government of the district of columbia · 11/30/2016 · it’s my understanding that the licensee...

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OLENDER REPORTING, INC. 1100 Connecticut Avenue N.W., #810, Washington, D.C. 20036

Washington: 202-898-1108 • Baltimore: 410-752-3376 Toll Free: 888-445-3376

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 1

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE REGULATION ADMINISTRATION 2

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL BOARD 3

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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X 5

IN THE MATTER OF: : 6

Kelemewa Corporation 7

T/A Pure Nightclub & Lounge 8

1326 U Street NW 9

LICENSE #24613 10

RETAILER CN 11

ANC 1B Request for a Change of Hours 12

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X 13

Wednesday, November 30, 2016 14

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Whereupon, the above-referenced matter 16

came on for hearing at the Alcoholic Beverage 17

Control Board, Reeves Center, 2000 14th Street, 18

N.W., Suite 400S, Washington, D.C. 20009. 19

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21

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BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT 1

DONOVAN ANDERSON, CHAIRMAN 2

NICK ALBERTI, BOARD MEMBER 3

JAMES SHORT, BOARD MEMBER 4

MIKE SILVERSTEIN, BOARD MEMBER 5

JAKE PERRY, BOARD MEMBER 6

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ALSO PRESENT: 8

ANDREW KLINE 9

DEREGE HAILEGORGHIS 10

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P R O C E E D I N G S 1

FACT FINDING HEARING 2

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: We now have a fact 3

finding hearing for Pure Nightclub and Lounge, 4

license #24613. Will the parties please approach 5

and identify themselves for the record, please? 6

MR. KLINE: Good morning, Andrew Kline here 7

on behalf of the licensee. 8

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: My name is Derege 9

Hailegorghis, owner of Pure Nightclub and Lounge. 10

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Good morning. I’m 11

sorry, can you repeat your name again for me, 12

please? 13

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: My name is Derege 14

Hailegorghis, D-E-R-E-G-E, last name H-A-I-L-E-G-15

O-R-G-H-I-S. 16

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Hailegorghis. Good 17

morning. There is a -- this is a fact finding 18

hearing. It’s my understanding that the licensee 19

is trying to extend the hours, so I think he’s 20

asking for the operations from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 21

a.m. seven days a week. So, can you please 22

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explain to the board what are the current hours 1

and what is the change that you’re currently 2

seeking and why? 3

MR. KLINE: Yeah, thank you. As the board 4

may be aware, this establishment is about a block 5

from where we’re sitting and is next to where the 6

new JPG project is going up, in fact directly 7

next to it, and it severely impacted this 8

business because the visibility of the business 9

has been destroyed and access from the east side 10

is limited and it’s really hurt the business, so 11

what Mr. Hailegorghis would like to do is expand 12

his business opportunities to include a larger 13

food component and in a sense an internet café. 14

The major part of the request is to open earlier. 15

Right now the licensee’s hours started at 4:00 16

p.m. Mr. Hailegorghis would like to open for 17

lunch and use the facility, as I said, to sell 18

food and also for internet access. He currently 19

has hours until -- permissible hours until 4:00 20

a.m. Friday and Saturdays. He has not taken 21

advantage of that and the reason that came about 22

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initially, just so the board is aware, is the 1

community had concerns about all of the 2

establishments letting people out at the same 3

time and there was the sense that the additional 4

hour available might assist with that. He hasn’t 5

done that. He hasn’t used that. The late night 6

hours during the week are frankly much less 7

important than the daytime hours because it’s 8

only -- it’s two hours and it would be for food 9

service, but the main food service component, it 10

is hoped, would be successful during the daytime, 11

the daytime hours for this internet café, and 12

that’s some of the background and we’re happy to 13

answer any questions that you have. Anything you 14

want to add to that? 15

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: No. 16

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: So, what -- on the 17

weekends he can be open until 4:00 so what time 18

do you normally operate? What time do you 19

operate currently, then? 20

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Currently from Sunday 21

through Thursday from 4:00 to 2:00 and Friday, 22

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Saturday from 5:00 to 4:00 a.m. in the morning. 1

