Beau Thai Liquor License: How Early is Too Early?

At its regular monthly meeting September 1, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6E/Shaw voted to endorse the application for a liquor license for the new branch of Beau Thai. The restaurant will be located in the new Jefferson MarketPlace development at 1550 7th Street NW. It is moving from its current location at 1700 New Jersey Avenue NW, at R Street, also in Shaw.

Beau Thai's future home earlier this year (photo credit below)

Steven Whalen of Veritas Law Firm presented for the management of Beau Thai. Whalen said the restaurant will have 99 seats and a total occupancy of 120. There will be a 24-seat outdoor cafe.

Beau Thai will be located in ANC6E district 01. ANC6E Chair Alexander Padro is the Commissioner for that district. Representing the ANC, Padro and Beau Thai have signed a "settlement agreement", which at the time of the meeting was pending approval by DC liquor-licensing authorities. Padro characterized the agreement as "standard".

As a result, the permitted operating hours of the new restaurant will be the same or similar to its neighbors. For example, the outside patio will normally open at 11am. It will stay open until 10:30pm weekdays, and until 11pm weekends. There will be no live music. The inside hours of operation will be the maximum normally allowed by DC law, that is, until 2am weekdays and 3am weekends.

The settlement agreement also allows alcohol consumption at 8am. A neighbor noted this detail at the meeting. She had observed it on the mandatory liquor licensing placard on the future site of the restaurant.

She called this "much, much too early in the a.m."

"If we don't have enough alcoholics, we will have enough alcoholics," she said. "That's like an invitation."

There followed a long discussion in which the neighbor attempted unsuccessfully to get the morning hours reduced. Whalen repeated there was no intention to serve alcohol early in the morning on a regular basis, but the restaurant wished to leave its options open in case it decided, for example, to serve brunch.

Commissioner Rachelle Nigro (district 04) asked if it was possible to amend the signed agreement so that liquor service could not start until 10:30 or 11am, "whenever normal lunchtime is". Whalen and Padro were dead-set against it.

"We already have an agreement negotiated. I would not support any changes to it," Padro said.

Nigro said there was a "neighborhood concern" about the hours.

Padro said one person (i.e., the person protesting at the meeting) "was not a neighborhood concern".

"I'm not the only person who's concerned about this," the neighbor said.

Padro directed the neighbor to bring up her concern at the ABRA hearing about the liquor license. The neighbor promised to do so.

Nigro recommended that the neighbor sit down with the restaurant owner first.

The neighbor said she would "follow through on that".

The vote on Padro's motion to endorse the liquor license request was 5 to 2. The two "no" votes were Commissioners Frank Wiggins (district 03) and Marge Maceda (district 05).

ANC6E records its meeting in their entirety and posts them in half-hour chunks on its YouTube channel. One of the half-hour chunks (part two of five) -- during which part of the discussion above took place -- was missing when I last looked. However, most of the discussion above can be viewed on part three of five, starting at the beginning of the video, here.

See previous coverage of the Beau Thai's infra-Shaw move from the blogs BadWolf DC here and Popville here.

Beau Thai has another branch in Mount Pleasant.

(Photo credit: BadWolf DC. Used by permission.)

2724 11th Street: "We're Very Divided on This"

The committee vote was three in favor, two opposed, and two absentions. The person who eventually cast the deciding vote at first responded: "I don't know".

2724 11th Street in August

However, the Design Review Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street will recommend to the full ANC to support zoning variance which would allow the owners to renovate and enlarge a blighted rent-controlled building at 2724 11th Street NW, at the corner of Girard Street. The full ANC will probably take up this matter at its next scheduled meeting on Thursday, October 2, 7pm, at the Reeves Center (14th and U Streets).

This was the second time attorney Martin Sullivan of Sullivan & Barros presented to the Design Review Committee. There had been some changes, made at the suggestion of the committee, since Sullivan's last appearance before the committee -- see SALM blog post of June 23. For example, the proposed curb cut on the side of the building facing Girard Street was eliminated due to neighborhood opposition over the loss of on-street parking.

