Opposition to TGI Friday's from Monroe Street residents: ANC meeting on Wed. to discuss

The other day I got a couple of messages on Twitter from people with issues with TGI Friday's. When we got in touch via email, I learned that a number of residents of Monroe Street are opposed to the way TGI Friday's is dealing with them and their issues about the coming chain restaurant.

As you may recall, TGI Friday's is planning to open a 300-seat location in the space at the corner of 14th and Monroe, which is under the Samuel Kelsey Apartments for seniors. The neighbors say they've been trying to work with the restaurant on issues about noise, hours, trash and traffic, but the restaurant isn't compromising. The issues will be discussed at today's Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting, which will be at 7 pm at Tubman Elementary (13th and Kenyon.) I expect that it'll be pretty raucous.

The meeting will include a brief presentation from TGI Friday's and also a discussion of the restaurant's "settlement agreement," which is the agreement between the ANC and the restaurant that determines their hours of operation, trash plans and the like. A liquor license has legal limits to what the business can do, like how late they can stay open, how they handle trash, music, sidewalk cafes and so on, but often those limits are wider than what neighbors want. The agreement is a way to change those limits, with the threat that if they don't enter into an agreement, the ANC will oppose their liquor license. Kind of byzantine, but it seems to work. They used to call these "voluntary agreements," but they weren't very voluntary, hence the new name.

Here's more on those issues with TGI Friday's from a local resident, who asked to remain nameless.

(...)Everything went great until we questioned them on a couple of issues. They saw our settlement agreement and basically rejected any type of compromise on most of it. Their discourse on willing to do anything to be a good neighbor went out the door when we asked for them to amend their closing hours to around midnight. At that point their bullying behavior became apparent and they immediately shut us down without any room for discussion. the fact of the matter is that they have not shown any action or willingness to go out of their way to appease our concernsWe asked for:No DJ/Livemusic band,No sidewalk cafe (there is not enough room either on Monroe or 14 St)Earlier than 2 amclosing time (12am),No dumpster on Monroe St.No deliveries during rush hour 

And so far we've got NONE of it. They said that they don't plan on having parties but then why do you need live music/DJ license until 2am? They are willing to consider not having side walk cafe but its in the plan right now so why would they be willing after all approvals are received to not do it just for us? If their concern was US, they would have already scrapped that from the plan.

The email is fairly long, but to summarize the next part, the restaurant said they'll put up an outdoor trash compactor, but the residents still fear rodents. They also note that Ruby Tuesday across the street closes at midnight. As for the deliveries, here's their take on that:

The impact on local traffic: Maybe here we got something from them by not having deliveries on Monroe but the hours for delivery on 14th St will make traffic just as bad as if they received deliveries on Monroe. We need to not allow deliveries anytime before 9 or9:30 am. Right now they plan on instructing supplier to deliver between 7 and 11 am which will cause a nightmare during rush hour for all that drive through the intersection as you can bet on having their trucks double parked and completely blocking traffics while they deliver. Having the two parking spaces as delivery only will not guarantee that the spaces will be available when deliveries show up.

The writer also mentioned bullying by TGI Friday's -- I asked for more information on that:

...in regards to the bullying, they basically accepted a meeting with ANC reps and us the Monroe St residents but when it came to negotiating any type of compromise so that the nuisance of their presence is not as bad, their position was "We have the permit so we'll do as we please and make as much money as possible" mostly when negotiating the closing hours. Also, when we mentioned the negative impact their business will have on parking for residents, they completely dismissed our concerns. We asked them to offer complimentary parking to their patrons at one of the two parking garages less than two blocks away and their response was "no one else is doing it around here so why should we" we told them that actually a few businesses do it and that would be a sign of good faith when it comes to showing their intentions on being a good neighbor. Again they dismissed us by saying we'll look into it. In regards to rodent control, they'r telling us that by having a compactor they will not cause an exacerbation of the already serious rat infestation problem we have on Monroe St. Any person with some common sense will know that this is not true. I will not even mention the way the building management is behaving with its residents because they asked not to make it public so I will abstain from commenting further and let them pick that battle if they wish to do so.

