November 17, 2005
Kili's Kafe Loses Liquor License
We reported on Tuesday that D.C. government had temporarily suspended the liquor license of Kili's Kafe on 8th Street after an early morning shooting wounded four men. The Post reported on the incident which finally sparked the suspension, as well as two other killings -- one in June and one in November -- that occured near the club and have created an air of tension between the club owners and police and neighborhood groups.
Today we received word that the city's Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration has voted to summarily suspend the club's license. The decision has sparked discussion on a variety of neighborhood listservs. Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham praised the decision in an email to constituents where he wrote: "This action by the ABC Board is to be commended. It provides needed relief to the neighbors in the vicinity of the club who, for far too long, have had their quality of life adversely affected by this operation." Graham also made a point to note that the club had been the subject of 99 police calls in the two years it has been open.
Responding to inquiries on the U Street News email list, ABRA's Director of Operations Jeff Coudriet wrote that "until and if the ABC Board takes further action, the license suspension stays in effect," writing that if the club appeals the decision there will be ample time for community input.
Interestingly, the suspension this week follows speculation and rumors from last week that Kili's had been scheduled to be padlocked and shut down due to proceedings involving the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for D.C. (those rumors never panned out).
Do you live in the neighborhood? Should Kili's be closed as a result of crime occuring nearby?
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This is the article that should have been subtitled "All About Whitey."
If not for the proximity of Kili's to the newly-yuppified U Street corridor, this wouldn't have been the well-publicized political photo-op that it has become.
"the newly-yuppified U Street corridor"
Newly? Where have you been for the past ten years?
If you're gonna sling the tired "yuppification" shit, at least be accurate.
I hope I'm not reading Dick incorrectly here, so I apologize if I am.
But really, shouldn't it ALWAYS be a big deal when violence occurs? Assuming Dick is correct, shouldn't we be angry that crime in black neighborhoods might be underplayed, as opposed to getting mad that crime in [my] 'newly' yuppified neighborhood is overplayed?
Look, I never went there. But if Kili's was a home for thugs, then good riddance. I realize that crime will occur, but play don't ask me to condone just a little of it.
Up till just now I thought it was Kill's Cafe. Wasn't that hard to see why they shut it down.
Hey Dick...the funny thing about your comment is that in your attempt to be snarky you nailed it on the head.
In the last year there have been multiple shootings tied to the club and the elements that have frequented it. Last sring/summer, after two were shot after leaving the club the MPD swore that the club would be shut for good...but it took two more shootings with dead bodies to put the nail in the coffin.
What I find hilarious is not the "yuppies" causing all of this hoopla...rather that the long standing pillars of Shaw and U Street (for example Shiloh Baptist Church which sits just a few blocks away) would rather fight liquor licenses for places like Queen of Sheeba and Vegetate than actually work to shut down clubs that continually violate the law.
Soon the photo ops for crimes in the U Street area will become more and more frequent because the people who actually LIVE there will speak up about things like this (rather than a bunch of MDers who happen to go to church in Shaw). Soon after that the police will show up more often and then comes the change that Shiloh and others have been fighting against (yes that awful g-word).
If you have more than two homicides a year connected to a club, how do you turn that around on the yuppies? I think you shut down every club that has more than multiple occurence of homicides being commited inside or outside by its patrons. Clubs that are magnets for killings should be shut down, period!
Dick's comments are so typical of folks who don't live in the neighborhood, or in some strange way, hate whitey so much that they side with the criminals. I have lived within 4 blocks of Kili's for 9 years. The day I first moved to the neighborhood, I was about the same age as the drug dealers directly across the street from me. The moment they saw me moving in, they started loudly stating all sorts of things based on the color of my skin (white), although they didn't engage me directly. They said they wouldn't be able to do the things they used to do in the street anymore, yelled racial slurs, etc. I actually didn't care about the drug dealing as much as the constant violence, my car windows being bashed in regularly, my house getting broke into by my neighbors while I was at work, bricks coming through my windows at 2AM, and the constant attitude from the majority of the (mostly black) police that it was my fault for moving into a majority black neighborhood. As I got to know people, we would talk to people about the problems, and although a lot of people didn't like the drug dealers, mostly only white folks were willing to organize and complain to the Councilman, the ANC and the Police. Although there were some black folks willing to attend meetings, etc. most black folks that didn't like the drug dealers seemed to think it was better to keep quiet and not get involved because either they were scared of the thugs, they grew up not expecting better, or they didn't trust the government.
