I was disappointed to read this from the Washington Post this morning.
After the baseball stadium shut down most of DC’s nightclubs, all of them started looking for other areas to open their doors, bring their traffic, loud music, and large crowds…..to Ward 5! The problem with most of these clubs that are trying to open in Ward 5, many of them are next to our neighborhoods. Residents fought (successfully) a nightclub disguised as a bar on Rhode Island Avenue, across from the Catholic Church. There is already a club called DC Star on Queens Chapel Road (next door to where this STRIP club wants to open). DC Star has not been without its own troubles. Residents, again, successfully closed a nightclub that was renting out the Masonic Lodge next to the Family Dollar store on Rhode Island Ave.
And where is our proud Councilmember, Harry Thomas, Jr? Well, on the Rhode Island Ave club I spoke about above, he was nowhere (even after residents approached him about it). On the Masonic Lodge nightclub, he was nowhere to be seen (even after Mayor Fenty, Police Chief Lanier, and DCRA Chief held a press conference about its closure). And now….
WHERE IS COUNCILMEMBER THOMAS ON WHY OUR WARD IS BEING INUNDATED WITH NIGHTCLUBS?
Oh, campaigning for re-election. Now, I have seen a lot of materials on candidates looking to unseat Thomas in the next election. Let’s see what Thomas does with this new STRIP club next to our homes, and see if we should give these other candidates a fair shake.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Although this new STRIP club is not located on RIA, it does affect it. As more and more nightclubs target our area to open, our housing prices fall. Retail and restaurants avoid those areas. Allowing nightclubs to populate our Ward is going backwards on redeveloping Rhode Island Ave (and the Ward) into a good place to work, play, and live. Shame on Harry Thomas, Jr. if he ignores these warnings.