So, it's going to be an interesting meeting. There are obviously some strong feelings about TGI Friday's coming in, as the writer makes clear. Some of these complaints are at least somewhat justified, to me: the traffic issue, for example, as I've spent 15-20 minutes or more on the bus in the mornings trying to get from about Newton the Irving. If TGI Friday's loading and unloading cargo is planned at the same time and that affects traffic, that would be bad. That's a big if, but traffic is already terrible there, we don't need more things making it worse. Maybe deliveries on Monroe rather than 14th would actually be better, if that's the case.

I also somewhat agree with the concerns about the hours and DJ. I don't expect there to be a huge dance party at Friday's, but I can see how neighbors would be concerned, especially if Ruby Tuesday across the street seems to have always been a good neighbor and agreed to reduce their hours. It doesn't seem fair for TGI Friday's to not do that, and I expect we'll hear a lot about that.

I'll reserve judgement on the other issues, as to me this seems more like a disinterest in compromise rather than actual bullying by the store, since most of these things they are legally allowed to do.

It's also it's important to note that we haven't heard from Friday's in this case either. We will tomorrow.

What do you think? Do these complaints seem reasonable?

New ANC meeting blog, Short Articles About Long Meetings

Here's a new source of information about our area. Advisory Neighborhood Commission meetings are often long and boring but have a lot of useful things in them, like new business permits, liquor licenses, and plans for residential buildings.

A new blog, Short Articles About Long Meetings, has launched to cover some ANCs in our area and some further afield: ANCs 1B, 2B and 2F. ANC 1B is southern Columbia Heights (up to Girard/Harvard/Irving depending on where you are, click the link for a map) and the other two are Dupont Circle and Logan Circle (map here.)

It's a good blog and has a lot of info, but unfortunately doesn't cover ANC 1A, which is northern Columbia Heights. We'll just have to rely on information on that from ANC 1A chair Kent Boese, who also runs the Park View DC blog (and occasionally on me, I go to the meetings when I can.)

I'd recommend you go to the meetings themselves too -- they can be entertaining, and I feel like many people who go are NIMBYs, so maybe a non-NIMBY contingent wouldn't be a bad thing, just to even out the topics of conversation.

The blog also has a Twitter account, @shortalongm.

DDOT discussing changes to the 11th Street bike lane today: go to the meeting!

If you ride bikes on 11th Street, this should be of interest: DDOT is having a meeting today at 7pm to talk about potential changes to the bike lane. I use this bike lane a fair amount when taking Capital Bikeshare south, so I hope the changes don't impact it.

There may be improvements too, as the bike lane currently stops at Florida and doesn't pick back up until Vermont Ave. Would be nice for it to go the whole way.

If you're interested, the meeting is at 7 pm at the Thurgood Marshall Center, 1816 12th Street NW.

Here's more info from WABA.

Photo by Rex Hammock

Have or want to start a small business near Georgia Ave? Meeting tonight about getting city grant money

If you'd like to start a small business, or already own one, the city may be able to help. The Great Streets Small Business Capital Improvement Funding Program has grants of up to $85,000 for local small businesses. They have a number of meetings about the program, and one is tonight at the Banneker Rec Center, 2500 Georgia Avenue, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

The Great Streets program aims to improve a few of the city's main commercial corridors: "support existing small businesses, attract new businesses, increase the District’s tax base and create new jobs for District residents." Georgia Avenue/7th Street NW is the one in our area.

However, it doesn't just include those businesses on Georgia, it is actually a corridor -- the map is here. So if you have a business near Georgia, you may be eligible.

The city's flyer is here, which also includes future meetings (the one after today's is at Ft. Stevens Rec Center on August 5th), and here are some of the rules for who's eligible:

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE?
Eligible applicants must:
• Own a retail or service business within the approved boundaries
• Be a registered business in Good Standing with the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), the Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR), the Department of Employment Services (DOES) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
• Own or otherwise possess site control of the subject property
• Possess proof of property and liability insurance 

What businesses are ineligible?
Ineligible businesses include businesses not  within the Great Streets boundaries, liquor stores,
nightclubs, bars, banks, hotels, and non-profits

Latin American restaurant El Atardecer coming to 14th and Otis has some local opposition

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a contentious ANC 1A meeting where some angry people came to protest against El Atardecer, a new Latin American restaurant coming to 3475 14th Street NW. You may remember that this used to be DC Fish Carryout, the restaurant that served as a front for a crack dealing operation.

