Having successfully completed a months-long campaign to shutter Philly Pizza, neighbors and community leaders got a bonus gift today: a visit from Mayor Adrian Fenty, who rolled up in front of the restaurant’s former home in his Smart Car a little after 11 this morning for brief remarks about the drunk food hot-spot’s closure.

“They did a fantastic job, didn’t they?” Fenty said as he shook hands with neighbors gathered to hear him speak, in reference to Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners’ efforts to shut down Philly Pizza after its license had been revoked.

Flanked by Attorney General Peter Nickles and Department of Consumer Regulatory Affairs Director Linda Argo, his podium positioned near where tipsy freshman used to sit down to enjoy their pizza with ranch, Fenty congratulated ANC Commissioners Bill Starrels and Ed Solomon for their work to “shut down a nuisance business … causing havoc in the community.”

He likened Philly Pizza’s closure to other illegal businesses that the City has targeted, like used car lots and nightclubs. Later, in his remarks, Nickles volunteered brothels and used car lots that the City had closed as a comparison.

“We listened to our Georgetown residents and it was clear this business was not being a good neighbor,” Fenty said.

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Today saw the end of a long campaign to shut down Philly Pizza’s location on Potomac Street, which has been operating illegally since its license was revoked in mid-February. Its doors closed last night, and today, they remain shut.

After a February 19 Board of Zoning Adjustment ruling that barred its continued operation and a subsequent order to vacate the premises failed to shutter the late night drunk food joint, Philly Pizza got taken to D.C. Superior Court, where a two day hearing that concluded this afternoon ordered the establishment to remain closed, or else find itself in contempt of the court.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Vice-Chair Bill Starrels said that as a result of the ruling, at today’s hearing, Philly Pizza agreed to remain closed. An e-mail from D.C. Office of Attorney General’s Michael Stern that Starrels provided to Vox reiterated the hearing’s success at shutting down the pizza joint for good:

“I am pleased to report that after a hearing for most of the day yesterday, when we returned to Court this morning Mr. Greenberg, the attorney for Philly Pizza & Grill, Inc., conceded our point to the Court and voluntarily agreed to close the establishment. We reduced that agreement to writing, and made it an Order of the Court.”

Well, almost certainly for good. Starrels said that Philly Pizza owner Mehmet Kocak has filed with the D.C. Department of Consumer Regulatory Affairs for a new certificate of occupancy.

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Looks like that’s it, Philly Pizza fans. On Friday, the fast-food favorite was issued a ‘notice to discontinue illegal use of premises,’ pictured after the jump, in accordance with the BZA decision made on Tuesday to shut the establishment down.

The notice informs the owners that “Philly Pizza must immediately cease operations at 1211 Potomac Street NW, upon service of this Notice. If DCRA determines that Philly Pizza is continuing, after service of the Notice, to operate at these premises, DCRA will request that the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia seek emergency injunctive relief in the D.C. Superior Court, on or after February 22, 2010.”

Thanks to Topher Mathews of Georgetown Metropolitan for sending us the doc!

“Comments of the Week” will run tomorrow

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A bureaucratic decision made at about 9:15 this evening may well be the end the Philly Pizza on Potomac Street. The District Board of Zoning Adjustment has just upheld the decision made by the D.C. Department of Consumer Regulatory Affairs to revoke its certificate of occupancy because it was operating as a fast food restaurant but was not zoned to do so.

“Basically, they will have to close that location as soon as the City decides to enforce the decision,” Student Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Aaron Golds (COL ‘11) said. Golds said it is unclear when the City will do so, but, “it could be as soon as tomorrow.”

Matt Kocak, the owner of Philly Pizza, said that he was not sure if he would appeal the BZA’s decision.

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “The door is open.”

The final vote by the board was unanimous, with all five members voting to reject Philly Pizza’s request to repeal the decision of Matthew LeGrant, the District Zoning Administrator, to revoke their certificate of occupancy. Although residents who lived near Philly Pizza gave testimony about the crowds and noise the establishment drew, the board members said that the question that had to be resolved was whether Philly Pizza was acting as a fast-food establishment or a restaurant.

