Liquor Issues

At the ideal tavern, there's a jolly barkeep, convivial regulars and everybody knows your name. At the nuisance establishment? They sell cheap little bottles from 6 am to 2 am, attract loitering and drug-dealing, and thwart community leaders' efforts to lift up their neighborhoods. Critics say the Baltimore Liquor Board fails to protect communities from troublesome licensees. Reform efforts are underway. But so are powerful forces dedicated to keeping the status quo.

Fells Point residents, who were threatened with a lawsuit, lose liquor license challenge

A lawyer for restaurateur Alex Smith sent a chilling warning to residents who complained that The Choptank had broken a promise not to have outdoor music.

Neighbors say The Choptank should lose its liquor license for loud music

Speakers blaring the sound of live bands and recorded music into the community is one of the complaints against the Fells Point restaurant.

Charged with letting patrons go maskless and intimidating an inspector, Ryleigh’s Oyster in Timonium is fined

A polarizing figure in Baltimore, owner Brian McComas makes a combative appearance before the Baltimore County Liquor Board, where his fine is reduced by $500.

Angeli’s Pizzeria doesn’t meet state laws, but serves alcohol anyway

The fur is flying in Little Italy, where neighboring business owners say Angeli’s doesn’t have the seating or investment to qualify for a new liquor license.

Communities call on Pugh and Young to crack down on Liquor Board

Minor nuisance complaints are taking precedence over dangerous crimes at liquor establishments, critics say, requesting a hearing.

Why the Liquor Board renewed the tavern license at Northern District’s most violent address

Commissioners say their hands are tied as a “terrified” community blames a lack of coordination between police and the board.

Moore leaves Liquor Board to become deputy city solicitor

Comings and goings on the Liquor Board: Dana Moore out and Elizabeth Hafey (hoping to get) in.

Loophole leads to Liquor Board’s green light for “Kenny Bird” Jackson

The holder of a liquor license can’t be a felon, but for an owner – no problem. Commissioner Moore said she knew nothing of Jackson’s past.

“Call us dude-bros, but don’t call her a woo-girl!”

Crossbar and its attorneys celebrate a controversial bar’s opening with a former mayor.

Passion, but not enough particulars, as liquor license challenges fail

Bar’s neighbors say “We’re suffering,” but protest’s specific organizers are a no-show.

Developers behind Cross Street Market/46th District liquor bill gave politicians and lobbyists nearly $113,000

Caves Valley Partners, Bozzuto Group and their affiliates gave generously to key lawmakers.

Lawmakers unveil draft of new liquor license for Cross Street Market

Hours when liquor could be served, 2020 expiration of Big Jim’s Deli license and other details disclosed. Hearing scheduled Friday.

Bill giving the Liquor Board power to order mediation stirs debate

Backers say it would “decrease confrontation,” critics say it’s abdicating the agency’s responsibility to police nuisance establishments.

Cross Street Market deal back on after Caves Valley Partners reconsiders

CVP and its principal Arsh Mirmiran are peddling a revised plan.

Fourth time’s the charm for Crossbar

A scaled-back plan wins Liquor Board approval for controversial Federal Hill bar.

Why did the Cross Street Market deal go bad?

Key documents of scrapped deal as Baltimore grapples with how to fix this Federal Hill fixture.

Cross Street Market developer grilled over merchants’ treatment

Mirmiran answers questions about redevelopment he calls “a game changer” for Baltimore.

Text of the Stadium Lounge MOU

Agreement with the Waverly Improvement Association limits hours, imposes other restrictions.

Stadium Lounge license is renewed with conditions

Shorter hours and no sales to minors are among the restrictions. But will they stick?

Stadium Lounge, reopened on appeal, is heading back to Liquor Board

Judge reverses license revocation after tavern argued that commissioners erred

Baltimore’s zoning law passes after liquor amendment is stricken

Nick Mosby says his colleagues caved in to the alcohol lobby

Liquor board rolls on, while watchdog blogger’s funding ends

Chairman says the board did not pressure the Abell Foundation to de-fund Community Law Center’s Becky Witt.

At the Liquor Board, chairmen change but problems persist

ANALYSIS: Little improvement revealed in latest state audit.

