Dear VNMS Community,
Van Ness Main Street is devastated by the loss of life that took place yesterday at the Days Inn hotel – it shouldn’t have had to come to this. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. VNMS has been concerned about the status of activity, the safety of surrounding businesses, and the safety of residents and visitors to our corridor.
Days Inn has been an important part of our business community bringing thousands of tourists to our corridor. Everything changed during the pandemic as the business struggled like all hotels across the city and country. And things continued to deteriorate in 2021. VNMS has reached out to Days Inn management and they have been unwilling to engage with us on improving the environment. We've been working with the ANC, MPD, concerned citizens and other business owners to continue to put pressure on management.
Our neighborhood is a diverse, educational, cultural, and business hub with more than 60 businesses, UDC’s main campus, WAMU, Howard Law and Divinity Schools, Levine Music, The Whittle School, Edmund Burke School, Sheridan School, and 22 embassies bordered by Rock Creek Park. Our corridor is open for business, but cannot thrive when we have a business management situation as we do at Days Inn. We thank all of our stakeholders for working with us to carry out our mission especially through these challenging times.
And we thank Mayor Bowser, Chief Contee, Commander Bedlion, CM Mary Cheh and ANC 3F for yesterday's press conference addressing the horrific events and the community's safety concerns. We thank them for their fast response and their leadership. Many have asked for a recording of yesterday's press conference held outside of Days Inn,
please find it here, in its entirety. We will get through this but for now, we are just thinking of the victims and are in shock and devastated for the loss of life.
Stay strong,
Gloria M. Garcia
Executive Director
Van Ness Main Street