Another change was the number of units the building will have after the proposed renovation. It currently has 25 rent-controlled units. The original proposal would have added 11 more units, for a total of 36. Under the revised proposal, there will be nine new units, but one existing rent-controlled unit will be eliminated to create space for trash collection.

Yet another proposed changed is that ground-floor units would open on to small individual gardens -- four facing 11th Street, two facing Girard Street.

"The architect is making the building more street-friendly and neighborhood-friendly," Sullivan said.

The entire building will remain rent-controlled. However, the new units will enter the market at a much higher rent.

The building has been the focus of an organized action by tenants and community activists to improve the conditions of the residents and, if possible, to force the current owners to sell the building to someone who would take better care of it -- see SALM blog post of August 4. The two groups have formed "Save 2724 11th Street", which has a web site, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, and online petition.

However, there seemed to be no representatives of the group at the Design Review Committee meeting.

After a chilly initial reception at the meeting, Sullivan said he thought the committee wished to "punish the owner", a wealthy family that had allowed the building to fall into a state of neglect during half a century of ownership.

"That's the impression I got the last time I was here," Sullivan said.

"The default is a property owner owns a property," Sullivan also said. "But we're in the District of Columbia, so that's not the case."

Sullivan said the owners had made $8,000, net, on the property last year. They proposed to invest $3 million on the renovation.

The first motion was to deny endorsement of the zoning requests, because there were "not significant community benefits".  This motion went down to defeat -- two in favor, three against, two abstentions.

Design Review Committee Chair Lela Winston then made a motion in favor of recommending to the full ANC endorsement the zoning variances, if the applicants provided drawings for a further revised design which incorporated changes made by the committee at the meeting. These changes would increase the number of two bedroom units and decrease the number of one bedroom and studio apartments. This is the motion that was eventually approved by a 3-2-2 vote.

"We're very divided on this," a committee member said.

Sullivan said that the zoning variances at scheduled for a hearing at DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) on October 21.

ANC1B, in addition to U Street, includes all or part of the following neighborhoods: Columbia Heights, LeDroit Park, Pleasant Plains, Shaw, University Heights, and lower Georgia Avenue.

Interview with Robert Sinners, Candidate for ANC2B, district 08

Robert Sinners is a candidate for Commissioner for district 08 of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle. Of three candidates, Sinners is the only one who responded to my request for an interview. I normally like to receive replies from both candidates and then publish them, so one candidate doesn't have the advantage of reading the other candidate's answers. In this case, I decided to go ahead and publish the one candidate who responded.

Nicole Mann is a second candidate. On the sidelines of the August 13 ANC2B meeting, I asked her if she would respond to written questions. She agreed. On August 14, I sent the same questions as below. Responding to a follow-up inquiry, Mann promised answers by August 25. I received nothing. Since then, I have sent two additional emails and two private messages on Twitter, asking if she intended to respond. I have received no reply to any them.

A third candidate, Allison Fitzsimmonds, said via email that she has dropped out of the race.

ANC2B district 08 is on the north side of ANC2B. Its borders are (roughly) Florida Avenue and U Street NW on the north, New Hampshire Avenue on the east, Swann Street on the south, and 19th Street on the west -- see top of map at right.

Don't know your ANC district? There are two search tools: one by the DC government, the other by Code for DC.

-- What relevant experience do you bring to the job?

I bring two dynamics to the job; I bring experience in public policy on all levels- both public and private sector and, I bring a blunt, humorous persona that believes that the truth is often ugly but must not be suppressed. Combine these two and you have someone who is both knowledgeable in public policy, yet unwavering in the efforts to ensure the appropriate solution to the policy question is implemented. My public policy experience exposed me to processes both good and bad on local, state, and federal levels. I learned that change is local, and doesn't really happen in the halls of Congress, or necessarily in the Wilson Building, as we so thought. I also learned working with both Republican and Democratic officials that politics and good policy often diverges- sharply. The true vehicle of change is local, civic involvement. I'm attracted to the ANC because it's a unique form of a hyper-local legislature, truly one of a kind. I think the model of government stands at the front lines of community development, and interested and engaged individuals have a duty to be involved.

