Excello Agreement Was Neighborhood in Action

Mr. Sundberg wrote the following after the Aug. 17 issue of the Corner Forum.

Thanks for the last issue Marc.

After reading your interview with Mr. Whitfield [1323 E St. NE], I thought a brief synopsis of events concerning Excello licensing might help clarify things.

As you know, when I arrived in the neighborhood 13-14 years ago, things were pretty busy on the 400 block of 13th Street and the surrounding alleys. Much of the activity included excessive drinking, inappropriate behavior and trash.

Excello appeared to be an agent for much of this, as we observed the consumption of, and were constantly picking up, small bottles of "hard" liquor (as opposed to beer and wine).

Neighbors in the area attempted to improve the situation by forcing the police to address the situation and by protesting the renewing of Excello's license so a neighborhood agreement could be entered into.

In approximately 1995, we were successful in formulating a community agreement with the store. Why didn't we attempt to do the same with N-A Minit? When these efforts were made, N-A Minit was perceived as doing its best to be a good neighbor.

There was an effort last year to protest the renewal of N-A-Minit's license so an agreement could be formulated. But the protest was not filed in a timely fashion, so it was dismissed by the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.

When community agreements are entered into, they become a condition for licensing. If a business violates the terms of the agreement, it can be fined or in extreme cases have its license pulled. In the case of Excello, the agreement was not adhered to. Still, it was part of Excello's license when the business was sold to the current owner. During the last licensing cycle, the agreement was modified by our then ANC commissioner, Ronald Nelson, and accepted by the owner. The terminating of single sales was one of the terms of that agreement. Unfortunately, this and other terms of the current agreement were not adhered to. That is the reason for the current license protest with Excello. Since there is no community agreement in force with N-A-Minit, it would be rather arbitrary to suddenly demand they stop selling singles.

In the meantime, the economic environment in the neighborhood has changed. Revenue derived from alcoholic beverages is down considerably, and that may be why the owner of Excello is attempting to sell his business — to move on to something more economically rewarding.

I hope this brief synopsis makes clear how events have evolved over the years. §