July 9, 2007
Adams Morgan Bars May Face New Regulations
For many, the bars-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see on 18th Street in Adams Morgan is exactly what has made the neighborhood the center of the District's nightlife. For others, it's the very reason the neighborhood has started going downhill.
According to the Post, the D.C. Council will vote tomorrow on whether to limit the number of taverns on the strip, potentially imposing restrictions that could force owners to close shop. Longtime area residents have complained that more and more of the strip's alcohol-selling restaurants have become taverns, a classification that frees them from regulations mandating that 45 percent of annual revenue come from the sale of food. By making the switch, residents contend, the diversity of the area's thriving restaurants has given way to generic bars and pubs that focus more on cheap booze than they do on community -- thus contributing to the violence and crime that regularly comes along with weekend nights.
On the other side of the debate are the restaurant-owners, who argue that the District's regulations regarding food sales are too restrictive -- so restrictive, in fact, that they have been forced to classify their restaurants as taverns to escape them. In their mind, city officials should focus on re-writing the regulations instead of limiting the number of taverns that can exist in any one area.
Photo by digitaldefection
Though restaurant-owners have a good point, they may have to suck it up and hope that they can start selling more food -- the legislation looks like it's going to pass. Though it was introduced by council Chair Vincent Gray at the behest of Mayor Adrian Fenty, the Committee on Public Works and the Environment, which is chaired by Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), voted unanimously to endorse it in late June. And since Adams Morgan is Graham's turf and not many of his colleagues can match the energy he expends on going after bars, it seems doubtful that enough of them would rise to oppose it.
But is it good public policy? Will a moratorium really save Adams Morgan from bars that provide little more than cheap drinks, or will it serve to sink restaurants that struggle to sell enough food to keep their liquor licenses?
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Not a huge fan of Adams Morgan, however, I did catch a hearing on this issue replayed on cable. One of the bar owners made an interesting point. He claimed that it wasn't bars or taverns that were causing the problems, but rather the proliferation of pizza and other food places that are open after the bars close. According to this owner, bar and tavern owners have so much to lose if they commit even one alcohol violation, that they are very strict about not serving drunks, kicking out problem drinkers and checking ids. They also realize the scrutiny they are under and thus take measure to cut down on things like loitering and lound noise. The pizza places, on the other hand, have almost nothing to lose and thus allow loitering, litter, and the little things that people are complaining about.
Adams Morgan is one of the few places that justifies the District as a viable city. If that goes away, who knows. This city has too few vibrant districts for clubs, restaurants, bars and shopping, and the ones it does have are often boring and almost suburban in character.
Adams Morgan has developed into a night life district, and a fairly good one. Any residents should be proud to live here. If they aren't they should sell their extremely valuable houses at a huge profit and buy in a more quiet neighborhood, maybe even one with a metro stop like Cleveland Park or Eastern Market.
Let the city breath! Don't reduce one of it's most needed aspects. To those who want to close down the "taverns" If you wanted a quiet place where people always behave perfectly you should move to NoVa.
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
[aloud]
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!
On a somewhat related note, I'm surprised Graham hasn't proposed legislation banning under age bands from performing at bars after reading about a recent incident at the Red and the Black. The bass player threw a bar staffer after an argument over whether his girlfriend and friend (both underage) could enter the bar to see the show.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1962
Adams Morgan Bars
If they closed 50-75% of the places on that strip, I might actually want to go to Adams Morgan.
Is there any sort of business out there that Grahamzilla isn't looking to killa?
Adams Morgan is great...it serves as a magnet for all the Bridge and Beltway tools who who like to drink until they puke, chow down on jumbo slices, and then get into fights with each other. Keeps that crowd away from the places where I like to do my drinking.
Ed - there's a decent chance they would avoid the places you like to do your drinking even if A-M bars closed down. Chances are, they'd hit larger bars in the Gallery Place area - I'm guessing - if A-M was out of the running. Assuming you like smaller neighborhood joints (entirely baselessly), you'd probably be safe.
Bridge & Beltway - I like that. But it needs tweaking - how many really use the beltway to come drink in DC?
Bridge & Metro doesn't work as well - maybe Rock Creek & Red Line?
