“Dear PoPville,
I wanted to bring some attention to an issue we are having in our neighborhood. A little over a year ago, our neighborhood dry cleaner moved (largely due to COVID). The small property at 1301 Florida Ave NW, which is on the ground floor of a residential four story apartment complex, was vacant for a bit. A smoke shop tried to move in but was denied by the zoning board because the store is just across the street from Cardozo high school (see photo above).
The owners then reapplied as a convenience store and agreed not to sell any smoking/tobacco products. Of course, they proceeded to sell flavored vaping supplies (against DC law), CBD products, kratom, hookahs, etc. We spent 6 months working with the city to have it investigated, but aside from a small fine they decided not to pursue it further because most of those products aren’t technically associated with tobacco.
We all live in the city and don’t object to these sorts of shops, but of course we think it’s irresponsible to be located immediately across a high school.
Our ANC rep has been helpful to the extent possible but we have a very long process to go to get the issue resolved. Does anyone in the area know how to get the city to take this a bit more seriously?”