The semi-annual Block Party has been postponed indefinitely because of the Alcohol Beverage Commission’s Wednesday decision to deny a liquor license for the charity event unless it is moved on campus. Such a move, proposed by Vice President for Student Affairs Juan C. Gonzalez, would require significant concessions to university demands by the organizers. As a result, the Block Party will not take place on Oct. 6 as previously planned.

In the face of opposition by representatives from the Burleith Citizens’ Association, Georgetown Residents’ Association and Gonzalez, the ABC voted not to extend the necessary liquor license to the directors of the 1227 Gatsby Foundation who run Block Party. Unless Block Party is moved on campus and the concessions made, it will not occur.

ABC approval would have been the last hurdle in the long process to approve Block Party after the Advisory Neighborhood Commission’s recent approval of the event.

Directors of the 1227 Gatsby Foundation, Matt Cosgrave (MSB ’01), Dan Kelley (MSB ’01) and Liam Betterman (SFS ’01), explained that lack of university support appeared to be the chief reason the ABC did not extend the license as it has in the past.

“Essentially, university failure to support us is the reason we can’t have Block Party off campus. Now, based on the ABC decision, we’re moved into a relationship with the administration to hold Block Party on campus,” Kelley said.

Gonzalez expressed the university’s desire to move the event on campus, should certain requirements be met, and passed out a letter delineating this plan at the ABC meeting. The organizers were unaware that he was going to appear at the meeting.

Stipulations of moving the Block Party onto campus include hiring a third party to check identification and serve alcohol, along with reducing the length of the party to three hours.

“There is a willingness to make it happen,” Gonzalez said. “There are date, time and liability issues we need to examine . . . a lot of work goes into planning.” He added that during a Thursday night meeting with the organizers, “we sat down at the table and shared our opinions. We have the common goals of raising money and bringing people together.”

“Hopefully we can keep the traditional party and work with the university,” Cosgrave said.

Considering the costs of paying a third party vendor and shortening the hours the event can incur, Kelley said, “We’ll be lucky if we raise money; it’s possible we’ll pull a loss.”

“Previously, we’ve had 100 or more volunteers throughout the day working in two or three hour shifts. If you take that away and outsource it to a bar, it’s several grand gone right away,” Cosgrave said.

In previous years, the two Block Parties have raised as much as $30,000 for charities such as Temple Courts, Sursum Corda and It’s for the Kids.

The organizers expressed frustration with the situation as a whole.

“Each year Block Party becomes a better organized event, and each year it gets tougher and tougher to pass these obstacles. It seems like the harder we try, the more they throw in,” Kelley said.

ANC representative Matt Payne (COL ’01) said that each year the party gets “cleaner, leaner and nicer.” Cosgrave explained that the administration has said it will be flexible and expressed hope that the university “will live up to that.”

Kelley said that, thus far, the administration has been firm in denying support for Block Party as it has traditionally been held.

“We asked for support to prove that we can meet their expectations,” he said, “but they were rigid in saying `No.'”

Payne noted that other on-campus parties with alcohol don’t turn a profit, while the traditional goal of the Block Party has been to make as much money as possible for charity.

Currently, the organizers are embarking on a fact-finding mission to examine their options, and will meet with members of the administration for the next two weeks. However, until Oct. 12th or 13th, they will not know if Block Party will take place, or where and when it will occur if permission is gained.

Related Links

Block Party Could Move On Campus (9/8)

Fall Block Party OK’d (9/1)

Block Partiers Arrested (5/2)

Block Party Approved at Last Minute (4/28)

Block Party License Denied (4/18)

ANC Approves Block Party (3/15) University Withdraws Support for Block Party (2/29)