New report shows old problems remain at Liquor Board

Failure to collect $76,000 in fees from the Horseshoe Casino.

Liquor Board rescinds policy barring written testimony

A week goes by and the panel’s new chairman reverses himself.

New policy barring written testimony to Liquor Board raises concern

Critics question fairness of policy – and chairman’s authority to issue it.

Liquor Board revokes Stadium Lounge license

A long-troubled tavern on Greenmount Avenue loses its license.

Council approves Fogleman appointment to Ethics Board

Drinkery license restored amid rumblings about race and class

Why the new Liquor Board killed, then restored, a gay bar’s license.

Trotter sues Hogan, Rawlings-Blake and others over Liquor Board ouster

Former commissioner sues to get his seat back on the Liquor Board.

In marathon session, Liquor Board kills one license, postpones ruling on another

The new commissioners get a crash course in the surreal world of Baltimore liquor regulation.

Hardball at the Liquor Board: Community lawyer is subpoenaed

Fireworks are likely to fly on Thursday as attorneys for a long-troubled tavern persuade the “new” Liquor Board to issue a summons for the opposing counsel.

Fogleman nominated to City Ethics Board

The former Liquor Board chairman was replaced following a critical audit of the agency.

The new Liquor Board pledges fairness after a tumultuous past

At a brisk, focused hearing, three new commissioners lay the groundwork for a less troubled agency.

City Hall appoints three new liquor board members

Dana Moore, a liquor commissioner during the Tom Ward era, returns to the board

A protest over leaderless Liquor Board’s handling of protests

The sometimes lengthy hearings held over challenges to Baltimore liquor licenses are typically scheduled over multiple days in April. But in this unusual year, with no Liquor Board members currently in place, protestants have been given an hour each on a single day. The Community Law Center is crying foul.

Turmoil at the Liquor Board: Hearing canceled, top staffer fired

The executive secretary of Baltimore’s embattled Liquor Board is ousted as the commissioners themselves face the prospect of only two more weeks in office.

Would taverns with pending protests have to close without liquor commissioners to rule on them?

With Gov. Hogan’s liquor commissioners rejected by the legislature, and a possible lag before replacements come in, there could be some problems. Today, the legislature sent a bill to Hogan’s desk stripping him of the power to appoint Baltimore’s Liquor Board.

There’s politics, but also reform, behind the Liquor Board fight in Annapolis

Years of complaints about patronage, favoritism and dysfunction have dogged liquor regulation in Baltimore regardless of which party occupies the Governor’s Mansion. Lasting reform has proven to be an uphill struggle.

A long life of public service, with a remarkable last act

Retired judge Thomas Ward, appointed in 2014 to head Baltimore’s Liquor Board, died yesterday at his home in Bolton Hill. Tasked with reforming the long-troubled agency, Ward came at the job with the same sense of fierce egalitarianism and tart-tongued common sense he applied to everything else he tackled

Senate President Miller signals his support for Hogan-appointed Liquor Board

A Senate committee left three embattled Baltimore Liquor Board appointees in limbo yesterday. But favorable comments about them from the ranking senator in the room suggest their confirmation chances are very much alive.

Both sides gird for today’s Liquor Board hearing in Annapolis

Hogan’s Liquor Board appointees face Senate confirmation vote Monday

In the latest showdown between Annapolis lawmakers and the governor, the Senate Nominations Committee will question Hogan’s commissioners and hear from critics who say they are biased toward the liquor industry and ignoring the law.

Is the Liquor Board limited by state law on BD-7 taverns – or simply failing to enforce it?

There’s only so much we can do, agency officials told residents at a recent public meeting. After listening to this, the Community Law Center provides some insightful “fact checking” about these claims.

Pugh says she, too, has questions about Liquor Board commissioners

Responding to complaints from neighborhood leaders and the Community Law Center, Baltimore city senators are discussing withholding confirmation of Gov. Hogan’s appointees.

Out of City Hall and in the community, Liquor Board comes under fire

Sparks flew between a Liquor Commissioner Doug Trotter and several community leaders in Highlandtown at the first in a series of meetings planned to improve relations between the agency and residents.

In Harlem Park, new Liquor Board exhumes old zombie (license)

Dating back to Martick’s Restaurant Francais, last open in 2008, a long-ago-expired liquor license extinguished by the previous board has come roaring back to life.

