Teen Club Is Bounced From Downtown

Weekly Dance Drew Hundreds of Students, Many Complaints

District officials yesterday suspended the license of a downtown hall that hosted a popular underage dance party, citing curfew violations, unruly behavior and a shooting incident nearby.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier and other officials said the party -- known as Club Bounce -- has drawn numerous complaints from residents and businesses in the Chinatown area. The event has been offered most Saturday nights since August in a building at 915 F St. NW, the former location of Platinum nightclub, attracting 300 to 500 youths.

Fenty (D) and the others assembled outside the place yesterday afternoon to announce the action. In particular, they cited a shooting in the area Saturday night that they said followed a fight outside the building. No one was hurt in the shooting.

The hall's owner said that the Club Bounce party is being blamed for trouble, away from the place, that had nothing to do with the program. Club Bounce -- promoted as the "D.C. Area's Hottest 18 & Under Teen Night Club" -- has been staged at various venues in the Washington area since 2007. It caters to youths, grades 9 through 12, and does not serve alcohol.

But Fenty said that the shooting was the latest in a pattern that has drawn alarm. In the order suspending the license, the city wrote that "the lives, limbs, health, comfort and quiet of residents and visitors are being threatened and endangered."

Authorities said D.C. police and emergency medical services workers have been called more than two dozen times to the area since the event began this summer. In addition, they said, about 80 youths have been picked up for curfew violations since mid-September. Club Bounce typically closes at 11 p.m., an hour before the District's weekend curfew time.

Because of the crowds, police have deployed more than 20 additional officers in the Chinatown area to respond to problems on party nights.

"Just like all teenagers when there's no guardianship, there's going to be problems. This has been a tremendous risk for our kids," Lanier said.

The Club Bounce program was created by Traci Allen and her daughter Aliah, now 14, and run through an outfit called Teen Life Productions. Allen said she was disheartened that the city took such a drastic step, given that the reason for the event was to provide young people from Maryland, Virginia and the District with a safe place to go.

"I am a single mom," Allen said. "I want safety for everyone. I have a daughter. We're a very controlled event."

The club got its name, Allen said, from the idea that it would bounce from place to place and show off different parts of the city. It has been at the Washington Plaza Hotel, the National Music Center at Mount Vernon Square and nightclubs including Liv and Pasha, Allen said.

Those events went off without fights in or around the venue, and the same was true in Chinatown, she said. City officials said the closure order does not preclude the event from moving.