February 27, 2006
Vegetate Continues Fighting in Shaw
Last November we wrote about a brewing development fight in Shaw, where the Shiloh Baptist Church was exercising considerable influence against the applications for liquor licenses for two restaurants, Queen of Sheba and Vegetate.
Recently DCist's own Rob Goodspeed reported on the continuing struggle, writing that Vegetate was lobbying Council-member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) to act upon a clause in District law that would finally allow the vegetarian restaurant to get its liquor license. According to an email sent to members of the community by Vegetate, the city measured the distance from the restaurant to the nearest school, keeping in with a law that states that no liquor license can be issued for an establishment within 400 feet of a school. Three measurements were taken from different spots along the restaurant's property and the school, and a city inspector found that when measured from different points, Vegetate was 334 feet, 434 feet, or 900 feet away from Seaton Elementary School. The problem was that the lowest of those measurements -- from property line to property line -- stood, thus putting the restaurant within the 400 foot no-alcohol zone.
Vegetate did discover, though, that businesses in commercial zones have been offered exemptions from this regulation in the past, and has asked that supporters of the restaurant contact Evans' office to encourage him to push one for Vegetate.
Of course, we don't expect that Shiloh will go down without a fight. But if Vegetate does finally get its license, we're guessing its owners and fans will sit back and savor a cool drink in victory.
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Do you think that they would have an easier time getting a license if they made their dj booth a little smaller? Might make their claims to never be a club a little more palatable.
wonder how far the liquor store and grocery store are from the school
The liquor store is closer to the school, grocery store slightly further away.
Still, Vegetate is on 9th and the entrance to the school is on Rhode Island. Only by measuring from the back of the school's playing fields could you get anywhere close to 334 feet.
i have contacted jack evans office and the local ANC to support these businesses. that church better resolve the parking issues soon. i remember how screwed up this neighborhood was in 1987 when i moved here and shilow did nothing but they did finance their renovation of the main church through riggs bank and terrorist drug money.
What is the ostensible purpose for the 400 foot law? Really, 400 feet isn't very much, and so either the law isn't very useful or there is a very specific reason for it.
My best guess, is that it is there to keep convenience, liquor, and grocery marts from having liquor easily accessible to middle and high school students. (Because 400 ft would mean they could duck out between classes and illegal purchase or shoplift something to take back to school.) Maybe I am totally off base, but it does seem likely.
As Vegetate is a restaurant, it wouldn't really bother anyone by having some wine and beer available by the glass to diners.
I guess can see why having a bar near a school might be discouraged, to keep a certain 'influence' away from kids. I just do not understand why the restaurant bothers people.
Why can't we have sensible solutions instead of some people insisting on the letter instead of the intent of the law? Give them their exemption and license already.
We are do not do kids any favors by over sheltering them. Yes, keep the drugs and the guns off of school grounds. However, people drinking responsibly with food is exactly the kind of drinking behaviour we want to model as appropriate. What is the hang up?
Please patronize this restaurant while it fights for its liquor license. It would be such a shame to lose an establishment that is so clearly good for the community...not to mention the fact that the food and vibe of this place rule.
vegetate is at 1414 9th street
the liquor store is at like 1480 9th st
the GIANT which sells beer and wine is the odd side of the 1400 block of 9 street for the entire block making GIANT closer to the school than vegetate.
Um, and why is a *church* involved in the first place? Shouldn't this be between the restaurant and the school, with input by, oh, I don't know, the people who actually LIVE in the neighborhood?
It's been said above, but it bears repeating... there's a freakin' liquor store across the street from Shiloh and much closer to the school!!
Why doesn't Shiloh focus its no-booze fight on putting them outta business?!?
Until someone can tell me what good a bulletproof glass, walk up liquor store has ever done any neighborhood, you'll never convince me their argument is about anything more than controlling the local streets.
ok, the liquor store contributes to the community by selling lottery and gambling numbers. cars just pull up curbside and double park 6 days a week. but not on sunday when the church is open for business. and the liquor store operator is nasty and disrespectful to his customers.
It cracks me up that Shiloh sees this as the biggest issue in the neighborhood...don't they own the abandoned homes along 9th Street and at the corner of 8th and Q? Where I have seen drug deals happen in the open?
I think Shiloh should look within their own house before throwing stones at people looking to fix up the neighborhood...how about you act like a good neighbor for a change instead of hurting those who are pushing for change in the neighborhood...
