Category Archives: Uncategorized

Rock Creek

The new Trader Joe’s is opening this Friday. The grocery store, located just north of Georgetown at Wisconsin and Whitehaven, will provide a new option for shoppers in the area.

Trader Joe’s certainly has its hardcore fans, but it is a bit of a quirky place. It’s not really a direct competitor to a general grocery store like the Safeway, just a block south. It doesn’t pretend to be a place where you can stock up on all the food you’ll need for a week (unless you only eat frozen food). But what it does have is always a bit of a grab-bag of stuff, mostly under its own brand.

It will be interesting to see what impact its opening has on the Safeway. Trader Joe’s aims for a younger audience, so we may see fewer GU students stocking up around the Safeway. But, again, it can’t really fully replace Safeway in offerings. So any changes will probably be at the margins.

Regardless, it’s great to have another option. And once the apartment building that the Trader Joe’s is in finally opens, hopefully the increase in residents will help support the shops and restaurants of upper Georgetown.

Photo by Marc Andre.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Hyde-Addison construction really coming along ahead of its Fall return to Georgetown.
• How the canal plan would improve trail cycling.

Georgetown University

Yesterday, the DC Tax Office released its annual list of tax sales. This is a list of properties around the District that are so delinquent on property tax payments that the city is auctioning off the claim against the property. What this means is that anybody can bid and win a claim against these properties. Once they win the claim, they can move to foreclose on the property if the property owner continues to not pay the tax.

There are a bunch of properties on the list here in Georgetown. One in particular caught GM’s attention. It’s a tiny lot that covers a small walkway behind four houses at the northeast corner of Q and 30th:

The list from the tax office states that the owner of the lot is unknown. The only record for the lot in the DC Recorder of Deeds is a record of a mortgage being paid off on the lot in 2001. The listed owners at that point don’t appear to live in DC anymore, nor own any of the surrounding properties. Continue reading →

Photo by Bill Starrels.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Why a misanthropic approach to historic preservation of the C & O Canal is misguided.
• City exploring setting aside more space for commercial deliveries.

3100 block of M St.