In short, El Atardecer applied for a sidewalk cafe license and the ANC opposed -- not because the are against it per se, but because they wanted to negotiate with the restaurant for shorter hours, which is what normally happens. The city's laws say you can stay open until 2 or 3 am in some cases, but the ANCs negotiate that down, usually to around 11pm or midnight. That negotiation is presumably going on now, and they'll come back to the ANC in September.

The owner (a single mom who was at the ANC meeting) also owns La Morenita on Georgia Avenue so they've gone through the process before. The owner said El Atardecer would be a family restaurant, not a club.

However, some neighbors are opposed. One very angry guy who said he lives next door was worried about drunk people and rats in the property, noise and crime. He and another neighbor also said they can hear the music in the restaurant during construction, so he suspects it will be loud. When the owner said they applied to be open until 2 am, the angry guy yelled something about how is that for families? The ANC commish for the area, Laina Aquiline, attempted to defuse the guy's fury, saying she wasn't aware of these complaints, and that they should tell her so she can work with the owners.

The guy also said he was worried that crime would continue, that it was a crack den before and the people who use the drugs still hang out nearby. ANC commish Dottie Love Wade objected to that point, saying the new owners have nothing to do with the Fish Carryout, and that "if it was the [Meridian] Pint I don't think it'd be a problem," which drew applause from the crowd.

I think that's a valid point too, that just because a restaurant is in the same location as crime, it doesn't mean there's going to be crime. The implication Wade had was that if it was a place that catered to the folks who go to Meridian Pint rather than the largely Latin America target demographic of El Atardecer, nobody would complain. That's also true.

I think the angry guy also did himself a disservice by being so furious the whole time and attempting to question everything and everyone. He was the same angry guy complaining about the plan for the Coupe's sidewalk seating: when he asked about noise at 7 am, when they plan to open the sidewalk seating, the rep from the said she didn't think any rowdy people would show up. The angry guy screamed back, "well when do the rowdy people show up!!" The rep was confused and said there really aren't any rowdy people. A pretty bizarre outburst.

However, noise may not be the only issue. A neighbor emailed me the other day saying that La Morenita, the other place El Atardecer's owners run, has had some health code violations. I'm not sure this applies to the earlier complaints, aside from maybe the rat issue. Here's what he had to say.

Thanks for your coverage of the ANC meeting this week – you had a great summary of what went on.  As a follow up to your points on the “El Atardecer” restaurant, I wanted to share some information with you about the owners and their existing restaurant, “La Morenita.”First of all, just do a simple Google search (“dc department of health violations la morenita”) or “la morenita violations” and you will find tons of health code violations.  Check out these sources:

1.      Want to Know Where Not to Eat? New Tool Maps Restaurant Inspections and Health Code Violations, DCist, http://dcist.com/2012/10/want_to_know_where_not_to_eat_new_t.php 

“Over the last year, for example, it's easy to discover that Chinatown's Bistro Med is the worst violator in town, with 56 violations and seven inspections. August 30, for example, wasn't a good day for the restaurant—it got nailed with seven violations ranging from no soap at a handwashing sink to live cockroaches. La Morenita on Georgia Avenue isn't far behind with 47 violations.” 

This story, specifically enumerated “La Morenita” as one of the top recent health code violators in the entire district 

2.      Pest Problems Among Food Violations That Prompt Closures in Washington Restaurants, WUSA9, http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/263040/158/Pest-Problems-Among-Food-Violations-That-Prompt-Closures-in-Washington-Restaurants

The DC Department of Health hit “La Morenita” with so many violations that the restaurant was forced to closed down as recently as May 29^th because of the severity of these violations.  This story of “La Morenita’s” closing was featured as part of a news program on WUSA television – please see the embedded video in the 1:35 mark. 

You can also check out:  D.C., Md., Va. health code violations, The Washington Post, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-05/local/39752485_1_mice-infestation-insect-infestation-rodents).   

3.      Attached are two recent complaints from the DC DOH and you will note that.  You can see that, due to the presence of rodents, “La Morenita” has a history of violating Provision 36 of the DOH’s Good Retail Practices. (Here are the links to those, from 2012 and 2013.)