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: So, you are open until 2

4:00? 3

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Only the weekend, Friday 4

and Saturday. 5

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: I know. I thought the 6

representation was that you didn’t utilize those 7

hours. 8

MR. KLINE: I stand corrected. 9

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Okay, but you actually 10

utilize those hours? 11

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Yes. 12

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Do you have questions, 13

Mr. Alberti? I’m done, go ahead. 14

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Can I say something? 15

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Go ahead, are you 16

finished? I didn’t hear you. 17

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: I just want to say we 18

opened our business on December 31st, 1996, 19

almost celebrating 21 years this December, and 20

I’ve never been hurt, the business has been hurt 21

because of this construction now, and trying to 22

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get at least a little revenue in the daytime, why 1

not? You know, I pay rent, so why not I use the 2

space in the daytime, especially in this area, 3

there is nothing going on in the day for an 4

internet café kind of place for breakfast and 5

diner type of foods, and the people that can come 6

in there and then use the internet. I have the 7

space. And that’s what I’m going to do. 8

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Okay. 9

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: I just want to say how 10

long we’ve been in this area. It’s just hurt us 11

so much, all of this construction. 12

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: All right, go ahead, 13

Mr. Alberti. 14

MR. ALBERTI: Mr. Hailegorghis. I’m going to 15

give my opinion as one board member, and that is 16

that the daytime hours are not a concern, in fact 17

I think they would be of benefit to U Street, so 18

I’ll just put that out there. Where I have 19

questions is this 4:00 a.m. on Monday through 20

Thursday. It’s not obvious to me how an 21

establishment would utilize the extra two hours. 22

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Can you sort of tell me why you want --or how you 1

would utilize those hours and why it’s necessary 2

for you? Why it’s important for you? 3

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: It’s not that important. 4

The first thought is I’m opening Friday and 5

Saturday until 4:00, why not just do, you know, 6

the rest of the week days, the two hours, I can 7

sell foods and whatever I can get, but that’s not 8

-- 9

MR. ALBERTI: Okay. 10

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: My main is the daytime. 11

MR. ALBERTI: All right, thank you for that. 12

I appreciate that. Thank you. 13

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Yes, Mr. Short? 14

MR. SHORT: Good morning, sir. 15

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Good morning. 16

MR. SHORT: You’ve been there for 21 years? 17

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Yes, sir. 18

MR. SHORT: And how would you describe your 19

history in the community? 20

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: We’re a community bar, 21

we’re a neighborhood bar. When I started in 22

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1996, there was nobody around me. 1

MR. SHORT: Yeah. 2

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: When I opened, the first 3

two years, in fact, I lived basically in the bar, 4

sleeping in a sleeping bag and then, you know, I 5

start from there. 6

MR. SHORT: Let me stop you real quick. 7

That’s a little too much information. Just to 8

get the record straight, if you don’t have smoke 9

detectors back where you sleep then you’re 10

violating the city ordinances. 11

MR. ALBERTI: There’s a statute of 12

limitations. 13

MR. SHORT: Go ahead. 14

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Yeah, so we’re very 15

active. We have every day different things in 16

the club. Especially, there’s an open mic night 17

and then we have a poetry night, which is a lot 18

of young kids coming in there. 19

MR. SHORT: What nights are they? 20

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: We used to do every Monday 21

night, now we do Tuesday night and Wednesday 22

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night, and then we have a lot of young -- 1

MR. SHORT: And that’s what hours? 2

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: That’s from 7:00 to 2:00 -3

- it depends on the list we have, it depends on 4

how many people we’ve got. We have a couple of 5

big artists come out of Pure, if you know Ryan 6

D____, one of the big artists, and W____, they 7

all come from Pure, they start there, they’re 8

young, so we’re giving these kids a chance to 9

come there and then do what they want to do, you 10

know, perform and basically. 11

MR. SHORT: Okay you’re stopping now at 2:00 12

during the week. 13

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Yes, sir. 14

MR. SHORT: How much traffic is on the street 15

after 2:00 a.m. normally Monday through Friday? 16

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Not a lot, sir. 17

MR. SHORT: So, you’d be open. What benefit 18

would that be to you and the community? 19

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: I just try to get 20

whatever, you know, the bar’s closed, wherever 21

there’s food they can come in and have food, but 22

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as I said earlier, my main comes in the daytime. 1

MR. SHORT: I can understand the day hours, 2

that Mr. Alberti said very frankly, and I’m only 3

one board member also. I want you to better 4

explain to me what you would do with two extra 5

hours Monday through Thursday on U Street at 3:00 6

and 4:00 in the morning. Sell me the case. Make 7

me believe that if I vote for that I’m doing the 8

right thing for the board and the city. 9

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Yeah. The, as I said 10

earlier, when the other clubs open -- are closed, 11

you know, everybody -- a lot of places close 12

except the pizza place, the two pizza places are 13

the only places that serve food after 2:00, so 14

I’m trying to get a little bit, you know, 15

whoever’s outside, out there, they can come and 16

have breakfast and a sandwich, whatever they 17

want. 18

MR. KLINE: I mean, just so the board is 19

clear and there shouldn’t be any question about 20

this, we’re very clear that alcohol service stops 21

and the alcohol is put away at 2:00. If the 22

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board were inclined to grant the request from 1

