The End of “The Block” in Baltimore?
IfIGottaBeDamned
Maryland
Last call could come a lot earlier for dancers and patrons at strip clubs on The Block in Baltimore, as police and politicians are trying to force a 10 p.m. closing time in the adult entertainment district in an effort to curb crime.
Senate President Bill Ferguson, whose district includes The Block, introduced a state bill mandating the early closing time. “This is not a step we took lightly,” Ferguson said. “We know that there’s controversy around the licensing and hours regulations, but we’ve got to stop the violence.” Ferguson and Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said The Block, a stretch of East Baltimore Street downtown that includes strip clubs, other adult-oriented businesses and carryout restaurants near the Baltimore Police Department headquarters, has seen an increase in violent crime and calls to police, leaving other parts of the city’s central police district with fewer officers.
Harrison said in a statement Thursday that the early closing time is necessary because violence “within and resulting” from clubs on The Block has “drastically increased in recent months.” Harrison said that police had 831 calls for service to The Block in 2021, including eight shootings with 11 victims. He did not say how many of those incidents occurred after 10 p.m. Ferguson, a Democrat, said he didn’t know how many calls came after 10 p.m. But he told reporters that it seems that problems occur after midnight “when people were leaving establishments and congregating.” “In other areas of the city where we’ve seen the restriction on the consumption of alcohol, we know that there has been a decrease in violence,” Ferguson said. “We know that the concentration of alcohol-selling establishments is correlated highly with violence.”
Three state delegates who represent the same district as Ferguson — Dels. Luke Clippinger, Robbyn Lewis and Brooke Lierman, all Democrats — plan to introduce a companion bill in the House of Delegates. The bill also has the support of Baltimore City Councilman Eric Costello, a Democrat who represents the area. It isn’t feasible, Costello said, to devote the number of police officers need to patrol The Block to make it safe given the needs of other parts of the central district. “Our police department’s resources are limited, and only an unrealistic level of resources would help bring safety to the area,” he said. “This is a resulting action that is being taken to make that area safe.”
Sponsors of the bill can expect opposition. Attorney Andrew Saller, who represented the Penthouse Club last year in a legal battle with the city over pandemic-related closures, said he has been in contact with several owners of clubs on The Block about the bill. Saller said he believes the proposed law is of “dubious constitutionality.” ”I think it is targeted at speech,” he said. “Baltimore unfortunately has a crime problem, and it’s not all isolated to The Block. To pick these individuals to be scapegoats is unfortunate.” He added: ”Is the true aim here to close The Block and deal with crime or is it to redevelop it?” Efforts to reach representatives of clubs on The Block were unsuccessful late Thursday.
The bill was submitted as emergency legislation and would take effect immediately if it is passed and becomes law. Emergency bills require a three-fifths vote in both the Senate and House of Delegates.
The bill would apply to all businesses that hold both liquor and adult entertainment licenses in a defined geographic area that surrounds The Block.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott did not request the bill, according to his chief lobbyist, Natasha Mehu. “We are aware of the bill and are reviewing it,” Mehu said Thursday.
In the General Assembly, lawmakers typically support bills that apply to a specific geographic area when all of the local lawmakers are on board, a process known as “local courtesy.” While all of the lawmakers who have The Block in their district are sponsoring the bill, it’s not clear yet whether they’ll try to bring the rest of the city’s delegates and senators on board.
Sen. Cory McCray, a Democrat who chairs the Baltimore City Senate Delegation, first heard about the bill Wednesday night. He said he was “open” to considering it and wanted to hear from neighbors and the police about the proposed clampdown on operating hours. McCray said he backed a similar set of operating-hours restrictions on liquor establishments in a small stretch of his Northeast Baltimore district that had been plagued by shootings and dozens of homicides. McCray said he credits those restrictions, which took effect in July 2020, with helping significantly drive down violence in the immediate area. Sen. Antonio Hayes, a fellow Baltimore Democrat, said he’s also passed similar restrictions in his district on the city’s west side. Hayes said he only recently learned of the bill and hadn’t spoken to Ferguson or other supporters but “would definitely consider” backing it.
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That said, I don't understand why this is a state issue and not a city council issue. Typical political overreach.
Having said this – easy to see why The Block would be in the crosshairs of the powers-to-be – w/ all the gentrification and massive new developments that have been happening over the last 2-decades in many large cities, businesses like The Block usually have their days numbered and no-one will really stick up for them – more than likely the politicians pushing this are being paid-off by developers to go after The Block.
One less place for Shadowcat to monitor for 2am’ers.
After reading the article, I’m just wondering, are there any non-Democrats in Baltimore?
I had heard so much about the Inner Harbor, and I had relatives living outside of Annapolis, so I drove down with my family (before my divorce). The area wasn’t as wonderful as I had thought. I looked rough, and old, and even Annapolis had some sketchy spots.
