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This week GM is celebrating his tenth anniversary by revisiting some of the bigger stories he covered over that time. And today brings us to, well, today. Here are some of the bigger stories of the last several years:

The End of the Liquor License Moratorium

By the time it came to an end, the liquor license moratorium was getting ridiculous. Originally adopted in 1989 to limit the seemingly endless growth of rowdy bars, the moratorium became simply a way to make existing liquor licenses worth more than they ought to have been. When the city released licenses it created a gold rush, where parties claimed the licenses with no concrete plans to actually open a restaurant.

The idea to actually end the moratorium came from the BID in 2015. Initially the idea was met with some skepticism from the community groups. But after some open and frank discussions, common ground was found. As GM wrote in 2016:

Did the moratorium end Georgetown’s partying ways? Certainly not immediately. But it arguably put a ceiling on its growth. And as neighborhoods across the city grew into nightlife destinations of their own, much of the energy was drained from the Georgetown nightlife scene. And the moratorium was not only no longer necessary, it was detrimental.

So egged on by the BID, neighborhood leaders came back together last year and agreed that the moratorium needed to go. After reaching an agreement on how to proceed, the groups requested that the ABC Board not extend the moratorium this year.

Continue reading →

Photo by Bekah Richards.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Chez Billy Sud named one of the country’s top 100 restaurants.
• Do you recognize this package thief?

Washington Harbour

This week, GM is celebrating his tenth anniversary by going through some of the notable stories he covered over the years. Today he is strolling through the middle years, from 2013 to 2015.

Georgetown 2028

One of the bigger projects from this period was the BID-driven Georgetown 2028 plan. This was a report filled with recommendations for what changes Georgetown could make to best position itself to continue to be a thriving neighborhood in 2028. And while it was led by the BID, the committees guiding it had residents as well as business owners (GM served on the steering committee).

The final report had recommendations covering topics as wide as transportation, street furniture, the canal and the neighborhood’s gateways. But perhaps the most eye-catching parts of the report called for a Metro stop in Georgetown, and, until then, a gondola. Both those ideas are still but dreams, however the push for the gondolas continues.

The report also led to the creation of Georgetown Heritage, the non-profit established to restore the canal. They are responsible for the massive project to rebuild the third lock, which was in danger of completely collapsing. With its completion, the canal boat will be able to return for tourist rides. Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Reverie now offers a “pay-what-you-want” option.
• Did anyone see this man? He’s was last seen in Georgetown November 27th.

Tudor Place

Exactly ten years ago this Thursday, GM started publishing the Georgetown Metropolitan. The name was chosen in order to continue the publication of an earlier Georgetown Metropolitan, a newspaper that was published in the then independent city from approximately 1820 to 1837. The photo above is from July 12, 1826 and contains a report on the deaths of former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

Frankly, when he started it, GM doubted it would continue for more than a year or so. But here we are ten years later. And a lot has happened to both Georgetown and GM personally over that period. This week, he’ll rehash some of those events. And today he’ll talk about the “distant” past of 2008 to 2012. Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Bourbon Steak is pouring bubbly in weird dome tents, if you’re so inclined…
• More about this year’s Glow artists.

3300 block of O St.

Last night, DDOT hosted a public meeting on the topic of traffic circulation through Georgetown. The pre-meeting public information was sparse, so it was unclear what that meant. One of GM’s speculations was that it was about turning some two-way streets into one-way, and indeed it was. (For the record: It’s not really that impressive to get a speculation correct when you make as many speculations as GM does…)

This was just the first meeting, and DDOT will be conducting data collection and receiving public input before putting out any recommendations. But the substance of the presentation suggested that changing the direction of streets was one of the central ideas they would study.

What does that mean for Georgetown? Well as you may know, there’s a big difference between the streets on the east and west sides of Georgetown. West Georgetown has far more one-way streets than the east side does. You can see that in this map that was part of the presentation last night:

All the dark streets are one-way. West Georgetown’s streets are probably over 50% one-way. East Georgetown, particularly above M St., are almost entirely two-way.

From the audience, it was clear that there is a vocal group in support of changing that. Among the changes most voiced would be to change 29th, 30th, and 31st to one-way (likely 30th southbound, and 29th and 31st northbound). There was also a lot of support for converting N St. to one-way (probably westbound, to mirror Dumbarton St.). Continue reading →