The issue is plain and simple...are you for or against the changing landscape in Shaw? Being a resident that lives two blocks from this...HELL YES!
yes the church ownes almost the entire block of the 1500 block of 9 street(even number side) with numerous building code violations. someone should call 727-1000 and send inspectors over to the church owned properties.
Across the street from Shaw high school is a convenience/beer store. In fact, all the bums buy their booze there then drink it on the HS field next to the paved soccer field. How is this tolerated while a restaurant is jerked around? What a sad state of affairs.
Good thing that the new gay bar is opening even further away from Shiloh, on 9th and N. I'd hate for any more latent homophobia to be er, aroused. Scripture Cathedral on 9th and O is closer, but they're not only laid back about the liquor license issue, but they've also stopped all the double parking.
The reason that Shiloh hasn't aggressively objected to the other establishments in that area is because Vegetate represents the dreaded gentrification, that is, white people taking over the neighborhood. Was Shihoh up in arms about that Kili's Cafe that had like 99 police calls in two years and a murder? I don't recall that they were.
Also, what's the new gay bar opening up in that neighborhood? I'm intrigued. I can't imagine that won't cause a ruckus.
a gay bar at 9th and N? lol, where exactly?
9th street has a history for gay bars. there was one on the convention center site before it was razed. called fantasies or something like that. Bishop Long from Scripture Cathedral is one cool dude and a good neighbor.
EAW i talked with the owner of 1414 9 street on the phone two years ago and she sounded jamacian. i dont think she is white.
EAW...
They were okay on the Kili's issue...they were not beating down the doors but they were involved. And to correct the record it is 4 bodies (in three incidents) and 5 casualties that have been linked to our favorite DC shooting gallery owned by a former cop...
Do not even get me started on the double parking issue...last week some idiot parked their automobile (MD plates) in the middle of the P Street/Marion Street intersection! Literally blocking me and my neighbors in...
Being a "good neighbor" (a term that the elders at Shiloh love to use) is a two way street but every time we have an issue it is seen as secondary because it usually has to do with their parishoners who come in from the suburbs or their rat infested properties.
That must be so frustrating, BSmith. Is anyone at the Church being the least bit helpful? It sounds like it's getting to the point where you should just walk in and loudly interrupt the service until they get up and move their cars. I don't have a car so I don't have a dog in that fight, but I sympathize.
I love the hypocrisy of the Church (not that hypocrisy in the Church is anything new). Basically, being a good neighbor means accomodating the parishoners who live in Maryland at the expense of the tax-paying citizens of the neighborhood, while failing to maintain its property and objecting to any economic development that might improve the surrounding community. Yet another reason why I don't believe in organized religion.
What was the Church on 14th street that struck a sweetheart deal with a developer to turn the property into condos, only to have the pastor denounce the deal by saying that "soon, only rich, white homosexuals will be able to afford to live here" ?
Now, back to that new gay bar on 9th street. Anyone know the details?
This fight is about more than restaurants and churches - it is about race. Blacks do not want whites in their neighborhoods and they will use any excuse to make life difficult for whites. The demographics of DC are changing and I suspect this issue will be resolved as gentrification moves on and the NEWCOMERS take thier place at the front of the bus and at the lunch counter. Until then, be patient....
bsmith have you approached your ANC member leroy thorpe about the parking at marion and P st? isnt the biggest double parking church near you the Springfield baptist church at 6th and P?
EAW the church you ask about is the John Wesley AME on the corner of corcoran and 14th
martine knows her hoods :)
well i'm not sure that that holds, as the owners of both vegetate and queen sheba are african-americans (i believe).
Roger,
There was a time where I thought you were spot on...but it is not only a "race issue". It is a change issue...when my wife and I bought in Shaw a few years ago many of the neighbors were downright rude to us...but when they realized that we were not going anywhere and that we were there to clean up our property...we were invited to every social event and community function known to mankind. So many that even the Nation of Islam guy in my neighborhood comes by to check on my wife when I am traveling!
The point is...Shiloh represents a group of people who quit on the neighborhood. They fled to PG county and now that the hood is turning around...the people who quit want back in at bargain prices. These folks are the ones who complain about "affordable housing" and other issues...but they were the first to turn tail and haul ass out of the area in the 1980s. I could give you the general description of the average person who fled...but that is not the point...they are mad because they just could not pull the trigger before the neighborhood began the upswing and now they will do everything in their power to stop it.
