Yet, the very existence of the glassy barrier—the kind of thing you expect to see at cheap Chinese and fried chicken carry-outs, not precious bastions of buttercream—suggests the area still has a ways to go before shedding its neighborhood-in-transition label.

"It broke my heart to do that, but it’s a deterrent," says proprietor Cindy Bullock, who runs the cupcake shop alongside her husband, Bob Bullock, and their daughters, Kristina, 20, and Alexis, 18.

“Several people asked (about the glass) and said, ‘It’s a beautiful shop, its unfortunate that you have it up,’ but we had to have it," Bullock says.

“I have owned several business in this area and we have been robbed several times," she explains. "We wanted to make [the shop] elegant and beautiful, but because of the teenagers and having my children here we wanted to protect them.”

Olivia's has picked up loyal customers who are hungry for sweet treats, and sing the shop's praises. Read the rest at Young & Hungry.

Photo by Odochi Ibe

Glass-Free Pizza, Please: Scott Roberts of the blog Bloomingdale Neighborhood told City Desk that he has heard of community members boycotting establishments because of the glass. One commenter on the blog wrote that "this is a business issue, not charity.… Any business that can't provide a reasonable level of security for their customers and staff isn't going to get my patronage. Hiding behind 2 inches of plate glass, and leaving me on the other side to cope with all the crap, isn't dealing with the problem.” The boycotters also have some new dining alternatives—a couple of glass-free daytime cafes have opened recently, and there is a restaurant with a liquor license application currently in the works just off of North Capitol.

Glass Isn't the Problem: According to Metropolitan Police Department crime statistics, there were 13 armed robberies and 20 unarmed robberies within 1,000 feet of New York Pizza in the last year. Roberts says that pedestrian traffic along North Capitol is comprised of “homeless people” and “some patrons of methadone clinics.” In short, many residents believe that the presence of bulletproof glass is a symptom of crime—not the disease. Another commenter on the Bloomingdale blog says, “When we choose not to frequent the eatery [for petty reasons like bulletproof glass] it'll close and go out of business and become an vacant eye sore again, attracting vagrants. This area will never get off the ground.”

Next Step: Wait to see if New York Pizza sinks or swims. David says, “Bullet proof glass or not, I'm not going to eat there because the Pizza is horrible. I reviewed it on Yelp.com for your convenience.”

Photo by Brian, Creative Commons Attribution License