At the most recent Alcohol Beverage Control Board hearing on the liquor licenses of restaurants in Mount Pleasant that are applying for entertainment endorsements, the question of who has a mandate to speak for the community was debated as much as the issue of live music. Hear Mount Pleasant, a relatively new organization, questioned the legitimacy of the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance, a neighborhood association that drafted agreements banning live music in restaurants and bars years ago.

MPNA has been a major figure of local governance since it was created after the 1991 riot between Hispanic residents and the police. MPNA President Laurie Collins credits the MPNA with transforming the once problem-plagued neighborhood into a peaceful, positive place to live. Collins said the MPNA has a membership of 806 households.

HMP is the group contesting the agreements and the MPNA's authority. They stepped onto the scene last year with petitions and a rally for live music, attended by about 250 people. Instead of negotiating with the MPNA, they are trying to overturn the voluntary agreements between the MPNA and three local restaurants and replace them with "cooperative agreements" that they have drafted.  HMP leader Claudia Schlosberg said her group is more transparent than the MPNA, because they do things such as post their documents online in Spanish and English. Natalie Avery, another HMP leader, said she always meets the same few people representing the MPNA and questions how many other people are really involved.

"It’s not simply about whether there is music or not. It’s the whole approach of how we work together as a community. This regime has got to end," Schlosberg said, referring to the MPNA.

MPNA’s Collins said that HMP is mainly supported by outsiders who want to change the nightlife of the neighborhood over the protests of the residents. "As far as I'm concerned, Hear Mount Pleasant is seven people, half which don't even live in our neighborhood," Collins said.

A history of the conflict
In 1991, a fierce, two-day riot rocked the small Mt. Pleasant community, which had seen an influx of Salvadorans and other Latino immigrants, many fleeing their countries' civil wars. The riot was sparked by an incident on Cinco de Mayo when a police woman shot a drunken Hispanic reveler while trying to arrest him for disorderly conduct. At that time, crime, drugs, poverty, and public drunkenness were major problems in the neighborhood. At the same time, the neighborhood had a rich cultural life, and mariachi bands would roam the streets and play in restaurants.

Collins describes the race riots as a turning point. The MPNA formed to take on issues of local governance, as well as coordinating community activities. Social welfare organizations such as Neighbors Consejo formed to help locals out of addiction, homelessness, and poverty.

As neighborhood restaurants' liquor licenses came up for renewal, the MPNA approached them, saying they would protest the renewal of the liquor licenses if the restaurants did not sign Voluntary Agreements with them. The agreements banned live music, draft beers, cover charges, and drink specials with all of the local restaurants serving alcohol.

Voluntary agreements are common throughout the city. Collins said the agreements banned live music because the restaurants had not applied for entertainment endorsements. "Nobody wanted live music," she said. She described the process of signing the agreements as ordinary and un-controversial.

But restaurant owners Jaime Carrillo, Haydee Vanegas, and Alberto Ferrufino said they remember it differently. Carrillo, the owner of Don Jaime's, said he signed the voluntary agreements only because he was afraid of losing his liquor license. "Laurie Collins said she represented the community and I was in no position to fight back," Carrillo said in an affidavit presented at the hearing. "It was not voluntary," he said.

Vanegas, who owns Haydee's, said that when she declined to sign a voluntary agreement, MPNA members complained about her restaurant constantly to the ABC Board. She said that because the enforcement system is complaint driven, inspectors came to follow up on complaints, which left her feeling harassed. She said that after spending a year and $35,000 in legal fees fighting it, she eventually signed the voluntary agreement, but always wanted live music.

Long-time resident Natalie Avery said she noticed that the mariachi bands eventually stopped playing in neighborhood restaurants, but it was only after she tried to organize cultural events at these restaurants that she found out that live music was banned.

She and other HMP members said that they were furious to learn that an organization acting on the community's behalf had signed agreements banning live music. She and long-time resident David Bosserman said they do not remember the MPNA ever informing the community that they would be deciding on this issue.

