Wednesday, October 22, 2008

baraki agreement

after a few community meetings, an agreement has been met between the folks protesting the liquor license for baraki (the new tavern set to open at 1st and t, nw) and the owners.

here are the important details:

—maximum capacity of 50 inside and 24 outide on the sidewalk café.

—open from 11 a.m. to midnight, sunday through thursday, and 11 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on weekends. sidewalk café closes at 10 p.m. sunday thru thursday and at 11 p.m. on weekends.

–food will be available up until 1 hour before closing. last call for liquor will be ½ hour before close.

—trash pick-up will be 4 times per week, sometime between 7 a.m. & 6 p.m. the tavern will monitor exterior, sidewalk and & curbs 3 times daily for trash (guess that means that the guys who hang out on the block and use it as their personal trash can will have someone designated to pick up after them now).

—tavern will have rat control at least twice a month.

—no dj or live music allowed prior to 8 p.m., monday thru friday. signage will be posted at exit instructing patrons and employees that they're in a residential neighborhood and to should quietly.

—deliveries will be made on first street—no deliveries will be made on t street (guess that means that a few parking spaces on first will be eliminated for a loading zone).

—employees shall not park on the unit block of t street. signs will be posted within the tavern asking customers to be mindful of the parking needs of the residents of the unit block of t street (good for the folks on t street, but their gain is our loss. why no guarantees for seaton place, or first street? that's a rhetorical question, because i'm certain that 99% of the people coming to the tavern will be walking anyway.)

—no dancing is allowed. entertainment will be limited to a dj or live music with no more than 3 musicians. (guess we're just like the town in footloose—wouldn't want the kids dancing...next thing you know they might have googly eyes for each other and kiss or something like that!)

—security lights will be directed toward first and t streets. (hopefully this doesn't lead to some ugly motion lights or something like that.)

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now that that's over with, let's get them those permits and see some construction! i'm looking forward to my first chance to mosey up to the bar!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow,
Why would any business want to locate in a neighborhood that totally restricts them? It reminds me of HOA's in the suburbs.

Anonymous said...

No dancing! My friend had this rule at a bar in SanFran and the cops arrested his turntables... it led to an excellent backlash against these restrictive "agreements." Hopefully -- on occasion -- they will lock the doors, pull the shades and let it roll on till late late late.

IMGoph said...

amen, ajop!

Anonymous said...

They should be allowed to be open til 3 am on weekends. It's a very bad precedent to set for other bars in nearby commercial areas. When you are amenity-starved, this is not the way to attract more amenities. See: Mt. Pleasant

Anonymous said...

1am closing seems quite reasonable to me... this isn't Adams Morgan, it's a residential corner location. If people want to party all night they can take a cab somewhere else.

- JM

Anonymous said...

As someone who spent years in the restaurant business, I detest the voluntary agreements which are neither voluntary nor entirely agreeable. The pendulum has swung too far towards Community Associations in the issuance of ABRA licenses. I understand the needs of residents to protect their quality of life, however, that quality of life has a relationship to the quality of restaurants and bars in a given neighborhood as well. Overly restricting the freedom of a business owner to operate and adapt their establishment provides limited benefits to the community and potential for substantial harm to the business.

IMGoph said...

restaurantrefugee: i whole-heartedly agree! if a place is breaking the law, then there are already ways that can be dealt with (namely, enforcing the codes on the books). creating another layer of enforcement issues that the business and the city have to deal with just means more potential headaches for all involved.

neighborhoods really are shooting themselves in the foot when they crack down too hard on businesses before they even exist.

Phil Lepanto said...

Is there any information on who is starting this place? Who organized the community to start the voluntary agreement?

IMGoph said...

phil: the people who organized the voluntary agreement discussion are two residents of the unit block of t street nw.

one of them was bertha holliday, who's the treasurer of the bloomingdale civic association. the other person was myra dandridge.

the bloomingdale civic association was also represented by cassandra costley, the president of the organization.