Kentlands resident Luc Brami looks on as President Barack Obama gets a lesson in sign-making by Max White at Brami’s sign shop on August 6.
President Barack Obama visited Brami’s sign shop, Gelberg Signs, in Takoma Park August 6 to find out exactly what Brami and his co-owner brothers Neil and Guy were doing right.
“The president heard about our company and the programs we’ve taken advantage of and wanted to find out why it was working,” said Brami.
Gelberg Signs was the recipient of several recent Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, which has enabled the brothers to reinvest in the company, improve the facility’s infrastructure and, most importantly, to hire several new employees.
In turn the sign shop has also benefitted from the tax credits within the president’s Federal HIRE Act (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment). “Anyone you hire who’s been out of work 60 days means you don’t have to pay payroll taxes,” explained Brami.
And the company — which created signs for several Kentlands Downtown businesses including The Star Diner, Tandoori Nights and Color Me Mine, along with higher profile signs like at Washington Nationals ballpark and the D.C. Convention Center — has had an increase in sales this year, another point that caught Obama’s attention.
It was a crazy week of preparation and kind of surreal for Brami and the shop’s employees starting with the first phone call. “When the White House called I thought it was a prank at first,” said Brami.
Then he had Secret Service agents doing a “sweep” on the building and doing background checks on the 60 employees. By the day before the visit, the White House had pretty much set up shop at the shop, which is about 50,000 square feet.
Despite the fact that the sign shop is only a few miles from the White House, the president flew in Marine One to a nearby school and then rode by limousine a few blocks to Gelberg Signs. Obama spent 20 minutes touring the facility, talking with employees and watching stages of sign production that ranged from raw materials to finished signs.
So the big question Brami is getting from customers, friends and family members is, “What is he like?”
“I thought we would be nervous, but he really is a down-to-earth guy,” said Brami. “Despite your political ideology it’s an honor to get a visit from the president.”