Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

Ok, I'll bite. So why do you think all these restaurants are going out of business and blaming I-82? They are just closing their businesses to spite you? Something else is making them close and they just don't know their books?

What else has changed in DC and the US economically generally over the past few years that might cause restaurants to go out of business at an accelerated rate? And how frequently do restaurants go out of business even when times are good? I-82 was not optimal in that it phased in the change over four years. A better approach would probably have just been to unify the tipped minimum wage and regular minimum wage at once. That would have eliminated the possibility for the shenanigans that all of us who have eaten out at DC restaurants have been witness to. And those shenanigans have been an expensive own goal by the restaurant industry. I’d be willing to wager more than a few establishments have lost significant business by pissing off their customers by instituting junk fees to protest I-82. Other restaurants who have adapted by simply raising their menu prices or introducing a surcharge - with a clear policy that tips are not expected - have done much better.

This is so dumb, in so many ways. This was not a good idea that was just poorly implemented. It was a stupid, naive idea that no one should have ever taken seriously.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

Ok, I'll bite. So why do you think all these restaurants are going out of business and blaming I-82? They are just closing their businesses to spite you? Something else is making them close and they just don't know their books?

What else has changed in DC and the US economically generally over the past few years that might cause restaurants to go out of business at an accelerated rate? And how frequently do restaurants go out of business even when times are good? I-82 was not optimal in that it phased in the change over four years. A better approach would probably have just been to unify the tipped minimum wage and regular minimum wage at once. That would have eliminated the possibility for the shenanigans that all of us who have eaten out at DC restaurants have been witness to. And those shenanigans have been an expensive own goal by the restaurant industry. I’d be willing to wager more than a few establishments have lost significant business by pissing off their customers by instituting junk fees to protest I-82. Other restaurants who have adapted by simply raising their menu prices or introducing a surcharge - with a clear policy that tips are not expected - have done much better.

Anonymous wrote:Initiative 82 sucked the joy out of going out to eat.

Prices became ridiculous.

All the sneaky fees tacked on at the end made you feel cheated.

No one knows whether you're still supposed to tip.

Even paying the bill became incredibly awkward when the waiter hands you a credit card reader with a HUGE number and no explanation of how the bill could possibly get that big.

No thank you. Cooking is more fun, anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

You should go tell all these restaurant owners who are giving up that one time you went to this one restaurant in California and it seemed totally fine. I'm sure they could learn a lot from your experience.

What a stupid response. The restaurant industry in all of these states is as robust as it is anywhere. The notion that American restaurants can’t survive without paying their workers a couple of bucks an hour is demonstrably false.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

Ok, I'll bite. So why do you think all these restaurants are going out of business and blaming I-82? They are just closing their businesses to spite you? Something else is making them close and they just don't know their books?

What else has changed in DC and the US economically generally over the past few years that might cause restaurants to go out of business at an accelerated rate? And how frequently do restaurants go out of business even when times are good? I-82 was not optimal in that it phased in the change over four years. A better approach would probably have just been to unify the tipped minimum wage and regular minimum wage at once. That would have eliminated the possibility for the shenanigans that all of us who have eaten out at DC restaurants have been witness to. And those shenanigans have been an expensive own goal by the restaurant industry. I’d be willing to wager more than a few establishments have lost significant business by pissing off their customers by instituting junk fees to protest I-82. Other restaurants who have adapted by simply raising their menu prices or introducing a surcharge - with a clear policy that tips are not expected - have done much better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

Ok, I'll bite. So why do you think all these restaurants are going out of business and blaming I-82? They are just closing their businesses to spite you? Something else is making them close and they just don't know their books?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

You should go tell all these restaurant owners who are giving up that one time you went to this one restaurant in California and it seemed totally fine. I'm sure they could learn a lot from your experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Strange. In my travels to Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state, I could swear that I’ve eaten at many “locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants”. Yet all of these states mandate that restaurants pay all staff the standard minimum wage that applies to all other workers. Is there something special about these states that does not apply to DC or do you just habitually pull arguments out of thin air?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Yep, kiss locally-owned, affordable and neighborhood focused sit-down restaurants good-bye. They all are an endangered breed. Food halls, and other places without servers are going to be it for everything short of fine dining or Cheese-Cake Factory type places.

Maybe that's fine, but the I-82 backers either had no idea this would happen or were lying about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.

We're well on our way to that making up 75 percent of DC restaurants, with most of them national chains. The other 25 percent will be expense-account places. No middle ground because of I-82.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing to see DC politicians responding to market forces. Our politicians have spent most of the last decade acting like they could just push whatever far left flavor of the day.

This is what happens when we elect 13 people with exactly ZERO private sector experience. Not a single day in the business world among 13 lifetimes. From a statistical perspective this is about a 1,000,000,000 to 1 outcome, but somehow the voters of DC have pulled it off. Collectively, they are an incredibly unimpressive lot.

Another false claim that can be quickly debunked by browsing the biographies of the members.

Maybe it would be good to have more council members with deeper private sector experience. That is not for you or I to decide, however.

If you feel passionately about this and you have the experience you feel is so important for the council, please mount a campaign. But you might want to consider developing a closer relationship with the truth before doing so.

Ummm. DC nonprofit/attorney/consultant/community organizing is not the same thing as the private sector…

Have any of the Council ever have to make payroll, order inventory, pay rent, build something? Nope. They’re all unimpressive white collar, barely employable hacks.

You have a very special idea of what the phrase “private sector” means, one that accords with no conventional definition.

If you have done these things and think that your expertise would add value to Council business, please run.

Please enlighten us as to which councilman has private sector experience?

Various council members have worked as attorneys for private firms, Janeese worked as a waitress, Wendell worked for Sibley hospital and so on . . .

LOL! Only in DC would someone with “Director of Community Affairs” at a hospital be considered a “private sector” job. These folks washed out of the private sector, if they were ever in the private sector at all. Their incompetence is reflected in the policies they champion which almost always end up being anti business or pro criminal. They’re a national embarrassment.

I'm a lawyer, but how is being a Director of Community Affairs not a private sector job. Signed former investment banker. Are only corporate jobs private sector jobs? WTH.

In your time as an investment banker did they explain to you the difference between for profits and non profits? Because you may have lost your clients a lot of capital. The hospital he had the no show “community relations” job was was a NONPROFIT.

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they eliminate servers. Have customers pickup their food at the kitchen counter.