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The election taught them nothing.
These idiots really need to start paying closer attention to what’s happening outside the Board of Supervisors Board Room (with it’s $$$$$$ handcrafted Italian marble meeting table).
Local restaurants in NoVA are seriously hurting. We have a local Italian place in a shopping center near our house and every time I’m over there I’m amazed with how few people are there eating compared to 2-3 years ago.
The first-tier family restaurants in the area are still doing well. We had family in town this past weekend and decided to go out a few times. Tried to get a call-ahead at Sweetwater, Coast Flats and Jackson’s on the various nights and was told there were 2-hour weights. Dropped down to some of the alternatives and was told that there were plenty of spaces and no weight. Have never seen that before.
Also haven’t seen the number of places in the area that are now accepting reservations. Like Texas de Brazil at Fair Oaks. Before they had enough of a crowd waiting that they didn’t have to worry - their business model was to roll people through and holding tables (as opposed to call-aheads) didn’t fit the model.
On top of that, there have been a LOT less people at the various movie theaters recently. Fairfax is pretty wealthy and because of its reliance on the Federal Government supposedly “recession proof”. We still have pretty low (relative to rest of the country) unemployment, etc ... so this cutting back is more people being worried about the future and not spending money. As opposed to not having the money to spend.
This, if pushed through, is going to have cascading impact that’s really going to screw with small, family-run businesses (ie restaurants). They’ll be the first to go, because the chains have more staying power. Damn shame, but then I recall the worker at my local Italian place who was wearing an Obama button last Fall (which was reason why that was the last time I ate there), and I don’t feel all that bad.