A local governing body approved a request from Tatte Bakery and Cafe to open a new location in Foggy Bottom.
The Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission accepted Tatte’s public space application, in a 7-1 vote, to construct a cafe on I Street across from the District House entrance. The ANC also elected Joel Causey as its new chair and Adam Friend as its vice chair during its virtual meeting Wednesday.
Here are a few of the meeting’s highlights:
Tatte expands to Foggy Bottom
The ANC voted to support Tatte’s application to open a new bakery at 2129 I St. with tentative plans to open in June. Brendan Boyle, a representative from Tatte, said the bakery plans to accept GWorld when it arrives on campus this summer.
“We call our offerings ‘elegant comfort food’ and its Mediterranean-inspired fare,” Boyle said during the meeting. “We’re a scratch kitchen. We make everything that we serve on a plate, and we’re looking forward to coming into the neighborhood.”
The public space application requested permission to open a sidewalk cafe with 16 seats, six tables and three umbrellas.
Commissioner Trupti Patel, the lone vote against the bakery’s application, aired concerns about how Tatte’s West End location handled COVID-19 safety restrictions during the earlier stages of the pandemic.
“One of your locations, during the COVID-19 crisis, was not a good actor,” Patel said. “You did not adhere to the community guidelines, and I was really disappointed about that because I had the workers from Tatte reach out to me personally.”
Commissioner Jeri Epstein said members of Tatte’s upper management, based in Boston, were responsive to COVID-19-related protocol concerns and resolved the initial issues in about a week.
“You were right, and they came in immediately to correct it after you pointed it out,” Epstein said in response to Patel.
Commissioners elect chair, vice chair
Epstein announced she is stepping down as chair to spend more time with her mother and father-in-law after assuming the position atop the commission last January. Epstein said she will maintain her role as a commissioner.
Commissioners elected Causey, the ANC’s previous vice chair, to lead the commission with five votes in favor, two votes against and one abstention. Patel and Commissioner Margaret McDonald voted against his nomination, and Commissioner Yannik Omictin abstained.
The ANC also elected Commissioner Adam Friend to replace Causey as vice chair in a 4-3 vote that edged out Omictin. Causey abstained from the vote.
Friend said he hopes to improve relations between the ANC and the D.C. government, as well as among commissioners, as vice chair.
“That requires building consensus, which is not something that exists just by itself,” Friend said. “It’s something that has to be made, and efforts that we want to get done aren’t something that happen just because of willpower. They happen because of getting people on your side and aligned on the same issues.”
ANC pushes for infrastructure upgrades
The ANC also unanimously called on the D.C. Council to pass the Walk Without Worry Act, which would lead to the construction of raised crosswalks and raised intersections in high-traversed areas to protect pedestrians from collisions. Omictin, who introduced the resolution, said he identified about 50 locations in the Foggy Bottom and West End areas that could be eligible for improved infrastructure, like several spots of H Street on campus that may receive raised crosswalks.
“It essentially calls for proactive, safe infrastructure construction in areas that we know are already dangerous for pedestrians to walk,” he said.
