NATO summit storms DC; businesses caught in the middle

WASHINGTON — The NATO summit has made crossing through the District difficult.

On Tuesday, tourists downtown got the full brunt of the opening festivities. We found tourists confused by the security fences and checkpoints.

Wednesday, the theater for the summit changed to Mount Vernon Square, where businesses and residents got a taste of gridlock.

Just how disruptive has the summit been to traffic and business? We wanted to find out.

Our team drove from WUSA9 in Tenleytown down to the restaurant Pearl’s Bagels next to the Convention Center. 

We left around 11 a.m. and found the traffic down Wisconsin and Massachusetts avenues to be pretty smooth. But, once you get to the NATO security perimeter at 11th Street, the backups begin. It took us about 20 minutes to get down to the perimeter and park.

At that point, Pearl’s Bagels was just a few blocks away – but on the other side of the Convention Center.

When we tried to cross from 11th Street to 7th Street, we ran into security checkpoint after security checkpoint. The wall of fencing that ran the perimeter eventually forced us to walk around the Convention Center.

After 36 minutes, we finally ended up at Pearl’s Bagels. Which made us wonder, how is the bagel business doing?

“Horrible,” manager Adam Benjamin said. “A good day for us is somewhere around 500 customers and about $10,000 in sales.”

“Today, we are sitting at 142 customers and around $2,500.”

Benjamin said by the time we arrived, he had already sent two workers home. Next, it’s the boss’s turn.

“After this (interview) I’m gonna go home,” he said. “To keep labor costs down.”

While Benjamin and the workers start to clean up and get ready to close up, he looks on the bright side.

“Maybe because I was prepared for this to be terrible, so the terribleness hasn’t set in,” he said.

Just another business waiting out the NATO storm.