Author Archives: Topher

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Mason lobster rolls closed.
• Reminder for Volta Park events this weekend: Fall Fest on Saturday, 11-2, Concert in the Park, Sunday, 4:30 to 6:30.

The final death march of the Georgetown Circulator has begun. As I’ve previously written, the city is ending the bus service due to budget constraints. Although popular, the program proved to be too expensive (as measured by cost-per-rider) to justify keeping around in a belt-tightening era.

The axe has already come down on one Georgetown-based Circulator route. The Dupont-to-Rosslyn route, which travels down M St., was terminated as of yesterday. Of the remaining routes (including the Georgetown-Union Station route) late night service has also been terminated. Moreover, buses will now be operating on a 20-minute headway.

And then this hollow shell of a formerly great service will finally be put out of its misery come January 1st. By then all Circulator service will be gone and the red-and-silver buses will be nothing but a memory.

As I’ve also mentioned before, the city is working with WMATA to try to beef up or modify metrobus service to compensate for the lost Circulator service. The details are in this link. In short, there will be no replacement service for the Dupont-to-Rosslyn bus. And the replacement for the popular Georgetown-to-Union Station route will be replaced with new 30 series routes that will go all the way to Union Station.

This replacement service would appear to be somewhat adequate, but it does not account for bus frequency. The new 30 series buses will not come any more frequent. So to the extent you use either the 30 series or Circulator to get vaguely downtown, you will have noticeably fewer buses per hour offering that service.

This is a major blow to transit service for Georgetown. And given the fact that the neighborhood is still the most popular and dense retail and entertainment neighborhood in the city and still lacks a metro stop, this is bad for the city as a whole. We must keep pushing for more service on the 30 series to compensate for this huge loss of transit service.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Dixie Liquors may become Dixie Cannabis.
• Circulator service begins its end. (More on this later).

Hello and welcome to the Northwest Georgetown ANC update! I hope you’re having a great early fall and get plenty of chances to head out to pumpkin patches and apple orchards this month! Here’s what’s happening around our neighborhood:

Tavern on 33rd St.

As I mentioned in my last update, I spent a lot of time over the summer negotiating a possible settlement agreement for a tavern that was seeking to open at 1660 33rd St. I’m happy to report that over the last month, we reached an agreement between the parties. The protests were dropped and the license was issued.

I certainly understand that many neighbors still have anxiety about this establishment opening. It is a new, and higher intensity use for a building that backs up to a lot of residential properties. But the property is zoned commercial and the ABC Board has developed a permissive reputation in recent years. So having this establishment open with a long list of conditions designed to make them be good neighbors is the best we could hope for.

The conditions in the settlement agreement (link here) address a wide variety of activities. These include hours (both for the inside and the summer garden), noise, trash and smoking. I am hopeful that with these conditions applied that this new establishment (named Creme) will substantially reduce any negative impacts its opening could have.

I do not know yet when Creme will open. I hope it is a success and becomes a valuable part of our corner of Georgetown. Once it opens, please let me know if you have any issues or complaints about it!

Volta Park Fall Fest Next Week

The Friends of Volta Park are holding their annual Fall Festival next Saturday, October 5th. It runs from 11AM – 2 PM. Come on out!

Speaking of Volta Park festivals, the Citizens Association of Georgetown will hold their fall Concert in the Parks at Volta the next day, October 6th. It will take place from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.

As for the field renovation, the last I heard was that it would move forward in early November. But that was not a commitment, and I’ve been burned by these non-committal dates many times already. So take it with a big sack of salt.

ANC Meeting

The ANC will be holding its October meeting next Monday night at 6:30 pm at Visitation (virtual option here). The draft agenda is here. I want to highlight one issue that ANC is addressing: the proximity rules for medical cannabis shops.

