November 8, 2005
Development Sparks Controversy in Shaw
New development in the historic Shaw neighborhood has put two restaurateurs' liquor licenses on uncertain footing and sparked a conflict about the future of the neighborhood. The restaurants are located on Ninth Street between the new Convention Center and Rhode Island Avenue, just blocks from both the Mt. Vernon Square and Shaw Metro stations and steps from where this DCist lives. They also both happen to be located a stone's throw from Shiloh Baptist Church, which owns not only their church and its large multi-million dollar addition, but also a childcare center and a number of vacant properties in the neighborhood.
When Vegetate, a new vegetarian restaurant (entrees pictured to the right), and Queen of Sheba, a new Ethiopian restaurant, applied for liquor licenses in September the church vigorously protested at the hearings, arguing that the community didn't need additional bars. The City Paper covered the dispute, quoting the director of the church's Human Services Program, Rev. Robert Felton, arguing for temperance: “I’ve had personal contact with so many folks who have alcohol problems. Why should I want them to have contact with another place of no redeeming value?”
The motives of Shiloh have baffled the restaurants and the public. After all, there's a liquor store directly across the street from the church and an upscale vegetarian restaurant seems hardly as threatening. Krison Capps has speculated the church may want to be able to snap up property in the area for future development, but we think there's already plenty of it to go around and the church already seems to have its supply. We have heard another explanation: on Sundays the church's mostly suburban members fill every available parking spot for blocks, but Vegetate has a Sunday brunch which will no doubt produce competition. The move has even sparked some e-activism among local residents and bloggers.
While the liquor license issue has dragged on -- the District government has asked Vegetate to re-post their announcement signs after complaints from Shiloh, and Queen of Sheba has a "fact-finding" hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow -- Vegetate opened for business with a launch party yesterday. The smoke-free vegetarian restaurant is housed in a beautifully renovated 3-floor row house which contains dining space on the first and third floors, and a small bar, DJ booth, and outside deck on the second floor. Meanwhile, Queen of Sheba is under construction and the liquor license application displayed in the window says the owners intend to stay open until 3 a.m. on weekends with live music and dancing in addition to Ethiopian cuisine.
Shiloh Baptist Church's ownership of vacant properties and recent moves have frustrated local boosters like the people at Shaw Main Streets, who have been working for years to help spark commercial real estate development on Seventh and Ninth Streets. They see the opening of a new sit-down restaurant a major milestone for the neighborhood. It seems that regardless of their wishes, changes are inevitable -- Fritz Hahn blogged in March about plans to open a 32-tap brewhouse on the street-level of the Washington Convention Center. While the space is still empty and we haven't heard any news of the project recently, it seems development in that space is inevitable as well.
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Actually, they were putting down the concrete floor in the convention center space's promised Old Dominion Brewery just last week. Signs indicate that a Mongolian BBQ and sushi restaurant should be moving into the space next to it, too.
That theory sounds plausible to me, Rob. I'd even venture that it's not parking spots they hope to preserve by keeping other weekend spots out of the neighborhood, but the (apparently legal) double parking situation that the church runs during services. I doubt they'll be able to maintain that set-up once the convention center commercial space is operating at full capacity.
If after that the church is still obstinate about development, I'd guess it's either land speculation or vegetable that's stuck in their craw.
It is like the church is holding the neighborhood hostage. How does keeping empty buildings further their mission? Why not affordable housing? A job training center? I guess they like to have an entire city block where crackheads can feel safe.
Well, thank goodness Shiloh is protecting the neighborhood from the dangers of $8 martinis. And that row of vacant buildings, yeah, that's really giving back, you know?
But, besides all of that, Vegetate just isn't very good. I'll give them a try again in 6 months or so, but I was grossed out and annoyed by their brunch two weeks ago.