So there's that. In general I'm in favor of new businesses, and if this is a good neighbor and productive place that obeys rules and isn't noisy or messy, I say let them open. What do you think?

Community meetings about loud fire truck sirens (no, really)

Are you annoyed when fire truck sirens make noise when they're on their way to put out fires and save people's lives? If so, here are some meetings for you.

I'm being somewhat sarcastic here, but some neighbors have organized a couple of community meetings to complain about the noise generated by emergency vehicles from the 14th and Monroe street firehouse. See the flyer above. They invited DC fire chief Kenneth Ellerbe and people from Councilmember Graham and Mendelson to come, plus ANC commish Pat Flynn.

Now I do agree that fire trucks are noisy -- but that's the whole idea. People are supposed to hear them so they get out of the way and the trucks are able to go as quickly as possible to put out the fire or administer medical care.

I also admit that I don't live next to a firehouse and I'm sure it can get tiresome to hear sirens all the time. But at the same time, if you live next to a firehouse, you should expect some fire truck sounds, just as if you live next to a hospital you'll hear ambulances, or if you live next to an airport you will probably hear some planes flying. That's living in a city. And it's not like this fire station just opened a week ago and it would be a surprise to residents -- it opened in 1895! That's 118 years that people should have known that a fire station is nearby.

I'm sure it's annoying, but to me there are much bigger issues out there than fire trucks that are supposed to be loud being loud. What's next, people being mad that ambulances drive fast? That coffee is hot? (Ok, I guess that is already an issue.)

Feel free to disagree in the comments or let me know what you think if you live in that area. Personally, I always thought that Zeba Bar, across from the fire station, should have a special drink deal when the fire truck siren goes off, $1 beers or something. That would be pretty fun.

UPDATE:  Maryam, the organizer, just wrote me in response to an email. Here's what she had to say.

People do argue that [if you're living near a fire house, you'll hear sirens] and they also have many other good arguments for why everyone should just tolerate the noise.   We all understand that we live near a firehouse and of course we want our tax dollars to be put to good use, so some level of noise is inevitable.  However, the noise has recently gone from present to omnipresent and oppressive.  

THE ISSUE

At this point, the narrow issue we want to eliminate is the excessive use of Monroe Street as a main east-west thoroughfare for the emergency vehicles and the related increase in sirens and noise.  After quite a bit of investigation, we believe - although at our community meetings we may find out otherwise - that there are two relatively simple fixes.  

THE SOLUTIONS 

First, the new medians on 14th Street just north of Park Road must be removed because they 1) create more traffic that 2) forces some of the emergency vehicles to use Monroe Street because they cannot get down the other east-west streets quickly enough.  Second, there are several new spots on our narrow street that were added in January that make it difficult for emergency vehicles to get through the narrow street, which is not ideal for them or for us because it causes them to lay on their horns and turn sirens on sooner and longer to try to get people out of the way. 

By the way, since we started this small effort to get everyone in our neighborhood together to speak with our elected officials and relevant agency officials, I have received emails from people all over the city who also are harmed by and tired of the excessive noise.  If you have visited other cities or even other more affluent parts of our own city, you surely have noticed that the type and level of noise is significantly less.  In the balance of citizens' right to be free from noise pollution with the community's need for safety, the citizens' voices are not being heard.  We seek to strike a better balance between emergency services and citizens. 

I am by no means an expert, but I do know that we barely get a full night's sleep and that our son is scared of the sirens, wakes up from naps and in the middle of the night crying from the excessive sirens, and these noises also interfere with enjoyment of our beautiful neighborhood and the beautiful park on 11th and Monroe.  We have the right to enjoy our property and our neighborhood, and we will not tolerate this noise any longer.

Community meeting on redevelopment of 965 Florida Avenue on Tuesday the 11th

965 Florida Ave NW, a big, empty property just across from W Street, is up for redevelopment, and the city wants to talk to locals about it. Here's more info about, which includes something called a Best and Final Offer, which details the things the developers have to do. Here's more info from the Georgia Ave Community Development Task Force.

