Community discusses plastic bag tax, pawnshop opening

The Advisory Neighborhood Commission for Area 4A met Tuesday evening for its monthly discussion of community issues. The 4A Area represents the Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, Brightwood, 16thStreet Heights, and Crestwood neighborhoods. They met at the Fort Stevens Recreation Center.

            The Commission invited Ward 4 Outreach Specialists to give an update from the Office of the Mayor. Corey LaPlante, the invited specialist, addressed issues of high property taxes before announcing that he brought free reusable grocery bags for everyone in the audience, sparking a heated discussion about the new DC plastic bag tax.

            Kelly Shy, an audience member and owner of Ledo Pizza in Langley Park, expressed discontent with the new tax. “It’s impossible to negotiate with customers,” Shy said. “And during the snow days I had barely any bags.” Shy continued that this new tax is making it very difficult for her to do take-out orders because customers argue with her over how many bags the food should go in. Not to mention that reusable bags are not really ideal for cooked food and a take-out service, Shy added. The DC bag tax charges customers five cents for every bag they use when purchasing non-clothing items. 

            LaPlante sympathized, but said he did not have any concrete suggestions of yet, He disputed accusations of the bag tax being a money scam for grocery stores that do not spend nearly as much money on plastic bags because fewer customers are using them. One audience member called the tax “an annoyance and a profit scheme,” but left the meeting before the board could verify his name.

“This is not for revenue,” LaPlante said of the bag tax. He assured the audience that the tax’s purpose was to help limit the amount of garbage in the deteriorating Anacostia River. “We are protecting and conserving the environment,” added Council Member Habieba Snow-Israel.

The board also introduced new Police Commander for the area, Kim Missouri. She described her vision for the area as more community-inclusive, with more positive interaction between the police and everyday people. Sara Green of the neighboring community, 4B, spoke with great concern over the scheduled opening of a pawnshop on Georgia Avenue, called Famous Pawn.

“To have a pawn shop go in this area is a step way back,” Green says of a community she feels has come along way since its high crime record in the early 1980s. While Missouri she is in the midst of gathering data from other pawnshops and cannot directly correlate them with crime just yet, she assured concerned community members that she would “look into it.” The owners of the shop have yet to attain a police warrant.

The meeting winded down with the discussion of The Nile Restaurant, an Ethiopian establishment located on northwest Georgia Avenue.  Commissioner Dwayne Toliver negotiated with the restaurant for longer business hours and freedom to serve customers alcohol even if they do not order a meal to go with it. The restaurant wanted such changes in order to compete with other Ethiopian restaurants in the area.

The issue of the pawnshop was again raised before the speaker of the board, Marian Bennett, adjourned the meeting. The board decided that this issue warrants a special, separate meeting. The date has yet to be announced.