WASHINGTON — The 1980s are still alive in Georgetown, where strict limits on the number of liquor licenses have been in place since the end of that decade.
Now, there’s a call for change.
The restrictions came about because Georgetown used to have a rowdy reputation.
“It was known for wild bars and late night restaurants, and it was one of the very few places in all of Washington — really all of the Washington area — where people came for entertainment at night,” says Joe Sternlieb, CEO of the Georgetown Business Improvement District.
There were problems with public drunkenness, noise, vandalism and litter.
“Over the last 20 years, the city’s really changed. There are now 20 different neighborhoods in the city and the immediate suburbs where people go at night. There aren’t these wild street parties like there were in the 1980s, and there are a lot fewer restaurants.”
The BID just wrote a white paper concluding that the city should end liquor license limits in Georgetown.
The current restrictions expire in February of next year, and the city has the option to continue them, change them, or get rid of them.
Sternlieb hopes at the very least, changes will be made that will ease the way for new eateries to open.
“Probably the number one complaint I get from residents when I go out into the community is, why aren’t we getting more of those restaurants that they’re getting in other parts of the city?”
He says the current rules have created a catch-22.
“No restaurateur will sign a lease for a restaurant without a liquor license in hand, and no landlord wants to hold their property off the market for a business that may never open because it doesn’t get a liquor license.”
