SAME ISSUE, DIFFERENT PLACE

Its amazing how the identity of DC is being fought over almost at every corner. On H Street NE, someone wants to open a Cluck-U outlets but it does not fit within the character of the new 'hood says the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. It wants sit-down restaurants. Very similar to what's going on in Shaw over bars and restaurants.

The ANC, which became majority white in 2002, wants to push "the African-Americans from the corridor," Clifton Humphries, owner of the H Street Martini Lounge, who is black, said in the WaPo. ANC Chairman Joseph Fengler says its about economics, not race. "Once you start saying that Cluck-U is a great place ... how do you turn against a national franchise?" that wants to open a carry-out.

On one hand, DC Bubble can see why the ANC wants to clean things up and not let another take-out open. The ANC members and who they represent have invested in the neighborhood and want to see the blight removed from H St. But diversity is what makes a city interesting. What makes, say Adams Morgan, so great is that you see a British clothing store next to a pizza joint next to a fancy Italian restaurant.

Why not let things grow organically. Clean up the drugs and the filth, but also accept a diversity of business as well. Of course it would be unacceptable to say no black or white people in a neighborhood, so why say only certain types of businesses?