Regardless of whether Prince George’s officials thought the shut–down of nine nightclubs and restaurants would hold up in court, a Georgetown University law professor said the county might have taken the action to “declare a timeout.”
“Clearly the law gives the county … power to effectively enforce a timeout,” professor Robert Stumberg told The Examiner, “and during that period there is room for negotiations and cooler heads to prevail.”
After closing nine establishments last week because of safety concerns, the county and eight of the nine establishments have agreed to work together to improve security while they remain open. On Tuesday, the county began discussions with the ninth establishment that could lead to its reopening, said spokesman John Erzen, who represents County Executive Jack Johnson.
“As a law enforcement strategy it may be important to get all the club owners’ attention all at the same time,” Stumberg said.
Last week Johnson said, “It’s our intent that they be closed forever.”
“It feels a bit like they leaped before they looked,” said Peter Shapiro, director of the Rawlings Center for Public Leadership at University of Maryland, College Park. “On the other hand, I’m pleased to see the county government erring on the side of strict enforcement because we need it.”
Shapiro is a former Prince George’s County Council Chair and lives in the county.
“I think it would have played better, and it would have been better for the community if the establishments had stayed closed,” he said.
Still, Shapiro said, what has transpired “might be exactly the way [the county] expected it to go.”
According to Shapiro, the next step should be to “deal with the legal impediments so we make sure that when we shut down establishments like this, it’s done by the books and can be upheld in the courts.”
The county closed the establishments using a bill the County Council passed in September. And, Erzen said Tuesday, “we’ll use it again if the need arises.”
