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WASHINGTON, DC - August 15, 2008
- On
July 30th, the Alcoholic Beverage
Control (ABC) Board approved an
Entertainment Endorsement request
for karaoke at Don Juan's Restaurant
in Mt. Pleasant.
"The karaoke at Don Juan's is the
only Latino musical/cultural
activity currently permitted in Mt.
Pleasant establishments. It is thus
of major significance to Don Juan's
and its customers," stated
Richard Massumi, attorney for
the establishment.
In addition, the
ABC
Board allowed the
establishment's owner,
Alberto Ferrifino, to charge
patrons a cover charge and
offer dancing and "roaming"
mariachis at the restaurant.
"A
lot of people talked about missing
the mariachis," said Columbia
Heights resident
Natalie Avery. In her
testimony, Mount Pleasant
Neighborhood Alliance (MPNA) Board
member
Marika Torok indicated that
MPNA did not oppose the roaming
mariachis in Don Juan's Restaurant.
The ABC Board decision
permits Don Juan's Restaurant to
host the specific types of
entertainment the business owner
applied for. The MPNA Board was not
surprised by the outcome.
"When the decision is left up to the
ABC Board, the outcome will never be
exactly what both sides want. In
this case, Mr. Ferrifino asked for
karaoke, a cover charge and
dancing.
MPNA sought to balance these
proposed license changes with
limitations on the duration and
frequency of the entertainment.
And in the end, he was granted all
his requests. However, the ABC
Board counterbalanced the restaurant
owner's requests with residents'
concerns about limiting the hours."
says MPNA Board Member
Marika Torok.
The ruling also took into
consideration resolutions presented
at the restaurant's ABC license
hearing by the
Mt.
Pleasant Advisory Neighborhood
Commission (ANC), a body
whose properly adopted written
recommendations the Board gives
'great weight', as well as testimony
from
stakeholder residents who
live near Don Juan's and that of
other neighborhood residents.
"In terms of Don Juan's, we've
really been thinking in terms of
karaoke and preserving karaoke and
karaoke at whatever hour,"
says
ANC
Commissioner Jack McKay,
spokesperson for the ANC.
"I wasn't really aware that Don
Juan's was applying for anything
beyond karaoke. We've really
thought of Don Juan's as a karaoke
establishment." The hearing,
which began at 1 pm, lasted for over
8 hours.
In addition to the license changes,
the restaurant owner applied to
terminate his existing voluntary
agreement (VA) with the MPNA. The
ABC Board ruled against
termination of the MPNA VA,
as it did in two other recent cases
in Mt. Pleasant, but added the
provision that the applicant can
engage in happy hour activities
until 7 pm. At the same time, the
Board endorsed a second Voluntary
Agreement for the establishment,
negotiated by another organization,
Hear Mt. Pleasant, but
removed all provisions it contained
that were inconsistent with the
Board's order.
The ABC Board took 3
months to make its ruling.
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