What happened at the Liquor Board on November 7, 2013

Chairman Fogleman checked the good standing of the licensees’ LLC and checked the property ownership and voter registration for the character witnesses in the application.

The Lakeland Coalition submitted a letter opposing the live entertainment request, but no one from the group showed up to the hearing in person; the letter enclosed a petition against the request as well as a list of police calls for service to the restaurant’s address. Mr. Kodenski objected to the documents, stating that there was no way to authenticate the police calls for service, and that the letter and petition came in too late to be considered by the Board. (The community association’s documents were received by the Board on November 6, the day before the hearing.) Mr. Kodenski added that to accept the documents would be “an absolute outrage.” The Board received the documents into evidence over Mr. Kodenski’s objections.

Commissioners Smith asked whether the Liquor Board had received any 311 complaints regarding this address. Inspector Martin answered that the Board hadn’t ever received complaints.

Commissioner Smith pointed out that the prospective establishment is located in the area with the highest rate of crime in Baltimore City and noted that she is concerned about “criminal elements and the potential for underage drinking.” The applicant promised to provide security and surveillance cameras, as well as to check in regularly with local police. He said that he will “aggressively card young people.”

Adding to Commissioner Smith’s line of questioning, Commissioner Jones asked, “have you ever lived in the area or socialized in the neighborhood?” The applicant responded that he hadn’t really done so. Jones followed up, “What are you doing to help crime in the neighborhood?” The applicant responded that he will gladly and willingly become part of the community.

The current licensee, Mr. Alexander Martick, stated that his parents had one of the first liquor licenses after the repeal of Prohibition and noted that he was born in June 1928.

Chairman Fogleman looked at the applicant’s business entity and noted that it was a valid Delaware corporation.

The license for which the Board approved a transfer of ownership and location is a dead license under Article 2B section 10-504(d). In fact, the license has died and been resurrected by the Board three different times.

First Death: February 29, 2009 Martick’s has been closed, by its own admission, since August 2008. Scans of the first page of every Martick’s license renewal application from 2010 to 2013 can be viewed here. Article 2B section 10-504(d)(2) states very plainly that “180 days after the holder of any license issued under the provision of this article has closed the business or ceased active alcoholic beverages business operations … the license shall expire.” 180 days after August 31, 2008 is February 27, 2009: the first death of the liquor license.

First Resurrection: January 10, 2010 On January 10, 2010, the Board held a hardship extension hearing for the license at 214 W Mulberry Street. This hardship extension hearing was held 317 days after the license had expired by operation of law. The Board granted the licensee a 180-day extension from the date of the hearing.

Second Death: July 6, 2010 180 days after the hardship extension hearing, on July 6, 2010, the license died a second death when the owners of the license failed to reopen the establishment or transfer the license elsewhere.

Second Resurrection: March 2, 2011 On March 2, 2011, 243 days after the license’s second death, Board staff held a private conference to transfer the license from the estate of Morris Martick to Morris’s brother, Alexander Martick. Presumably, the license was revived somehow at this conference, though no notes of what happened during that meeting exist in the file.

Third Death: August 29, 2011 180 days after the transfer and resurrection of the license, the license died a final time, on August 29, 2011.

Third Resurrection: November 7, 2013 The final resurrection of the license occurred at the November 7, 2013 hearing, at which the Board approved a transfer of the license to the new address.