The Week Ahead & Some Photos from Last Week

ABCA Board hears ANC Protest of I Egg You Liquor License.  Last Wednesday the Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Administration wrapped up a seven hour(!) hearing on ANC6B’s protest of I Egg You’s application for a liquor license on Barracks Row at 417 8^th Street, SE.  I Egg You’s attorney, Andrew Klein, was successful in limiting the protest to the issue of trash and litter and excluding the issues of use of the alley by trash and delivery trucks and venting of odors by the restaurant.

The closing remarks by the opposing sides, tell you pretty much what the hearing was about. 

For Klein, the applicant’s attorney, the hearing was about I Egg You’s refusal to sign a Settlement Agreement providing for best practices regarding trash management and rodent control and requiring the restaurant to store trash indoors.  He said the applicants had offered assurances that if there are issues which arise from the operation of the restaurant, they would fix it.  The other issue the protestants raised was an overconcentration of restaurants on the block which create conditions that attract rodents.   Klein pointed to the blank record of complaints about the applicant’s other restaurants and asked the board to approve the request for a liquor license without conditions.

ANC6B Commissioner Chander Jayaraman, chair of the ANC’s ABCA Committee, said in closing remarks that the ANC Commissioners were elected to be the neighbors’ advocates and “if they say they want to protest, we’ll back them up.”   Jayaraman said that “We want the restaurant to be successful” and that he was heartened by pledges from owners that when problems occur, they will address them…”So often applicants make grand promises and don’t back them up.  Our job is to question every applicant.”  He said he wished that the ANC could have come to an agreement on how this could operate and hoped the owners will continue to be a partner and leader in trash management and rodent control issues.

Addressing trash and rodent control on Barracks Row has been a ten year effort of ANC6B.  Jayaraman was an early advocate of using liquor licenses to pressure Barracks Row restaurants doing new buildouts to provide for indoor trash storage and since then has been continuing advocate for the neighbors whose residences back up to the 8^th Street restaurants.  He told the ABCA board, “The ANC is not against the restaurant – we want to address the broader issue of trash management and rodent issues affecting the neighbors in their back yards.”

ABCA Chairman Donovan Anderson said the board would make a decision within 60 days. 

L-R Sgt. Fultz, Officer Miller, Officer Lewis, Tony Goodman, HSEMA at North Hall, Eastern Market, Tuesday.

Last Tuesday, Eastern Market and DGS sponsored a second Public Safety Meeting on Active Threat Response Training.  The briefing was presented by Sgt. Charles Fultz, Officers Miller and Lewis, and Tony Goodman, Legislative Affairs & Outreach Senior Program Manager, HSEMA.  After Officers Miller and Lewis presented a summary of basic actions that vendors inside and outside the Market can take to react to active threats, Sgt. Fultz assured the participants that MPD responds to community concerns to provide the resources the community needs.  He said his officers don’t mind being challenged – “they welcome that – they want to be where they’re needed.”  He said the citizens have the final say and that the citizens are more effective than they think.  Tony Goodman, Senior Program Manager for Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency concluded the program, explaining HSEMA’s role in coordinating agencies’ response to emergencies. 

In connection with the broader public safety effort, EMCAC is seeking volunteers for the newly created ad hoc Committee for Public Safety.  The committee will address public safety issues in and around Eastern Market.  General issues covered will include fire hazards, security of the market’s daily operations, threat alerts, public safety training, physical safety improvements and other related issues.  Contact Chuck Burger, EMCAC Chair, for additional information on how to join the committee: cburger@cbmove.com  or 202 258 5316.

Ebenezer Row Condo Development Troubles:  It’s not at all clear what’s happening at Ebenezer Row, the series of two bedroom condos on the 400 block of D Street, SE, being developed in partnership with the historic Ebenezer Methodist Church.   

Update: A reader informed CHC that the developer says that “the church’s lawyers were working on this because the Church owns the property so it was exempt from the taxes and the situation was an active dispute between the city and the church.”

Editor: Also see comment in comment section below.

Recently, a tax sale notice went up in front of one of the properties.

Last week, the city’s green several vacant property signs went up, seemingly applying to the row of properties under construction. 

On Saturday, a crew had resumed work on one of the properties, and the tax sale and vacant property signs were not longer evident.

Here’s the project looking east on D Street, SE.

And ICYMI, it appears that Popeyes will reopen in its previous location on Barracks Row. 

The Week Ahead & Some Photos from Last Week

by Larry Janezich

Posted August 13, 2023

One meeting on the Conservative Partnership Institute’s bid to close the alley behind the former Capitol Lounge, otherwise it looks pretty quiet.

Tuesday, August 15

ANC6B’s Planning and Zoning Subcommittee on Alley & Street Closings will hold an apparently virtual meeting at 7:00pm.     

Agenda:

Continue discussion on the application of the Conservative Partner Institute to close a portion of the alley behind the former Capitol Lounge on the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, SE. 

Join Information: TBD