The Post columnist is not too happy about the return of the publicly funded H Street Shuttle.
And here's a copy of an email sent to Mr. King in response to the column. This email was written and sent by Joe Englert:
Mr. King,
My name is Joe Englert and I own several buildings and several bars and restaurants in the H Street N.E. corridor. I am proud to be part of a group of businesses that call ourselves The Atlas District.
First, let me say, I really love your columns and your incite into the city and its neighborhoods. Thanks for being a civic treasure.
I appreciate your point of view that the H street shuttle might not be the most important thing for the city to fund at this time.
But isn't it time Northeast and other areas not-so downtown and not-so corporate got a small, small sliver of the pie? The city gave Abe Pollin a metro stop and a slew of tax breaks for his Chinatown Palace. Then Ted Lerner and sons got $700 million at the Navy Yard. Adrian Fenty is dropping swimming pools and athletic fields onto D.C. like American pilots dropping candy into post-World War II Berlin. These are guys with clout.
Sorry, but the couple of hundred of us small business men and women on H don't have a whiff of clout. We are not Fortune 500 folks. We don't get TIF funding or EZ Bonds. We don't get tax forgiveness or deference. And unlike the untold expensive programs that have spent millions on H and produced nothing; we actually are creating jobs, vision, hope and even some sales tax and property tax for the city.
Drop in for dinner some time. I will buy you a bowl of mussels or a fine Belgian Ale (As featured on the Food Network). We can play putt putt or buy an espresso or a gourmet pie. We can catch a national blues or rock act, too. Unlike the H of the past 5 decades, we can sit down for dinner, not order it through bullet-proof glass. This happened because many of us on H have put our money, passion and time on the line to create something out of a very forlorn street. About a dozen of us have spent hundreds of thousands of our own dollars to clean the streets, too. Before the H Street shuttle, we paid for our own fleet of cabs and mini-vans to transport people to and fro. We spent thousands of our own dollars for the H Street Festival. And this month, we started having our own police force on the street. Guess who foots 50% of the bill? We do, the small businesspeople of H.
I know you embraced and came to love H in a completely different era. But many, many young people and the vast majority of Metropolitan Washington have never been to H. It is hard to navigate our street during a 14 block and 36 month renovation. Why not make it easy for people to discover and cherish the neighborhood you once did as a young man?
Come and join us for a good time. We are confident we can show you the way!
Respectfully, sincerely, Joe Englert
27 comments:
You know what would be more persuasive than thanking Colbert King for his "incite" into the city, and then complaining about how this part of town never gets any help?
How about numbers?
Amount of property tax paid by one of Mr. Englert's many new business on H Street.
Number of jobs created.
Amount of sales tax generated.
Cost per rider of the H Street shuttle.
This is the kind of information that is useful in proving the value of a public investment.
He didn't really address the x2 x8 options already available..
Great piece, Joe. I want to write to him now and also point out that H St's new bars and restaurants will also have the effect of raising all the surrounding house prices...the property tax effect of which (IMHO) will make the money spent "subsidizing" the shuttle look like a rounding error.
It's not a subsidy, it's an investment. And as long as policy makers do things to ease the pain for seniors and others who will find it hard to cope w/ the rising property values, I think it's an investment well-made by the city.
Am I the only person in this ongoing debate who realizes that ANYONE can take the H Street Shuttle? Even those people who *gasp* aren't headed to throw down beers or sing karaoke? I mean shit, I definitely see both sides of the argument, but why is everyone acting like only privileged white kids searching for the next Logan Circle are allowed on the Shuttle?
What does this guy have against people singing karaoke?
Joe Englert:
So sorry about incite, insight.
Joe Englert said:
Okay, here are some rough numbers.
1) Most businesses pay about $6-10,000 a year in property tax on H for each business with a restaurant as a tenant.
2) Most businesses gross between $1,000,000 and $3,000,000 in sales. Go for the middle here, so let's say $150,000 a year per the Atlas District establishments in sales taxes.
