Park View, D.C.

Morgan's Seafood, located at 3200 Georgia Avenue

The issue of a liquor license for Morgan’s Seafood has been a contentious one for the ANC 1A commissioners since it first came up in January. At the May meeting, ANC 1A08 commissioner Cliff Valenti resigned from his chairperson roll as things got out of hand between Romeo Morgan and the other commissioners.

Last night, at Morgan’s establishment, a somewhat informal gathering of commissioners –  including William Jordan (1A05), LaKeisha Thomas (1A09), acting chair Bill Brown (1A06), and Valenti — Mr. Morgan and neighborhood residents gathered to get a better idea of what Morgan hopes to obtain for his business.

While the chief point of contention between Morgan and the Commission has primarily been procedural, that is not to say that there aren’t genuine concerns with potentially adding one more liquor license to a section of Georgia Avenue already awash in liquor stores.

Petworth Liquors is located directly north of Morgan's Seafood

To this point, one need look no further than the establishments directly to the north (the oddly misplaced Petworth Liquors) and the south (Georgia Ave. Market) of Morgan’s Seafood for sellers of alcohol in close proximity.

To date, the sticking point with the ANC has been Morgan’s desire to get a stipulated liquor license rather than go through the process of applying for a license as other businesses do. The problem with Morgan’s approach is that it does not give the commissioners anything official for them to consider, or provide a binding document of Morgan’s intent with his property. As such, the stated type of license Morgan has sought has changed from a restaurant license (January), to one supporting a night club (May cooperative agreement), to a tavern license (present). Last night’s meeting attempted to address this.

Interestingly, Morgan stated early in the meeting that he has actually now applied for a regular license, something he’s repeatedly refused to do to date. By taking this step Morgan is removing a huge hurdle in his pursuit to serve alcohol with his food.

Ultimately, Morgan is seeking to serve beer, wine, or mixed drinks in a restaurant type environment. He also wants to have an outdoor cafe area to increase the meager seating capacity he currently has. In order to conduct business outside, he needs to seek additional permits for public space in addition to another liquor license.

Though several residents present were quite supportive of Morgan and spoke highly of his character, there were still concerns voiced ranging from the number of liquor licenses in the vicinity, the possibility of noise from the outdoor cafe, possible changes in clientele the establishment would attract, and that liquor licenses tend to be attached to the building and not the owner should Morgan choose to leave the building at 3200 Georgia Avenue.

The only certainty to come out of the meeting was that  this subject is far from over. Now that Morgan is applying for a tavern liquor license the issue will officially come before the ANC, signs will be posted at Morgan’s Seafood, and there will be a public hearing at ABRA.