-- If elected, what single issue to you anticipate will take up most of your time? Why?

ANCs should devote more attention to zoning. When I decided to pursue real estate as a career, I was fortunate enough to position myself in a role that constantly looks at the changes occurring in DC neighborhoods- real estate, demographics, and construction issues mostly. The issue that brought me into this race is the parking garage that will be demolished along Florida/U/17th. While it may be under an adjacent jurisdiction, I followed the issue. It received very little community pushback. I don't think enough attention was raised and still most citizens don't realize the only public parking garage in vicinity to ANC 2B08 is about to be demolished to make way for a 150 unit condoplex- one in which even the residents aren't guaranteed parking. As it stands, parking is a crisis in Ward 2, and one of the strongest resources is about to go way of the Dodo. A larger community discussion needs to be had in these cases, and I think this one slipped right past. This project sits right above the border of Ward 2, in Ward 1, yet many Ward 2 residents rely on it for parking. The public relies on it for parking. And it's as good as gone.

-- What can be done to make parking less of a hassle in the Dupont area?

In addition to the above response, greater communication among neighboring jurisdictions is key. "Policy Diffusion" is a term in political science stating that policy implemented in one jurisdiction will influence or affect neighboring jurisdictions . The statistics are mostly applied on the state level, but I think it applies in practice with the ANCs and how they implement policy. If we want to establish committees in ANC 2B to tackle the issue of parking, and have it as a predominate discussion at meetings, then the demolition of the largest parking garage in the area must be in that discussion- the discussion with neighboring jurisdictions is part of that. The best solution to issues with parking is to look at other ANCs and see what's working and what isn't. I know jurisdictional boundaries aren't necessarily shutting off communication but, a greater part of ANC work and public discussion should center on looking citywide rather than insular, and seeing what has been an effective policy model in other jurisdictions.

-- There are two liquor license moratoriums now in place in ANC2B. What is your opinion of the effectiveness of these moratoriums?

Eigthteenth St/Adams Morgan recently lifted their moratorium. Did those initial regulations that introduced the moratorium have the desired effects? I don't think so. Restricting bars actually increased the amount of people on the streets. In Dupont, we don't have the same issues with violent crime, so it's an entirely different scenario. CT/DT and CN/DN licenses may have reached a reasonable cap in Dupont and I would support continuing that policy- we have a community that isn't a real nightclub or tavern culture. It's a residential area and we should preserve that character in 2B. However, there are issues with restricting restaurants, lunch spots that wish to serve wine and beer, and retail. Anytime you set regulations, it's hard to speed up that process for those who are clear "wins" for the community and induce little controversy. That's why I'm admittedly very torn to the issue of a moratorium- must in moving forth I think it's important to recognize the citizens that want greater nightlife options, the owners who want to stay competitive in the marketplace, and, the citizens who have to worry about noise, property damage, and overall reduced quality of life from literally having it in their backyard. Just ask my friend Larry, who I met while collecting signatures. His backyard backs up to a bar and has become the bathroom trawl for rowdy patrons.

-- Most (perhaps all) of ANC2B is part of one historic district or another. Is the DC government now striking the right balance between the desire for historic preservation and protection of the property rights of homeowners?

Micromanagement is a headache. According to historic preservation guidelines in DC, there are regulations for utility meters and how they can be displayed on historic buildings and in historic districts. Is that where we need to invest our efforts? My senses tell me there might be more important issues in preserving a neighborhood aesthetic than that. However, regulations should be used in order to ensure that homeowners help to maintain that standard in good faith. Some of the guidelines don't make sense to me- they are too involved in the details, rather than in the spirit. Often times when regulations are formed down to the detail, rather than the spirit of the law, it becomes a matter of personal preference and works against those who are regulated. So, in that regard, I think personal property rights will always be in jeopardy.

