence on 18th Street, both committed by and inflicted on bar patrons, and to the general rise in anti-social behavior associated with excessive drinking on an empty stomach. The general degradation of Adams Morgan scene on weekend nights was recently depicted in a City Paper cover story and featured both artwork and reporting on the artist's night out in our neighborhood. In early August, the ABC Board issued an emergency order prohibiting the filing of any new tavern conversion applications in Adams Morgan. That order, however, is good for only 120 days. A long-term change to the current Adams Morgan moratorium regulations is needed to ensure that this new policy remains in effect. Hence, the October 11th hearing. If you agree that the Board ought to adopt this change as a final regulation but are unable to testify next week, written statements are encouraged and will be made a part of the official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted to Charles A. Burger, Chairman, Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, 941 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 7200, Washington, DC, 20002, no later than 4:00 pm, Friday, October 20, 2006. Bryan Weaver |
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Updated January 6, 2007