Neighborhood Battles Over Noise
posted 5:48 pm Mon November 19, 2007 - Washington
"I'm losing business," explains restaurant owner Haydee Vanegas. "That's the major problem."
A group of citizens and area businesses have gathered 1,600 hundred signatures that they plan to give D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty Monday night during a rally in Lamont Park, before the Mount Pleasant Neighbor Alliance meeting. "I like the live music," explained Mount Pleasant resident Oscar Casalegno. "I lived here for 30 years, its perfect for me."
But according to the MPNA, the four restaurants that asked for live music did so under an amended voluntary agreement with the community setting the operation rules.
President MPNA Laurie collins said the neighborhood alliance "spoke with 6 out of the 9 restaurants on our street, and those that wanted live entertainment got live entertainment."Collins explains that the three other restaurants at the center of this debate want to get rid of their voluntary agreements, not amend them, so that they can have live music and dancing until 3:00 a.m.
Some of the business owners claim they only want to stay open until 1:00 a.m. and the MPNA is scaring away support by telling residents the wrong time.
The restaurants now have to go through an Alcohol Board hearing to gain approval.
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