A loading zone for Haydee's Restaurant; or, no good deed goes
unpunished
Some time ago, Haydee's Restaurant said that they really
needed a loading zone in front of their restaurant, for trash collection as well
as deliveries. Well, we're sympathetic to such requests, given that this area
has no alleys for access in the rear, so we set about finding a way to
accomplish that. The ANC began, in February, with a resolution calling on DDOT
to undertake a
thorough evaluation of the existing loading zones on Mount Pleasant Street,
given that the current arrangement came about decades ago, using who-know-what
criteria.
Our first thought was to
move the bus stop in front of Haydee's, and put a loading zone there. The
bus stop could be moved to the far side of the Irving Street intersection, which
may make more sense anyway. That was clearly going to be a bit difficult,
because there's a shelter built at the present location, so moving the bus stop
across Irving Street was not going to be a simple matter of moving some
signposts. Well, I noted that there's already a loading zone right around the
corner, on Irving Street, and perhaps that would be more effectively located on
Mount Pleasant Street. So I wrote up an
ANC resolution, introduced by Commissioner Castillo-Romero, summarizing the
arguments in favor of swapping the Irving Street loading zone to Mount Pleasant
Street, and calling on DDOT to "explore the feasibility" of the
move.
Well, you would think that was pretty responsive to Haydee's
request. Of course, there are consequences to any such change, and it's
necessary to make sure that no one is going to suddenly appear, with loud
complaints, after the change is made. Not only would the existing loading zone
on Irving Street disappear, but two or three metered-parking spots on Mount
Pleasant Street would vanish. Hence, my resolution called for the investigation
of the matter, not yet its implementation. The Mount Pleasant Business
Association agreed with this cautious
approach.
The restaurant, however, did not, insisting on having its
loading zone now, not after some "study". They came up with a "petition" calling for "a loading zone right in
front of Haydee's Restaurant" (there's a Metrobus stop there now, and that's not
going away, so "right in front" seems to be out of the question). This petition,
we were told, included signatures from all the owners of businesses nearby.
("Owners" was explicit.)
Okay, but the petition makes no mention of
eliminating the loading zone on Irving Street, nor does it note that two or
three of the five parking spots adjacent to the Metrobus stop would be
eliminated. Were the business owners aware of those consequences? This isn't
clear, and we need that to be explicit. Many of the petition signatures are
illegible -- the signers ignored the "Name" column -- and the correlation with
affected businesses is uncertain. Another problem cropped up as I queried Alex
Kramer, owner of Dos Gringos, about the "Dos Gringos" signature on the sheet.
"That is not my signature. I never saw this petition", she wrote. The signature was
put there by someone at Dos Gringos, but without the owner's
knowledge or permission. So, how many of these signatures are actual business
owners, and how many were put there by somebody with just some association with
the business? We don't know.
Indeed, let's be careful about proceeding
with this. But Haydee's isn't interested in being careful, and demanded
immediate action. Commissioner Gregg Edwards responded to their demand by
introducing another resolution, this one advising DDOT "to
expedite the moving of the loading zone". I objected to that imprudent rush,
and I was able to have the phrase "after assuring feasibility" inserted,
moderating its demand for immediate action.
My questioning of the
petition, and insistence on a cautious approach to this measure, displeased
Mario Alas, co-owner of Haydee's. In an e-mail on
April 26, he complained about "the way some member of this ANC is acting
regarding our petition for a loading zone", and defended the Dos Gringos
signature as being "legally binding" even if the owner didn't know anything
about it. "Some member" means, of course, no one but me. No other ANC
commissioner has questioned the petition. Mario continues with a weird threat:
"we will get this loading zone even if we have to suit people in mount pleasant
people that are interfering with due process by abusing their position in
government office". (For "suit", read "sue".)
Well. Recall that I was
the one who proposed moving the Irving Street loading zone to Mount Pleasant
Street, and I wrote the resolution initiating DDOT effort to that end. But
because I'm insistent that everyone concerned know the details of the proposal,
and be heard from before a final decision is made, I'm "interfering with due
process", and I'm "abusing" my ANC position.
Would it be rude of me to
point out that this ANC has won Haydee's the right to offer live music and
dancing, and supported Haydee's request for a sidewalk cafe, and endorsed
Haydee's hotly controversial filing for a nightclub license? And that in
February I brought about the dismissal of a thousand-dollar parking ticket
issued to Haydee's truck-driving brother? How quickly they have
forgotten.
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