The Deputy Mayor's Office of Planning and Economic Development has sent a request for Best and Final Offers (BAFO) to the developers applying to develop the site at 965 Florida Ave. This site at Sherman and Florida, just south of HU's Towers, is public property which is undergoing a bid for development. JBG/Gragg and Ellis Development have both submitted proposals.

Preliminary ANC meetings, community presentations and a Task Force survey provided the developers and the city with many comments and suggestions from the community. Most of feedback was included in the BAFO request and the developers will address them to the best of their ability. The BAFO request can be viewed at https://sites.google.com/site/pleasantplainsdc/task-force/965_Florida_BAFO_Request.pdf

The schedule for community review and feedback is as follows:

BAFO presentation: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 6-8pm at the DC Housing Finance Agency 815 Florida Avenue, NW
ANC special meeting: Thursday, June 20, 2013
Comment deadline: Monday, June 24, 2013
Final selection: No later than Friday, June 28, 2013

The June 11th meeting, hosted by DMPED, will be the next opportunity for the community to see the final offers being presented. Everyone is encouraged to come out and participate in this process. Please forward this widely to neighbors and Howard University residents and faculty.

You are also encouraged to participate in Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force meetings on the 2nd Monday and 4th Wednesday of the month. Our next meeting is Monday June 10th at the Emergence Community Arts Collective, 733 Euclid St. NW. Email Sylvia at sylvia@ecacollective.org to be added to our mailing list.

Neighborhood cleanup this Saturday! Do something helpful!

Here's a great opportunity to do something nice in the neighborhood: the North Columbia Heights Civic Association is holding a neighborhood cleanup this Saturday. Meet up between 9:30 and 10:30am at the Trolley Turnaround Park at 11th and Monroe, they'll have bags and gloves for you.

And while cleaning up our neighborhood is reward enough, Meridian Pint is also offering discounted brunch for cleaner-uppers. Pretty cool. So check it out! Here's the flyer:

Preliminary Georgia Ave. survey results up: lots of newcomers, no chain restaurants please

The Lower Georgia Avenue Community Survey, which the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force undertook earlier in the year, has some preliminary results up -- almost 500 responses. Of course, this sort of survey isn't scientific, as people choose whether to take it or not, but interesting nonetheless. The results are posted here (and also below.)

In short, my main takeaways are: there are lots of young people and newcomers, they want more entertainment options, more independent restaurants and grocery stores, no chain restaurants at all, more bike lanes, and more after-school programs for kids and adult education. The whole survey was pretty interesting, however, and dealt with demographics, shopping, and a lot more.

Interestingly (and maybe obviously) most of the respondents have been in the neighborhood less than 5 years, with the largest group, fully a third, having only been in the area 2 years or less. In addition, most respondents are young, between 19 and 35, which probably means a lot of Howard and other college students responded, and surprisingly the respondents were almost 60% female. (Then again, you could argue that older folks who have been in the area longer would be less likely to do the survey.) About 46% were African American, 39% white, and only about 5% Hispanic.

People's opinions were interesting (and hopefully useful) as well. The survey was structured to ask people what was important to them and whether or not those things were present on lower Georgia Avenue. For entertainment options, which consisted of art galleries, bars and pubs, movie theaters and small performance venues, all were considered important, but only bars and pubs were considered available.

For food, the most surprising result was that fully 40% of people said national chain restaurants were not at all important to them, while grocery stores, independent restaurants and natural food stores were extremely important to most people. Let's hope that means more folks consider opening those kinds of businesses. A Yes! Organic Market or something like that would be great for lower Georgia Avenue, for example.

On housing, all kinds (artist, affordable, senior and market-rate) were important, but artist housing almost non-existent and senior housing lacking too. I agree there! It seems that almost every kind of public service can be improved, especially youth programs, adult education and parks/green spaces.

For retail shopping, the most important were considered to be book stores, gyms/day spas and pharmacies, and only a few of the many categories were considered available. Again, I hope that leads more people to open businesses on the street.

The last question was more general, about the streetscape. The first thing that stood out was that the largest response was that bike lanes aren't present. And amusingly, 7% of people said streetcars were abundant. I wonder where those folks are?

Those are my main take-aways, what are yours?

GA Ave Survey Preliminary Results 3-11-13