Government pancakes for 'underserved' yuppies

If you pay income taxes, I’d like to thank you. You’d already done so much by buying General Motors, and now you’ve built an International House of Pancakes right near my home in Washington. You didn’t do it alone, but you did provide a $766,000 grant through the Department of Health and Human Services.

The new franchise, an IHOP press release announced this month, “contributes to the revitalization of an underserved community,” but don’t start getting visions of some blighted inner city core. The “underserved community” is Columbia Heights, which is anything but “underserved.” It’s been a local shopping mecca for nearly three years now and one of Washington’s more desirable neighborhoods.