Photo by Byron Peebles
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Today, GM turns over the reins of the Georgetown Metropolitan for a day to his friend and fellow Georgetowner Ken Archer to discuss Jack Evans recent parking proposals:
Councilmember Jack Evans’ proposal to roll back parking meter rates and hours of enforcement in commercial corridors is based, according to Evans, on the complaints and requests of businesses and residents in his ward. However, a survey of organizations representing residents and businesses in Georgetown fails to find anyone asking Evans for his proposal.
His proposal passed out of his committee by a 3-2 vote and Evans frequently points to these complaints in defending the $5.2 million measure.
Evans told the Washington Examiner, “I get consistent complaints about the parking meters everywhere I go in my ward from residents. I can’t go into a restaurant without the owner coming out to complain about the cost of the parking meters.”
Despite this, neither the Georgetown BID nor the largest owner of Georgetown restaurants support the proposal.
The Georgetown ANC and Citizens Association have passed no resolutions and sent no letters to Evans requesting reductions in either meter rates or enforcement hours. In fact, the ANC has been working with DDOT for a couple years to put in place a performance parking pilot that would increase parking turnover and availability by charging market rates at meters. Continue reading
Filed under Transportation
Photo by M. Rautumn.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
This week for not so long ago, GM stops by Wisconsin and O. And the lesson here is that even when very little changes physically, a lot can change nonetheless.
Peoples Drug was founded in Washington in 1904. It grew over time to over 250 stores. Here’s a photo from the inside of the Peoples Drug that used to be at 31st and M:
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Peoples Drug was bought by Imasco, a massive Canadian company, in 1984. So Peoples was no longer under local ownership by the time the 1993 photo was taken above. But the name survived, and that at least gave it the feeling of parochialness. The name even lasted a few years after the company’s purchase by CVS in 1990. But by the mid-90s the local name was stripped from all stores, and that’s what we have today.
GM never visited a Peoples Drug store, so he can’t compare the relative merits of the two stores. Do you longer term residents miss Peoples? GM always laments the loss of local franchises like Riggs or Chevy Chase Bank, so even lacking actual experience with Peoples, he’d rather have them back.
Filed under Not So Long Ago
Photo by J.S. Clark.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Last night the ANC testified before the Zoning Commission on the Georgetown University campus plan. You can watch it here.
In many ways, this was a presentation years in preparation. Commissioners Ron Lewis, Bill Starrels, Jeff Jones, and Ed Solomon each spoke, but it was Ron that carried the heavy load. Where the Office of Planning’s case was undermined last week due to an apparent lack of preparation, nothing of the sort was on display last night.
Essentially the story that the ANC put forth was this: the 2000 campus plan was adopted on the promise that it would remedy an existing problem with students in the neighborhood. The ANC argues that not only did the plan not address the existing problem, the school took advantage of the lack of an overall student cap and grew every category but traditional undergrads as much as possible. Thus, they argue, the situation with the undergrads are at best no better than they were before the 2000 plan, and in the meantime, a new problem with excessive graduate and non-traditional student growth has produced a new problem. Continue reading
Filed under Zoning
Photo by Anokarina.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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