There is no other word for what the two blocks in front of the White House have become other than a city-sanctioned Black Lives Matter occupation.
The two blocks recently deemed “Black Lives Matter Plaza” by Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, are closed to traffic that used to run north and south on 16th Street. In that space now are about two dozen vendors selling BLM-branded clothing, hats, pictures, and other novelties.
That might only be a minor nuisance if it not for the fact that those two blocks are also home to office buildings, two historic hotels, and one formerly busy restaurant. The Hay Adams, one of the beloved hotels of D.C., is completely shuttered, along with its basement-level bar, Off the Record. There’s no indication as to when it will reopen.
The same goes for P.J. Clarke’s, where locals have enjoyed visiting for lunch, dinner, and happy hours for the last decade. “Due to these unforeseen circumstances,” a sign says on the door, “we will be closing our doors for an undetermined amount of time.”
The St. Regis hotel remains open but nearly empty. I walked inside Friday around 11 a.m., and there was no one in the lobby, no one checking in, nor anyone leaving.
Some of that has to do with the pandemic, but who’s going to want to check-in to an expensive hotel with its windows boarded, which is right up against what is essentially a flea market?
A couple of restaurants that aren’t within the blocked off section but just around the corner also remain boarded up and closed, even as Bowser has permitted them to reopen with outdoor seating and reduced-capacity indoor seating.
Bowser literally has no plan on taking back the section of the city that she just turned over to protesters and vendors profiting off of the current unrest.
“We don’t have a plan yet for 16th Street, but we will continue to work on that,” she said at a press conference Thursday. Was she embarrassed to feel those words leave her mouth? How could she not be? (Just in case anything changed since then, I’ve asked her press secretary for comment but never heard back.)
Meanwhile, taxpayers are funding the protection of the squatters and pop-up vendors. The police — the very people who are being trashed by the protesters right now — are the ones ensuring that the area remains clear of traffic.
This is no longer about a demonstration. It hasn’t been for weeks. It’s now an occupation.
