update

[Tiffany DeFoe]

Hi all,
this is an update on the LE situation I sent out to my list, posting here for anyone who wants to read...
T.
************
some good news on the live entertainment bill!  At the most recent hearing (last Thursday), President Rawlings-Blake announced a major change in her proposed approach.  The new proposal is to make live entertainment a conditional use for restaurants and taverns in  B-1 and B-2 business districts, meaning that restaurants and taverns in those zones can apply to the zoning board to have live entertainment (and those with liquor licenses would need to get a live entertainment permit through the state liquor board, as is already the case in other zones).  The new proposal does not include an entertainment licensing system.  This would be a better outcome than I personally ever anticipated for the bill.

Representatives of the neighborhood associations at the hearing sounded very concerned about the elimination of the licensing system, which was the main form of control over entertainment venues in previous drafts of the bill.  The new draft is supposed to allow B-1 and B-2 restaurants and taverns "to obtain a live entertainment privilege through the city zoning board and state liquor board, under certain conditions".  I think the content of those "conditions" is where people concerned with venue control will attempt to re-insert it in the bill.  We should keep a close eye on developments with that, and provide the council with input on the conditions described in the current draft as well as any revisions made between now and the next committee hearing, which is scheduled for Wednesday, May 27, 5 pm at City Hall. 

The new proposal is summarized here: http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/LiveEntertainment_TargetedExpansion.pdf

and the full text is available at http://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/LiveEntertainment_Licenses.html

Thanks everyone for reading, coming to the community work sessions and the Live Arts Supporters meetings, and everything else you've done. 
And of course, let me know if you want off this list.  :)
Tiffany