2:00 to 4:00, it would be food service only, and 2

the idea would be to attract people that were in 3

the neighborhood because there’s not -- 4

MR. SHORT: Repeat that again. I’m hearing 5

you, but I’m not hearing you. 6

MR. KLINE: Alcohol service would stop at 7

2:00. Obviously, that’s the law and I want to 8

make sure that there’s no misunderstanding in 9

terms of what’s intended here, and then between 10

2:00 and 4:00 would be simply food service. Mr. 11

Hailegorghis is talking about starting a diner 12

type concept and the idea would be eggs after -- 13

breakfast food -- after the bars close because 14

there are -- you know there are not a lot of 15

people on the street and it’s been many years 16

since I’ve been on U Street at that hour, but 17

there are some and there are people that come out 18

of the bars and people sometimes look for a place 19

to eat and continue their conversations, continue 20

socializing and it’s an attempt to be able to 21

capitalize on that. 22

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MR. SHORT: Okay, with all due respect to 1

you, again to the owner, I want him to make me 2

feel comfortable that between 2:00 and 4:00 it 3

won’t be alcohol sales because you’re not allowed 4

by law, but as you know we have some cases where 5

it happens on occasion, but if he’s not open, 6

then that can't happen. So, I want him to be 7

able to articulate to me and to this board what 8

great, great reasons he has, or good reasons he 9

has, for this board to grant those two extra 10

hours Mondays through Thursdays. I heard what 11

you said but I’m not sold as of yet, so please do 12

your best to influence my vote. 13

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Okay. I mean, I said the 14

many reasons are that, but when you said this 15

neighborhood is changing, there’s a lot of people 16

that move in this neighborhood that’s so many 17

development and then some of the people they 18

probably go out and eat in the nighttime or 19

early, or whatever time they want to come out, 20

and some of the people on the street, that they 21

want to come there to have conversation and have 22

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coffee, you know, before some of the people they 1

come in to not only the food, to get sober in 2

there or have a drink of water or have a coffee 3

before they drive, before they go home, and have 4

some food. 5

MR. SHORT: Okay, you’ve done, thank you 6

that’s all I need to hear. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 7

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Mr. Perry. 8

MR. PERRY: Just currently do you offer any 9

food in your current hours? 10

MR. SHORT: No just finger foods like chips. 11

MR. PERRY: Chips. So, I assume you’re going 12

to have to install a kitchen. 13

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Yeah. 14

MR. PERRY: So, food service would be -- so 15

on your website are you going to change the venue 16

to turn it into more of a diner, is that the 17

idea? 18

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: I’m trying to start a 19

diner type of food. 20

MR. PERRY: Okay, so it will no longer going 21

to be a nightclub and lounge. 22

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MR. HAILEGORGHIS: No, it’s going to be a 1

nightclub and lounge. 2

MR. PERRY: But also a diner. 3

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Also a diner. 4

MR. PERRY: And so you’ll add a kitchen. 5

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: Yes. 6

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Mr. Silverstein? 7

MR. SILVERSTEIN: : Yeah, I was going to ask 8

pretty much what Mr. Perry was asking. You do 9

not have a kitchen in there now, or you do? 10

MR. HAILEGORGHIS: No, we don’t. We have an 11

oven and just got a fryer and a grill and then 12

paid for them. 13

MR. SILVERSTEIN: If you were to amend your 14

application to state that you will have a kitchen 15

and it will operate, and it will operate seven 16

days a week, certainly between 2:00 and 4:00 in 17

the morning, this particular board member would 18

feel a whole lot more comfortable. We do have a 19

situation there where we do allow certain 20

licensed establishments to stay open all night, 21

the diner, and they stop serving liquor, but if 22

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you’re going to be a restaurant two hours a 1

night, five days a week that seems kind of odd to 2

me. I also have a problem that 2:00 is a good 3

closing time in a neighborhood that’s becoming 4

increasingly residential and if this is going to 5

be a venue where people can go and grab something 6

to eat, fine. But I don’t want to allow other -- 7

to open the door to 4:00 closures for all the 8

other places in fairness. I’m just throwing 9

these things out here because what we’re hearing, 10

this is a fact finding hearing and I’m hearing 11

some new things and I’m just trying to settle in 12

my own mind what’s the best way to go here. I 13

don’t feel comfortable saying you can have it 14

five days a week for two hours a night that 15

you’re going to be serving and that you’re not 16

going to be serving on weekday -- on weekends. 17

The application is -- and I’m speaking only for 18

myself as one board member -- the application 19

seems to be a work in progress right now. If 20

you’re going to be a diner, be a diner. 21

MR. KLINE: Well, no. If I may respond to 22

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that. Mr. Silverstein, the idea is -- the 1