As for the gay bar...sorry no details. But one last point...the property on 9th Street that Shiloh owns is more than suitable for a large parking garage (a money maker with the CC right there...and a place to park on Sundays...but that would be too "good neighbor" of them).
bsmith
i may be mistaken but i believe the church owned property you speak of on 9th street is zoned historic. so there will be no parking garage.
there is a plan for underground parking where the GIANT parking lot is now with condo's ontop and a new smaller GIANT on the O Street market site.
I walked past the Church on the way home and saw the Shiloh crack houses you guys were talking about. Talk about a black eye on the neighborhood. It doesn't appear that they're being good neighbors at all. And you're right BSmith, on a few points. The falling-down buildings definitely could be torn down for a parking garage. But why do that? These people WHO DON'T EVEN LIVE IN THE DISTRICT feel entitled to double park on Sundays.
Is the gay bar the place to be called Be Bar? I noticed the liquor license application on the door. It could be a nice little stop-over point on the way to The Eagle, although I'm not sure how much longer the Eagle will be around. DAMNED GENTRIFIERS!!! LOL!
Martine, the Church I was talking about was The Church of the Rapture at 14th and T.
oh yeah that one! :)
she use to be on TV years ago and had us in stitches.
the AME wesley sold their parking lot for a condo high rise with no parking so now all there parisoners have no place to park
arent the owners of vegetate black and from dc?
Be Bar we need a new gay club in logan circle/blagden alley/shaw neighborhood. your basic rum and coke costs 4.50 at the eagle. that's alot for a stinkin dive. the owner is cleaning the place on sunday mornings looking for dropped quaters plus there's no place to park.
I think you may be correct on the owners and as I said this is not a racial thing...rather a new versus old thing. Regardless of race, religion and if they are pro/anti gentrification...as long as they support making Shaw a better place to live I think they are good for the 'hood. The reason for my distaste for Shiloh is they are a one way relationship...their way or the highway.
Approach Leroy Thorpe about the parking issue? I used to live in his ANC and the guy is a nut job... just for entertainment's sake I'd like to see the whitest, gayest, yuppiest poster on this site go to him some time and complain about church parking. I think the City Paper would get about a half-dozen cover stories out of that interaction alone.
Sorry but I got to stick up for Leroy. You are correct...he is a bit of a loose cannon but I will tell you one thing...he gets it done. Every issue I have called him about has been taken care of...
He is my ANC rep and I know the history and the awful things he has done to people running against him and to people who disagree with him. When I first moved here he jumped all over me calling me an urbanpioneer and other things but once we found a way to work together...he has been beyond a gentleman...inviting me to his cookouts and other events.
Trust me I know what he has said about homosexuals, September 11th and other things...but I think he has mellowed a great deal. I am going to bring up the parking issue with Leroy and I would not be surprised if he gets it done...by the way he was a supporter of the Queen of Sheeba and Vegetate liquor licenses.
yes, leroy is less inflamatory but has a way to go yet! :)
funny you should mention race and the citypaper. wasnt long ago that looselips on writing about peggy cooper cafritz, running for school board president at the time, published she is white.
funny you should mention race and the citypaper. wasnt long ago that looselips on writing about peggy cooper cafritz, running for school board president at the time, published she is white.
to anon:
your logic is offbase re: our dj booth. most nightclubs--and my husband has been a dj for years so i know this firsthand--have SMALLER djs booths than ours. why? so they can squeeze more people in. our kitchen is similarly large in that it takes up half of the first floor. we designed the space in such a way that the artists who work here--be it our chef, our djs, etc.--have the space they need; not so that we can squeeze in as many people as possible.
the website is beautiful!
As a member of Shiloh and a Maryland resident I must speak out on this issue. I may not pay DC taxes....and I may not live in the community....so what?! The city said I can park my car anywhere I want and if Jesus ok's it...then I'll do it.
Now about Vegetate: We are concerned that one of our church children could skip over the fence, walk down the street, cut through the alley (whilst stepping over feces, and syringes), walk through the back entrence, sit down and order a glass of wine or a beer, consume it and then run back to the school before he or she is missed. I don't know about you...but I don't want our kids exposed to that possibility.
