A top law professor is furious that people are eating bagels outside her $1.5 million Washington, D.C., home after a popular deli opened on her street.
Melinda Roth, a law professor at George Washington University, is one of 16 people who made an impassioned plea against the store, Call Your Mother, at a recent meeting, even suggesting that a less successful business be opened in its place.
The business, run by Daniela Moreia and ‘Chef Doughboi,’ Andrew Dana, is a ‘Jewish’ deli located in Georgetown, one of seven locations in the D.C. area, including a pop-up tent at a farmers market local.
The bright pink deli is located just a couple of doors down from Roth’s house, as she and other angry residents are fed up with the presence of customers in their neighborhood.
During a Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing Wednesday, the professor shared a PowerPoint presentation and proposed to the board that the issue was “not a popularity contest” and that a “quiet, sleepy business that’s not very successful” It should replace the bagel. trade.
Call Your Mother Deli in Georgetown, Washington DC, is under fire from angry residents who are trying to kick the successful bagel shop out of their neighborhood over zoning issues and “disrespectful” customers.
Melinda Roth, a law professor at George Washington University, is one of 16 people who made an impassioned plea against the shop at a recent Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing.
“We all want them to continue to be successful, but as you’ll hear, we want them to be successful in the right place,” Roth said.
“And not on a block in the middle of a residential neighborhood that is not prepared to face the consequences of its great success.”
The shop, which is located on the corner of O Street, opened its doors in July 2020 and since its inception, tourists and locals have flocked to the restaurant for good bagels, coffee, ‘Schmearz’ and ‘Fixin’s’ .
The location began as a grocery store before transforming into an antique store and, just before the deli, a flower shop.
Topher Matthews, the area’s advisory neighborhood commissioner, said Washington Post that the building existed during the era before the Civil War.
Matthews explained that the antique store was approved for a zoning exception in the 1970s after it replaced the grocery store and converted it into a retail business.
The deli is not considered a retail store, and before opening its doors, management asked the zoning board for an exception, but locals fought against it.
Opposing residents raised their concerns and even took them to the D.C. Court of Appeals, where they were granted a partial victory in 2022. The court agreed that the zoning board needed to further authorize approval for the location to sell prepared food.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Roth took to his Facebook to share his concerns about the “bagel wars.”
Co-owner Dana had to appear before the zoning board again to fight to keep his store alive.
Dana has been very vocal about the challenges her business faces, as she posted a video last week asking customers for help keeping her Georgetown location up and running.
‘Do you guys love this Georgetown store as much as I do? It might be my favorite place,” she said.
“We are dealing with some zoning issues that could affect our ability to be here very long term.”
“If you want to see us and be able to bring joy to the neighborhood, we would love to have your support,” Dana said, encouraging people to stop by and learn more about how they can support the deli.
In her post, a person who said she “frequented” the store wrote that she found it “disrespectful” how customers sat on neighbors’ properties and “leave trash.”
‘You all need to patrol this better. Especially when the students have returned,” they added.
During Roth’s presentation, she showed images and videos of customers sitting on people’s stairs eating bagels, overflowing trash cans and an image she said showed a “huge rat.”
The Washington Post reported that an exterminator at the hearing testified and said the bagel shop has not caused any more rodents in the area.
“One man even uses a trash can as a table to eat his bagels,” Roth recalled during the hearing.
He continued to complain about noisy delivery trucks and customers taking up “few residential parking spaces.”
Roth told the board: ‘The owners of these houses have not been able to get people to move. People become very belligerent. They want to eat their bagels. They want to eat their sandwiches. That’s part of the experience.”
Another opposition resident who joined Roth in his fight was Michael Savage, a former local resident who decided to move after noticing a store opening on his street.
Savage took matters into his own hands and sold his O Street home after seeing the hysteria at the Park View location.
After the meeting, Roth took to his Facebook to give an update on the zoning battle.
“A tough day (all day, 10+ hours) in the bagel wars,” he said.
“When you don’t have the law on your side, you go down and try to discredit the opposition.”
‘I am appalled by the intimidation tactics, the misrepresentations and the fact that people do not understand that successful commercial businesses should be in commercial areas and not in the heart of a residential area. Zoning is not a popularity contest.’
While some were outraged by Call Your Mother, others accepted the success of the business in their neighborhood.
Chris Itteilag, the man who bought Savage’s house, said those against the deli bring a “gross misrepresentation” of the overall experience of the neighborhood.
Itteilag questioned that the customers are not the ones destroying the area, but rather the residents of the block. He also showed photos of cars with parking tickets, claiming they belonged to locals, not customers.
One person commented on the store’s call for help, complaining that they find it “disrespectful” how customers sit on neighbors’ properties and “leave trash.”
“I and other followers live and reside on the block with our families,” Itteilag said.
Another satisfied customer, Josh Randle, said he and his daughter really enjoy going to the store down the street.
“Call Your Mother saves the day, always,” Randle said.
“As far as I’m concerned, 8 to 2 are our neighbors.”
One couple, Judith Fedo and Joseph Dains, made sure to visit the bagel shop with their three-year-old son after hearing about the zoning brouhaha on social media.
Danis, 40, told the Washington Post that the store and area were “not noisy.”
The bright pink deli is located just a couple of doors down from Roth’s house, as she and other angry residents are fed up with the presence of customers in their neighborhood.
‘I want to know what idyllic community these complaining neighbors are imagining in their heads, because when you look around you can feel this kind of, you know, European vibe, this old world vibe. And when you go to the UK or Europe, you’re not stuck or super calm,” Danis added.
Another local, Joe Katalina, 90, who has lived on the block since 1987, said he doesn’t mind customers enjoying his bagels at his doorstep.
‘I don’t care at all. They will sit somewhere… I’m used to it.
“I’m tired of people complaining about this neighborhood,” Katalina added.
Roth told DailyMail.com that the bagel shop “has not been good neighbors.”
The shop opened its doors in July 2020 and since its inception, tourists and locals have flocked to the restaurant to enjoy good bagels, coffee, ‘Schmearz’ and ‘Fixin’s’.
“While they may be a big business, they knowingly break the law, lie about it, and have never attempted to resolve any of the countless problems that nearby neighbors have suffered until they get caught and have to come forward to argue.” now they will do better and in some ways they will be better neighbors,” he added.
“Having CYM on our block is like living in the middle of a restaurant parking lot.”
“The rest of us hope for the protection of zoning laws,” Roth said. ‘I have no objection to them being a real takeout bagel shop, or any other commercial business that doesn’t wreak havoc on the neighborhood. But selling sandwiches without seats is a recipe for disaster, and it has been a disaster.”
Dana told DailyMail.com that Roth “appealed to us before we even opened.”
Despite the battle, Dana said “an overwhelming majority of the neighborhood is supporting us.”
‘The truth will prevail. We are confident that the zoning board will be in our favor,’ he added.
