High-profile bar battles have left some communities skeptical about the ability of the zoning and liquor boards to effectively enforce their rules, even for extreme offenders. The Suite Ultralounge, a bottle club in Mount Vernon, was the scene of two shootings and a stabbing last year, and has remained open while the owners appeal the state liquor board's November decision to revoke its license.
Bar owners tend to view fines and violations as part of the cost of doing business, said Councilman James B. Kraft during a council debate in which he opposed the live entertainment bill.
The bill could be voted on again as early as Aug. 10, when the council next meets, but Rawlings-Blake said she wants to move forward on legislation that would give city regulatory agencies more teeth before making the live entertainment bill final. She introduced separate legislation that would give the city Health Department more authority to close operations that have multiple or unresolved environmental violations. Additionally, she wants to give police command staff the authority to shut down bars and restaurants that threaten public safety.
"One of the opportunities of this process has been to take a look at creative solutions to problems that have nothing to do with live entertainment," Rawlings-Blake said over breakfast at the Charm City Grille in Hollins Market, an area where two new restaurants have expressed interest in live entertainment.
The council president said she hopes that the prospect of enforcement problems will not distract from her goal of improving Baltimore night life, which she says compares unfavorably to that in cities such as Chicago and Nashville, Tenn. "When you experience life outside the borders of Baltimore, you see what potential there is in this city."
Bar owners in parts of the city where live entertainment is now prohibited agree. At Rumors Bar & Grill on East Monument Street, which offers cheap beer and $10 crab feasts, owner Rudel Lattimore imagines inviting local DJs to spin upstairs or host weekly karaoke.
A few miles east, at Carlos O'Charlie's Sports Bar and Grille in Highlandtown, manager Roy Griffin wants to bring in mariachi bands from El Salvador.
"The place would be packed," Griffin said. "We're getting people from Patterson Park, people who are intelligent and want more sophisticated entertainment." Now all he can do is offer a jukebox.
