Care to Comment?
Second comment period added to ABC revisions
Apparently some community activists are taking their holiday vacations in February.
That’s what the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) seems to be suggesting by stretching the comment period for proposed changes to Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) regulations. The revisions, proposed by the Committee for a Living DC, were originally presented on December 18. The original deadline for comments was December 31, but it was extended to January 30 because of the holidays. Then it was extended again, to February 28 — also because of the holidays.
“They had until January 30 to respond, ” says ABRA spokesperson Cynthia Simms, “but there was still the holiday thing, people not being in the office and on travel, and so they expressed an interest in having a little more time. ”
Much of the opposition to the revisions has come from the Logan Circle Community Association, who have complained that area bars and clubs create noise, litter and public drunkenness.
Simms calls two extensions “kind of unusual. ” Rick Massumi, a local pro-nightlife lawyer, calls it “shocking. ”
“To me, it appears that there must have been a reaction to the tremendous outpouring of opposition to the use of the ABC tools to suppress music, dancing and entertainment, ” says Massumi.
For more information about the proposed ABC revisions and how to submit comments, contact ABRA at 202-442-4200.
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