Chairman’s testy exchange sets tone for hearing on proposed liquor board rules

At a hearing on proposed agency regulations, witnesses say the new rules are too lax and liquor industry influence too strong

Second public hearing scheduled on proposed Liquor Board rules changes

A new date, December 3, for a public hearing on changes to Liquor Board regulations comes after some community members cry foul.

In board’s revised rules, liquor interests prevail, community advocate says

A review of the city Liquor Board’s rules – conducted by a panel dominated by licensees and their lawyers – had predictable results, a watchdog from the Community Law Center says. A public hearing on a draft of the new rules will be held tomorrow.

Bar hampers Mondawmin recovery efforts, residents say

An expired “zombie” license gets a green light from the Liquor Board, despite opposition from a neighborhood still reeling from the events of last April – and decades of disinvestment.

DJ’s – and deja vu – all over again

A Highlandtown tavern comes back to the Liquor Board for familiar violations – and community members learn that the board’s chairman believes their MOU with the licensee is unenforceable.

Solution for disagreement: Let’s just skip it!

Pressed by liquor lawyers, the rules rewrite committee drops a key provision. In other news, the liquor board gets its third commissioner appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan.

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A 21-year-old strip club manager, a TGI Fridays for Mondawmin and props for the chairman

The new Liquor Board launches into a full docket, overlooks some spotty applications, listens to some classic cases and gets a nod from watchdog Becky Witt for holding a licensee to the letter of the law.

Membership still murky on Liquor Board’s rules committee

Who’s a member, who can vote, how many on the committee, what’s its name? The panel set up by the new Hogan-appointed board to overhaul the agency’s rules needed some overhauling itself on Day One.

New Liquor Board chair reduces suspension of Waverly tavern

Acting on his own authority, Liquor Board chairman Benjamin Neil has reversed a decision of the previous liquor board and allowed a Greenmount Avenue tavern found guilty of illegal gambling to reopen its doors.

As new Liquor Board takes over, a watchdog blogger worries

OPINION: Commissioners aren’t there to rule on hardships and hand out breaks, their role is to prevent unethical practices and protect citizens’ health and welfare.

Yes, yes, a thousand times: yes!

Taking their cue from the staff – not dwelling much (or at all) on the law – Baltimore’s Liquor Board powers through its first day under a new chairman appointed by Gov. Hogan.

Strip club suspended for violation, but Ward promises to consider lowering it

More shocking than the explicit testimony: the idea the commissioners might reduce the penalty in private.

Board blasts bar’s neighbor for buzzing, flashing “barking dog” alarm

An Eastern Avenue tax preparer came to complain about the bar next door, but ended up being rebuked for the alarm system he set up to scare people away from a public sidewalk – and was grilled about allegations that he used a racial slur.

Inspector sues liquor board and state for discrimination and retaliation

Cleaning house or discriminating? Longtime inspector says he was passed over for a promotion because he is white and, as retaliation for complaining, sent to a dangerous neighborhood where he was beaten up on the day of the Baltimore riot.

Brandon Scott reviving zoning push against bars and liquor stores

Citing the post-Freddie Gray search for solutions to Baltimore’s “underlying problems,” councilman announces on Facebook he plans to push for zoning code rewrite that would crack down on liquor sales in residential areas.

Stadium Lounge is fined, shut down for six months for illegal gambling

Saying they’ve complained about public drunkenness, urinating and littering by patrons of the Waverly tavern for years, community leaders asked the board to revoke the license completely.

Looting just one problem for city’s taverns in tough neighborhoods

Battered by violence last night, liquor establishments like the Oxford Tavern have been assailed as a cause – or symptom – of poor neighborhoods’ troubles.

After renewing bars’ licenses, liquor board lets residents sound off about Irish Stroll

Chairman Ward gives residents, even after they dropped their petition, a chance to explain why they think the annual St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl in Federal Hill has gotten out of control.

Sip & Bite owner pleads guilty to cocaine conspiracy charge

The party’s over for Craig’s

The barfing, the boozing, the underage drinking. Fond, hazy memories for some. And not so fond for the neighbors. Either way it’s over as of yesterday, as the Liquor Board decides not to renew the license for an iconic beer bar officially named Favorites and popularly known as Craig’s.