And quite frankly I'm tired of hearing the argument about the liquor store and the Giant accross the street. What kid is going to walk in a store and shoplift a single serving alcholic beverage, and then run out? That's almost impossible.
Did you get one of those Jesus Said I Could parking stickers, Godchild? I've been looking for one of those. It's a bitch getting a legal spot anywhere near Halo.
The church uses wine every Sunday right? and they give it away, right? and they border the school right? and they are a kind of business right? sooo what is the church saying?
ME, the church is Baptist, so no, they don't use wine every Sunday.
I am so happy that Shiloh won this battle!
Listen, I have been to Vegetate and I actually know the owners. They are wonderful people and the restaurant is absolutely AMAZING!! I am very excited about their opening and about their food!! I love the restaurant AND I love Dominic and Jenny.
However, I applaud Shiloh for sticking to their guns and being true to their convictions. Since when does "progress" (economic or otherwise) equal “liquor”?? If people love the restaurant that much, is having to wait until after dinner to drink really that much of a hardship? Shiloh is simply doing what they think is best for their neighborhood (the fact that many parishioners are from MD is irrelevant. The church is IN DC and the ministerial staff are from DC). I can’t imagine the Shiloh is saying that this is “the biggest issue in the neighborhood”. It is one of many. And they are doing as much as they can for as many issues as they can address.
Shiloh is a very old, community-based church. And contrary to popular belief, a LOT of their members live in the immediate community. I know because I grew up at Shiloh as did my grandmother, who is a native Washingtonian and lives right around the corner from the church. Vegetate’s customers will visit the neighborhood and then leave. They are NOT the ones who should be deciding what is best for the people who actually live and have to deal with the consequences of these neighborhood decisions on a daily basis.
This is a great example of grassroots communities taking ownership of their neighborhoods and coming together to do something that they feel is positive. It is a very progressive example of community accountability and resourcefulness. We may not always like the outcome but if this is what the residents of this neighborhood want and they made their voice heard, then good for them. If you are so outraged, then when Vegetate has to go to these hearings, then go and make your voice heard. or pass out flyers about the benefit of a restaurant liquor license to parishioners as they come out of service. At least Shiloh is DOING something about what is important to them. Can we say the same for you?
You obviously don't love Vegetate and you obviously don't know the owners. If you did you would not be saying the things you said.
For you to assume that all of Vegetate's customers are people that drive into the city and then leave is ignorant. A lot of the clientele actually live in Shaw.
The bottom line is this: Restaurants cannot survive without the sale of alcohol. Shiloh's tactics throughout this entire ordeal have been underhanded and flat out deceitful. You love and know the owners? I doubt it. If you did you would want them to succeed. If you think they can succeed with about an ABC license you are quite naive. What exactly is Shiloh doing? Going around on religious crusades protesting black owned businesses while they ignore all the ABC licenses for white businesses opening in Shaw? What am I talking about? Let's take a look at how concerned Shiloh is with ABC licenses in Shaw and how active they are at protesting and "protecting children" in Shaw:
Veranda at 1100 P Street..no protest from Shiloh. S& W liquors at 9th & P (right beside Shiloh).....NEVER a protest from Shiloh. The Giant Supermarket whose ABC license was up for renewal in December 2005....no protest from Shiloh. The Brewery and Mongolian BBQ coming to the convention center....no protests from Shiloh. Let's wait and see if Shiloh protests “Be Lounge” on 9th Street. Which is supposed to be a gay nightclub. I am sure they wont.
Shiloh's parishioners don't really know what is going on in the neighborhood because most of them are only there one day a week....Sunday. 9th Street is damn near in ruin because of the blight that Shiloh has contributed. Before trying to ruin the affairs and lives of small businesses who are actually trying to do something in Shaw why doesn't Shiloh do something with those crack houses and eye sores that they own? They build that huge church and go into tons of debt and now they can't afford to do anything with those historic properties they own. What a joke.
The funny thing is at one of Vegetate's hearings out of all 150+ people that showed up from Shiloh the ABC board said in order to protest you needed five (5) district residents to form a valid protest. It took Shiloh about 30 minutes to find five people from the church who actually lived in the district.
You obviously don't know a damn thing about Vegetate, the situation in Shaw, Shiloh, or the restaurant business. And you sure as hell don't know or love the owners of Vegetate. If you do make sure the next time you are in Vegetate to tell the people that you love that you are "so happy that Shiloh won this battle". I am sure they will be glad to hear that you are happy that a bunch of fake religious zealots from PG County will probably put them out of business and ruin their hopes and dreams.