Bridge & Beltway - I like that. But it needs tweaking - how many really use the beltway to come drink in DC? Bridge & Metro doesn't work as well - maybe Rock Creek & Red Line?
Yeah, but "Rock Creek & Red Line" has a distinctly Maryland bias that doesn't include the jerkoffs trucking in from VA. How about "Beltway to Bridge"?
Jim...how about Bridge and Parkway?
I actually hadn't been out in Adams Morgan on a weekend in several years until recently...I was kind of shocked at just how crazy things had gotten. I'm not a big fan of the nanny state, or excessive regulations, but dang, just walking down 18th I saw the aftermaths of two fights that were bad enough to warrant the attention of both MPD and the paramedics.
I'd just as soon leave things as they are, but then again, I live a couple neighborhoods away. If I actually lived in Adams Morgan, I'd probably feel differently.
Just throwing this out there: If the bars made the alcohol cheaper, wouldn't that mean food becomes a larger source of revenue? Obviously it makes it that more difficult to turn a profit but if a restaurant/tavern is on the line of that 45% food revenue, this might be able to push it to the food side just slightly.
If they closed the street like in Austin, it would keep the mass of people all close together at closing time that causes a lot of the pushing and shoving. It's not the only problem for sure. There are probably too many bars in one location. If every neighborhood had several bars (which in an ideal world, it should), we perhaps wouldn't be having this problem. The other option, of course, is don't go out on weekends.
Beltway to Bridge
Bridge & Metro
Bridge and Parkway
Rock Creek & Red Line
I love how DC residences get all territorial...Like retarded dogs pissing in a dog park.
"If the bars made the alcohol cheaper, wouldn't that mean food becomes a larger source of revenue?"
Or they sell more beer and make it a bigger source of revenue.
They should close the street on weekends if only to keep drunk idiots from running in front of cars. I'm amazed I don't hear of more pedestrians getting whacked coming out of the bars. Then again, it's not like the cars get much chance to build up speed.
And spare me the pleas for diversity of food providers. If they really cared about that they'd ban any more pizza slice places from opening up.
I was in AM on Saturday after a two year hiatus and man, that place has dissolved into general lawlessness after 3AM. I'm actually surprised that more people haven't gotten shot.
I almost got into two fights walking up 18th street protecting the girls in my group from the packs of guys (who look UNDER the age of 21) surrounding them and grabbing their butts/breasts, as well as dodging other fights, puke, and half eaten pizza on the ground.
I don't wanna sound like an old man (cause I'm not), but fuck it. Shut the whole place down at 12 Midnight and clear out the streets with fire hoses if you need to.
As a 3 year resident of AM, I can say this, I love several of the places on the strip: Bourbon, Toledo Lounge, New Orleans Cafe, the Diner, Tryst, Soussi, etc. (each for different reasons). However, I also detest the places that are open for no other reason than to provide a place for college students/hill staffers to come and get completely blitzed and crash around at 3am. I live about 4 blocks from the strip and am not fond of the inevitable 3am wakeup call, nor am I fond of the fact that many of these folks then promptly get into their cars and drive away.
Frankly I'm not sure about the 45% rule - that may exclude all but places like Cashions, Perry's, etc., as I have no idea what kind of profit the food/drink places make as a ratio (note: I do NOT include Spaghetti Garden in the "food place" category). That being said, anything that can be done to encourage less of a drink until you puke mentality and more of a locally owned balanced establishment is good in my book!
"I love how DC residences get all territorial...Like retarded dogs pissing in a dog park."
More like drunken fratboy staffers pissing in an alleyway after throwing half-eaten jumbo slices at other drunken fratboy staffers who looked sideways at their drunken staffer girlfriend du jour.
I'm not surprised most of them are taverns, because they're filthy enough that I would never even consider eating food from them. I sympathize for the residents, since their roadway has become a magnet for boozing and idiocy. It's a fun place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Jumbo Slice (and all the imitators) is beyond terrible. Give me Amsterdam Falafel, or if I'm nearby Albertos for a late night pizza snack.
I disagree that closing off traffic is the right answer. If you did, then everybody would have to wander into the surrounding neighborhoods to catch a cab, which would spread the noise and litter problem. Although perhaps the answer would be to set up a taxi stand at the top of Columbia and 18th.
