The Washington, D.C. Board of Zoning and Adjustment (BZA) voted 4-1 to approve an exception and area variance Nov. 13 to enable Call Your Mother (CYM) to keep its Georgetown neighborhood location open.
The D.C. bagel chain won a contentious five-year legal struggle to operate its business in Georgetown, which arose due to the deli’s location not being zoned as commercial property and, more recently, for causing disruption to the residential community.
The vote comes after two months of deliberation in September and October. BZA’s November decision mandates that CYM conduct weekly pest control, ensure daily trash removal and provide signs encouraging customers to dine elsewhere.
Andrew Dana, the co-owner of CYM, said it was a relief to see BZA ultimately vote in favor of keeping CYM open.
“We were relieved. We think it was obviously the right decision,” Dana told The Hoya. “We were disappointed that the Board of Appeal turned us over, so we had to go through this again.”
Melinda Roth, a resident of the Georgetown neighborhood and visiting associate professor of law at George Washington University, led the lawsuit against CYM in Roth v. Dist. of Columbia Zoning Adjustment. Roth complained that the bagel shop worsened littering problems, caused crowding due to a lack of seating options and attracted rats.
Roth was among 16 Georgetown residents to dispute CYM’s continued operation, bringing the CYM court case to the D.C. Court of Appeals in August 2022.
Dana said he has offered concerned residents the opportunity to discuss any issues directly with him.
“I have offered to sit down and chat with them and talk through any issues they may have and nobody has been willing to sit down and join me at the table,” Dana said. “And so I would say give us a shot and if there’s anything they want to chat about, we’re here to do that.”
CYM customers have also been frequently spotted eating their bagels at the outdoor seating for Coffee Republic, a coffee shop located 80 feet from CYM. Sean Flynn, the co-owner of Coffee Republic, said this has reduced the cafe’s revenue as CYM customers use their dining tables without purchasing Coffee Republic products.
“We just want to continually be able to impact the community in a positive way and serve the community,” Flynn said at a BZA meeting. “But in order to do that, I think we have to have a fair shot at survival.”
Joe Massaua (SFS ’25), a Georgetown University student and the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) district 2E04 commissioner, said he thinks CYM faces challenges with outdoor seating.
“If Call Your Mother does decide to go through with outdoor seating, I think that they’ll find a big fight because neighbors aren’t really willing to give them any more of an inch,” Massaua told The Hoya.
Dana said that CYM has continued to address complaints from the community, such as thorough trash pickup and crowd control.
“We’ve gone above and beyond and have done more with the trash and the crowds and the noise,” Dana said. “We’ll just continue to do what we’ve been doing and continue to be great operators.”
Massaua said he has noticed how CYM has taken steps to address neighborhood complaints.
“I appreciate the way Call Your Mother has been a good neighbor and has taken steps to address neighbor concerns about trash and overcrowding in terms of long lines,” Massaua said. “There’s only really room to grow.”
Dana said the recent decision by the BZA has helped protect the job security of CYM employees.
“I’m just happy that our staff gets to have more security and they don’t have to worry about, ‘Is the shop going to shut down?’ And a lot of our staff have been with us since day one and they’re great,” Dana said. “They deserve to have that security and not be threatened by a few neighbors, most of which don’t even live there.”
Massaua said it is critical that CYM prioritize the concerns of neighbors and students in the future.
“Now that it’s over, at least for 10 years, I’d like Call Your Mother to continue to take seriously neighbor and student comments because for the business to be a good community member, it has to listen to its customers and those that live around it,” Massaua said.
“I think it’s more just realizing that we all live in the community together, and students are part of that community,” Massaua added.