Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-08-20
MERCHANTS DILEMMA
RIA Move Creates Anxiety
BY WILLIAM GRIGG
Star Staff Writer


rat-infeSted home in the blocks to their rear,
small businessmen on the east side of North
Capitol street watch and wait for the tide of
redevelopment to sweep over them.
Some are not prepared to swim. Others
are too old, too tired, too discouraged.
Augustine Santucci. &c. who is Gus" to
the neighborhood, clips hair in leased shop
at BIS North Capitol street and says he
gueSSes he'll have to retire.
THE sooner you retire" he laments. 1.-THE
sooner you die
What else can barber with Is years of
good will in one neighborhood do when the
shop he leases is bought?
But Gus is no foe of progress. "The
homes back there have been around since
George Washington" he says. The Rede-
velcpment Land Agency project area COM
priSes 80 acres near Union Station bounded
by North Capitol street, G and N streets NE.
and the railroad yards.
Kids Have Rat Bites on Ears
The area is one of rats and reaches"
says Gus.
THE kids you see have rat bites on
their ears" says Aristotle Bacas, 80. His
P. o. Visible Lunch at 1877 North Capitol
street is a large, clean restaurant for Print
ing Office employees from across the street
and for nearby Post Office employees.
Mr. Bacas says businessmen in the TOO
and 300 blocks of North Capitol street would
have redeveloped their own buildings to
match the light industry to be brought into
the area, if they had been given chance.
Mr. Bacas and his partner lease the
restaurant area from Mr.. Bacas' father,
Angeles H. Bacas. The restaurant did $780,
900 in business in recent year.
Mr. Bacas and his partner figure to
clear only $4,000 each from the sale of
custom-made restaurant facilities and the
moving costs paid by RIA.
RIA says can come back But when?"
says Aristotle.
Let me tell you about restaurants. Be-
fore the war the cost to set up a restaurant
was figured at 5000 seat. Today that figure
is up to $4,000 seat.
You tell me how much that runs for a
hundred seats: 100000.
rs it going to pay me to come back
and spend that kind of money? And where
does man get that money? Luckily fer
me, my father owns much of this block and
will loan it.
He's TO-
AS Aristotle talked, he interrupted him
self to speak to his customers by name
His father Angeles, Y, stopped to cuss
the RIA. The agency has paid him $82 900
for his stout hotel-restaurant building
Il won't touch it."
Won't Pick Up the Check
1t lies, untouched for the elder Mr.. Bacas
won't pick up the check. He says he paid
more than that for the building IS years
ago and has added improvements. Attorneys
want costs plus 30 per cent of whatever
extra is gotten in a suit, but Mr.. Bacas
swears he is going to sue.
He also will sue over 731-733, a prop
erty he had agreed to sell to RIA for
$4,000. He says RIA approved the price
but then sent notice the price would be
only $86.00O
1--WE been working for myself since 1924
and I'm &c." says Winford Adamson whose
hardware store stands at 807 North Capitol
street.
Il don't know where can get a job"
Since 1927 he has put $4,000 in improve
ments in BOT, a property he bought for
$4,000
He has been paid $27,4OO by RIA and
Is now leasing his former property from them,
month by month. He's planning his Christ
mas stock now and must pay for it, but he
doesn't know if he'll be allowed to stay until
Christmas
His stock won't sell we'll to other stores
because its peculiar to this area We carry
S-NS O@Se ANSAo "a.
People have different doors in the suburbs"
Morris Hite, 81, and his younger brother,
Daniel, also have stock problems for their
clothing store half a general mems store
and half a store for clergy.
Neighbors Call Them Lucky
They'll get $4,000 from RIA for moving
expenses, Morris says. But it may cost
$4,000 to $4,000 to set up their new BUSH
TI ho ,oE11
step Will eliminate 40 per cent of the stores
present business
But Morris talks with the enthusiasm Of
a 2O-year-old about his and Dams plans to
expand the clergy clothing business across
the Mississippi via an expanded road sales
force.
The HiteS seem lucky.
Some neighbors have told Mr. and Mrs.
William Millman that they too are lucky,
but they can't see it.
They own and operate Astoria Laundry
and Dry Cleaning at 800 North Capitol They
don't own the building, however, and thus
will get only $4,000 moving costs from RIA,
Mrs. Millman says.
The Mimans still owe for the business.
An insurance company cut off their insur-
ance as soon as redevelopment was an
nounced-and District law bars them from
employing workers without insurance.
The RLA'S $4,000 moving costs won't cover
the Millman's debts.
Mr.. and Mrs. Millman may both take
permanent Government jobs and forget their
dream of a business of their own.
Free and clear" says Mrs. MilIman.
That's all I ask to be-"
Some Prices Will Be Fought
AS of now, the RIA has purchased al
most all the buildings it plans to buy. Some
of the prices will be fought in court Several
service stations in the area have been ex-
empted.
Demolition is proceeding block by block
in the residential areas where 900 families
once lived.
Filth and vermin in the demolished
building materials have led wreckers to burn
the materials on the spot
Nine hundred families lived in these
homes that now require burning Half of
these family units already have been relo-
Gated, the RIA says
The RIA's scheduled comnletion date for