In an affidavit posted on the HMP website, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner David Bosserman describes joining the MPNA in 2005 with the goal of discussing or changing the VA's, but being frustrated by a lack of communication from the MPNA about when and where meetings were held, and a lack of discussion or votes at meetings. In another affidavit, Elinor Hart said that despite being an MPNA member since 1995, she was never informed of the MPNA's role in forming the VA's, nor does she recall votes or public discussions about the agreements.

Collins said that like other civic associations, members of the MPNA vote on representatives, not issues. She said that MPNA sometimes advertises their meetings in the Northwest Current, and sometimes by flyers.

Schlosberg said that since HMP formed last year, the MPNA has been more transparent and has done a better job of advertising meetings.

The Issue of Live Music
"No one is against live music," Collins said.

She said that instead of bringing the issue before the ABC board, Vanegas, Carrillo, and Ferrufino could have negotiated with the MPNA. Last year, Tonic and Marx cafe approached the MPNA requesting live music, and the MPNA revised their voluntary agreements to allow live music on limited, pre-approved dates.

She said she visited the restaurants to ask what they wanted to change, but Don Jaime's and Haydee's would not tell her what they wanted, and instead surprised her and the rest of the MPNA by announcing they wanted to terminate their agreement.

But in 1996 Don Juan Cafe, owned by Ferrufino, installed a karaoke machine, and was protested by the MPNA, which argued that it was live music.

Avery and Schlosberg said the restrictions are not equally enforced. Schlosberg said that Don Jaime's, Haydee's, and Don Juan's are watched closely for any infraction and their agreements are enforced more stringently than other restaurants, such as Tonic or Marx. She said she remembers Collins promoting an event at Tonic which gave away wine, despite it being against the agreement.

Don Juan owner Alberto Ferrufino said he feels racially discriminated against. He motioned to a salt and pepper shaker side by side on the tablecloth of his restaurant. "Why can this guy have live music?" he asked, pointing to the salt shaker, "and this guy can't?" pointing to the pepper shaker.

"They have only used the race card to get attention. We have never had the racial discriminatory tension in our neighborhood. Their tactics have divided our community," Collins said.

"Their agenda is solely to get music to Mt. Pleasant. Its all driven by musicians and music promoters and the like," said MPNA Vice-President Marika Tokov , referring to Rick Massumi and Wayne Kahn, two community members involved in the push for live music. Massumi worked with the D.C. Nightlife Coalition and Kahn has a music label called "Right On Rhythm."

Kahn's wife Claudia Schlosberg said that charges of conflict of interest "border on the ridiculous". "Usually you end up losing money. He's done it out of a love of music and a sense that music needs to be preserved," she said of her husband's small music label, which has recorded a handful of musicians.

Jack McKay, an ANC 1D commissioner, has lived in Mt. Pleasant for 34 years. He said the conflict has developed because the neighborhood houses diverse demographics with distinct views of what Mt. Pleasant should be. "There are those who believe it should be a quiet 'bedroom suburb,' and there are those who want a vibrant inner city neighborhood."

He said that those who want the 'quiet bedroom suburb' are often homeowners, who want their neighborhood to be similar to Cleveland Park. He said that the other group is made up renters, many of them younger, who want to have the "full urban lifestyle on their doorstep."

McKay doesn't believe the issue is about live music at all. He said that that live music brings more customers to the restaurants, and that's what the MPNA is fighting against, because they want a quieter, more suburban neighborhood.

At the most recent hearing in front of the ABC Board, witnesses for the MPNA brought up concerns over loud customers leaving late at night, increased public drunkenness, increased traffic, and noise escaping from the restaurants. They questioned whether those protesting music restrictions had factored-in the parking issues and additional police presence that increased nightlife would require.

HMP members said concerns over large crowds were unfounded. "No one wants this neighborhood to turn into another Adam's Morgan." Avery said.