As I have seen things changing in the U Street Neighborhood, I understand why people think it is just because people are white, but it isn't because the Police say, "Oh, a white person is complaining, we gotta move on that." In fact, it used to be quite the opposite. However, it has changed because new residents and SOME long time residents, who expect better services have been organizing and pressuring the government to act. Not just pressuring for a day or a week, but several years of growing pressure. So I'm glad my hard work, dedication, and pain is paying off in the form of people responding to and acting on constant shootings, although I watch the news and I see shootings in PG county and Southeast covered all the time. I don't think you can say that in DC, only shootings in whiter areas are covered, especially given that U Street/Shaw is still majority black, and they have closed clubs in other areas for repeated problems, including the after hours club run by a few police officers a couple years back.
I also remember going to ANC meetings years ago and hearing some long time black residents make demands like, 'why don't we have a nice grocery store like the white people in Georgetown!', many people not understanding that what it takes is organization and constant POSITIVE pressure on and cooperation with groups like the police and the government to make things safer and more inviting for people who would open retail, etc.. Now that it is happening many of those same people seem to be really mad about it because they didn't realize that once you make things safer and populate the vacant lots and borded up buildings with quality of life enhancing retail establishments, etc., that more people will want to move in, and not all of them will be black (some people seems to prefer segregation, as long as they are the ones enforcing it) and that in turn more demand = higher housing prices . I say, power to the people, because we worked hard and made it happen. Where were the anti-gentrifiers when I was pressuring the police to fully staff their PSA and take more reports from people the they serve? - they were either sitting at home (the folks that didn't want to participate in ANC meetings, PSA meetings, etc.), or they were sitting beside me as they demanded a better grocery store like the white people in Georgetown have. Either way, complaining now about white people now only tells me that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and ignorant given that a number of my new neighbors are black yuppies.
My answer to the question is that if you have an establishment that has this kind of record with deadly violence, they have to be held accountable somehow, or there is not incentive to improve things. If the owners don't to agree to AND DEMONSTRATE a change in the way they operate that results in the violence largely disappearing, then it is unfair to their neighbors and other community serving businesses NOT to revoke the liquor license.
KS...well said.
Tough situation. The club seems to pay for a lot of security, and the shooting didn't actually occur on or within the grounds of the property. Conversely, last summer, a young man was stabbed to death on M Street in Gtown after stepping on someone's shoe in Modern. More recently, a woman was raped in the bathroom at a popular bar in Adams Morgan. Yet no one calls for those clubs to be closed. Whether or not it is the case, these actions by the council give off the appearance that if your club attracts an african american demographic you may have an extra strike against you in the eyes of city policy makers.
Djt,
Those were ISOLATED incidents. Modern on M Street and most clubs in Adams Morgan have not had 99 phone calls to police in the last two years. Kili's has.
Take it from the person of color who lives on U Street...the neighborhood is glad to see it go.
Why name one establishment and not the other?
I meant to write:
Take it from THIS person of color who lives on U Street:Good riddance, Kili's!
L - well, a Google search for "rape bathroom adams morgan" yields nothing, so maybe it's not entirely authentic...
At any rate, the bars/clubs in Adams Morgan were under close scrutiny after the nouveau riche moved into the lofts behind 18th Street and complained about the noise, and no doubt will be if street fights after last call continue.
I agree with Celena - a pattern of violence is what calls for action, not isolated incedents. If there were a place in Georgetown that were continually associated with violence, often deadly violence, I think Jack Evans would have a look at its liquor license as well.
I AM A SECURITY GUARD AT THE CLUB. THE CLUB IS ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE THE CLUB AND OUTSIDE BUT ONLY AT A CERTAIN FEET (PERIMETER)AROUND THE CLUB. THE SHOOTINGS TOOK PLACE OUTSIDE OF OUR PERIMETER. BEING A SECURITY U ARE NOT ALOUD TO GO BEYOND THAT. THE POLICE IS NOW IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE PATRONS GET TO THERE CARS SAFE. SOME POLICE ARE PAID TO DO SO.THE CRIMINALS THAT COMMITTED THE CRIMES SHOULD BE PUNISHED AND BROUGHT TO JUSTICE NOT THE CLUB. SOME OF THE POLICE IN THAT AREA IS NOT GOOD BECAUSE I HAD TO LEAVE MY POST ONE TIME TO HELP A GIRL FROM GETTING BEATEN BY HER BOYFRIEND WHILE THE POLICE WAS STANDING THERE WATCHING. I CAN GO FOREVER SPEAKING ON THINGS BUT IM NO GOSSIPER. THE REASON THE CLUB CLOSE WAS JELOUSY AND HATE. I BLAME THE GOVERNMENT THAT SET TRAPS FOR BLACKS THAT SIPS CONIAC THAT LAYS THEM FLAT.
Put down the Caps Lock and slowly step away from the keyboard.