Kevin Chavous, the Democratic councilman from Ward 7, put part of the blame on the city for not being aggressive enough in neighborhood development.

"I live in Southeast and I’m tired of going into Maryland to go to the movies or a family restaurant," he said. "The problem is the perception of drugs and crime and the city not being business-friendly. The way you cut through that is the relationships the mayor either has or can develop. Part of it is knowing who might be friendly to the idea of locating in the city."

He recalled his efforts to lure Safeway to build a store on Alabama Avenue at Good Hope Marketplace in Southeast Washington.

"We drove the Safeway executives out to Prince George’s and showed them all the D.C. tags in the parking lot. These people will shop in a store if you build it in the District," he said the executives were told.

Once retailers are on board, the city should play a greater role in ensuring safety around new stores, he said.

"The city has to demonstrate that it is willing to step up and share in the risk, because the perception is the city is unfriendly to business. And then we fight to make that happen and use the same zeal and vigor that we did with the MCI (Center) and the convention center."

Democrat Jeffrey N. Gildenhorn, a local restaurant owner, proposed attracting new business to the District with a sales tax incentive program that would rebate the first year’s sales tax provided the business signed at least a six-year lease.

"We’re not giving anything away, because if you don’t have the business to begin with, you’re not giving anything away," he said.

"You have a business that’s going to be there for a minimum of the lease. It’s going to attract more businesses as well to various neighborhoods which otherwise would not be bringing their business back."

He said the incentive program could save an average restaurant about $100,000 over five years.

Harold Brazil, Democratic councilman at large, blames previous administrations for the loss of businesses in the District but cautioned against tax incentives as the answer.

"You’ve got to be a little careful about tax-giveaways," he said. "You can find a balance. Maybe (new supermarkets) come in, there’s no property tax for five years. It might make Safeway or the other little grocers a little mad, but, on the other hand, if you can get Giant to come in and make a commitment, then you’re not really giving up something that you had. They come back on the tax rolls in five years."

Republican Councilwoman At-Large Carol Schwartz said federal grants could be used to encourage development in the neighborhoods.

"There has been federal money available that Baltimore and other smart cities have bought into that would take care of those exact kinds of problems," she said. "Wherever you want to talk about in this city, these (areas) would have been absolutely eligible for enterprise/empowerment zones kind of money. I’m going to go to the feds and get some money from that angle."

She noted that she helped expand the council’s tax increment financing legislation to include the District’s neighborhoods, not just downtown.

"It defers the taxes you would have to pay for a certain period of time, and also gives you up-front financing for small businesses that want to go into these particular areas providing certain kinds of services. You could get financing that you probably couldn’t get on the open market. And that should be a help in this area.

"We all know that where there are stores and people and activity there is less crime," she said. "There is a vitality, something to walk out your door to do."

Democrat Sylvia Robinson-Green, a teacher and lifelong resident of Southeast Washington’s Congress Heights neighborhood, said she would help ease retailers’ fears of locating in the city.

"First, we have to find out why they don’t want to start businesses here in the city," she said. "We have to sit down and do the pros and cons. What is it that’s keeping you out of the city? What can we do to help you?"

She said retailers may not feel safe moving into some neighborhoods for fear of shoplifting, robberies and vandalism. She suggested the city provide boosted security at no charge.

John Gloster, the Statehood Party’s candidate, said cooperative businesses are the solution for many of the District’s under-served neighborhoods.

"We feel that Safeway and Giant have done injustice to the District ringing around the city, not locating in the city," he said. "They tend to be mostly concentrated in the affluent areas and the affluent areas have the nicest stores.

"What we need to do is force some competition upon them. Build neighborhood grocery stores and supermarkets of the cooperative type in every ward, and even at the precinct level. Put them in competition with Giant and Safeway in order to bring the prices down. I believe if we start doing that, they’ll start building stores in the District and realize that their plan of ringing the District is not going to work anymore.

"Another thing that we need to do," he continued, "is invest in cooperative banks, which will be set up with seed money by the government. The idea is that they’re going to make small business loans to help development that is community-based, as opposed to the trickle-down economics that the status quo is bringing us, with having us house convention centers and ballparks and everything downtown.

"If you water from the roots instead of sprinkling on the leaves, what you’ll have is these businesses much more likely to hire people in the District."

Democrat Anthony Williams said development has to be built around centers in the neighborhoods.

"Neighborhood commercial areas usually revolve around nodes around a major artery," he said, mentioning such major thoroughfares as Minnesota Avenue, Georgia Avenue, and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. "You need a manager for that entire artery. I’ve never seen a city (before Washington) where you don’t know who the project manager is for your major development initiatives. Why? Because we don’t have any major development initiatives. You’ve got to get someone in place."

But, Williams said, neighborhood development should not just look at bringing in stores, but ensuring that the customer base is steady.

"You can put in stores, but unless you have demand, those stores will not survive. The anchor of the neighborhood is the public school," he said. "They are so much a part of a family’s decision to stay or leave that neighborhood."

He also recognized cooperative businesses as a viable alternative to chain supermarkets in the District’s neighborhoods.

"As early as my days as an undergraduate in New Haven, I joined together with some neighbors and fellow activists and we built a cooperative supermarket, which at the time was one of the largest in the country. I understand what it means to pursue that option," he said.

Ward 2 Democratic Councilman Jack Evans said cooperatives are not a solution to the District’s problem.

"Cooperative businesses are just never going to satisfy the needs of the people who need food," he said. "We have an enormous amount of spending power in this city and cooperatives are just not the answer.

"What this all boils down to is the business environment. Businesses will come where they can make money, it’s just a fact of life. They can make more money and they have a captive audience by locating in Maryland or Virginia.

"Our tax rates are much higher than they are in Maryland or Virginia. We have to lower those.

"The workers’ and unemployment compensation laws are so far out of whack with Maryland and Virginia that the premiums in the District are three times what they are in Maryland and four times what they are in Virginia.

"The only way to lower premiums is to change the benefits. You lower the benefits to where they are in Maryland and you will lower the premiums to where they are in Maryland," Evans said.

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator