Your View: Correcting the record on local businesses

0
1688
Your View: Correcting the record on local businesses
Facebooktwittermail

By Rodrigo Restrepo, Owner, Old Town Shoe and Luggage Repair, Inc (File photo)

To the editor:
I am writing in response to Mary Means’ letter to the editor in the May 19 edition of the Times (“BIDs are good for local businesses”).

Not only did the letter offend me when I read it, but it offended my fellow Old Town residents and clients, who brought it to my attention.

Although Ms. Means did not help to establish my businesses, they have proven their worth from the get go. And while she may think “it is a low-grade office services, shipping and luggage shop on the corner of King and Alfred streets,” they are not only very successful, but supported by locals, people all over the state of Virginia as well as across the river in D.C.

And the owner, who pays the “freight” — the tax assessed for this property on the corner of King and South Alfred — is me.

We are not here just to “fill a space.” We have been offering our services for 20 years. And we have been blessed not only to have the support of Old Town residents, with the apparent exception of Ms. Means, but the support of people in and outside the D.C. area as well from our armed forces and local government.

So do your homework before you bash your neighbor and his businesses.

instagram
Facebooktwittermail