A reader shares a letter and some follow up re: Mood Lounge located at 1318 9th St, NW (in the former Be-Bar space):
Councilmember Evans,
Does the MOOD Lounge have permission to operate on Sunday through Thursday nights? Because their website indicates they are only open on Friday and Saturday nights, and these are the only two nights of the week we as neighbors are subjected to torture on a regular basis…. I know this is not standard for them (as they have not operated on these nights in the past), but tonight is a Thursday night (a work-week night, for those of us in the surrounding neighborhood…) and the music is blasting, the patrons are lined up out front (and I took pictures) and they are operating as any other nightclub that is not in a residential neighborhood.
I’m really beginning to lose my patience with this operation and with the complete inaction by local government officials to address this problem…. I know that in other neighborhoods I have lived in that the City Councilmember wouldn’t put up with this.
Councilmember Evans – HOW WILL YOU FIX THIS??? As a citizen in your ward, I rely on you to handle issues like this in this neighborhood that affect the quality of life for your citizens. PLEASE RESOLVE THIS ISSUE – either by closing this nightclub in a residential neighborhood permanently or by forcing them to abide by the Voluntary Agreement that they accepted when they obtained the rights to this club (which, for the record, as a new operator, should have been renegotiated with the local residents).
Furthermore, I want to encourage you, as a sleepless resident, to introduce legislation (which if you don’t have time to write, I am happy to write on your behalf since I cannot sleep and have nothing better to do with my time…) that invalidates any prior ABRA license and VA for any new owner or lessee of a property which previously held one in the District. Furthermore, I am happy to introduce legislation that bars ABRA from granting CT or CN licenses within 300 feet of a residence, as such licenses are incompatible by definition with a neighboring residential community. I am confident I can validate this concern through a petition of residents in your ward.
Time after time, future owners have presented issues in every Ward that were not anticipated (and therefore legislated against or fought in a prior VA) with prior owners of said license. You may be sleeping soundly when this email is sent, but I am not. And that is a problem. As my City Councilmember, I am asking you why I cannot get a resolution to an ongoing problem with noise complaints, drug sales, prostitution, and loitering from a nuisance bar that is 75 feet away from my home. An answer to myself and all CC’d on this email would be appreciated. If the shortcoming is in the law, I would appreciate a civics lesson in how as a citizen I can improve the relevant laws to increase the quality of life in my own neighborhood. If the shortcomings are in the enforcement of the existing laws, I would appreciate an answer about why the Councilmember we voted to keep in this position cannot resolve a simple ABRA issue relating to REPEATED BLATANT VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW.
Why is it every single time I overstay my meter by 60 seconds I get a ticket from the parking authority (and have to pay the fine or get booted) and yet this business repeatedly throws up the middle finger at city hall and gets away with it???? Double Standard???
Responses after the jump. (more…)
