The Langston Civic Association’s protest of the Food 7 store at 1830 Benning Rd. NE has been successful. The ABC board voted unanimously to accept the association’s Settlement Agreement on February 28, 2018. Despite years of community concern about violent crime at the store, this is the first protest in 17 years. After many hours of negotiations and multiple rounds of input from the Langston community, the ABC board accepted ALL of our neighborhood’s recommendations requiring the store to end single sales of beer and wine, install video surveillance equipment linked directly to MPD, and remove graffiti as well as other important safety and aesthetic improvements. These changes will not be immediate. Some of the changes like the removal of graffiti and installation of special camera equipment must happen within 30 days, but other larger and more expensive changes will take place over varying time frames. It is now up to us as a community to make sure that the store lives up to every clause of the agreement by familiarizing ourselves with the terms of the settlement and reporting any violations or suspected violations immediately to ABRA. REPORT ANY VIOLATIONS IMMEDIATELY BY CALLING or EMAILING:
When making a complaint follow these three important steps to achieve the best results:
Keeping a paper trail will help keep the store as well as ABRA accountable to our community. The civic association will also be reviewing the ABRA license of Sylvia's Liquor at 1818 Benning Rd. NE on March 6, 2018 from 6-7 pm at 2109 Maryland Ave. NE.
Additional Update: ANC5D Protest in Peril The Langston Civic Association formally offered to collaborate with ANC5D to protest the license of the Food 7 Store in November 2017. ANC5D agreed to file a protest even after some objections from. Comm. Kathy Henderson claiming that the store "has done everything the community has asked them to do," but decided to protest separately from the civic association. After the February 28, 2018 hearing; the ANC5D protest is now in jeopardy of dismissal by the ABC Board. ANC5D which is represented in this matter by Henderson failed to submit required paperwork for Wednesday’s hearing. The board sternly reiterated their concerns about similar failures throughout the protest process by Henderson, but voted to allow a one-week extension for the completion of required paperwork. This protest is the sixth protest launched by Henderson that has been dismissed or delayed due to a failure to appear at a hearing or failure to submit required documents since 2009. If a Settlement Agreement from ANC5D is approved, both the Langston Civic Association agreement as well as the ANC 5D agreement will be fully enforceable. If an agreement is submitted by ANC 5D by the deadline, it will also be posted to our blog once available and you can use the same methods to report violations as outlined above. Comments are closed.
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