Ward: “Purpose of employing inspectors at taxpayer expense is not to provide cushy jobs”

Harsh words from the Liquor Board chairman (and sympathy from a former chairman) for the liquor inspectors who complain about having to work nights. Meanwhile, the state’s audit of the agency said inspectors were anything but productive.

Former Baltimore Eagle bar is at center of Charles Village, Old Goucher dust-up

They’ve differed over the North Baltimore Wal-Mart proposal and other issues and now the two groups, who both claim the same turf, are clashing over a new owner’s request for mercy from the Liquor Board.

Disparity argument no defense for tavern known as troublespot

Defended by a liquor-commissioner-turned-lawyer, Eric 500 made the hey-you-gave-the-casino-a-break-what-about-us argument. Guess how far that got this East Baltimore tavern at a hearing where a passel of irate neighbors and a history of past violations also came to light?

A popular Loyola bar is closed for 104 days for serving minors

A neighbor of Favorites Pub said he has found drunken patrons peeping into his house and having sex in his truck. “How do you know they came from Favorites?” asked the bar’s lawyer. “I asked them,” the man answered.

Not so fast!

Seeking a liquor license for a new Baltimore location, Shake Shack comes up against the law that says fast food restaurants can’t serve liquor – and zips smoothly past it.

Still saddled with paper records, Liquor Board asked for audit extension

Nearly two years after a harsh audit slammed the Liquor Board, the agency has changed personnel but made only modest progress toward reform.

At Liquor Board, more leadership change amid lingering problems

Chief inspector and deputy hired as part of reform – for agency still making clerical errors and the occasional zombie. Among entities getting a break – the Hamilton Homing Pigeon Club.

A zombie lingers, a cop doesn’t show, a suspension goes away

Licensees always seem to benefit from chronic Liquor Board problems on display once again at its hearing last week.

The trouble with “taverns”

Skirting the rules to stay open seven-days-a-week, liquor store “taverns” attract crime, say community leaders, pointing to recent murders near two of them.

What happened to the Liquor Board’s rules rewrite committee?

A committee that was supposed to wrap up 10 weeks of meetings with a report to the Liquor Board in October has not yet been formed – and probably won’t be until early 2015.

A community left out and, ugh, TMI from the chairman

Lakeland community is left out of decision affecting their neighborhood. In other news, did the chairman really have to say that about Sherrie’s Showbar?

How much has really changed at the Baltimore Liquor Board?

“Zombie” licenses given a new lease on “life” and a chairman who sometimes puts aside the law – and votes from his fellow commissioners – to hammer out a resolution.

Who needs zoning crackdown? Park Heights has Tom Ward!

Liquor Board cracks down on sales to minors – just the kind of regulatory oomph intended by the city’s controversial liquor store re-zoning initiative.

A dancer named “Brickhouse,” a Liquor Board in transition

A hearing that was part reality show (cops in bars finding hot bottles of Hennessy and getting hot propositions) was also part policy brief, as the newly made-over Liquor Board had another chance to decide whether – and why – to bend or break the rules.

Granting “zombie” liquor licenses is a tough habit to kick

A lot has changed at the Liquor Board under the new leadership of Tom Ward and Dana Moore, but some of the panel’s decisions still raise eyebrows.

Before the Liquor Board, Patterson Park serves up a classic concoction

At its first meeting under a new chairman, the much-criticized board will be under the spotlight tomorrow. A new day? Or business-as-usual? The transfer request for El Palacio Latino in Southeast Baltimore will serve as a good test case.

First “zombie” licenses, now the “200-foot rule”

Popping up at the Liquor Board lately: a rule – new and unsupported by law, some say – that creates a a dramatically stricter standard for residents petitioning to challenge nuisance bars. And the commissioners, it seems, are going along with it.

Stark slice of city life at renewals hearings

A prayer vigil outside a liquor store and a man with a crossbow in the door of a bar. The stories you hear during “protest of renewal” season.

Your neighborhood bar or liquor store causing problems? Prove it!

People outside the bar selling drugs: Do you know their names? Public urination: Give us the exact dates and times!