concept is -- the current operation wouldn’t 2

change appreciably. The thought is to capitalize 3

on the real estate, take advantage of the daytime 4

hours, and build a diner type business and get 5

known for the diner food, have that available 6

during the daytime hours, but then also have it 7

available when the other bar is closed. I mean, 8

that’s the concept. It’s not to redo the place 9

as a completely different place, it’s to add to 10

the business that’s already there, build on it, 11

take advantage of more of the hours of the real 12

estate that are available. 13

MR. SILVERSTEIN: I want to echo what Mr. 14

Alberti said that the daytime hours, to me, would 15

be of benefit to everybody. 16

MR. KLINE: Sure. 17

MR. SILVERSTEIN: I’m all for that. My 18

concern is the precedent that we set with the 19

2:00 to 4:00 during weekdays and what are the 20

guarantees and what are the benefits to the 21

community versus what are the potential drawbacks 22

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of allowing one place to go to 4:00 and then 1

having to tell others, ‘well, gee, we set this 2

precedent, but it’s not a precedent, but it is a 3

precedent,’ but, you know, and put ourselves in a 4

difficult situation. 5

MR. KLINE: And I think the point is this. 6

It’ll be demand driven. If there’s no market, if 7

there’s no one to eat or to dine then there’s not 8

going to be anybody there and no one else is 9

going to want to do it. I mean, it’s only going 10

to develop and sustain if there’s a market. If 11

there’s no market, then he won’t want to stay 12

open later, nor will anyone else. If there is a 13

market, yeah you might see a few requests but I 14

don’t see everyone doing it because not everyone 15

is going to be willing to make the commitment to 16

food and just to stay open, I mean these 17

businesses exist to make money, we all know that, 18

and if there’s no revenue stream, and there’s 19

certainly no lawful revenue stream from the sale 20

of alcohol after 2:00, then I don’t know why 21

anyone would want to stay open. 22

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MR. SILVERSTEIN: No further questions. 1

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Mr. Short? 2

MR. SHORT: I just have to make a friendly 3

suggestion. Maybe you should go to DCRA and get 4

your kitchen put in and get all those things 5

lined up because now, to me, we’d be putting the 6

horse in front of the -- the cart in front of the 7

horse. If you don’t have facilities for dining 8

and you want to have dining to give you the 9

hours, you have to get a kitchen. 10

MR. KLINE: That’s a pretty expensive horse 11

that you want to put in front of that there cart 12

without permission to operate -- 13

MR. SHORT: I’ll just say this, in all 14

fairness to you, Mr. Kline, again, I as a board 15

member with one vote would think that if you 16

don’t have a kitchen in place and if you don’t 17

have a dining facility available and you want the 18

extra two hours for that reason and you don’t 19

have a kitchen -- 20

MR. KLINE: We’re happy to have you condition 21

any permission for opening upon satisfactory 22

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evidence that there’s a kitchen in place. I 1

mean, we don’t want to spend the money on it 2

without understanding that the revenue will be 3

available to make it happen and perhaps what we 4

do is pull back, do the daytime and then come 5

back to you on the later hours, I mean that might 6

be something -- I think we’ve made it clear that 7

what’s of most benefit and most concern is being 8

able to take advantage of the daytime hours. I 9

think we’ve made that abundantl clear. We’re not 10

saying, ‘oh, we have to have the nighttime 11

hours,’ so that may be something that we would 12

think about. I think what we want to know from 13

you, and I think I’ve heard it from two board 14

members, is that they don’t see the daytime hours 15

of concern in looking at the substantial change 16

statute I think what that means to me is that 17

there’s at least two board members that are 18

likely to believe that to open here in the 19

daytime would not be a substantial change which 20

means that we could move pretty quickly. 21

MR. SILVERSTEIN: Thank you for your answer. 22

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That’s all I have, Mr. Chair. 1

MR. ALBERTI: Thank you for putting words in 2

our mouth. 3

MR. KLINE: I inferred from the words that I 4

heard. I didn’t put any words in your mouth. 5

MR. SILVERSTEIN: Mr. Alberti, he may have 6

put words in your mouth but he finished my 7

sentence. 8

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Do we have any other 9

comments by any other board members? The board 10

will take this under advisement. We will make a 11

decision shortly. 12

MR. KLINE: Thank you. 13

CHAIRPERSON ANDERSON: Thank you very much. 14

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(Whereupon, the above-entitled matter was 16

concluded.) 17

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government of the district of columbia · 11/30/2016 · it’s my understanding that the licensee...

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