3200 block of Volta Pl.

It was recently suggested to GM that he go out and document the vintage wall advertisements that are scattered around Georgetown. (A topic that has attracted plenty of attention in other cities). GM could only find three still around Georgetown, but here they are preserved for posterity.

The one above is located on Wisconsin Ave. just south of Dumbarton. It is for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., a concern better known as the A&P. It’s still around, but they’re struggling and recently filed for bankruptcy protection. Where they used to spread from New England all the way to the south, the few remaining stores are mostly in the north. GM’s not sure if there ever was an A&P in Georgetown.

The next ad is on the side of 3112 M St. It appears to GM to be an ad for Quaker (as in oats). The line across the top appears to say “The World’s Greatest” (although the last word looks at lot more like “Greanast”).

The last ad is almost right next door to the Quaker ad. This one says (as far as GM can make out): “3108 R[something] Bernard’s Steam Bakery”. That building is 3108 M St., so that explains the number, but GM can’t find any record of a “Bernard’s Steam Bakery”, but it sure sounds nice.

Any other vintage ad that GM missed?

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Building collapses in collapsed building-owner’s history.
• That’s it, no more reviews can use the expression “Unum in a million“, because one is too many.

C & O Canal Towpath

At the last ANC meeting, the issue of the south exit of the Safeway was discussed. GM discussed this after the meeting, but he thinks it’s worthwhile to walk through the story of the changes to this intersection because it demonstrates how too often bad transportation decisions are made.

Prior to the construction of the new Safeway, and shortly after it opened, there were three different phases for the lights and crosswalks of this intersection:

During the first phase (which is 60 seconds), car traffic on Wisconsin Ave. had a green light and pedestrians were allowed to cross the curbcut at the Safeway exit. Cars leaving Safeway and pedestrians crossing Wisconsin were shown a red light.

During the second phase (which is 20 seconds now, but was much shorter before the changes), pedestrians were allowed to cross Wisconsin, but pedestrians were not allowed to cross the curbcut, nor were cars allowed to exit the Safeway, either north or southbound. Car traffic on Wisconsin was obviously also stopped.

During the third phase (which is ten seconds), cars could leave Safeway, but pedestrians couldn’t cross Wisconsin. Pedestrians obviously couldn’t cross the curbcut, nor could cars on Wisconsin proceed.

Back in February of last year, the ANC took a look at that second phase. They reasoned that with pedestrians crossing Wisconsin on the north side of the intersection, there was no reason not to allow cars from exiting Safeway to the south (since there was, as still is, no crosswalk on the south side of this intersection). The ANC recommended also that the second phase be extended.

So let’s just look at what they decided. It’s true that the second phase, as it originally was shaped, didn’t make a lot of sense. Either cars should have been allowed to exit Safeway, or pedestrians should have been allowed to cross the curbcut. Moreover, pedestrians probably should have been allowed to cross Wisconsin on the south side.

But rather that make these pedestrian-friendly changes, the ANC decided that the real problem was that for six seconds or so drivers had to wait for pedestrians to cross when the drivers could be exiting southward. So the ANC convinced DDOT to change the second phase to this:

Pedestrians could still cross Wisconsin from the north side of the intersection, but they still couldn’t cross the curbcut. Cars still couldn’t make a right turn, but they were now allowed to make a left turn. The phase was extended to the 20 seconds it is now.

As mentioned above, rather than allowing cars to turn left, DDOT could have allowed pedestrians to cross the curb cut, or they could have created a new crosswalk, allowing pedestrians to cross Wisconsin without crossing the curbcut first. The ANC could have put pedestrians first, but to some members of the ANC, even the slightest delay for a car is enough of a reason to oppose a measure, so putting pedestrians ahead of cars doesn’t even cross their minds.

Ok, fair enough.

But  now some on the ANC are pushing for yet another change. You see, sometimes the first car waiting at the Safeway doesn’t want to make a left turn. So cars behind it that do want to make a left turn have to wait a whole twenty seconds before the first car can leave, and then they can leave. So some of these impatient drivers have complained to the drivers-should-never-ever-have-even-the-slightest-delay caucus of the ANC to create a new left-turn lane at the Safeway exit. Craig Muckle of Safeway came to the ANC meeting saying they’d be happy to add the new lane.

But widening the curbcut (or simply adding a new travel lane without widening the exit) would be yet another anti-pedestrian move. For instance, while turning right on red is not allowed at this intersection, that doesn’t mean drivers don’t do it anyway. And with another traffic lane, the visibility for cars trying to make this illegal right-turn-on-red could be reduced and could cause them to not see pedestrians crossing the curbcut legally. And just generally, Safeway has put a lot of money into making this block more urban and pedestrian friendly, for them to increase the curbcut traffic by 50% diminishes the gains.

But some don’t see it this way. Some completely forget the history of this intersection and only care about the fact that some drivers now are frustrated at missing out on the new left turn arrow. This is how bad transporation policy is made: by making incremental concessions to the endless impatience of drivers. Attempts at appeasing drivers will never succeed and only will result in more demands, which results in cascading decisions that further push pedestrians and bikers out of the way.

Thankfully DDOT is against the new demands, and GM hears that after the ANC meeting little progress was made. But it would be nice if the ANC would stop being the voice of the incredibly impatient and would put pedestrians first.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Pro-union rallies at GU.
• This is what politicians are talking about when they throw out the “Georgetown cocktail party” trope. (But hey, look Dan Tangherlini was there! Maybe he’ll come back to the Wilson Building after his Treasury run is over.)

3000 block of R St.

Georgetown has a moratorium on new liquor licenses. So unlike the rest of the city (with the exception of the other moratorium zones) a restaurant or bar that wants to open up in Georgetown can’t simply go downtown, apply for a new liquor license, and pay a small fee. Rather, a new Georgetown restaurant or bar needs to buy an existing license off the secondary market. And for all intents and purposes, that means buying one of the licenses that are held by restaurants or bars no longer in business. The going rate for these licenses has reported to be as high as $75,000.

This barrier to entry has been frequently cited by restaurateurs as a significant reason not to open a restaurant in Georgetown. But GM’s hear to say: act now and this won’t be a problem!

You see, last year the ABC Board authorized the issuance of seven new liquor licenses in Georgetown. This was done partially in acknowledgement that since the moratorium was put in place, at least seven liquor licenses had left Georgetown, so the number of available licenses was actually lower than when the moratorium was put in place. Additionally, there was a sense that Geogetown’s restaurant scene has grown a little stale and that new licenses might inject a little blood back into the scene.

When the new licenses were authorized, there was a bit of a gold rush to secure them. Within weeks they were all spoken for. But as GM discussed back in November, things haven’t gone quite as planned. Some restaurants just never got off the ground, and in one case the restaurant quickly gave up the license when the attendant restrictions were more than they wished to live with.

Long story short: there is at least one, possibly up to three, authorized Georgetown liquor licenses sitting at ABRA just waiting for an applicant. All those restaurateurs out there that have bitched about the difficulty landing a liquor license in Georgetown, you have one less excuse. So get on it and bring some life back to the overly burgered restaurant scene!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Another look at the new Unum restaurant.
• A little bit more behind the story of the Lee’s retirement from Scheele’s.

1200 block of Wisconsin Ave.