D.C. toasts Obama with 5 a.m. last call
The Washington Times
by Michael Drost and Timothy Warren
These are heady times.
Hoping to tap in to an inaugural bonanza, the D.C. Council Tuesday night voted in favor of extending last call to 5 a.m. and allow bars and restaurants to serve food around the clock during inauguration week.
Millions of visitors are expected to descend on the city to celebrate Barack Obama’s presidential swearing-in on Jan. 20. The council hopes to accommodate the throng by allowing licensed restaurants and taverns to serve drinks later and to keep their doors open 24 hours a day for the whole week.
At the request of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat, the legislation excluded nightclubs, which would have had to continue observing the current closing hour of 2 a.m. However, council member David A. Catania, at-large independent, moved after the vote to remove the nightclub exclusion from the bill, and his amendment carried 8-5.
Council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, who introduced the bill, said the measure will allow the city’s entertainment industry to “engage fully” in inauguration week, which includes Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19.
Mr. Graham said the measure also will encourage celebrations that are safely indoors. He pointed to the boisterous revelers on election night as an example for the city to try to avoid.
“On election night there were just throngs of people who were pouring into the street, and I think people may be safer celebrating inside than be wandering the streets,” he said.
Council member Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, was the only dissenting voice. He noted that robberies and assaults often occur after last call, and police will not have extra manpower on hand at 5 a.m. Incidents of driving under the influence are also likely to increase, he said.
“Sure, it’s good for business, but that is not the reason we should be doing this,” he said.
Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, a Democrat, said at a press conference on Monday that the bill would allow the city to cash in on a lot of extra revenue.
Mr. Graham agreed.
“It’s not a principal factor behind the legislation, but given these economic times it is a factor,” he said. “There are certainly concerns regarding city revenue, and with the inauguration there’s definitely a lot to be had,” he said.
City officials said that such an extension is unprecedented for an inauguration, but that it does not seriously affect plans the city has in place.
Cynthia Simms, spokeswoman for the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration, said the city has not extended last call for previous inaugurations, but that the District allows licensed establishments to serve drinks until 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
“I can’t speculate on how many people are going to be out that week, but it doesn’t look like it will be on a small scale,” she said
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Local bars and restaurants are salivating at the thought of serving customers for extended hours.
“I think it is a great idea,” said Gavin Coleman, general manager of the Dubliner, an Irish tavern on Capitol Hill. “Given the [inauguration’s] historic nature, I think extending the hours would be beneficial for all the visitors and the bars as well.”
Neighborhood Advisory Commissioner Nancy Shia, who represents the bar-heavy Adams Morgan neighborhood, is unhappy with the legislation.
“I don’t see why they have to increase the sale of alcohol. Alcohol makes chaos. That means that the businesses will make a lot of money but the city will have to pay for all the police and there will be more DUIs,” she said.
Wild Thing’s comment……..
Millions of Obama people, the Obama will fill my gas tank and pay my mortgage thinkers, the brainwashed cult of Obama people all getting drunk ……this is an incredibly bad decision. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that place.
So OK I will be fair….hahaha sort of…..Maybe it will just be peace and light, kumbayaa, in DC the whole week.
They are seriously planning for up to 5 million people for inauguration day. I read someplace that Metro is turning off the escalators due to the increased traffic. hahaa With all the people that will be using the Metro that could make it dangerous. People stepping over slower people…….Wal-Mart comes to mind.
Oh yeah, drunks driving around at 5 am, when normal people are getting ready to go to work. Real good, DC. This is a big mistake. Food served 24/7-that’s fine. There’s already restaurants that do that anyway, but alcohol? No. Bad idea. The monkeys are running the zoo!
Hmmm… The Wal-Mart disaster multiplied by a factor of 10…a better make that 100x. Non thinking, drunken bots running in all directions ‘helter-skelter’ like the bezerkers they are.
Their ship has finally come in, Oprah is going to do her show their all inaugeration week, this will be like a tobacco spitting contest in Denbytown near Podunk county anywhere USA. Where the Obamabots are free ‘to be’, shiftless, lazy, and expect the government to provide their every need…oh blessed be the name of Hobama.
Since obama won the election and due to the current state of the economy the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned out, if you see a light stay where you are, it is an oncoming train to take them to their just reward.
Looks like a bunch of zombies— Anybody notice how the United States and most of the world turned to crap- as soon as Obama made President elect– ?? MY GOD- WE MAY BE DOOMED FOR REAL!!