-- The DC government is considering new regulations to limit conversions of single-family homes into multi-unit dwellings. In your opinion, are these new regulations a good idea?

It depends. Pop-ups are unsightly and often go against the character of neighborhoods. I am especially opposed to pop-ups because of the nature of the investment. Often times the owner isn't even from the neighborhood, thus, doesn't have an appreciation for the character and history of the surroundings. To the savvy investor, the dollar is the almighty achievement- not maximizing the aesthetic appeal of the property. I would totally support reducing the ability of investors in 2B to move forward with condo and apartment conversions with pop-ups as the modus.

However, on the other side of that argument is the reality that "affordable" housing is growing increasingly sparse. Washington Post had an article about it Tuesday, August 19. With all of these 200+ unit buildings being delivered, 3-6 unit spots offer a weathered, and often times, cheaper alternative. So, there's that mindset to consider. Overall though, I would say that I am strongly opposed to pop-ups being the solution. They detract from the character of the neighborhood.

-- How are you different from the other candidate in the race?

I think the most important aspect of community service is maintaining an open mind and being approachable. Often times, folks become involved in local activism thinking that they are out to represent one group or ideal. Outsiders are even sometimes viewed as threats or nuisances. That's the wrong way to go. I bring an independent streak and an energy that doesn't quit until the work is done. I love people, and I truly feel fulfilled when I help others achieve their goals.

I am someone who has worked all his life to build what I am. I have experienced great fortune, and great defeat. Through it, I have grown to understand that if I am to be a servant of the community, then nothing is too trivial to deserve my attention or my care. I will work to find a solution or at least, listen to a concern with my full attention and ambition in order to deliver a solution. I want to be a resource to the public. In fact, email me anytime if you have any questions, and I will respond.

End of interview.

The election will take place on Tuesday, November 4. Thanks to all candidates for responding to my questions.

1534 5th Street: Owner Has a Driveway but Can't Get a Curb Cut

At its regular monthly meeting September 2, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw voted unanimously to oppose a curb cut in the middle of the 1500 block of 5th Street NW in Shaw, between P and Q Streets. A curb cut would reduce on-street parking on the block by at least two spaces.

1534 5th Street in July

"Parking is such a huge problem on this block and there's no other property that has a curb cut," said Commissioner Kevin Chapple (district 02). Chapple made the motion to oppose the curb cut.

The proposed curb cut would be in front of 1534 5th Street, which is in Chapple's district.

Abraham Soquar came before the ANC to plead his case. He is a newcomer to the neighborhood, and is building a three-and-a-half story semi-detached row house on the formerly empty lot. He talked about when he first saw the lot.

"When I passed by," Soquar said, "people would throw rubbish there, have homeless people living there, and so on."

He said the house, which is currently under construction, is his "first project" and he is hoping to live there. It has space for a driveway on the north side of the property, but there is no rear alley or other way for a vehicle to park there.

Soquar said the completed house would be "more of a sightly place and a better benefit to the street."

Soquar had a letter of support from one of his immediate neighbors, but many of the people in the area were opposed to the curb cut.

"I have received many, many other notices from my constituents that they are opposed to the curb cut," Chappell said.

Other than the next-door neighbor, Chappell said: "Everybody else who has contacted me -- and I've contacted -- are opposed to it because it would put added stress on everyone else..."

Shaw activist and neighbor Martin Moulton spoke briefly against the curb cut. Moulton said he had lived in the neighborhood for 14 years and had never seen homeless people camping out on the property when it was vacant. However, he conceded: "It was sort of a blight."

Moulton said there had been "at least three or four ground-up constructions" in the same block and "no one has received a curb cut."

"It's totally out of character with the types of blocks we live on," Moulton said.