I haven't been in Adams Morgan passed midnight in many years, but it was a pretty ugly scene back then too. Not sure whether that much has changed.
"Bridge and Beltway"... why be so derivative? Label them for what they really are that we most certainly are not, citizens of states (with representatives no less)
How about:
State-Livers
The Commonwealth Crowd (NoVA only)
The Represented (Tools)
It amazes me when I go to AM how few police officers are on duty. The staffing decisions of the MPD often mystify me, but none more than this. You need a ton of officers on foot walking up and down the strip, with others positioned at either end to temporarily stop traffic if necessary to keep the pedestrian crowds moving. The mounted unit would work well here as officers on horseback can see over the crowd and the horses tend to intimidate the jerks who like to start fights. If something does break out, the nearest cop should be no more than a few doors away, not blocks away in a car that has to fight through traffic to stop a fight that will be over before he arrives.
Guest 23: Very good call on the mounted unit. People tend to calm their $#izz down around horses, plus it makes the cops all the more noticeable, ups their presence.
My apartment looks out over 18th and Columbia and I've been there three summers now. I have to say that July and August are far crazier than any other times of year. Not that the place is library-quiet the rest of the time, but it always surprises me just how MUCH worse it gets when the summer interns arrive.
Closing 18th street would make the situation worse because it'd remove the parking garage and the angled spaces, and considering how many nutjobs drive, they do take some pressure off the rest of the neighborhood. And the cabs would clog Columbia, which is pretty much the only thing enabling cab flow at crunch times.
As a three-and-a-half year resident of the 1800 block of Kalorama Rd I really have to say I do not see what the commotion is about. Given the incredible concentration of people with alcohol on weekends I think 18th St is AMAZINGLY safe. The recent shooting at 18th and Belmont notwithstanding (and as that took place several hundred feet from my house I'm certainly concerned about it), there is really an extremely low amount of crime per capita. Furthermore I think the stretch of 18th St between California and Columbia is among the most heavily policed in the city, and there are very few places in DC that I feel safer than in front of Tom Tom or Reef, whether it's 3 pm or 3 am. I'm not sure if poster 23 and I are perceiving things differently but I see massive numbers of police on 18th St every time I'm there (which is every day during the day, and most weekends at night).
I think, unfortunately, some number of fistfights are inevitable when you have this massive a crowd of people coming out of bars in a really confined space. However, I think the police do a pretty good job of reducing crime on 18th St itself - again, this is within the framework of having thousands of drunk people out in the middle of the night, far more people at a greater density than anywhere else in the city.
We all know what Adams Morgan is and what it's like on the weekends. The vitriol certainly seems unwarranted to me - like poster 2 implies, Adams Morgan is a distinct place in the city, and if it's not for you, simply don't come. We have plenty of residential neighborhoods, we have plenty of commercial districts, we have arts and music and museums, so surely there's something everyone can amuse himself with.
I've been a resident of AM for almost 10 years, and I wouldn't live anywhere else in the city. It's been like this for ages, and the violence ebbs and flows (does anyone remember the shotgun robberies from a few years ago), just as it does with most areas.
It comes with living in the neighborhood. For those residents who complain, too bad. You should have researched the area beforehand before moving here.
MOVE if you don't like it. I'm sure the suburbs of VA and MD would be happy to have you. Don't come in and decide to change the neighborhood so that it fits your more suburban attitude.
There are plenty of us who moved here because AM is like it already is. I don't see a need to change it.
For the visitors, DON'T COME HERE if you don't like the wilder atmosphere. Georgetown would love to have you, and has more paid parking.
I'm with Krista on this one, pseudonym or no pseudonym.
Man, I love the idea that "less fratboy pizza fights" automatically = "I like living in Reston" from "guests" these days. (That's #27 here, not #26). DC's DC, MAn! Any attempt to change is pussy!
Anyway - I would note to #26 that, while s/he is more or less correct that "18th St is AMAZINGLY safe," that is probably not the highest crime area in AM on weekend nights. Read the police blotter and you see plenty of muggings 'round about 1:30 through 3 a.m., usually on Champlain, Ontario, Euclid, and 17th. 18th street gets the highest traffic, and apparently the biggest police presence - but beyond 18th, policing doesn't just taper off, it plummets.
