Neighbors say: ‘Let there be bars!’

 D.C. REGULATIONS

 It seems most Northeast Capitol Hill residents want more bars on H Street NE. Roughly 40 attended a Nov. 20 meeting of the Northeast Advisory Neighborhood Commission’s (ANC) alcohol licensing committee to discuss a bar cap for the up-and-coming corridor. There was only one bar-hater.

 “It’s the worst possible kind of development for the community that’s here,” said James Standish, 42, a family man from the 1200 block of Constitution Avenue NE. Standish said that if the corridor offers nothing but a bunch of bars, Hill families will avoid it because of the attendant public drunkenness, violence and drunk driving. He told Hillscape that he never goes to the bars and restaurants currently on the strip. He wants fine dining for the family.

Worried citizens say that unfettered bar development will turn H Street into Adams Morgan, a bar-filled barf-gauntlet overrun with drunken violence. The ANC has the power to influence development through the licensing process, during which it can protest potential licensees before the city’s alcoholic beverage control board.

Right now, however, H Street’s turnaround from a riot-ruined wasteland into a lively, fun place has only just begun. And that’s thanks to the bars that have opened there, most of them owned by Joe Englert, who engaged residents at the hearing and was referred to by everybody as “Joe.”

“There’s not a lot of people willing to start a business” on H Street, Englert said. He also pointed to two other obstacles: Banks aren’t lending money very freely at the moment, and citywide interest in the corridor is less robust than news coverage might suggest.

Englert said bar development is what paved the way for restaurants and retail. Nightlife attracts brave young gentrifiers, and once they reach a critical mass, entrepreneurs will want to capitalize on the foot traffic. But until that happens, there will not be many sit-down family restaurants and high-end retail shops.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Bill Schultheiss says the hearing’s overwhelming opposition to a cap is not a perfect reflection of the mood in his single member district (SMD), which encompasses part of H Street.

“I find that the residents of my SMD generally are happy with the investment in the neighborhood and they welcome the existing establishments,” Schultheiss wrote in an e-mail. But he added that the locals are “hoping that the arts and restaurants promised during the planning by public officials will catch up [with] the bars before we end up with all the available buildings operating as bars, resulting in Adams Morgan 2.”

Anwar Saleem, executive director of the H Street Main Street revitalization organization, said the idea of a cap would send a bad “dual message” to would-be businesses. To varying degrees, every resident who spoke at the meeting indicated disapproval of limiting bars. One man, who said he used to be afraid to leave his house at night a few years ago, said, “These bars increase security on the street. Now there are enough people on the street, I know if I get shot, somebody’s gonna call the cops.”

The committee voted to continue studying the idea.

NFL HOPEFULS

The D.C. Turkey Bowl is totally great

An estimated 6,000 people attended the city’s 38th annual Turkey Bowl at Eastern High School on Thanksgiving Day. It was a big game: Dunbar High School’s Crimson Tide defeated H.D. Woodson 20-9, making Dunbar the all-time Turkey Bowl champ in the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association. Before this game, Dunbar and three other schools were in a four-way tie, with eight bowl victories each.
Dunbar clinched the win with a fourth-quarter interception by free safety Jharron Armstrong, who returned the ball 41 yards for a touchdown. The crowd roared.

After the game, D.C. Council Chairman Vince Gray and Mayor Adrian Fenty presented trophies and posed for pictures with players. Wearing a big, goofy smile, Fenty said, “It was a good game.”

A police officer watched as Dunbar players posed boisterously for team pictures on the field. The officer got a little choked up.

“Stu is crying!” the players yelled, totally thrilled. The officer spun around and walked away.
Several of these kids make it into the NFL. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Byron Leftwich is an H.D. Woodson alumnus who talks fondly of his Turkey Bowl days. So does the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Cato June, who helped his team defeat the waning Washington Redskins on Sunday.

Hillscape is ashamed to admit he had never attended a D.C. Turkey Bowl before, but he will not miss another so long as he remains in the District on Thanksgiving Day. The atmosphere was great. There’s a sign in front of Eastern High School proclaiming it the “Pride of Capitol Hill.” There might be a few other things, like Eastern Market, that Capitol Hill prides more than this public school, but at least on Thanksgiving Day, that sign is correct.  

CLOSURE

Tommy Wells saves children from 7th Street 

On WTOP radio’s “Politics Hour with Mark Plotkin” last Friday, WTOP’s Mark Segraves discussed the closure of 7th Street SE with Ward 6 D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells. 7th Street was partially closed for weekends after the Eastern Market fire on April 30. Food vendors are desperate to have the street reopened, arguing that business is hurting because people cannot drive to the market and park. But Wells won his spot on the council with a “Livable and Walkable Community” campaign theme.

“I really hope to keep 7th Street closed off,” Wells said on the program. He is looking out for his stroller-pushing constituents. He called the market a “much safer environment” because kids cannot get hurt “darting into the street.”

The closed-off street does feel very safe. But how dangerous was it before? One food vendor is skeptical of Wells’s rationale.

“There hasn’t been an accident on 7th Street in 17 years,” said Dan Donahue, owner of Agora Farms. Like other food vendors, Donahue wants the street reopened. He currently sells apples and apple cider from a tent on the street, but he views the setup as a dire threat to his business. He would rather be on the sidewalk. “They cut off the economic pipeline to this market.”

Donahue was not impressed with the foot traffic on Sunday afternoon. Shortly after midday, Hillscape observed a sparse crowd on 7th.