Soquar had hoped to get ANC endorsement before a District Department of Transportation (DDOT) hearing scheduled for later this month. Curb cuts are the responsibility of the DDOT.

The proposed curb cut at 1534 5th Street was the subject of the SALM blog post of July 16.

ANC6E videos its monthly meetings in their entirety and posts them in half-hour segment on YouTube. See ANC6E's YouTube channel here. The discussion of the curb cut for 1534 5th Street can be on seen here, starting at time 24:10.

Although Quorum Achieved, Absences Still Plague ANC1B

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B/U Street achieved a quorum at its regular monthly meeting on September 4. However, its work is still made much more complicated by habitually absent Commissioners.

ANC1B's September 4 meeting started at 7:00. By 7:20, it had achieved a
quorum, with the following Commissioners in attendance: Ricardo Reinoso (district 05), Dyana Forester (06), Juan Lopez (07), Mark Ranslem (08), ANC1B Chair James Turner (09), Allyson Carpenter (10), E. Gail Anderson Holness (11), and Zahra Zilani (12).

At the beginning of the meeting, Turner made an announcement about some of the Commissioners who were not attending. Commissioner Marc Morgan (01), Turner said, was absent due to the illness of his father. Jeremy Leffler (02) moved out of his district but has not officially resigned. Deborah Thomas (04) had sent Turner a note saying she would be unable to join the meeting.

Thomas has the worst attendance record of all ANC1B Commissioners who have served since the last election. She has attended only 7 of 22 meeting, or 32%. Thomas did not submit petitions for her name to appear on the November ballot for re-election as ANC Commissioner.

During his announcement, Turner did not mention Commissioner Sedrick Muhammed (03). Muhammed did not attend the meeting.

Muhammed has the second-worst attendance record, and the worst of all Commissioners clearly running for re-election. Including this latest absence, Muhammed has attend 12 of 22 meetings -- or 55%. For data on Thomas's and Muhummed's attendance, see the blog post by Nick Baumann, Chair of ANC1B liquor-licensing affairs committee, on ANC1B Commissioner attendance. Baumann's information was the subject of the SALM blog post of August 25.

However, the absense that generated the most discussion at the meeting was Leffler's. Leffler moved out of the district several months ago, but has never sent a resignation letter to the DC government. There is apparently no other mechanism for removing a Commissioner. So Leffler still counts as a Commissioner for the purposes of a quorum, meaning that the Commissioner officially has twelve member, seven of whom must be in attendance for votes carrying an ANC's "great weight" to apply. If Leffler had resigned when he had moved, ANC1B would only need 6 Commissioners (of 11) to reach a quorum. If this had been the case, at least one of the two aborted July meetings of ANC1B could have gone forward.

Leffler's district (02) extends in a jagged square, roughly from S Street NW on the south to Florida Avenue in the north, and from 12th Street to 8th Street. It was remarked at the meeting that this district was contributing the most to the ANC's workload, as the center of new development moved east along U Street from 14th Street towards Shaw. This is generating new liquor license-related requests, new historic preservation cases, and new requests for zoning relief -- all ANC concerns.

For example, at the September 4 meeting, there were several items from Leffler's district. They included liquor-license related requests, including that of two liquor stores -- see yesterday's SALM blog post. In addition, a zoning case for 919 T Street (see SALM blog post of July 28) came up for full ANC approval.

In Leffler's absense, unelected committee members picked up the bulk of the work. For example, in the liquor-license cases, Baumann and his liquor-licensing affairs committee negotiated with the current and potential licensees, but they were hampered by their inability to speak with the authority of an elected Commissioner. When Baumann asked the Commissioners for a volunteer to help on the fine details of the negotiations, the room was filled with an embarrassing stony silence as Commissioners initially refused to take on further work outside their district.

Eventually, Commissioners Forrester and Lopez agreed to take on part of the liquor-licensing affairs work abandoned by Leffler in his district.