The rules and regulations for the newly licensed medical cannabis shops include provisions concerning the retail shops’ proximity to schools, rec centers, and other licensed shops. Specifically, no shop may open with 300 feet of a school or rec center or 400 feet from another licensed shop.

When the city first started the process to issue these licenses last year, I reached out to the lawyers at ABCA to get clarity as to how the distance was supposed to be measured because there are lots of ways they could be measured. I was told that they would use the method whereby they would look to the shortest line drawn directly between the two lots. This would provide the broadest protection against having the shops too close to schools, rec centers or other shops.

I was under the impression that this is the standard ABCA used, however a recent applicant appears to have obtained a different approach. The applicant is seeking to open at 3120 Grace St. This is a space in the larger Grace Street Collective group of businesses. And, importantly, it is a shop that is in a lot that is much bigger than the shop itself:

The large lot on the bottom right of the image above is the lot for Grace Episcopal, which houses Georgetown Montessori. If you draw the shortest line between the Grace St. lot and the church’s lot, it is well below 300 feet. And as such, it should mean that the application should not got forward.

However, the ANC has learned that ABCA has used a different approach to measuring proximity in this case. We understand that they measured from the proposed shop’s actual location within the lot to the actual location of the Montessori School in the other lot. This puts the distance just over 300 feet.

The ANC discussed this issue in our meeting last month and we are in agreement that a more restrictive measuring approach should be used. It has less to do with this particular applicant as it does with the fact that the neighborhood is already inundated with licensed and unlicensed pot shops. Interpreting the proximity rules in this fashion would blunt the protections that the proximity rule provides.

The ANC has sought clarity from ABCA on what standard applies, but have not yet received an answer. We will be considering a resolution calling for clarity from ABCA on this issue at the meeting.

And with that, have a happy October!

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Big news: Jose Andres to helm the new hotel at 30th and M St.
• Last week’s BZA hearing on Call Your Mother ended without a resolution. The board is deferring a decision until more of its members are present. The follow-up meeting will take place Oct. 23rd.

Photo by Jeff Vincent.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Jose Andres opening hotel/private club at 30th and M St.
• A celebration of Georgetown and the Georgetowner.

Fall is here! And with it comes the annual Volta Park Fall Fest! Details below:

Friends of Volta Park Fall Festival – October 5, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Volta Park’s Fall Festival is back on Saturday, October 5, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Families and friends come together each year for food, fun and friendly faces! This year we will be adding a few new fun activities and will continue with our tradition of carnival games, face painting, and more!

We’re looking forward to seeing you for this neighborhood favorite that will be part of your family’s fall tradition every year.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Reminder: Art All Night this Friday!
• Call Your Mother zoning hearing is today, starting at 9:30. Last hearing went six hours, but I do not expect this one to do that.

It’s that time of year again, when people start to wonder what the hell are those giant grain brain-shaped fruit around Georgetown. As in past years, I am ready with the answer, as reprinted below:

This time a year, if you wonder around Montrose or Volta Parks you’re bound to find on the ground weird softball-sized green fruit like the one above. People are often so struck by the sight of the fruit, they pick up one or two of them and bring them home. But what are they, you ask?

Despite their green color, they’re oranges. Osage oranges, to be specific. They are grown by Osage trees, which line the Parrot rope walk. These trees are prevalent in the Great Plains states, where they are often planted along hedgerows. Traditionally, the pliable but strong nature of this tree’s wood made it valuable for fence posts and archery bows.

Technically speaking, the fruit is edible. But you can only eat the seeds, and they’re not easy to extract.

I heard once that people should not feel guilty about taking the fruit home since no animals eat them. I find that they rot after a month or so. But if you don’t want to keep them around, Amazon sells them for $39 for a dozen, maybe you can undersell them (besides being an interesting knick-knack, the fruit is believed to  repel insects and spiders).

Photo by Victoria Pickering.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• More on Joe Sternlieb’s departure from the BID.
• Speaking of the BID, here is their great Fall Guide.