Maybe they could get more of those guys with the neon shirts. What do the Golden Triangle guys do on weekends?
I don't see how this law would make tavern owners close shop as it is only a moratorium. But to help the restaurants stay open when the enforcement takes effect maybe they could reduce the food minimum to 35 or 40%. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing more restaurants move up my ways toward Mt. Pleasant.
Guest 27 says: "If you don't like it, move!" Good luck, dude. Lots of them have been there longer than you and your ten years, I'm sure.
The reason AM doesn't have more officers is that 3D also has places with *serious* violence and other problems. Not just the drunken idiots screaming/fighting/puking/pissing/double parking etc kind.
More mounted Police officers would be great. Ask Burke of SOD. Of course, if some drunk horse's ass crowds (or slaps) a horse's ass, I'm guessing there might be some liability issues.
The business owners who are currently in violation of their underlying liquor licenses shouldn't be allowed to move the bar by deferring compliance. All this talk about "new regulations" elides the fact that many are currently out of compliance, and have been for years. The guy who brought up Rick's Bar has it right. The current move is as much about enforcement of existing rules as it is about the creation of new ones to counter slippery operators.
"I wish Jim Graham would take this advice. Let him menace some other part of the city for a week or so."
...and if the hipster crowd actually lived in Ward 1 and voted in Ward 1 (let alone actually lived in the District), then there would be a right to bitch and moan. But a lot of the folks who party in Adams Morgan live elsewhere, either in the District or in the burbs.
Graham takes the actions he does because that's what his supporters ask him to do. These supporters are the folks who have lived in Ward 1 for years, and who work for his campaigns every four years.
If you want to change the system, it's much eaiser to do if you take a stand, live in the area, and if you don't like the local leadership, then launch a challenge campaign! Seriously, there's a really low barrier to entry into DC politics, so why not simply run for ANC, council, ABC, or otherwise?
Oh, and G27, the Shotgun Stalker was in Mount Pleasant in the mid/late '90s. You might as well be talking about the Latino riots in MP in '92, for all it has to do with anything.
I love Adams Morgan the way it is and I'm disappointed that DC's solution is to regulate, legislate, and eventually suffocate.
The only problem with mounted police is some stoned idiot might feed a bunch of junk food to a diabetic horse and kill it.
BUTTERCUP!!
If you think that fighting and general rowdiness are the issues, then real problem is the pizza places. They create a reason for very drunk people to linger past closing time. They should be forced to close at the same time as the bars.
But more generally, I get the sense that the area has turned off a lot of people. Steps to bring it back to some level of civility make sense, so long as the general right to get your drink on remains. Personally, I just want to be able to go to Bourbon on a weekend night--currently not possible, as the place is unbearable then, unless I'm blitzed.
As chair of Public Works and Environment, Graham should immediately shut down the pizza joints and replace them with walk-up daiquiri windows like in New Orleans. At least, that way the fratboy vomit would smell a little nicer and add a badly needed dose of color.
An 18th Street tavern restriction would only move the hiptard contingent to U Street, Gallery Place, and maybe H Street. Not necessarily a bad thing for businesses in those areas, but I'd imagine the residents won't be too happy to have their prizewinning begonias used for a toilet. But hey, it's about time the rest of DC shared the wealth. And by "wealth" I mean "fratboy vomit/urine."
The pizza places are supplying palatable food that the "restaurants", for whatever reason, don't seem to. This is why the the pizza places are open later than the bars. And it's generally held that less food equals=more intoxication.
Sure, the bar-drunk pizza gorgers congregate, mill about, and leave trash on the ground. But it's not the pizza places that 1) draw crowds to the area in the first place or 2) provide the libations that so intoxicate them, making them more likely to be rowdy and fight.
Bringing it back, the real issue is the over concentration of bars, many of which are not licensed to operate as such.
I'd rather see the nightlife spread out in the city, not concentrated into a few high density entertainment districts. And especially not ones in the midst of residential neighborhoods. Relatively few people will object to having neighborhood restaurants and bars. In fact, lots of areas are crying out for more of them. It's just part of a fun urban mix. But lots of people object to their entire neighborhood becoming a bar. It's not good for peace order and quiet, it's not good for commercial or residential diversity and, most importantly, it's just not sustainable.
