BID Says Let Liquor License Moratorium Die

The Georgetown Business Improvement District released a report recommending the moratorium on new liquor licenses be allowed to expire on Feb. 3, 2016, to “encourage new high-quality restaurants to open in Georgetown.” Begun in 1989 to address public drunkenness, late-night noise, litter and the like, the Georgetown moratorium is no longer needed, the BID contends, as such problems have “decreased dramatically.” If the moratorium is extended, “Georgetown will be the only neighborhood in D.C. to have restriction on all classes of restaurants,” exacerbating an “oligopoly of operators, economic rents and speculative behavior,” the group states.