Thanks for shining more spotlight on Shiloh's less-than "love thy neighbor" approach to Vegetate. I've seen Dominic and his wife cleaning the streets and trying to infuse life back into a dead block, and Shiloh just trying to stop them out of whatever selfish reason (parking, property tax increases, etc.). I haven't seen Shiloh, however, fight liquor stories in Shaw that already existed and are the stores that don't serve food (i.e. pure alcohol). Shiloh is making lots of residents in the area mad as heck, and to make matters worse, most of the congregation has MD tags and/or drive from other parts of the city rather than live in Shaw. Shame on Shiloh, and thanks DCist for keeping this issue in the limelight.
I called the police when Shiloh Baptist patrons TRIPLED PARKED on a main thoroughfare next to the church and the police officer on the phone responded by saying, "Are you calling from a church? They're allowed to do that on Sundays." 100% true story. I no longer remember what happened to my complaint to the mayor about it.
Don
Rob,
You nailed it...but I think you should add something about how neighbors have asked Shiloh to fix up the numerous abandoned properties they own in and around Shaw but the request seems to fall on deaf ears.
Shiloh is a bad neighbor period. Instead of fighting the $8 martini crowd (loved that line Eve) maybe they could fight the crack dealing on my street and the surrounding streets (including the laundry on 7th St that is an open drug den). Instead of fighting restaurants why not the corner stores that sell tallboys 5 at a time to the drunks who sleep at the bus stop at 7th and Q and terrorize every person who walks by?
The fact is the Shiloh congregation is pissed off because the neighborhood is changing and they see their days of doing whatever they want slowly slipping away. Sorry but is the childcare even open on weekends? Are they open past 8 pm? If they have a problem with the QoS or Vegetate why not the liqour store on the corner of 9th and Q?
Fact is this is just another way for the congregation to fight the "nasty g-word".
Rob,
You nailed it...but I think you should add something about how neighbors have asked Shiloh to fix up the numerous abandoned properties they own in and around Shaw but the request seems to fall on deaf ears.
Shiloh is a bad neighbor period. Instead of fighting the $8 martini crowd (loved that line Eve) maybe they could fight the crack dealing on my street and the surrounding streets (including the laundry on 7th St that is an open drug den). Instead of fighting restaurants why not the corner stores that sell tallboys 5 at a time to the drunks who sleep at the bus stop at 7th and Q and terrorize every person who walks by?
The fact is the Shiloh congregation is pissed off because the neighborhood is changing and they see their days of doing whatever they want slowly slipping away. Sorry but is the childcare even open on weekends? Are they open past 8 pm? If they have a problem with the QoS or Vegetate why not the liqour store on the corner of 9th and Q?
In my opinion, this is just another way for the congregation to fight the "nasty g-word".
Proverbs 15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf
with hatred.
i think its pretty obvious that the people speaking for shiloh are either lying or blind.
as a hard drinking vegetarian i'm very annoyed.
I don't know about the brunch, but I went for dinner last weekend and thought it was delicious ... though not as delicious as it would've been with a glass of wine.
A couple weeks ago I was walking home and started a conversation with a member of Shiloh about why they are opposed to Vegetate having a liquor license. The woman I spoke to for about 15-20 minutes wasn't able to provide a single reason why they shouldn't have a license. She talked a lot about other things, but said nothing about why a fancy vegetarian restaurant should or should not be able to serve beer or wine with their food.
I left with the impression that the church is simply opposed to any development in the area. This is unfortunate because as someone who lives in the area, I know the neighborhood would be a lot safer if there was more to that part of 9th street (from P street to the convention center) than empty and boarded-up buildings. Also, this question of safety is something Shiloh should be very familiar with, since a man was shot right in front of their church (on the sidewalk on P street) at around 8pm on a Friday night about a month ago.
Shiloh seem to own quite a bit of property,but do they really have a liquor store at 9th and Q st nw. I dont think they can control the street activity,there a church.
I there a possiblity of having a resturant a the corner of 9th and Q st nw.