It's silly to blame the pizza places for the fact that the fratboys and underage douchbags are fighting and peeing on the streets late at night. If anything, you should be thanking the pizza places for distracting the drunkards for a few seconds instead of letting them focus on fighting and breaking stuff. While pizza and water won't sober someone up entirely, at least the 30 minutes between closing time and driving home might help... just a little.
Having just returned from a foray to NYC, I am much more appreciable now of D.C.'s relatively cleaner streets and neighborhoods. It's nice to be able to walk down the street and not stumble across pile after pile of refuse.
That being said, I'm not sure it's such a wonderful idea to put the clamps on one of D.C.'s precious few nightlife mecca's. AM is rowdy, unclean and a bit out of control. But so what? Sometimes, I think people forget that D.C. *is* a major city and neighborhoods like AM come with the territory. This isn't some cry to let anarchy reign over the neighborhood, or to call out the NIMBYs for trying to suburbanize the AM crowd. But the neighborhood needs to breathe. D.C. has enough Capitol Hills and Cleveland Parks that shut down when the sun drops...if AM keeps going into the wee hours, good on 'em. Maintaining or increasing the police presence is a definite good thing, as is going after particularly troublesome bars or eateries (I'm looking at you, Jumbo Slice). But legislating the hell out of the neighborhood to make it "more D.C." will kill it. Like others have noted, there's a neighborhood for all tastes in this city. If AM doesn't suit you, there's likely another one that will.
Though Adams Morgan and its dark side streets on weekends are great if you like puking and robbing, I'll pass on DC's weekly Mardi Gras hell. Nevertheless, taste is idiosyncratic.
A clampdown is not the answer; it will kill Adams Morgan and unleash its drunken commuters onto U Street and Chinatown. DC's restaurant/tavern laws are overly restrictive and squeezing out local business is not going to make things better overnight.
If you don't like it, stay away on Friday and Saturday night. It's a perfectly nice place the rest of the week.
BTW, just to clarify for the record (because the post doesn't do it), the current food minimum is 45% -or- $2,000 per seat per year, which is often a much, much lower number than the 45%.
When the alcohol laws were updated/re-written in 2004, members of the community lobbied hard to create a Super Tavern or Cafe-type license which would create a new class of license with a lower per-seat food minimum (some suggested $1500 per seat, others $1000), but CM Graham and the Council punted.
At the end of the day, a previous poster is correct, all these "restaurants" that are complaining that they will be put out of business have been knowingly defrauding the city for years because they purchased a restaurant license, knowing full-well the requirements that that license brings with it, and yet they also knew that those requirements were rarely enforced. Now that they are actually going to be enforcing laws that have been on the books for years, they want to cry foul.
Yes, Adams Morgan is home to a sometimes great nightlife (many of us who live there do not venture out on Friday and Saturday nights), but it also home to three elementary schools and two large community parks and is filled with families, quite a few how live in Jubilee Housing and who cannot afford to move elsewhere.
I've been in the neighborhood for 14 years (and yes, I can still be found out drinking in the neighborhood several nights a week)but the nightlife aspects of the neighborhood have changed dramaticaly in that time.
Lane, ANC's are nonpartisan and therefore not subject to many of the same rules as other offices. Also, there are plenty of other ways to get involved like becoming a member of a civic association, actually attending ANC meetings, etc. Anyone can sit at computer all day sending messages (myself included).
Good note, Guest #46.
Plenty of ANC's city-wide have seated commissioners who would not be able to serve were it not for the fact that ANCs are non-partisan.
The ANCs are expected to provide representative neighborhood input on DC Gov decisions, and to do so without regard to ideology. As one seated Councilmember noted, "There is no partisan way to fill a pothole".
Like anywhere a**holes ruin it foreveryone. On U Street it's the thugs. On Adam's Morgan it's the thugs and the frats. What are you gonna do? it's the competition for women mixed with testosterone and alcohol. Gay bars almost NEVER have security problems. Rich places like Cafe Milano almost NEVER, EVER> Conclusion...white , black and hispanic males should learn to be a little richer and gayer...Thank you. ;)