ANC Liquor Subcommittees Consider U Street Moratorium

From David McAuley. Email him at david[AT]borderstan.com

In two separate public meetings Wednesday night, February 20, the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) Committees of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) 2F and 1B discussed next steps on the proposed U Street liquor license moratorium. ANC 2F covers the Logan Circle area while ANC 1B includes a large bulk of the U Street area.

The area of the proposed moratorium would fall in both districts, as well as neighboring districts 2B and 6E.

At the ANC 2F meeting, ABRA Committee Member Christopher Dyer proposed and later withdrew a motion opposing the liquor license moratorium. In between the proposal and the withdrawal, committee members discussed various issues surrounding the moratorium and listened to opinions from members of the public.

Some committee members expressed opposition to the moratorium; others said that they wanted more public input first. ABRA Committee Member Kate Gordon said that she was against Dyer’s motion “because I want to hear what people have to say.”

Committee Member Matt Raymond (also Commissioner for ANC2 F-07 and chair of ANC 2F) noted that a joint meeting of all effected ANCs, which had been first proposed by ANC2F, was tentatively scheduled for March 20. The committee hoped that “maybe” there would be an opportunity to meet again after the proposed joint ANC meeting in March, at which time the committee could discuss and vote on a recommendation to the ANC as a whole.

Raymond also told the committee that Shaw-Dupont Citizens Alliance President Joan E. Sterling had to decline an invitation to speak at the ANC 2F committee, due to the conflicting ANC 1B meeting. When the floor was opened to comments, one other member of the public, a resident of ANC 6E, spoke in favor of the moratorium. A representative of the Logan Circle Community Association spoke against it.

At the same time, reports on Twitter indicated that ANC1B’s ABRA Committee was hearing testimony on the moratorium. ANC 2B Commissioner Kevin O’Connor tweeted from the meeting that a representative of the DC government did a “good presentation” about moratorium process and procedure.

Later, O’Connor tweeted that the Shaw Dupont Citizens Alliance presented their petition to the committee. However, no action or vote was taken by ANC1B’s ABRA Committee. O’Connor described the meeting as “a listening session.”

O’Connor is also the chairman of the ABRA Committee for neighboring ANC 2B.

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