Oh Boy! Obama will have a drunken hadj in his honor. I wonder if the(New)Black Panthers will be security. Will there be extra park benches for the homeless Obama voters and morgue space for the deceased Obama voters? Will there be the Mecca style trampling and stone throwing? Will Obama levitate or will he just be high? Will Bill Ayer be there to set off a few bombs in celebration?
It should be a field day for trinket sellers, pickpockets and drug dealers.
WT, great graphic. Yes, it all makes sense. The only way the country can deal with an Obama presidency is to drown itself in alcohol. Just what DC needs, more drunks to join those in Congress already wrecking the country. I hope the rest of the world, particularly it’s Muslims, gets a good look at the new image of the United States that Obama represents and is projecting. I feel sorry for the police and security personnel. They will have their hands full and be blamed for any violence or things that may go wrong.
Got to think positive, with excessive drinking comes excessive recreational drug use, somewhere someone in the minions will receive the Darwin award and that ain’t all bad. Keep the hands off the drug dealers, pass out some zipguns(so they can fire in the air), machetes and clubs so they’ll all feel at home. Let the fun begin.
Has anyone noticed the sudden Marxist infection has hit our Northern neighbor too? http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/6765
At least some of them are aware of the perils we see.
Back about 24 years ago there was a terrible upset in the natural gas plant where I worked, comparable to a platform but much bigger, it was downright ugly with ruptured high pressure pipes, the outgoing shift stayed and the oncoming shift joined the fray, I had no choice but to stay, we went from two bosses to four, from 15 men to 30 all running like frightened Wildebeests trying to prevent an impending explosion and fire, we were successful in getting it under control but we had too many Chiefs as well as too many Indians in the battle, all of them thinking their idea was the right one. Weather may have saved the day as our massive gas leaks were blown away from the burning flare. After leaving and returning home, word came that one of the feeder plants subsequently had an explosion and fire, I expected the worst, same scenario. Panic is infectious and overrides logic. The reason was too much interference at the top with orders that overruled reason, injuries yes, fatalities none, but it cost well over $5 Million in blast damages with immeasurable production loss. Hey, just like Congress that boss got a promotion and was relocated to another facility.
Under Bush we’ve seen Carter interfere, Clinton interfere, the gang of 14 (including McCain and Lieberman) undermine the house speaker’s authority.
It’s disturbing that the narcissistic president elect is usurping the setting president, moreso than the past presidents interceding in the state affairs of the setting president, one president at a time has validity. Unlike the Communist coalitions surrounding us.
I expect it to be a mob rule of drunken wildebeests on Jan. 20 in Dark City.
No matter what time,there is just something creepy about “Obama” and “last call” in the same story. Thank God that right now we are talking about alcohol (ekehal for you Rev Jackson fans) right now.
We’re toasting our 44th president with Mad-Dog 20,
Thunderbird, Boone’s Farm Blueberry ripple and a bucket of KFC. Now that’s a good CHANGE for us, eh? Suck’s to be law enforcement on the 19th and 20th of January. The homes in Virginia are being rented for $40,000 that WEEK, but good luck trying to COLLECT the payments – upfront!!!
Lynn, “The monkeys are running the zoo!”….DITTO!
They better have police there from Maryland or something to help out. 5 Million people possibly and many drunk? yikes.
Mark, oh yuk, Oprah that will be oozing with worship for her Obama for sure.
You are so right it has been going downhill so fast since that day.
“Since obama won the election and due to the current state of the economy the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned out”…
Cheryl, it is like something I have never seen. So many other countries when they go further to the left they had been there before. For the USA it will be a completely different place if Obama gets what he wants in his agenda. He might do it slowly but so what it still is turning our country into something we don’t want it to be.
Lots of prayers hoping to fend this stuff off if possible.
Tom, LOL so funny though how you put all of that.
I bet the New Black Panthers will be there for sure.
Les, thank you, I think it is from the movie “night of the living dead”. haha
I agree, I really feel sorry too for the police and security personnel. This is going to be a nightmare for them.
Jack, thank you for the link to that article. Good grief!
We might be following suit too and say that January 20 is the day America went down the tubes into marxist communist hell.
sierrahome, yes, this will be one very huge rocky ride for our Nation.
Darth, oh wow I had not heard about that.
“The homes in Virginia are being rented for $40,000 that WEEK, but good luck trying to COLLECT the payments – upfront!!!
I would never rent my house out like that. And just think of who could afford that kind of rent for this….drug dealers etc.