Liquor Board Schedules Hearing on My Place Bar

The Anne Arundel County Liquor Board has scheduled a hearing to review the liquor license at the My Place Bar and Lounge, after nearly 50 area residents signed a petition to stop its renewal. 

The hearing on April 26 will examine whether the owners of the bar are qualified to hold the license and whether it serves a public need. The liquor board named Jung Kay of Riverdale, MD, Walter Ruth of Severn, MD and Sun A. Wilson of Odenton as the holders of the license.

The Greater Odenton Improvement Association (GOIA) has sought to stop the renewal of the bar following several violent incidents that happened near the property. Three people were shot just outside the bar in November, and an off-duty Prince George's County Police officer was charged with assault following an alleged dispute with a tow truck driver there. 

GOIA collected 47 signatures for a petition against the liquor license renewal. Only ten signatures were needed to trigger the hearing before the liquor board.

GOIA Vice President David Tibbetts said residents were concerned about the violence and said the bar attracts too many people from outside the area. Disputes over parking between nearby businesses have been common.

"It's pretty much common knowledge they are drawing people from all over the area, inordinately large crowds for such a small bar," Tibbetts said. 

Tibbetts said he has seen evidence of some potentially illegal activity, such as lap dancing, on pictures posted publicly on social media sites. He also said the bar attracts many of the same people who frequented the Traffic Bar, an adjacent establishment which was shut down in 2009 following a quadruple shooting that left two people dead. The manager of Traffic Bar, William Major, is now the manager at My Place. 

"It's that same marketing and pattern that has been associated now with two different bars, and on a sustained basis," Tibbetts said. 

The liquor board last month fined My Place $250 for several offenses, including an unauthorized jukebox and poor record-keeping. My Place currently hold a Class D license, which is essentially a nightclub license allowing dancing and the sale of beer and wine. Such licenses are not normally granted to establishments within close proximity to residential areas, but the bar's license was grandfathered in from a time before many homes in Seven Oaks were built.  

Anne Arundel County Police have performed frequent checks on the bar since the shooting in November, but said the bar generates fewer overall calls for service than most other establishments in the county. 

The hearing is scheduled for April 26 at 6:30 p.m. at 44 Calvert St., Annapolis.