Northwest Georgetown September ANC Update

Hello and happy end of summer! I can’t remember an August with such perfect weather like this. May it stretch well into the fall!

August Update

Obviously a great deal has happened in the city since my last update in July. With the dramatic and largely unprecedented intervention of federal officials into local DC affairs, many residents are upset, scared, and angry about the short and long-term impacts this will have. I’ll not pretend to know where this is headed, but I’ll note that it is perhaps unsurprising to see that the impact of this effort is not being felt especially much by neighborhoods like Georgetown. The New York Times created this map showing all the arrests across the city since the federal intervention, and very few took place west of Rock Creek Park (the red dots are arrests involving federal agents, and the green are arrests just with MPD):

The only thing I’ll add is that I highly recommend you read the great Dream City book, which chronicles the story of DC in the second half of the 20th century and how counterproductive and, ultimately tragic, federal intervention into DC local affairs inevitably becomes. (If you’ve already read that, then I can also recommend Between Justice and Beauty and Chocolate City to give you an even better historical perspective on the current situation).

Streateries

And having discussed a controversial topic that stirs passion on all sides, I’ll turn to streateries. 😉

A significant change in the administration of the streatery program is about to be rolled out. Up to this point, in Georgetown the streatery program was run by the BID. They were granted a public space permit to construct and maintain all the sidewalk extensions, whether they be for a restaurant, a bus stop, or just to give pedestrians a bit more space. That permit is coming to an end later this year and in its place will be the citywide program.

That program is fundamentally different from the existing one in Georgetown because the primary permit applicants will be the establishments themselves.1 So now each and every establishment will submit an application to the city, and then each and every one of the permits will be vetted.

As part of this, some, but not all, of the sidewalk extensions that don’t serve a restaurant have been (or will be) removed. The ones that remain will generally be ones that have proven to make intersections much safer for pedestrians, as evidenced in crash data.

What none of these changes actually address is the question of aesthetics. In fact, if anything we’re now further from addressing that complaint. With the BID stepping back as the central authority, there will effectively be no one but the city government to complain to about what any one restaurant is doing with its streatery. Whatever you want to say about the responsiveness of the BID to endless complaints over dead plants, mismatched umbrellas, or whatever, it’s highly unlikely that the city will be more responsive.

Moreover, the pilot for a much improved streatery design that I discussed back in February is not likely to come about anytime soon. That is an effort by the BID to establish a different model for streateries that would replace the Jersey barriers and the plastic decking with much better materials. With all the budget uncertainty for the city, it did not get the funding it would need to move forward now. It’s not dead, I’ve been assured, but it’s not likely to happen soon.

I’ve long compared streateries to cilantro. Most people like, or at least don’t mind, cilantro. But for some people it tastes like soap and they hate it. (It’s a genetic thing, apparently.) That’s been my observation about streateries. For some people, streateries taste like soap, so to speak, while for the vast majority of people they taste great (to belabor the analogy). The pilot could have helped bridge this gap by addressing the largest complaint about the streateries. I still hold out hope that we’ll get there, but it will sadly not be anytime soon. So we’ll continue to argue over cilantro.

Trees for Georgetown Event

Trees for Georgetown has long been one of the best and most loved organizations around the neighborhood. The organization is now under the Casey Trees umbrella but they remain very active. They are having a big fundraiser later this month and I encourage you to get a ticket! Here are the details I received from TFG:

Act now to get your tickets to the Sunday, September 14 Trees for Georgetown garden party! Tickets are limited, so act soon – for more information about this party at an historic location, write us at treesforgeorgetown@gmail.com. Tickets are donations to Casey Trees, a 501(c ) (3) charitable organization; you can also give to TFG at https://give.caseytrees.org/campaign/605896/donate. Since 1989, with strong support from the Georgetown community, Trees for Georgetown has planted and cared for over 3,000 trees on the streets of Georgetown. For more information, visit www.treesforgeorgetowndc.org or write us at treesforgeorgetown@gmail.com.

Come out to support a great cause!

Students Back

With the arrival of September, Georgetown students have returned for the year. As I write every year, that may mean you have new neighbors on your block. This sometimes leads to conflict, but I find reaching out directly to the students first is a good approach. Many of these students are living independently for the first time in their lives, so there’s bound to be some growing pains. That said, remember to reach out to SNAP at (202) 687-5138 if there is a problem.

And, as always, if you have an issue you’d like my assistance with, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at 2e02@anc.dc.gov.

1

Technically the BID will still be involved by way of a block permit it will seek, but ultimately each individual streatery will be primarily issued pursuant to the restaurant’s own application.