SJG
Why 'Sports Illustrated Swimsuit' will only work with brands that 'prove they are creating change for women'
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/sports-i…
Weather Report - Live at Montreux (1976) [Remastered]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfvfXA2S…
This has nothing to do w/ violence - B'more is a violent cit Block or not - the violence thing us just a convenient excuse to get rid of the Block and let developers take over and put in what they want - the 10pm closing time is done b/c they know this will kill the clubs and that is what they want; it's not for safety reasons; it's all about the $$$.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.baltimo…
I did not know of Kim Klacik's stripper past, but it isn't surprising!
I didn't see that mentioned in the linked article. Was it reported somewhere else?
https://therealnews.com/battleground-bal…
https://komonews.com/amp/news/nation-wor…
https://youtu.be/0xbgIAGG5Gg?t=269
In the interview she mentions she's separated from her husband.
I know everything online isn’t always the truth. But, she has a great body and legs, and her husband has a big smile!
https://instachronicles.com/2021/10/20/j…
But, she got involved in a much dirtier business…
https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs…
Bars and clubs on The Block would chip in to pay for extra police patrols on Baltimore’s main adult entertainment strip under a potential compromise struck between the city’s politicians and some of the venues to avoid a threatened 10 p.m. last call.
Eight of the clubs agreed to a framework of paying two off-duty Baltimore police officers to patrol the nightlife district three nights a week, and also to spell out security rules, including cameras with footage readily available to detectives, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said Friday.
But not all the club owners and operators are on board with the deal or open to the idea of ponying up more cash to pay for extra officers. Owners or managers affiliated with nine other clubs said Friday they hadn’t agreed to anything and first heard of the supposed compromise from various media.
Club owners had said a 10 p.m. last call would almost certainly doom their businesses and put their staff out of work because the vast majority of their patrons — and profits — hit The Block late at night. Several bristled Friday at the possibility of paying for additional costs, saying current taxes already are more than they can afford.
“I don’t think we’re interested in paying more,” John Sachs, the operator of Chez Joey, said Friday. “We pay more as an adult entertainment club than any bar or restaurant in Baltimore City when it comes to taxes.”
The Hustler Club was among the The Block establishments represented in talks with lawmakers over the proposed compromise. It wasn’t immediately clear which other entities had agreed to the framework that state lawmakers unveiled in a Friday news release. A spokesman for Ferguson did not identify them.
The precise details of the potential deal, including just how much it might cost each business to fund extra patrols or add other security measures, remain to be hashed out.
The Block refers to a short stretch of E. Baltimore Street and Custom House Avenue teeming with adult entertainment venues.
The early 10 p.m. closing was part of state legislation backed by Ferguson and delegates Luke Clippinger, Robbyn Lewis and Brooke Lierman — all Democrats whose districts include The Block. Ferguson said he’s now planning to amend the bill to remove the early closure and include the plans for extra off-duty patrols and additional security requirements. “My goal has always been to open lines of communication to create a safer environment and reduce the drain on law enforcement resources,” Ferguson said.
It’s unclear whether other Baltimore lawmakers support the proposals to restrict The Block. The blessing of a jurisdiction’s delegation is generally required before lawmakers from elsewhere in Maryland pass local regulations.
Baltimore attorney Frank Boston III, who’s representing the Hustler Club as well as AMW Investments Inc., owner of the historic Gaiety Theater on The Block that houses the Hustler Club and two neighboring strip clubs, said he was part of the talks and the tentative agreement appeared to be in the best interest of everyone involved.
Boston said he wasn’t sure what the cost of extra policing would be. But he hoped that, split up across The Block, it would be reasonable and affordable. Other security measures like high-quality exterior cameras and doormen equipped with metal-detecting wands are already common practice on The Block, Boston said, but would be codified in a formal requirement.
“The goal is that if there’s an off-duty police presence with the ability to arrest, who is in uniform, then that will be a great deterrent to potential criminal elements coming to The Block,” Boston said. “We want to send a message that if you come down, you must behave.”
Messages left with other Baltimore attorneys who regularly represent clubs on The Block were not immediately returned.
“I was completely caught off-guard to read this,” said Jules Gordon, owner of the Circus Show Bar.
Gordon said his brother, Paul, who owns the Jewel Box four doors down, hadn’t heard about it either.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison pushed for an earlier closing time for all of The Block’s bars and clubs. Harrison has argued that unruly crowds outside the clubs, especially around the current last call of 2 a.m., is a major drain on police manpower. He said violent crime has been on the rise in the area, a sharply disputed claim that’s difficult to verify in publicly available crime data.
Club owners have questioned whether violence is any worse on The Block than outside rowdy bars in other popular nightlife areas in the city. The owners said they were unfairly targeted by the legislation, arguing that their bouncers control patrons inside the bars, but that there’s little they can do about what happens on the sidewalks.
The Block, packed with clubs a stone’s throw from City Hall and Baltimore police headquarters, has been a noted presence in Baltimore for decades. Once home to vaudeville and burlesque theaters, it’s now home to 14 of Baltimore’s 27 licensed adult entertainment venues. It has been whittled down over the years by municipal construction projects and weathered intermittent previous efforts since the 1970s by politicians and liquor inspectors to shut down, clean up or transform The Block.
Gonna be something to watch how this all plays out...