LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump says restaurants in Washington, D.C., are, quote, "busier than ever" now that he has increased law enforcement and deployed the National Guard to patrol the city's streets. Here he is in the Oval Office two weeks ago.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Friends are calling me up. Democrats are calling me up. And they're saying, sir, I want to thank you. My wife and I went out to dinner last night for the first time in four years.
FADEL: In four years? We sent NPR's Milton Guevara out to see how D.C. locals feel about going out on the town.
MILTON GUEVARA, BYLINE: At Hill Prince, a neighborhood restaurant and bar, Chef Rock Harper makes a lavender fields.
ROCK HARPER: It's a tequila cocktail with grapefruit, simple syrup, a lavender syrup.
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GUEVARA: Hill Prince is located along the district's H Street Corridor, which is known for its nightlife. Harper says fewer people are coming by lately.
HARPER: People think that, you know, there are checkpoints and DEA and FBI and National Guard on corners, slamming people.
GUEVARA: He worries the extra law enforcement and National Guard deployed around D.C. are making people hesitant to go out.
HARPER: I've seen patrols, right? You'll see groups of four, six or eight cops - MPD, DEA, FBI, National Guard - just walking, fully armed, bulletproof vest or whatever. So it's very shocking to an American.
GUEVARA: In August, Trump declared a crime emergency, saying crime in D.C. was out of control. However, D.C. crime statistics from 2024 show that violent crime is at a 30-year low. Currently, 2000 National Guard troops are patrolling the streets of the capital, and additional DEA, FBI and ICE agents have also been deployed.
SHAWN TOWNSEND: My folks are just trying to get through the next couple weeks.
GUEVARA: That's Shawn Townsend. He's president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, a trade group that represents about 1,500 restaurants.
TOWNSEND: We're already struggling with the increase in labor costs to their businesses and rent control. Food supply chain is not what it used to be. It just costs more to operate a business.
GUEVARA: August is typically a slow month for restaurants. But according to the restaurant booking company OpenTable, compared to the same time last year, reservations dipped 31% the week. President Trump announced he was deploying extra security. Sofina Odero, an educator, has been avoiding going out so she doesn't encounter National Guard. She says they make her feel tense.
SOFINA ODERO: I'm finding myself more open to meeting friends at their own homes and their own spaces and having cooking at home mostly.
GUEVARA: However, some locals feel safer, like political consultant Rick VanMeter.
RICK VANMETER: I rode the Metro today for the first time in three months. And I was just very pleasantly surprised at how safe it felt, how clean it felt.
GUEVARA: He was going out to dinner in D.C.'s upscale Georgetown neighborhood with his wife, Whitney VanMeter, who is also a political consultant. She says she feels more confident going out.
WHITNEY VANMETER: For the first time, I feel comfortable parking my car in Georgetown as it gets darker because I'm not so worried about my car getting broken into.
GUEVARA: She agrees with Trump's idea to send National Guard troops to Baltimore, Chicago and New York.
HARPER: Want to open a tab, my friend?
GUEVARA: Back at Hill Prince on the other side of town, Chef Harper sees it differently. This is a scary time, he says, not just for D.C. but for the country. So on this night, he's especially glad to see people drifting into his bar. The evening, he says, is looking up.
UNIDENTIFIED CUSTOMER: Can I get two shots of tequila and a watermelon tojito?
HARPER: I love it. What kind of tequila?
GUEVARA: Milton Guevara, NPR News, Washington.
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