So, $1,500,000 plus just for a three block area in sales tax.
Then there are license fees of about $2000 a year per place.
The average place probably employs 10-15 people. So, close to 200 jobs created.
Payroll would be about $5000 a week. 15% goes to payroll taxes. $75,000 a year per place would be a safe guess.
And then now we are pitching in $2-3,000 a week to the police. Another $150,000 in contributions.
I think it would be safe to say just 3 blocks contribute over $3,000,000 in revenue alone to the city. Pretty good start.........
Amen Joe, thank you for everything you and other small business owners have done for the area!
I was surprised to see Mr. King write about the H St Shuttle the last weekend before Xmas when the city gives more money and resources to more affluent parts of city to help businesses. Can the Northeast part of the city have at least some crumbs for the holidays and the new year?
Joe, thanks for posting the numbers. It's great to get some hard info on what the businesses generate for the city. And thanks for your continued investment in our neighborhood.
Jeff
Thanks Joe, I agree 100%.
Above and beyond the tax payments that H Street business development has meant for the city, the Atlas District businesses have made direct contributions to the quality of life on H and for the surrounding community.
For the H Street Festival alone, the direct contributions plus the in-kind gifts that were arranged by the businesses, that were not routed through H Street Main Street, totaled more than $100,000. These do not include expenses incurred by businesses from which they directly benefited, such as setting up stalls from which they made money.
These contributions were to pay for the free entertainment and exhibits that made it possible for Festival goers to spend the entire afternoon enjoying a community event without or with minimal cost.
The H Street Shuttle was a major part of the Festival transportation plan, along with the Bike Valet, space for which was donated by the owners of the H Street Connection. The hours for the Shuttle were extended and the routes expanded down to Barracks Row and Eastern Market, thanks to Patrick Stewart of the Atlas Theater.
Media across the region highlighted the Shuttle as the easiest way to visit the Festival, no doubt increasing attendance dramatically and keeping thousands of cars from jamming our neighborhood.
The Festival attracted more than 15,000 people, a dramatic increase over past Festival attendance of about 5,000. And they didn't block your driveway or local intersections.
The Shuttle is a major part of the long-term transportation plan for H Street. Until the streetcars roll, it reduces the number of cars that clog streets surrounding the Atlas District's entertainment venues, making it easier for local residents to find parking, and lessening the noise of late-night partiers on their way to their cars.
When the streetcars are finally in operation, the habit of using public transportation will already be established for H Street. We hope that it will even be seen as the fashionable way to travel to our community.
This is much more than "a few hipsters" now. It is about changing the way all of us approach urban living in the future.
why couldn't riders pay a nominal fee to ride the shuttle? like a quarter?
maybe we could be a circulator line as well?
or if they only want the circulator to go down fancy streets, have it stop on maryland ave. then everyone could take it from union station and just walk a few blocks down to the bars
Joe,
As a 10 year home owner in the neighborhood,I support your time,energy,effort and money in our community.
Thanks,
Yes, parking is available. True, they’ll tow you from the AutoZone lot in the evenings, but during the day, you can both park and operate your fly-by-night body shop.
Yes, the X2 is rough around the edges. Remember that kid who was blown away a few weeks ago while entering the bus, during the day? Sorry, dude, that's rough. But only around the edges.
Yes, the H Street shuttle is subsidized. Like all public transit.
If King is making the argument that it’s unfair that the resurgent H Street corridor gets earmarks while other parts of the city receive neglect, well …point taken, and agreed to, wholeheartedly.
$25 million gets blown for fly-by-night AIDS programs and $44 million gets issued by the D.C. Department of Tax for questionable property refunds.
I helped pay for that. Unfair. So I'll settle for $190,000 shuttle.
King needs some basic business math lessons if he thinks that "grant[ing] a delay in paying property taxes along the corridor" to small business owners is in ANY way comparable to the outright WAIVING of property and other taxes for large developers. The city has been doing this for years to cut deals with the Big Guys while small business gets screwed.
