The official fiscal year 2016 D.C. budget was approved yesterday, and two Georgetown projects received significant financial support: Hyde-Addison School and the proposed Georgetown gondola.
The Hyde expansion has been in planning for over five years. And many proposed start dates have come and gone. But having finally obtained approval from the Old Georgetown Board earlier this year, the project was finally and truly set to begin in June 2016 (if not June 2015). But Mayor Bowser proposed to push the start date back to 2017. Thanks to successful community support and the intervention of Councilmember Jack Evans, Hyde’s gym project was restored to the start date that it had before Mayor Bowser cut deeply into the school reconstruction budget.
It received $9 million in the budget. This won’t cover the entire construction, but since the construction will span two fiscal years, it’s enough to get it started in June 2016. THANK YOU COUNCILMEMBERS EVANS AND GROSSO!
As for the gondola, the money is much, much less. The budget set aside $35,000 to contribute to the study proposed by the BID to analyze whether the gondola is feasible. This, along with money from Arlington (update: money from Arlington hasn’t been secured yet, but the county is actively seeking a way to provide it) and the BID itself, put the organization well within reach of funding the study.
The gondola project has received a ton of press, much of it amused, and much of it derisive. But the whole point of the study is to just determine whether it makes sense or not. If it doesn’t, then that’s it. But if it does, then let’s keep looking at it.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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