WASHINGTON — D.C.’s restaurant and bar owners say dining numbers in August, already a tough month for the city with Congress in recess, took a hit during the first week of the federal takeover of the District’s police force. But restaurant numbers rallied nearly 30% Monday as the city kicked off day one of its annual Summer Restaurant Week .

“I think it's a combination of a little bit of everything,” Shawn Townsend, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), told WUSA9 about last week’s dining numbers. “I don’t want to blame it all on, you know, public safety or the presence of federal agents on our corners, although we do think that it’s a deterrence. And, you know, I think we’re feeling it because of that. But also, we see this drop in reservati

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