It’s Official: The Georgetown Liquor License Moratorium Is Over
• March 30, 2016

The liquor license moratorium and cap in Georgetown — in place since 1989 — will expire on April 9, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board announced March 30.

Restaurants and other “multipurpose facilities,” such as galleries and theaters, may apply for a liquor license on April 9, according to the control board statement, which added that there will be no limit on the number of licenses issued.

The change does not apply to any nightclubs or taverns in the Georgetown area, as a separate law limits the number of tavern licenses to six, all of which are filled at this time.

The board noted that its decision was based in part on feedback from the community and local businesses about the decrease of problems like noise and trash that originally warranted the restrictions.

The moratorium has been in place for 27 years and extends 1,800 feet in all directions from the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, according to the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. It limited the number of liquor licenses issued to restaurants to 68. (The cap did not apply to hotels or to businesses at Washington Harbour on K Street.)

Weekend Round Up March 17, 2016
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**St. Paddy’s at Bourbon Steak**

MARCH 17TH, 2016 AT 06:30 PM | $225 PLUS TAX AND GRATUITY | DAVID.FASCITELLI@FOURSEASONS.COM | TEL: 202-944-2026 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://www.bourbonsteakdc.com)

Taste five of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve’s bourbons paired with tapas by chef Joe Palma.

Address

2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

**Okinawa Matsuri Family Days**

MARCH 18TH, 2016 AT 11:30 AM | FREE | MUSEUMINFO@GWU.EDU | TEL: 202-994-5200 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://https://museum.gwu.edu/matsuri-family-days)

As part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, visitors can take part in games and art activities to celebrate the culture of the Japanese island of Okinawa.

Address

George Washington University Museum and Textile Museum, 701 21st St. NW

**Symposium on President Abraham Lincoln**

MARCH 19TH, 2016 AT 09:00 AM | FREE | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://fords.org)

The Abraham Lincoln Institute and Ford’s Theatre Society present a symposium on the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.

Address

Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NE

**Fabrege Egg Family Festival**

MARCH 19TH, 2016 AT 10:00 AM | $5 TO $18, FREE FOR 5 AND YOUNGER | TEL: 202-686-5807 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://hillwoodmuseum.org)

Hillwood hosts a day of craft activities and fun in honor of the egg-squisite Fabrege eggs created for the Russian royal family.

Address

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW

**Manuel Barrueco Guitar Performance**

MARCH 19TH, 2016 AT 08:00 PM | $12-20 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://levinemusic.org)

A concert by famed classical guitarist Manuel Barrueco, faculty artist at the Peabody Conservatory and artist in residence at Levine Music.

Address

Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW

**”Women in Hellenistic and Roman Athens”**

MARCH 20TH, 2016 AT 02:00 PM | FREE | TEL: 202-737-4215 | [EVENT WEBSITE](https://www.nga.gov)

A talk by Anna Vasiliki Karapanagiotou of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports connected to the “Power and Pathos” exhibition of bronze sculpture at the National Gallery of Art.

Address

National Gallery of Art East Building, 4th St. and Constitution Ave. NW

Bohemian Caverns Caves In to Hard Times
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Legendary below-ground jazz club Bohemian Caverns, a U Street mainstay, will close for good at the end of the month, when the current five-year lease expires.

Managing partner Omrao Brown, who owns the club, the restaurant Tap & Parlour above it and the nightclub Liv above that, made the decision to close the three venues with his partners — his brother Sashi and Jamal Starr — after two years of losses.

Brown’s group bought Bohemian Caverns from its former operator, Al Afshar, the building’s landlord. Their fractured relationship and the club’s complicated history, dating back to 1926, are described in an article by Michael J. West in this week’s City Paper.

The room’s unique cavernous décor is a relic of Club Crystal Caverns, which opened on New Year’s Eve 1932. During that era, it hosted such stars as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Later, in the classic years under the name Bohemian Caverns, from 1959 to 1968 (when it closed, a few months after the riots), John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and Thelonious Monk, among others, performed.

Since reopening as Bohemian Caverns, the club has become a showcase for rising jazz artists and home to a 17-piece big band that plays every Monday. Recent setbacks have included the recession, a car crashing into the back of the building in 2013 and a negligence lawsuit filed last year in relation to an alleged sexual assault in 2012.

Planned Parenthood Head’s Visit to Georgetown U. Opposed
• March 24, 2016

Georgetown University’s Lecture Fund, a student-run organization, has invited Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, to deliver a speech on campus on April 20. Richards’s acceptance of the invitation has triggered considerable backlash from the university’s student-run Right to Life organization, which claims the event is contrary to Georgetown’s identity as a Jesuit institution.

Two petitions have been launched — by Georgetown University Right to Life and Students for Life of America and by the Cardinal Newman Society — both calling for Richards’s visit to be cancelled, citing Planned Parenthood’s status as the nation’s largest abortion provider.