Today’s hearing was the second session of Philly Pizza’s appeal of the DCRA’s decision, which the DCRA made on October 19. An over-seven-hours affair, groups who were opposed to Philly Pizza’s continued operation used today to make their case against reversing DCRA’s decision. (At the first hearing, Philly Pizza’s owners and legal representation argued that they were operating as a sit-down restaurant, not a carry-out establishment.)

Terrell Hill, an investigator with the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs who visited Philly Pizza three times undercover early this school year, testified that on his first visit he only observed one person besides himself actually sitting and eating in the restaurant. Everyone else who came into Philly Pizza ordered food, paid for it, and left, he said. When he was shown around the establishment by the owner on a fourth visit where he announced himself as an inspector, it became clear that Philly Pizza was not using non-disposable table ware, a requirement for a restaurant.

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Monday night’s marathon Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting was one of the most contentious in recent memory, with most of the meetings devoted to a controversial Department of Parks and Recreation agreement with the private Maret School for developing a new artificial surface and pool at Jelleff Field, located on 3625 S Street NW.

But first, other orders of business: Apart from the controversial Jelleff Field matter, the ANC passed a resolution expressing its support for renewing a five-year moratorium on liquor licenses in Georgetown, meaning no new liquor stores will open in the neighborhood.

The Commissioners also briefly reflected on Philly Pizza and Grill, noting in passing that they expect it “to be taken care of” on February 9, when the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment convenes to make a decision about Philly P’s appeal of the revocation of its license, which Philly Pizza very well may lose.

Georgetown is also set to lose three stoplights. After a successful experiment to see if a four-way stop would be as effective as a stoplight in controlling traffic using blinking red lights, the Department of Transportation will replace those stoplights—at 33rd and Q Street, 34th and Q Street, and 34th and Reservoir—with stop signs.

Jelleff Field: In what appears to be an increasing hallmark of the Fenty administration, the DPR agreement was characterized by its utter lack of transparency, occurring with neither competitive bidding nor community input.

Just two weeks ago, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) disclosed in a press conference that the deal with the Maret School would grant the private institution exclusive use of the new field from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekday afternoon for the next two ten years. In exchange, the Maret School will be installing a $2.5 million upgrade to the facilities.

The agreement had slipped entirely under the radar of the ANC, so the tension was palpable as representatives from several community organizations took the floor before an unusually packed audience.

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A six-plus hour hearing to decide the fate of Philly Pizza & Grill?  Repeated explanations of the difference between fast-food establishments and restaurants? Arguments about silverware and dishwashing techniques?

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.

Here’s the abridged version of the hearing held yesterday by the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustments to determine whether Philly P was in violation of its certificate of occupancy and should be closed: those in charge pretty much decided nothing. Time ran out shortly after John Patrick Brown Jr., Philly Pizza’s legal representative, and owner Mehmet Kocak closed their argument. The BZA will convene again to make a decision about the appeal on February 9. In the meantime, Philly P’s will stay open under the conditions of the Stay of Enforcement passed back in November.

The BZA hearing revolved around Kocak’s appeal of the Zoning Regulator’s decision to revoke his business’s Certificate of Occupancy. Kocak sat with his attorney, Brown, armed with photos, non-disposable plates, and desperate words for clemency, all to demonstrate that his restaurant was a sit-down and not take-out affair.

“I have put a lot of time and energy into making sure that people of all ages and nationality can enjoy my restaurant … Nobody told me I was doing anything wrong … I don’t want to burn my bridges,” Kocak said.

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In December, unplowed side streets disappointed commissioners

On Monday, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission kicked off the New Year with a relatively empty slate of issues, due mostly to the fact that the Old Georgetown Board doesn’t meet in January. Vox couldn’t be there, but afterwards, we caught up with student Commissioner Aaron Golds (COL `11) to hear what happened.

Among the business that did take place, citizens of Liechtenstein will be happy to know that the ANC approved a public space permit for a flagpole for their nation’s embassy on K Street.

The ANC also received an update that the Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue should reopen according to schedule in May. They responded to some construction issues on 35th Street and reviewed the District Department of Transportation’s response to the massive blizzard that enveloped D.C. just a few weeks ago.

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Depending on the outcome of an impending meeting, the first weekend back at Georgetown may be missing a key ingredient—its ranch-and-pizza mecca.

