Category Archives: Uncategorized

Dumbarton Oaks

Dumbarton Oaks recently cut down a massive white oak. As a sign near the carnage explained, the tree was too sick to remain and posed a danger if it were left up.

The photo above doesn’t quite do this tree justice. Here’s GM’s daughter next to another of the slices, for some perspective:

From GM’s rough counting of the rings, the tree appears to have been between 100 and 130 years old. This is actually not particularly old for a white oak, which can in some circumstances live over 400 years. But it’s still a sizable loss for an estate named after it (and others of its kin). Continue reading →

Photo by Bill Starrels.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Decent, if not particularly surprising, Georgetown restaurant guide.
• West Heating Plant project gets critical approval.

Georgetown Waterfront

GM has been closely tracking the supposedly renovations of the Georgetown Dolcezza location, and how it rather appeared that the store was closing instead of renovating. He has now learned that the building has been sold and a new tenant is likely to move in. Booooo.

The new owner is an LLC registered to Kholsa Companies, a Bethesda-based real estate company. They bought the building earlier this month for just $810,000. The sellers were actually the Dolcezza company itself.

This seems cheap, honestly. Yes the building is not that nice and is not is terribly nice shape. But it’s a great location and the fact that the building isn’t historic would mean that it would be a good candidate for demolition and rebuilding. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Meet one of the more enthusiastic boosters of the gondola proposal.
• Guide to some of the farmers markets around town, including two of the Georgetown ones.

1500 block of 32nd St.

Photo by Peter Krupa.

GM is often advocating for improvements to our infrastructure to make biking easier and safer. But inevitably when the topic comes up, someone always (ALWAYS) starts complaining about how cyclists break the law. They argue that until cyclists start obeying the law they do not deserve to be rewarded with more road space being dedicated to them. Oh, and a new one GM has heard is that we should not make any improvement that might induce more people to bike through the side streets of Georgetown.

This is infuriating on several levels.

The first is that multiple studies have shown that cyclists do not break the law any more than motorists do. It’s just that drivers ignore their own law breaking and notice the law breaking of cyclists.

The second should be obvious, but unfortunately gets ignored in the whataboutism: cars are exponentially more dangerous than bikes.

Just last Sunday a driver ran into a pedestrian in the crosswalk on K St. in Georgetown (above). And on Tuesday a driver plowed down four pedestrians on the sidewalk at 9th and New York Ave., downtown. A man died this week as a result of a driver running him over earlier this month at Missouri Ave. and 7th St. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• A couple new routes added to the water taxi that is already providing service from Georgetown to the new Wharf and Alexandria. (But sadly still no route between Georgetown and Nats Stadium).
• Paper went up on the windows of the Dolcezza, which either means it really is permanently closed, or (if you are unbelievably optimistic) that the long planned renovations are actually beginning. GM will happily bet a couple scoops of gelato that the first is more likely.

Dumbarton Oaks