Once this detail had been worked out, Commissioner Holness made a motion calling for Leffler to resign. It passed unanimously.

Later in the same meeting, Commissioner Holness moved to withhold ANC consideration of all activity in Leffler's district, but the motion died for lack of a second.

The next scheduled meeting of the full ANC1B is October 2.

Cheater's Guide to Dream City -- Part 16 (City on Trial)

This is the sixteenth installment of a series (see the first installment here) summarizing the 1994 book Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C.by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood. This book has recently been republished as an ebook and a paper book. HBO has plans to use material from the book to make a movie about the life of Marion Barry.

Chapter 15 (one of three): City on Trial

This chapter recounts the aftermath of the arrest of Marion Barry on drug-related charges in 1990.

The arrest divided the city. The authors tell of white editor of the Washington City Paper, Jack Shafer, joyously celebrating Barry's arrest in an Adams Morgan bar while a black bartender "talked quietly to the pool players, suddenly sullen, shaking their heads in disbelief. At some level, it was their loss" (Kindle location 4724).

Barry's lawyer, R. Kenneth Mundy, contacted US Associate Attorney General Jay Stephens.

" 'What would the mayor have to do for you to drop the charges?' Mundy asked."

"Stephens, according to Mundy, said that Barry would have to resign and make a complete public confession of his drug abuse over the years. In the heat of the moment, the white Republican appointee had shown the Barry bust to be little more than what some people suspected: a naked political takedown. Stephen's revealing demand set the tone for Barry's imminent counterattack. Though the content of that first conversation was not disclosed publicly, Barry would portray the entire investigation as politically motivated, with some justification" (l. 4745).

On January 19, 1990, the day after his arrest, Barry was arraigned at the US District Court Building on Constitution Avenue. Barry appeared with his then-wife Effi, waded through a crowd in front of courthouse, and listened to the charges against him. "That afternoon Marion Barry turned the government over to city administrator Carol Thompson and the top bureaucrats who had already been running the government for more than a year" (l. 4790).

Barry checked into the Hanley-Hazelden Center, a drug- and alcohol-rehabilitation clinic in West Palm Beach Florida. He would later move to a clinic in South Carolina.

"The Washington Post polled residents and found that nearly half of the blacks in the sample believed that federal investigators had targeted Barry because he was black, but even more said that the mayor should resign. More than 70 percent of the white polled said that Barry should step down, and the combined number favoring resignation was 57 percent" (l. 4808).

Barry returned to DC on March 13. His first appearance was a televised address from the Reeves Center. The next day, he made an unannounced stop at Washington Post building, where surprised post chair Katherine Graham trailed him through the newsroom as he shook hands with reporters. He appeared before crowds of supporters at churches.

"From the moment he set foot in the capital, every move Barry made was geared toward his trial, then just three months away. The government had the goods on him. He'd already seen himself smoking crack on the videotape of room 727, and he knew that some of this cocaine-snorting cronies were cooperating with the prosecutors/ On the facts, Barry looked very guilty, so the master politician decided to portray the FBI as the bad guys in a racist plot" (l. 4841).

Barry said: "I think the prosecutors know that in this town all it takes is one juror saying 'I'm not going to convict Marion Barry. I don't care what you say'." (l. 4850).

Jury selection began on June 4 in a circus-like atmosphere outside the courthouse, with pro- and anti-Barry zealots competing for media attention.

"The government had filed a new 14-count indictment: Eleven counts were misdemeanors alleging cocaine possession from the fall of 1984 to 1990, including four counts of possession at the Ramada Inn and one at the Vista. There were three felony counts alleging perjury before the grand jury in January 1989, immediately after the Ramada incident" (l. 4878).

"Barry was willing to plead guilty to as many as three misdemeanor counts, but he refused to admit to a felony because he'd be forced from office and face jail time. Jay Stephens demanded that Barry accept at least one felony" (l. 4879).