On Tuesday, the owners of Philly Pizza and Grill will appeal to the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment to reverse another department’s October 19 decision to revoke its license of occupancy. A decision against the establishment may force it to shut down entirely.

It doesn’t help Philly P’s chances that the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners who have been making diligent efforts to shutter the pizza joint recently voted to give themselves the right to testify at Tuesday’s meeting with evidence they have collected against it. They are contending that because Philly P is acting as a carry-out restaurant—even though it is zoned as a sit-down establishment—it is in violation of its license of occupancy.

However, on November 17, the breakdown between dine-in, delivery, and carry-out sales that Philly P’s legal representation presented to the BZA convinced BZA Chair Marc Loud that Philly P could conceivably win Tuesday’s appeal.

Tomorrow, Philly P will need to present a more detailed breakdown of its sales numbers that will show the ratio of take-out, dine-in, and delivery at different hours of the day. (At the November 17 hearing, ANC Commissioner Bill Starrels also requested that an independent source confirm the numbers it presents.)

Vox will be there, whether tomorrow’s hearing frustrates months of community efforts to close or reduce the hours of Philly P—or whether the BZA’s decision is one that will send us all stumbling toward Tuscany Pizza in the wee hours of the morning.

They’re still not OK with this

This month’s ANC meeting was low on the fireworks, but neighbors turned out to protest valet parking by the Georgetown Club and continue their battle against late night pizza.

Philly Pizza

Philly P has been a common topic of discussion at ANC meetings this year, with neighbors loudly grumbling about late-night patrons of the restaurant (read: students).  The discussion was largely a rehashing of old complaints, but Commissioners passed an important resolution for the upcoming January 12 hearing with the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment.  The resolution allowed ANC Commissioners to present their findings at the upcoming Zoning hearing and act as a party with full rights to present evidence and testify.

Student Commissioner Aaron Golds voted against the resolution, which passed by a vote of 5-1.

Commissioners and residents remain steadfast in their efforts to shut down Philly Pizza, charging that it is a fast food restaurant.

Georgetown Club Valet Parking

A surprising amount of time at yesterday’s meeting went to discussing the parking arrangement for the Georgetown Club, located at 1530 Wisconsin Ave.  Neighbors complained that valet parking was creating a public safety hazard by blocking traffic on Volta Place.  ANC Commissioners also chastised the establishment for failing to send a representative to the meeting.  A resolution was unanimously passed  that encouraged the Public Safety Board to allow valet parking at night during a special trial period to ensure the Club was responsive to neighbor complaints.

The rest of the meeting, after the jump!

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One of the lesser-known inalienable rights

FUNDING REFORM – THE BIG ONE: On Sunday afternoon, GUSA passed a resolution threatening to withhold student activity fee funding from advisory boards, like SAC, that do not achieve six new reforms.

First, funding boards must reduce reserve accounts so that they do not exceed 10 percent of the board’s yearly allocation, and surplus funds must be rolled into the general Funding Board’s reserve account at the end of the year. Second, advisory boards must set up an appeals process for clubs who are denied funding. Third, clubs must have the option of lump sum funding for the year instead of funding event by event. Fourth, minutes of all meetings, including information on votes, must be made available online. Fifth, members of advisory boards must either be approved by the GUSA Senate or elected by club leaders. Sixth, clubs must be given reasonable control over the money they fundraise themselves.

“It seems harsh, but it’s a necessary thing to do,” said bill sponsor Nick Troiano (COL ’11—Village A, A-D). “Past negotiations have sometimes fallen through.”

The bill was passed unanimously with no contentious debate.

“This has been a long time coming,” Josh Mogil (SFS ’11—Off Campus) said. “I think it’s amazing.”

Mogil said this reform was different than club funding reform in the past because this time GUSA reached out to clubs to seek their input.

The Finance and Appropriations Committee based their recommendations on an e-mail survey to club leaders and responses from the Club Summit held on Saturday. The Club Summit was a chance for student leaders to voice their concerns about club funding. The leaders were mostly concerned about the tediousness of the process, their inability to keep funds that they fundraised, the lack of transparency in SAC leadership, and the number of events that are rejected or underfunded.

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