Chairman: public hearing on Voltage license restoration “a courtesy”

Liquor Board reverses its decision on violence-plagued Voltage and tells the public about it before acting. But the panel didn’t have to do that, argued outgoing Liquor Board Chairman Stephan Fogleman.

Bill’s Cafe documents deepen lawyer’s concern over board conduct

Did the Liquor Board, acting behind closed doors, violate the Maryland Open Meetings law to bring back a license they had publicly revoked?

Lust, lapses and poetry

Lawyer-blogger Rebecca Lundberg Witt has been busy recording not just the Liquor Board’s normal regulatory activity (and continued flouting of some rules), but also the poetry (intentional and unintentional) pouring out of City Hall Room 215 at its weekly hearings.

Lurking in Federal Hill Crossbar saga: a “zombie” liquor license

Crossbar’s controversial liquor license should, by law, have expired after 180 days, but the Liquor Board kept it going – for more than 4 years.

Prostitution and other allegations, but no police officer to testify

A dancer on The Block solicits an undercover cop for sex and a patron at an East Baltimore bar chases a fellow patron with a knife. Those are the allegations, but there’s no police to testify.

Fought by Julius Henson and others, Berea license transfer approved

Political-operative-turned-neighborhood-leader Julius Henson leads neighbors in (losing) battle against a liquor license. Another cases features “breasts – exposed breasts!”

It’s official: proposed bar too close to church

Those Talmudic scholars over at the Liquor Board recently settled one thorny question – the distance between a bar and a church – but then the applicant threw them another: how do you determine that a church is really a church?

The distance from a bar to a church

The headline sounds like the title of a poem. But at a recent Liquor Board hearing, it was a key legal question about a south Baltimore bar that the inspectors just couldn’t seem to answer.

Battle brewing over Greektown bar

Opponents, armed with a petition and a priest, turn out to oppose a bar they say has been a nuisance.

Fells Point wants to 86 new liquor licenses for now

The Board hears residents’ complaints that their neighborhood has enough bars and denies a license transfer. But in Greektown they ok a transfer even though the applicant had no LLC.

Marijuana, crack and “a little bit of heroin”

Some serious violations by licensees this time (and no major audit issues raised by commissioners.)

Underage drinking and some hubba-hubba remarks

Violations – from nasty bathrooms to 19-year-olds served shots of Patron – dominated the hearings held on Sept. 19th by the Board of Liquor License Commissioners.

Some rules being followed now, but “zombie licenses” linger

Hearings on applications lacking valid “character witnesses” are being held up – progress! But licenses that ought, by law, to be dead? They live on.

New attorney reporting for watchdog blog on Liquor Board

The Community Law Center’s blog, Booze News, is back from summer vacation with a new report (on the Baltimore Liquor Board’s Aug. 15 meeting) and a new author (pro bono staff attorney Becky Lundberg Witt.) Some of what Witt saw last month surprised and concerned her.

Progress on the Senator: its restaurant now has a name and a liquor license

No date yet for the Senator Theatre re-opening, but its application cruised smoothly through the Baltimore Liquor Board. Other applicants yesterday had a rockier road.

Laundromat granted a liquor license? It happened in Baltimore!

Read the sudsy saga of a Northeast Baltimore laundromat that was also in recent years selling liquor – and licensed to do so by the city.

From Belvedere Square to South Baltimore, more liquor license sagas

It’s not all about the Crossbar debacle. Lawyer/blogger Devereux also watched the Liquor Board “un-revoke” the license for a Carrollton Ridge bar that they had previously yanked after a shooting and finding out that the licensee violated board rules and two provisions of state law.

Liquor Board waives letter of the law on Horseshoe casino

Letters submitted to support an applicant’s liquor license are supposed to be signed by three Baltimore city property owners who’ve known the applicant for two years. Somehow last week, the Horseshoe casino got board approval even though the signers didn’t meet the criteria.

Baltimore Liquor Board: June 13 Meeting

Do we really want the agency regulating bars and handing out liquor licenses in Baltimore to be quite so “chill?” They still seem to be loosey-goosey on the practices the state auditors told them to tighten up. So says the lawyer-blogger who watched the latest meeting.

Baltimore Liquor Board: June 6 Meeting