Residents Protest Excello

The following letter was circulated by Patricia White (400 block of 13th Street) and signed by five households.

Protests can be sent by groups of five of more residents by May 20 to the D.C. Alcohol Beverage Control Division, Room 7100, 941 North Capitol St. NE.

Another letter has been signed by ANC Commissioners Michael Musante, 548-2542 or mfm81472@yahoo.com, and Jessica Ward.

Pursuant to D.C. Code Section 25-115(b), we hereby oppose the renewal of ABC License No. 323 to Excello Liquors based on the fact that Excello Liquors has consistently violated the Voluntary Agreement that was agreed to and signed by Sung S. Bang, owner of Excello, in December of 2001. Additionally, Excello's business practices have had the effect of disrupting peace, order and quiet in the neighborhood, reducing residential parking needs and pedestrian and vehicular safety.

We the undersigned have been longtime residents of the 1200 Block of Duncan Place and 13th Street NE. Excello Liquors has long been a neighborhood trouble spot. The peace, order, and quiet of the neighborhood is impacted by: loitering problems, (from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m., daily) public drunkenness, (often by the same offenders every day) public littering, public urination and defecation. Several cars have been vandalized on Duncan Place. On any given day, empty beer bottles and food wrappers can be found strewn on adjacent residential properties, having been left there by loiterers outside the liquor store. Most serious of all, drug trafficking has been witnessed in and around the vicinity of Excello, on many occasions.

In the Voluntary Agreement, Excello agreed to ensure that there was a daily street cleaning of the 400 block of 13th Street NE up to the alley adjacent to the store, as well as the entire length of Duncan Place NE. It has already been established that trash can be found on a daily basis, having been left by Excello customers, within the area enumerated in the Voluntary Agreement. Therefore, Excello is not adhering to this tenet of the agreement.

Loitering is the most systemic problem. The individuals who loiter are the same people seen urinating, drinking from single-serving beer cans in and around the store, and adjacent neighbor's front steps, displaying public drunkenness and at times sleeping under the pay phone outside Excello (a pay phone that per the Voluntary Agreement was to be removed). According to the Voluntary Agreement, Excello agreed to urge loiterers to "move on." Clearly, that has not occurred.

Pedestrian and vehicular safety is exacerbated by the loitering. Excello is located next to a fire hydrant. On Friday nights and weekend, the hydrant is often inaccessible due to people parking and "hanging out" in front of the liquor store, with the usual loiterers in front of the store. Illegal parking makes visibility nearly impossible at times, endangering the safety of those who are attempting to turn onto 13th, or who are traveling on 13th.

Finally, almost all of those that are loitering on any given day, are doing so while drinking a single-serving beer they have purchased from Excello. It is the single-serving beers that neighbors find strewn and littered around the neighborhood. These beers are being consumed immediately outside of the store, in public space. According to the Voluntary Agreement, the sale of single-servings beers was to be prohibited. As neighborhood witnesses, we can attest that they are being sold on a daily basis. Some neighbors have had loiterers as early as 9 a.m., sitting on their front steps drinking single-serving beers, quasi-disguised in a paper bag.

Quite simply, their record of compliance with the law does not recommend their continued licensure. The store negatively impacts on residential parking needs, pedestrian safety and overall peace, order and quiet in the neighborhood. We have continuing concerns with this licensee's compliance with other District laws as well and would welcome the Board examining such issues much more closely than it has in the past. We are especially concerned with the licensee's compliance with 23 DCMR 709 [which refers to hours, selling miniatures, and selling "go cups"], among other provisions of law and regulation. §