Across the Anacostia River, in the mostly black neighborhoods of Wards 7 and 8, food delivery has historically been scarce. Enter an address from those neighborhoods and services such as Postmates, GrubHub and Caviar would say they don't operate across the river.
Latoya Watson, a resident of Ward 7 and General Assembly alumna, was fed up with it. Article after article was being written about the problem, yet nothing seemingly changed.
So she launched a petition that has gathered more than 650 signatures since April 4, and she's seen results. When DC Inno reached out to Postmates on Thursday about the petition, a spokesperson said the company has since begun extending its services east of the Anacostia River.
"We turned the zone on Friday, and we'll be expanding further into those Wards over the next couple of months," a spokesperson said in an email. "As a company, we've been proud to call the District home since we launched... The health of our product and platform offering is rooted in our zones, which are informed by the supply of our couriers, demand of our customers, merchant partnerships. We'll be expanding these zones over the months of April and May."
Other services have done the same in recent weeks. A DoorDash spokesperson said the company began its expansion into Ward 7 on March 28, and expansion into a new neighborhood usually depends on available drivers and users.
"As we consider expanding to additional markets, key considerations include operational logistics — such as traffic and the availability of Dashers — and restaurant availability," a DoorDash spokesperson said in an email to DC Inno Thursday. "When DoorDash launches in a new market, it is common to have a gradual rollout across neighborhoods and surrounding suburbs. Based on a variety of factors, including restaurant density, we are able to expand our coverage areas."
Watson moved to River Terrace about a year ago, and within a week, it was clear that her neighborhood, and all of the neighborhoods in Ward 7 and 8, lacked access to grocery stores, healthy food options and delivery options.
And that's been the case for similar services. Neither Pizza Hut nor Domino's delivery to much of the neighborhoods in Ward 7 ad 8, as The Washington Post reports. Amazon Restaurants also deals with the same problem.
"I felt like there must be other people out there who believe that these new tech companies should serve all D.C. residents equally, and I knew it would take a community effort to get the companies' attention," Watson told DC Inno about starting the petition. "Good businesses listen to their customers, and so I wanted to bring together current and future customers to ask them to do the right thing by serving our neighborhoods East of the River."
And Watson has seen support from both Ward 7 and 8 residents, along with residents west of the river.
"What’s really amazing is the hundreds of messages people are leaving — they really show just how unequal the experience is East of The River and elsewhere in the District," Watson said. "We have folks standing in solitary from West of the River and refusing to use the services until they start serving from all of D.C."
Uber Eats, meanwhile, has become a reliable source in the East of the River neighborhoods, due in part to its existing driver network from its ride-hailing service. At an event at Uber's new Greenlight Hub in Ward 7 with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on April 11, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the neighborhood has been a boon for Uber Eats' business.
"We want to be available to everyone everywhere," he said. "We launched Eats in this area [Ward 7], and it has been an absolute surprise and a dynamite area."
Caviar did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication. An Uber spokesperson did not reply to requests for more details about Uber's efforts and growth before run time.
"This is really just one part of the bigger problem: so many vital services exclude Wards 7 and 8, which are 94 percent black," Watson said. "I get super excited... to use the new technologies coming to D.C. but then I pause and remember that, historically, technology leaves out communities of color. Technology promises a better future. But you have to ask: Who’s that better future going to? A better future for who?"
"We just can’t afford to allow technology to leave out our communities."
