Comet's Commissioner Troubles
If you haven't already, read Marc Fisher's brilliant blog post on Comet Ping Pong's rabble-rousing hearing at a Monday ANC meeting. In short, Comet wants to stay open later, have live music and offer outdoor seating. Frank Winstead, the ANC commissioner who already got Comet's outdoor ping pong table nixed, fears that such freedoms will turn his neighborhood into Adams Morgan with its rapes and murders. Yes, he actually said that.
Fisher ridicules Winstead, writing: "In the Forest Hills-Tenleytown area, the idea that a restaurant might stay open late, provide entertainment for its customers and--horrors!--even let folks sit outside on a summer's eve is a shocking invasion to some residents. But for once, the District's byzantine form of neighborhood democracy--which heavily favors the tiny group of people who despise any street life, cling to the notion that they live in a suburb, and have nothing better to do than attend ANC meetings--produced a result that reflects the wishes of the great majority who choose to live in the city expressly for the busy street activity [Comet co-owner James] Alefantis seeks to foster."
Well said.
Fisher ridicules Winstead, writing: "In the Forest Hills-Tenleytown area, the idea that a restaurant might stay open late, provide entertainment for its customers and--horrors!--even let folks sit outside on a summer's eve is a shocking invasion to some residents. But for once, the District's byzantine form of neighborhood democracy--which heavily favors the tiny group of people who despise any street life, cling to the notion that they live in a suburb, and have nothing better to do than attend ANC meetings--produced a result that reflects the wishes of the great majority who choose to live in the city expressly for the busy street activity [Comet co-owner James] Alefantis seeks to foster."
Well said.
Comments
Are there any actual people living in the neighborhood complaining?