The Baltimore City Council voted Monday to allow bars and restaurants in some of the city's trendiest neighborhoods to hire bands, singers and other performers, overturning a decades-old prohibition that City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake says has stifled nightlife in town.
"This is an opportunity in lean times for establishments to expand the entertainment they are able to offer," she said after the measure passed by voice vote. "It also makes us more marketable as a city."
The legislation has excited bar owners across the city who are looking to enhance their establishments. But it has also stirred deep concerns among residents of Southeast Baltimore, Federal Hill and Hampden that the lure of live entertainment would bring even more noise, traffic and parking woes to their already popular neighborhoods.
Mayor Sheila Dixon must sign the measure before it becomes law and she said yesterday that she will make her decision after consulting with neighborhood leaders. "I need to follow up with those communities that had concerns," Dixon said. "That is really going to determine if I sign it or not."
While the bill passed on a voice vote, five council members expressed their opposition. Twelve of the 15-member body must support a bill to override a mayoral veto.
The vote Monday evening generated applause from Thomas J. Maronick Jr., also known as "Tom Moore," a Baltimore lawyer who sings in a jazz band and has closely followed the bill. "I think this will do tremendous things for artists in this city," he said. "I'll have more chances to showcase the band."
The current law banning live entertainment dates to 1971 when the city's zoning code was overhauled. At that time, city leaders created "B1" and "B2" zoning designations for areas where businesses and residences exist in close proximity and prohibited bands, singers and other live acts in those areas.
Since then, the council has attempted at least twice to ease the zoning restrictions - once in the late 1970s and again in 1980. Both efforts were rebuffed amid neighborhood concerns.
Rawlings-Blake took up the effort a year ago, saying that a more vibrant nightlife will help bar owners attract customers and make the city more attractive to tourists.
Initially the bill would have created a new bureaucracy to oversee the awarding of live entertainment permits across the city. The bill was gutted in the spring and now it affects a much smaller area.