I don't know who you are, but I actually know the owners and LOVE the owners and want them to succeed.
Look, I go to Shiloh, and the Pastor said that Jesus said to him that no one on 9th street is to have any alcohol. No one is to question Shiloh, the pastor or Jesus.
Anonymous, your love for the owners of Vegetate is so profound. If only everyone could love on that level. Indicative of your love is the fact that you signed your post Anonymous. Surely they would like to know that their 'loved' ones are out there and who they are.
Ok enough of the sarcasm: your arguments are w/o merit. GPCS summed it up quite well, let me just add the following:
1. The owners of Vegetate are DC residents, they are on 9th street every day...not just Sunday. They are a part of that community.
2. Shiloh is not doing what's best for the community...they are doing what's best for them (whatever the heck that is). Not only that...who are they to determine what is best for a community?
3. Shiloh should focus on cleaning up the filth, and the drug paraphanelia that is littered through that area that the owners have to clean up repeatedly. They should focus on cleaning up thos e horrid, run down buildings that they own.
4. Since you've been there before, surely you know that they don't open until 6pm Tues-Sat, there are no children around then. Sunday they open at 11, are we to believe that kids are going to be stealing money out of the Shiloh collection plate, running to Vegetate, ordering a $$ mamosa, getting drunk then running back to church? Give me a break. It's more likely that they'll stop at the liquor store that's 20 feet from Shilohs front door on their way to Vegetate.
The owners of Vegetate (who I know quite well) don't need the kind of love you're displaying.
R.P.
Some choice quotes from the Post today about Be Bar:
"A bar ? Across from my church?" asked Barbara Campbell, who lives on Georgia Avenue NW and for three decades has gone to Scripture Cathedral in Shaw, where she works as a cook in the church's day-care center. "Don't they understand that there is a day-care center in the church?"
Yesterday ABRA dismissed a protest from the D.C. Black Church Initiative, partly because the group, in a letter to the board, didn't object to Be Bar on legal grounds but because it "will undermine the moral character" of Shaw and "only promote an alternative lifestyle that runs counter to the values" of the neighborhood.
He insists that he didn't know that the Be Bar is gay-friendly. "If this is a gay club, that's bad for the kids," he said yesterday.
"That church has been here forever, through the '60s, the '80s, the ups, the downs" of the District, she said recently. "Gay people who are moving into the city, in Dupont, Logan, in U Street, can't just come in and say, 'We're gonna build this and that in front of it.' "
"I've been a pastor in Shaw for 46 years," Long said while taking a break after the 11 a.m. service on a recent Sunday. A framed photograph of a young Long posing with President Jimmy Carter, who signed it "With best wishes to C.L. Long," was prominently displayed. He lives in Bowie and drives in for Sunday services. He's got a parking spot in front of his church. "We helped clean this area up. Now that we've got the area cleaned up . . ."
The last one I especially love. You cleaned up Shaw? When? And why are the areas directly adjacent to churches *cough* Shilo *cough* still the rattiest areas of the neighborhood?
I am in favor of Vegetate. I even wrote the owners of Vegetate and the minister at Shiloh an email expressing my feelings. Has anyone considered that Shiloh may be trying to protect its restaurant business in its church, The Tuning Fork or something like that, from competition? Otherwise, what other reason does it see in protesting Vegetate?
nathan i thought about that as well. shiloh has a restaurant business in the church. maybe they are trying to deter competition. also let's not forget that a church is a "business". if vegetate is open on sundays and the congregation can't find a parking space easily they may not be able to make it in into service by the time the collection plate rolls around. who knows. the entire fight is based on hypocrisy and flat out ignorance. i am pretty sure all of this could have been avoided with just basic communication. i read that the owners of vegetate reached out to the church with phone calls, letters, etc. with no response. sad.
The ignorance of the comments is mind boggling. It is amazing to me how people dare to speak of that which they know not of. Pure conjecture based on pure one-sided interest. It is so easy to demonize rather than seek truth. So for the lazy here it is.
1. The church did respond to the owners of Vegetate. No agreement could be reached.
2. The opposition is not personal to the restaurant or the owners. If they are licensed, it opens the doors for other establishments whose intentions are not as noble.
