Running Out of Space

February's ANC2f meeting promised not to be short on drama, what with the commission meeting to discuss, among other topics, the future of neighborhood members only public club The Space. We'll address the other issues discussed at the meeting in a later post, but for now we wanted to present a brief recap of the "Space issue" if for no other reason than the fact that this very blog was entered as evidence at the proceedings. An epic win for 14thandyou? Perhaps.

The Space, as you may recall, was the subject of much discussion at January's ANC meeting. Specifically, it was the target of much ire from a group of Shaw residents who live adjacent to or close to the club. Since no one from the club was present at the January meeting, the commission held off on making any decisions until Wednesday's meeting, where the club had an opportunity to present its side of the case.

In the eyes of this blogger, they would have probably been better off had they not appeared.

The ANC has no voluntary agreement with The Space, leaving it powerless to file a protest to suspend its liquor license directly. The Space does however have a voluntary agreement with the building next door, and with ABRA. The ANC can thus move to petition ABRA for a "show cause" hearing, which is essentially a hearing before the regulatory agency to determine whether or not the license holder is in violation of its voluntary agreement. If ABRA finds against the license holder, its license can be revoked--essentially shuttering the business.

The residents had several main complaints centered around the club's operations, namely that they run a club under false pretenses, that their operations were disruptive to the peace of the neighborhood, and that they were operating an illegal outdoor deck.

The evidence against the club--consisting of numerous photographs, voluntary agreements and contracts, and the testimony of numerous neighbors--was immense, and a spirited defense by the club would be needed in order to stave off ANC action.

Which is why it was so perplexing when the club's lawyer approached the commission and began reading from a printout of this blog. That's right, 14thandyou was introduced as evidence in support of the Space. Why was this blog brought up Wednesday night? Well, so that their lawyer could read a quote from an anonymous commenter who likened living in Shaw to living in Adams Morgan--in other words, don't complain about the noise from the club ya yuppies.

(Sidenote: Even *I* wouldn't use items from this blog for my own defense, and certainly not comments from anonymous commenters. It was truly theater of the bizarre. )

The rest of the Space's defense was anything but coherent. Their lawyer began by claiming that he had only learned of the meeting that afternoon; commissioner Charles Reed found this odd, seeing as how he had a phone conversation with owner Mitchell Cox over a week ago where the matter was discussed. Strike one.

The Space also maintained that they were a "members only" club in spite of the fact that their website advertises that it is "open to the public". Justin, the club's manager indicated that he believed that a "member" was merely someone who paid an entry fee of $5.

"That is a cover charge," Reed remarked "not a membership fee." One woman in attendance testified that she had entered the club for free and drank at the bar, leading Justin to remark "What, did you want us to charge you?"

Pretty strict membership criteria they have there, apparently.

The rest of the defense was no more believable: the music isn't too loud because Cox said it isn't. The deck may be illegal, but they don't allow drinking on it--in spite of multiple photos showing that they did. The club isn't responsible for the overflowing mountains of trash in back of their building, because for all Cox knows the neighbors have been sneaking over and putting their trash in his bins.

And on and on it went, with the commissioners growing increasingly skeptical of the Space's defense, and Cox growing increasingly agitated. At one point, Cox interrupted another speaker, leading Reed to slam down his gavel and declare Cox out of order. "Ah, fuck it" was Cox's response.

In the end, the ANC did the expected and voted unanimously to request a "show cause" hearing with ABRA, where the Space may very well be in danger of losing their license. Cox's indignant attitude at Wednesday's proceedings certainly did him no favors; if he hopes to avoid a license revocation before ABRA he might want to spend a bit more time polishing his defense.

As for the neighbors, a brief round of applause broke out after the ANC's decision. For them, Wednesday night was the first victory in what has turned into a protracted fight over a club whose owner just doesn't seem to get it.

ANC 2F CDC Meeting Agenda

As circulated by Mr. Mike Bernardo, below is the agenda for next Wednesday's CDC meeting. A bit of a letdown from last month's meeting, when three major projects were discussed. Oh well...guess not every CDC meeting can be an edge-of-your-seat thriller.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 7:00 PM
The Washington Plaza Hotel# 10 Thomas Circle, NW

*Meeting Agenda*
- Approval of Agenda
- BZA Variance, 1515 Vermont Avenue, NW
- HPRB and BZA Variance, 1454 P Street, NW