by Justin Hinton – WASHINGTON (ABC7) — City leaders in the District are encouraging business and property owners to remove the plywood boards they put up ahead of the election fearing unrest over the election results.
“It’s a sad sight to see the whole city boarded up. That’s not how we prepare for elections in this country,” said Aaron Regan, lead manager at Lincoln.
He says his restaurant didn’t put up boards.
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He also attributes not having plywood boards to a boost in business.
“I’m sure it would have discouraged indoor dining. No one wants to look out a boarded up window, so I’m sure not boarding up helped us bring more people in,” he said.
HSEMA Director Chris Rodriguez says before the election there was a lack of credible threats.
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Despite that, many businesses and building owners put the boards up anyway.
“We will with the Metropolitan Police Department continue to monitor our security environment in this post-election phase, but at this time, we have no specific or credible threats,” said Rodriguez.
For those looking to get rid of the boards, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio tweeted the Department of Public Works is teaming with area BIDS to provide roll-off dumpsters for business looking to get rid of the plywood, or they can drop them off at the Benning Road transfer station located at 3200 Benning Road in Northeast.
That option will be available from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
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