3. The 400ft. rule existed before Vegetate and Queen of Sheba, it is the responsibility of the business owner to consult the law and comply before investing their hard earned funds. As opposed to ignoring the law then trying to change it to suit your needs.
4. Why would Vegetarians come to the tuning fork which is clearly a Soul Food establishment where meat reigns supreme?
5. The church did protest the liquor store. It was grandfathered in because of establishments in the same class that were already in Shaw.
6. The church seats 1500 and has two services, I doubt the crowd at Vegetate would impact attendance.
Before you past judgment on either side, get the right information. Ignorance is the biggest battle of all and the hardest to win..
"The opposition is not personal to the restaurant or the owners. If they are licensed, it opens the doors for other establishments whose intentions are not as noble."
Straw man argument. Either demonstrate the specific harm that Vegetate would do to the neighborhood or acknowledge that no such harm exists. You can't make Vegetate responsible for the harms done in YOUR IMAGINATION by NON-EXISTENT parties.
As far as molding the law to suit one's purpose, it has never been clear how the 400 feet regulation is meant to be applied. Front door to front door? Property line to property line? It seems like this is the law being molded to suit needs.
Regardless of any of this, there is legal precedent for exceptions to the rule. Let's hope Vegetate qualifies for such an exemption. Since "the crowd at Vegetate" is not impacting attendance, it would seem to be a slam-dunk case for the exception.
That's the point the issue is not just Vegetate. What about Queen of Sheba less than 10 feet from the front door of a daycare center where children ages 2-6 walk back and forth everyday? What about the parking in front of the daycare center that is a loading and unloading zone for parents that can't be used for the 10 million cabs that park there at any given time of the day? What about all the beer bottles that are in the alley way behind Queen of Sheba that neighbors are complaing about and guess what? All this without a license. If Vegetate gets a license, Queen of Sheba will to...To make an exception for one impacts all...
There is no confusion about how the rule is to be applied. It's been applied the same way for 20 years now as it states in the regulrion...meaurement is to be taken from property line to property line..(it's available online for review) It is sad that this happened the way it did..but why didn't they just read the regulations, period? To change them will affect every neighborhood in the district not just Shaw...for ONE restaurant..talk about a straw man argument..
There may be legal precedent but trust me, this doesn't qualify!
It's not sad it is tragic. Did you even consider that maybe queen of sheeba got a temporary licence to serve alchohol? And why are you snooping around in their trash?
You talk about parking when the members Shiloh double parked for years on 9th street. Stop being a hypocrite and understand that you should consider that people have a lot at stake in these businesses and that by being such a zealot you could potential cause hard working people to lose their life savings.
It would be nice if you and the rest of the members of shiloh would put forth the same effort as you all did in trying to put much needed business in Shaw out of business into fixing up or selling those abandoned row houses that should be condemned. those same houses that harbor crack addicts, vermin and god knows what.
If the "rule" has been applied how on earth did two liquor stores end up so close to Seaton Elementary? How did countless other bars, restaurants and taverns get so close to schools all over the city? How did the Giant on 9th Street get a liquor licence? Get real and wake up.
"concernedresident" you should get YOUR facts straight. I know for a fact that not one person from the church even sat down or met with anyone from Vegetate or Queen on Sheeba. Members from Shiloh went around the neighborhood with fliers and petitions trying to get signatures from neighbors (with no success). These same fliers claiming that Vegetate/QOS were both nightclubs and would ruin the neighborhood.
Since you know so much please shed light on these "negotiations" between Vegetate and Shiloh. I for one would love to hear what was discussed.
Not sure if you've heard but Shiloh once again formed a non-DC resident group of 5 to protest the Vegetate liquor license citing "peace & quiet" concerns and "proximity to a school." Goes without saying that their arguments lack merit given the non-residency of the protesters and change in legislation regarding commerical corridors; nonethless their hypocrisy is unsettling.
The protest hearing is scheduled for March 7, 2007 - check abra.dc.gov for more details.
As a matter of record, in 2005-2006 Shiloh did not protest the Class A liquor license renewal application of S&W Liquor (1428 9th Street NW, application 10963). As you know, class A liquor licenses are for establishments whose primary operation is selling liquor.
God forgive me for quoting the bible, but Shiloh although you've done great things in the community please take Matthew 23:28 to heart: "in the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy. . ."