WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — After more than two years of construction, Busboys and Poets finally opens its doors for business Tuesday, March 12, 2019. The sleek storefront, huge picture windows and iconic sign hanging above Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE promise to usher in major change to downtown Anacostia. But to grasp the impact of Busboys on the Ward 8 community, you must cross the river and travel to 14th and V Streets, NW. That is the location of Busboys and Poets' first restaurant, which opened back in September of 2005.
“There’s something in business that I think is discounted and that’s leap of faith,” said owner Andy Shallal. Faith and market research. When Shallal moved into V Street, he said there was still an open-air drug market on the corner.
“U Street was the dividing line,” recalled Shallal, “you didn’t go up beyond that point because it wasn’t very nice.”
But the drugs and crime cleaned up, more businesses moved in, home prices continued to rise; by all accounts, the neighborhood gentrified. In fact, in all five locations that have opened since, Busboys has taken that leap of faith and the neighborhood followed. While business owners on 5th and K Street NW said it was purely coincidence they moved in after Busboys, they admitted the success of that first business showed they had a future there too.
In Anacostia, new businesses are already joining the ranks of the mainstays who have created a home in the 2000 block of MLK Avenue SE.
“I think it’s too late,” said one community elder who is among many who have lived in Ward 8 for decades and already feel the pressure of rising prices and a community that they may no longer be able to afford. “The younger generation should step up,” he said.
“When you’re getting the first tangible view of gentrification in a place like Anacostia, people just don’t know what to expect,” added another younger nearby business owner.
As crews nearby hummed away on a table saw, and others stocked the bar and moved in furniture, Andy Shallal sat down with WUSA9 in his new Anacostia restaurant. In the Marion Barry room - the performance space - and underneath his own Ward 8 inspired mural, he said Busboys is not "the true gentrifier" of neighborhoods.
“First all I’m going to push back real hard that Busboys and Poets is the gentrifier,” Shallal replied when WUSA9 asked. “Gentrification is completely misunderstood. We’re not the cause of gentrification we’re a symptom. Gentrification has already happened by the time we show up. Gentrification happens over a period of time when government abdicates its responsibilities.”
Those responsibilities include preserving affordable housing. Shallal thinks the D.C. government acts more like a business putting profit ahead of people.
“I have to say government likes to blame it on Busboys or a Starbucks because that’s easy instead of looking at the real reason because it’s too complicated,” he said.
“Great energy is coming to this side now through the Busboys and Poets bringing their energy over here,” said a young man on MLK who was checking on the new space. All day, people passed by and peeked through the windows, curious about their new neighbor. Busboys is trying to be just that.
“Being a part of the community makes that easier,” said Shallal, “and each neighborhood is different. You have to connect with those folks. You can’t be a cookie cutter because people feel it.”
Around 90 percent of the art on the walls are by Ward 7 and 8 artists, even school children in Congress Heights. Most of the employees are local and Shallal will be working with an area nonprofit that is also his landlord. So, while he knows the good and bad of his presence there, he’s once again taking that leap of faith.
Art inside new Anacostia Busboys and Poets location
“The amount of open arms and love we received [at the Marion Barry Birthday Celebration], it's been really very moving," he said. "I have to say…I almost get emotional thinking about it and talking about it. It’s so incredible when you uplift people, when you say, ‘I believe in you and I’m here to open a place that honors and respects you."