On June 13, Barry bowed out of the mayoral race.

"It certainly was best for Barry's case before the jurors, just then being picked and still subject to the news. In the eyes of prospective jurors, there was one less reason to penalize the mayor because he now effectively was driven from office" (l. 4887).

"Both the government and the defense team spent hours poring over the profiles of the prospective jurors. Ken Mundy relied on the analysis, the dossiers, and the instincts of Barry's chief political aide, Anita Bonds, who sat at her own table behind the defense table" (l. 4895).

"By June 18 the two sides had settled on the twelve jurors and 6 alternates. Of the twelve who would sit in judgment on Barry, ten were black and two were white, reflecting roughly the city's racial makeup. Seven of the blacks were women; both of the men were white. Anita Bonds had done her work well. Barry needed just one juror; Bones had succeeded in getting at least five dark-skinned, lower-to-middle-class blacks on the jury who fit the profile of a Barry supporter..." (l. 4903).

"The plea-bargaining negotiations continue to the eve of trial, but neither side would budge. Barry wouldn't accept a felony plea. Stephens would accept nothing less. The jury was sequestered. The trial had to go forward" (l. 4910).

Cheater's Guide to Dream City continues next week

Further installments will appear on successive Fridays. All posts will be cross-posted on the ad-hoc "Cheater's Guide to Dream City" blog.

Full disclosure: I have a commercial relationship with Amazon. I will receive a very small portion of the money people spend after clicking on an Amazon link on this site.

This is a great book and well worth reading in its entirety.

"SketchFactor" Visits Logan Circle ANC

Daniel Herrington, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of SketchFactor, presented to Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle at its regular monthly meeting last night (September 10). Herrington said his presentation was done at the request on an ANC2F Commissioner.

Herrington tells the ANC about SketchFactor

SketchFactor is described on the support section of its website as "a navigation app that relies on crowdsourced experiences and public data. We're exclusively focused on improving city exploration on foot. SketchFactor empowers users to report sketchy experiences, read sketchy incidents, and get directions to where they need to go." At the meeting, Herrington described it as "user-driven and hyper-localized".

"You can define what you want and tell your story," Herrington said.

Herrington explained how the app worked and handed out paper screenshots of the app to the audience. He talked about the type of locations which might be appropriate to report on SketchFactor -- drawing examples from a report on prostitution on 11th Street NW made at the meeting moments before by a member of the Metropolitan Police Department.

Another example of a reportable location, according to Herrington, was an intersection where bicyclists feel threatened by drivers.

"What about intersections where bicyclists always run red lights?" an audience member asked.

Herrington agreed this could be reported on the app.

Users could upload and download stories, Herrington explained. They could also vote for or against stories, which would increase or decrease their prominence. Stories which users had tagged as offensive would be removed, he said.

Herrington said he had told his investors he hoped for 10,000 downloads from the Apple App Store after three months. He reached the goal in one day. After four days, he had 60,000 downloads.

SketchFactor was released on August 7 and has generated some strong opinions. "[N]ear universal howls of protest" was how the website The Awl put it. The Washington Post reported accusations of racism. Read a blog post rejecting the accusations that SketchFactor is racist here.

SketchFactor then got the type of publicity money can't buy when a TV crew from WUSA9 went to Petworth to report on the neighborhood's reaction to the app. While the crew was working, WUSA9's van was broken into and many thousands of dollars of equipment was stolen. See the WUSA9 report on the incident here.

The Apple version of Sketchfactor is available at the Apple App Store. Herrington said the Android version was being released for beta testing on September 30. The Android beta test version might be buggy, Herrington said, but urged members of the audience who were interested in beta testing the Android version to send him an email. Herrington's email address is daniel@sketchfactor.com.

Harrington said he had made this presentation by invitation, and he had no immediate plans for further presentations to ANCs. However, he seemed to be open to further invitations.

SketchFactor co-founder Allison McGuire was also present, but did not speak to the ANC.