Category Archives: Breaking News

Longtime Georgetown Activist Barbara Zartman Passes Away

On Wednesday, March 31st, longtime Georgetown activist Barbara Zartman passed away suddenly from natural causes in Rochester, NY. From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

Washington, DC: On March 31, 2010 Barbara Zartman, long-time resident and activist in Rochester, NY passed away suddenly of natural causes. She was the beloved wife of Leonard Story Zartman, Jr. who passed away in 1982 and mother of Eve Zartman-Ball and grandmother of Alexandra Zartman-Ball. She also leaves behind stepchildren Lydia, Sarah, Nathaniel, Dana and Mary Zartman. As well as sister Caryl Ansteadt and niece Michelle Peters who still live in the Rochester area, while her niece Virginia Catizone lives in Florida.
Services will be held in Washington, DC on Wednesday, April 7th at 11 am at the St. Alban’s Episcopal Church with a reception immediately following. She will later be interned privately at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington. Memorial donations may be sent in her name to the church.

Barbara Zartman knew historical preservation law as well as anyone around. She takes her place among the long line of staunch defenders of Georgetown’s physical environment that stretches back to Eva Hinton and Harriet Hubbard.

She will be missed by many.

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Brooks Brothers to Open In Georgetown

It has been rumored for months that Brooks Brothers was going to move into the vacated Smith and Hawken and the soon-to-be-vacant Pottery Barn spaces. The ANC2E agenda for next week confirms it: Brooks Brothers will be moving to 3077 M St.

Specifically, Brooks Brothers is seeking approval of alterations to the storefront, awnings, and signs for that address. Theoretically they could just be moving in to the Smith and Hawken space, which occupies the top floor of 3077 M St. But GM has heard since at least last summer that Pottery Barn plans to vacate the store. Plus, the Smith and Hawken space is too small for a full Brooks Brothers’ store. So his best guess is that Brooks Brothers is taking over the whole building (or at least the Pottery Barn space).

It’ll be sad to see Pottery Barn go. It was a good place to pick up relatively cheap homewares, but as Anthony Lanier (whose EastBanc owns the building) pointed out last September, they can’t pay the rent selling candles.

In the end most people will wonder why there wasn’t a Brooks Brothers already in Georgetown. Well wonder no more.

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Bicyclist Killed at 31st and M

Updated: It is not clear whether the bicyclist survived the collision or not.  More at Washcycle.

Last night a bicyclist was fatally struck by involved in a collision with a Dulles cab driver at the corner of 31st and M. The above picture was taken by Flickr user BrownPau and Twitter user Vnangia reported that the collision was fatal for the biker. There were no reports on the MPD2D listserv to verify these reports.

It appears from the photo above that the cab was heading westbound on M and turning down 31st St. It is not clear from the photo what direction the biker was heading when he or she was hit.

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BREAKING NEWS: Pope to Leave Hardy to Form New Arts and Music Magnet School; Hyde Principal to Replace Him

Tonight at a meeting for the Hardy PTA, Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced that Patrick Pope would leave his position as principal of Hardy Middle School and become the principal of a new arts and music magnet middle school. Dana Nerenberg, principal of Hyde-Addison, will become principal of both Hyde-Addison and Hardy.

The announcement was not taken well by the Hardy PTA. With Mr. Pope sitting silently in the audience, speaker after speaker criticized Chancellor Rhee for the content and process of the decision. GM will write up a fuller account of this, but for the curious, here is a recording of the bulk of Chancellor Rhee’s Q&A session (GM’s batteries died after 80 minutes or so):

What was not caught on the tape was what happened after Rhee left. Mr. Pope gave a heart felt speech of thanks and encouragement to the audience (he did not, however, discuss the plans for the new magnet school or whether he was in fact forced out; but in not addressing those issues he appeared to be confirming the PTA’s suspicions that he was forced out and that he was not entirely excited about starting over at a new school). After Pope spoke, Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander gave a rousing speech in support of the PTA and Mr. Pope. Big quote: “We’ve got to get rid of Fenty. And Rhee. And you can quote me on that!”

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Grab Some Free Legg Mason Tickets at Lacoste Today

From DCist: Want free tickets to tonight’s Legg Mason matches, which include the resurgent Andy Roddick? If you went last night and still have your stubs, stop by Georgetown’s Lacoste store right now and get one of the 150 free tickets.

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Breaking News: Nathans to Close this Sunday

Nathan's to Close This Sunday

Carol Joynt just sent out the email many of us have been dreading for years: Nathans is closing for good. Last call will be this Sunday. GM believes he speaks for the neighborhood when he says that this will be a terrible loss for Georgetown.

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Scheele’s Market Saved

Scheele's Market Saved

Mike Peabody reported today that, as GM predicted, an agreement has been reached to save Scheele’s Market long into the future. The agreement involves an incredibly creative solution to the problem faced by the Save Scheele’s group: namely how can they come up with a legally binding way to ensure that a market will remain on the property without owning the building outright. The solution: they’ll lease it themselves. Peabody’s email explaining it all after the jump:

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Blackout in Georgetown

Some or all of Georgetown is experiencing a power outage right now. Pepco estimates power to return by 1:00.

UPDATE: Power’s back on.

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Fire at Georgetown Hospital?

Reader Kathleen reports to the Georgetown Metropolitan about a troubling scene this morning at Georgetown Hospital. She writes:

About 10 firetrucks and 6 ambulances, along with other emergency vehicles stormed into both hospital entrances at about 9:30 this morning. Some firemen looked to be leaving their vehicles on reservoir rd and running toward the hospital.

Scary stuff. Anyone see this or know more about it?

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