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Battle looms over plans for Fed Hill’s Crossbar Der Biergarten
Federal Hill bar baron Brian McComas is planning to open “Crossbar Der Biergarten” in the old Turners. He’s also expanding the liquor license to two other buildings, 16 and 18 Cross Street, to bulk the total square footage. He says the new joint will hold 250-300 people and be just like Ryleigh’s–and that cuts both ways. People who like Ryleigh’s for a weekday beer and some good vittles say, great! This neighborhood needs a classy beer place. People who flee Ryleigh’s on Friday and Saturday nights as it morphs into DudeBro/WooGirl HQ say, WTF! Another megabar?! Things were going to come to a head at the Liquor Board on July 18. But on a couple days ago word got out that the hearing was pulled forward to June 27. Anti-s are pissed. Their attempt to get the hearing postponed was denied. They smell conspiracy. Much of this is now making the blind copy email rounds as Anti-s plot strategy. For those not in the loop, the bar plans got a Reddit thread a couple months back. And McComas has been ginning up his own PR. Crossbar has 234 Twitter followers so far and its own Facebook page.
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Activists launch petition targeting WBAL, Tony Pann
In December we reported about comments made by WBAL-TV meteorologist Tony Pann on social media depicting climate science as a scam. Among his comments: “If you are making a living on government grants to research global warming, and have been for 20 years, you don’t want that money to dry up! I hate to say it, but you just have to follow the money.” The exchange also included WMAR weatherman Mike Masco, who called global warming “the biggest scam in modern time.” The whole dust up was reported in The Sun and Columbia Journalism Review. Now, a group called Forecast the Facts has teamed up with Maryland-based Chesapeake Climate Action Network to launch a petition, asking WBAL to “publicly correct the false claims about climate change made by WBAL meteorologist Tony Pann and ensure that all WBAL staff report the scientific facts of human-caused climate change and its impact on the weather system.” For what it’s worth (a lot, hopefully), a recent study found 97 percent consensus among “over 12,000 peer-reviewed climate science papers” about human-caused global warming.
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“Open alcoholic beverages are NOT permitted” at Pride Block Party: Have a great day!
Last week, we reported on the controversy around “underage drinking and public urination” at Baltimore Pride’s Block Party. Well, as is often the case, these concerns about underage drinking have led to a general crackdown. This flyer is being distributed in Mt. Vernon today, as what was once Baltimore’s best day for outdoor drinking may be facing a turning point. And what about other festivals? Is it discrimination to only worry about gay drinking? Will First Thursdays no longer permit open containers? Who knows, a baby may be slugging back some Jack. Better ruin it for everyone. How about Bookfest? Because the City Paper book swap would be hard to manage without a cold one. Do we really want to have that kind of festival where we are more concerned with policing the behavior of adults than we are with having fun? As I said in an earlier post, the ability to tolerate public drinking is the sign of civilization. Baltimore today just got a little less civilized. I, for one, think this should not be tolerated. NOTE: While this flier limits drinking in the “lot behind Eddie’s” which the GLCCB said last week was the center of City Cafe’s [...]
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Dumbest kids in Baltimore area snap photos of themselves using a stolen credit card
Yes, American kids are getting worse at math and science, but if it’s any consolation, they’re apparently also getting worse at crime. Last week a woman alerted Anne Arundel County police after a credit card she had lost showed activity at the Regal Movie Theater on South Main Chapel Way in Crofton. Surveillance video showed a group of teens buying movie tickets with the card and then taking photo booth pictures of themselves holding the credit card. Police ask you to call Detective Golas at 410-222-6155 if you’ve seen these kids. But you might as well just wait until they tweet out their whereabouts. Shouldn’t be long.
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Union tosses monkey wrench in mayor’s “Change to Grow” plan
With the help of Councilwoman Helen Holton (8th District), city union tossed a monkey wrench in Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s 10 year “Change to Grow” fiscal plan Wednesday night by getting an amendment codifying raises for city workers into a bill that would demand greater employee contributions to their pensions. “We really don’t have transparency in government in Baltimore City,” Holton (8th District) told the Taxation, Finance and Economic Development Committee at a work session for the mayor’s pension reform bill, “which is why I offered these amendments.” The hard-fought change? Getting a promised two percent annual raise committed in writing. The pension matter goes to the heart of Rawlings-Blake’s long-term plan for the city. She has called the defined benefit plans “unsustainable” and a big part of a projected $750 million cumulative budget shortfall over the next decade. Three years ago Rawlings-Blake unilaterally lowered the cost of living increases in the police and fire union pensions, a move that a federal judge ruled unconstitutional last fall. The city has appealed The new bill, changing the terms of the Employees Retirement System that covers 4,000 city workers including public works, transportation and school employees, is cut from the same policy cloth. “It’s [...]
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New CIA number two was once a Fells Point fixture
Yesterday, President Obama nominated Avril Haines to be deputy director of the CIA. Most people who have heard of Haines know her as a lawyer in the White House Counsel’s office who has often served as a bridge between the president and the intelligence community. Here in Baltimore, we know her as the founder and co-owner of the once-awesome Fells Point bookstore, Adrian’s Book Cafe, which was located at 714 S. Broadway, where CapitolMac is now. The place won City Paper‘s “Best Independent Bookstore” in 1997. Here’s an excerpt of what we said then (sadly, not online): This gem on Broadway is the antithesis of all those megabookstores taking over the burbs. Instead of thousands of titles, Adrian’s offers a small number of literary and eccentric offerings. Instead of a hip coffee bar staffed by surly art students, Adrian’s offers a full menu with pleasant table service. As a story in the Daily Beast today points out, Adrian’s also held a regular “Erotica Night,” hosted by Haines, which included dinner, readings, and red candles. Adrian’s and Haines were mentioned several times in City Paper. The deserts at Adrian’s were praised in our 1999 edition of EAT. And in a 1998 [...]