A statement issued by administrators defended the Lecture Fund’s actions, stating that the university sought to “provide a forum that does not limit free speech.” However, the statement also referred to the continued strength of Georgetown’s Jesuit identity and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to the “sanctity and human dignity of every stage of life.” Michael Khan, president of Georgetown University Right to Life, has condemned the administrators’ “lack of moral courage” in refusing to oppose Richards’s upcoming speech.

The Archdiocese of Washington, led by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, also released a statement, which criticized the absence of “morality, ethics and human decency” on a campus that purports to uphold Catholic values.

Reminder: National Cherry Blossom Festival Is in No-Drone Zone
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With the National Cherry Blossom Festival underway and anticipated peak bloom only a couple days away, the Federal Aviation Administration released a video last Thursday reminding festival-goers that the Tidal Basin is a part of the “no-drone zone.”

Eager photographers will not be able to use any unmanned aircraft systems to capture pictures of the blossoms from above.

The Special Flights Rules Area that extends in a 30-mile radius from Reagan National Airport includes an inner 15-mile radius in which drones are prohibited at all times.

“Flying a drone within these areas at any time, including the National Cherry Blossom Festival, is against the law, and violators could face stiff fines and criminal penalties,” according to the video. “Enjoy the National Cherry Blossom Festival, but leave your drone at home.”

The festival began on Sunday and will continue until April 17. The National Park Service estimates that peak bloom will begin March 23 or 24.

View the video [here](http://www.faa.gov/tv/?mediaId=1280). For more information on the festival, visit http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.

BID Hosts Community Engagement Meeting Tuesday
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The Georgetown Business Improvement District will host its annual Community Engagement Meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, March 22, at 6 p.m. at Pinstripes, 1064 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

The meeting’s focus will be the 2016 Update Report on the Georgetown 2028 Action Agenda. Of the 75 action items in the Georgetown 2028 15-Year Vision and Action Plan, launched in January of 2014, the BID has completed or made substantial progress on 57.

Among the accomplishments that the BID cites are:

• Creating a new non-profit organization to lead restoration, improvements and activation of the C&O Canal, entering into partnership with the National Park Service to create a master plan for the canal and securing funding for major capital improvement projects and the purchase of a new canal boat; and

• Organizing and facilitating the process ending the 26-year old liquor license moratorium in Georgetown, in partnership with the ANC and Citizens Association of Georgetown.

For details, visit georgetowndc.com.

Robbery at Gunpoint
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Police are on the lookout for a black male, 5-foot-6, 140 pounds, in his mid-50s, who robbed a person at gunpoint at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, March 19, on the 1500 block of Wisconsin Avenue.

Memorial Race Honors Fire Victim
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About 200 people ran a 5K race on Saturday in honor of Nina Brekelmans, a recent Georgetown University postgraduate who died in a house fire near Dupont Circle in June. Brekelmans earned a master’s degree in Arab Studies and was preparing to move to Jordan as a Fulbright scholar to research female runners.

“It’s just wonderful everyone is here for Nina,” said Brekelmans’s father. “It’s really helping us.” The race was the first her father has run. Proceeds from the race will fund an Arab Studies scholarship in her name.

Beasley Founder Moves to TTR Sotheby’s
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Jim Bell, founder of residential real estate firm Beasley Real Estate LLC, will become an executive vice president at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty following the unexpected departure of a number of his high-profile agents to Compass Realty. Bell started Beasley in 2012 and grew its metro-area sales volume to $302 million in 2014. Beasley will cease operations and Bell will bring his existing clients to TTR Sotheby’s, adding roughly $100 million in additional sales.

D.C. Tightens Security After Belgian Bomb Blasts
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Following terrorist attacks in Brussels Tuesday morning — in which at least 34 people were reported killed and more than 100 injured at the time this paper went to press — D.C. metro-area public transportation hubs raised security levels. K9 sweeps and patrols were increased and public transit riders were urged, “If you see something, say something.”

Flights to Brussels were canceled after two bomb blasts hit the international airport at 8 a.m., followed by a blast at the Maelbeek Metro station, less than a mile from the U.S. Embassy, at 9:15 a.m. Both sites are about three miles from NATO headquarters. The Terrorist State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, claimed responsibility. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not heighten its federal threat level, though it urged the public to report suspicious activity.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority released a statement that included the following: “Reagan National and Dulles International airports have a robust security structure, both publicly visible and behind the scenes.”

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier’s statement read: “Being the law enforcement agency that provides public safety to our Nation’s Capital the Metropolitan Police Department remains at a heightened state of alert at all times. We are aware of the tragic events in Brussels and are actively coordinating the appropriate resources with local and federal law enforcement and homeland security agencies to maintain the public’s safety in the District. As we continue to monitor intelligence reports and work with our federal partners, we ask residents to also stay alert of their surroundings.”