Campaign Against Ping Pong
On May 26, 2007, Winstead posted a video, "Ping Pong in Public Space" on YouTube. The video features two people playing ping pong at a table on the sidewalk outside Comet Ping Pong at 5037 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Comet is in Single Member District 3F05, five blocks north of Winstead's Single Member District.
At the ANC 3F meeting on April 24, 2008, Comet promised to remove the ping pong table from the street as a concession to get ANC support for outdoor seating and later closing hours. Later that month, Winstead encouraged the D.C. government to force neighboring Marvelous Market to remove sidewalk benches that had sat there for 10 years.
Comet owner James Alefantis approached ANC 3F on June 16, 2008, to amend a voluntary agreement with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board made in 2006 regarding Comet's operations. Specifically, he sought the removal of limitations on live music, the ability to serve alcohol on Comet's patio, and the extension of operating hours past midnight.
These changes would need to be approved by the ANC first. The extraordinarily well-attended hearing became quite raucous when Winstead accused Alefantis of "trying to turn this into Adams Morgan with the murders, the rapes..." and questioned him whether he had ever spit in a customer's food. Commissioner Karen Perry, another opponent of Comet's proposal, told Winstead, "You're hurting our case, you're not helping it." The Commission voted 4-3 to lift the agreement and allow Comet to operate according to its proposal, but the ANC put off a formal decision on whether to support the new provisions. Live music began again at Comet on August 8, 2008.
All through this matter, Winstead has refused to respond to reporters' inquiries. On June 23, 2008, Washington City Paper reporter Jason Cherkis and videographer Ted Scheinman attempted to visit Winstead in his apartment at The Brandywine. Winstead again refused to speak to them.
Read more about this topic: Frank Winstead
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In his book there was a picture of treason only
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