Recently the DC Council passed legislation granting special tax exemptions to Steuart Development for their project at 3rd and H Streets,NE, and Hilton Gardens for a hotel just off H in NoMa. They were granted property and other tax breaks, paying nothing for at least 10 years, while the small business owners on H Street were told that the city can't afford to waive their much smaller property tax bills for two years while they suffer through construction.
Sure, they get to pay it a little later, but their revenues are down because of the construction. The Steuart and Hilton properties aren't even out of the ground and they will swoop in to reap the benefits of the renewal.
As King says, "Thems with clout rule." It just ain't the little guys on H Street. They deserve the Shuttle and more!!!
Does anyone know where Colbert King lives?
does anyone know the shuttle start times, pick up and drop off points or where I can find them?
10:27,
Try the Atlas website. There is a link on the "plan your trip page."
It's pretty funny when somebody who posts anonymously wants to know where anohter person lives.
HE HE HE HE.......That was funny
what color is the shuttle?
Sorry, I'm a proponent of the shuttle but could not read past the (mis)use of the word 'incite'. I'm sure you got a groan out of Mr. King for that one too.
I expect that many of you have experience writing letters to the editor/op-ed's in your profession. Rather than just making snarky comments in critiquing Joe's response, why not make your voice heard with the editorial board at the Post?
Send your 200 words or less letter to letters@washpost.com including home address, e-mail address, and home and business telephone numbers. Although they likely won't publish them all, they read them and our letters can educate the editorial staff on the realities of our community.
Mine is below:
Mr. King’s attempt to shoehorn race into his discussion of the H Street shuttle (“District Subsidizes H Street Partiers”) was very disappointing to read. Although racial and class divisions remain important issues in the revitalization of the H street area, a careful analysis of the benefits of restoring funding should not be obscured by his shameful attempts at stoking emotions.
Mr. King’s sets up so strawmen, it is difficult to know where to begin. First, there are no income analyses or class barriers stopping anyone from taking the shuttle – black or white, rich or poor. In fact, the shuttle itself is free – hardly a classist pricing scheme. Thankfully, the patrons of the new H street businesses are also neither solely white nor well-to-do. As an H street homeowner, I am pleased to see our businesses filled with a cross-section of the city – including those from “different areas of the city and the surrounding regions."
The simple fact is that this area does not currently have adequate public transportation options. There is not yet an easily accessible metro station. And while the X2 and X8 are indeed options, they are regularly cited as some of the busiest and most in need of improvement bus lines in the city. If Mr. Colbert ever deigned to actually take the X2 - as I do ever day – he would find that the buses are often dirty, woefully overcrowded and traveling slow, poorly designed routes. Rather than a means of class segregation, the Shuttle simply serves as something of an express option, with less stops and a focus on expediting customers between a busy metro and our area’s main business center.
The city itself recognized this need in deciding to restore street cars. With the difficult business environment created by their construction, it is hardly surprising the city has chosen to do what it can to protect its investment. Otherwise, we could end up with the worst-case scenario: multiple transportation lines and nowhere to take them to. That would be the ultimate waste of the city’s resources. Even Mr. King should agree with that.
Wouldn't "incite" be the proper though not exact word when refering to an old bitter man looking to start a fight and instigate racial hatred towards a group of people opening businesses in a depressed area?
Believe it or not it is cheaper for the city to pay for the shuttle than it is for riders to have to pay. It would cost about $1.50 a ride if everyone would have to pay. The reason is- By the time you up grade and put in coin counters, bring in extra people to run the finances and book keeping and maintaining it all you are looking at well over a dollar per person.
The city PROMISED us the shuttle and Promised that they allready had the funding for it.
Does it suprice you that the post would run a piece like this about Hst NE? look at some of the other articles it has published about Hst? Try to one last thanksgiving about the Argonaut being open?
Yet another reason I'm pleased that I cancelled my subscription to the Post months ago.
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