Friday, December 13, 2013

ABL Committee Agenda for 12/17 Mtg

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I've been asked by a few people to remind neighbors about the upcoming ANC 6A ABL Committee Meeting. In addition to discussion of the licenses for Sin Bin, XII, & Ben's Chili Bowl, the meeting will also address closing hours for local commercial patios, & rooftop decks. This is absolutely an issue on which both business people, and residents, should weigh in. Whatever agreements are reached, we're all going to have to live with them for a while.
I'm including three things in this post:
1. A note from the ABL Committee Chair;
2. The meeting agenda;
3. A invite to a pre-meeting happy hour organized by a concerned resident;

Attached and pasted below is the agenda for the next ANC 6A Alcoholic Beverage Licensing (ABL) Committee meeting.  The meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 at 7pm at Maury Elementary School (1250 Constitution Avenue NE).  Note that this is not the normal location.

The majority of this meeting will be devoted to discussing the ANC's stance on closing hours for public space patios and rooftop decks of restaurants and bars in ANC 6A.  The ANC currently asks establishments to agree to close their public space patios and rooftop decks at 11pm on weeknights and 12am on weekends.  There have been many requests for the ANC to revisit this policy, so the ABL Committee will take it up at this meeting with the goal of making a recommendation to the ANC.

If you are interested in any way in this issue, please make every effort to attend.  We want to hear from all stakeholders - both neighbors and business owners, and can only get a good gauge on the issue if we have good attendance at the meeting.  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

I will circulate any updates to the agenda on these listserves, and updates will also be posted to ANC6A.org.

Thanks,

-Jay

Jay Williams
Commissioner, ANC 6A05
Chair, ANC 6A Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Committee
williamsanc6a05@gmail.com
Twitter: @jaybeas

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Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Committee
Agenda
Tuesday, December 17, 2013 7pm
Maury Elementary School (1250 Constitution Ave. NE) **note different location

I.               Welcome / Introductions / Approval of Agenda / Approval of Minutes

II.              Community Comment

III.            Old Business

A.    Update on status of XII and Ben’s Chili Bowl protest hearings.

IV.            New Business

A.    Discussion of new license application for Sin Bin Sports Bar & Restaurant at 1336 H Street NE (License Number ABRA-076649).

B.    Community discussion regarding public space patio and rooftop deck hours in ANC 6A.

V.             Adjourn

(Next Meeting Date – January 21, 2014)

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The following event  is organized by a local resident. I think any civil discussion of the issues above is productive. One thing, if you go to the happy hour, you really should also go to the meeting.

Tuesday, December 17 from 5:00 PM to 6:45 PM.

In this day and age of partisan bickering we can still find common ground right beneath our feet. We all want to see H Street continue to grow and develop. This neighborhood has a vibrant future and we're all a part of that. Join us for a Happy Hour that will bring together locals with the people who work and run the places on H Street. Come learn about issues affecting our neighborhood.

Did you know almost all decisions on bar and restaurant development on H St are made by a tiny group of people of people who don't go to bars? You'll be amazed at the things you will learn.

STAY until the end and we will walk over to Maury Elementary School for a 7:00 pm meeting to offer 'community comment' on closing hours for H Street roofs, patios and decks.

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6 comments:

wylie coyote said...

"Did you know almost all decisions on bar and restaurant development on H St are made by a tiny group of people of people who don't go to bars?"

That's like complaining that a meat inspector is a vegetarian. So? One thing has nothing to do with the ability of said person to do their job.

Anonymous said...

What a load of nonsense. Maybe if more of the bar owners lived in the neighborhood then they would recognize their neighbors, and customers. I know that Erik, Shaaren and Scott do.

It will be interesting to hear exactly why the bar owners want to drop their agreements. Not that their word seems to mean much anymore.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm Chris Steinke. I organized the pre-meeting meeting. Everyone is invited, not just residents. If you love H Street and want to see it prosper you should come. I think its silly to define our community by ANC boundaries - that is like saying Gallaudet students don't deserve a seat at the table.

To Wylie and Anonymous - please get involved and attend meetings. Things are not so clear cut. Everyone see's the huge growth on H Street and thinks the ANC is a partner is success. The truth is completely different.

Wylie - you use a false metaphor. A meat inspector is certified, goes thru training, and has specific things to check. As long as they are certified and do their job I don't care about their eating preferences or anything else. A member of the ANC is an elected representative of all of us. They need to be representative of the whole community - not just a small segment. If you hear about the way they have treated people, in our name and supposedly at our direction, you will be irate.

And anonymous - you should come too. You'll be surprised by the number of people who work on H and live here, waiters, bartender and owners. No one ever asked them to get together with the community before, so I created this event.

The focus of this meetup and meeting is specific to patio/deck/rooftop hours.

Not sure about the 'Not that their word seems to mean much anymore.' part but I also want to be clear - we have some bad neighbors (businesses) and they need to be held accountable. I think the fact that certain places have SA/VAs, yet still flaunt the rules and neighborhood wishes indicates some flaw in the system.

At the same time we have some great neighbors, who've been here a long time. Places that acted as the anchor that brought people to H St in the first place. Speaking of the 'agreements' if I had an agreement that was based on the situation on H Street 5 years ago - I would want to terminate it too. Things are different - the guy who created the VA in the first place moved to Michigan. Have any lawyer (not on the ANC) look at the VA and they will tell you it's a mess.

Its too complicated and boring to talk about on here but I'll try to organize an event down the road to hear about VAs/SAs and their impact on businesses.

Anonymous said...

beware the man who "see's" "false metaphors" and counters them with claims that two bit bars were the genesis for the revitalization of an entire commercial corridor adjacent to the nation's capitol.

pat said...

so what went on at the meeting?

Anonymous said...

Joe told us about the millions that he invested in his bars and asked why would he ruin that. Maybe he wouldn't , but he can and will sell those bars, and who knows about the next owner.

Chris S seems to have some roles confused. ABRA enforces rules, and it is a city agency. They do the inspections, not the ANC. The ANC is elected and represents about 2000 residents each. The ANC is supposed to be given "great weight" in decisions but often is not. I tink that we should go back to the days of Bobby Pittman myself.