I was officially sworn in as Commissioner yesterday, and so the job now begins! And the first to-do I set out for myself was to establish a monthly newsletter for constituents. That box is now checked. Please sign up for the newsletter at Georgetown.substack.com. While the newsletter is primary intended for my constituents, obviously anyone can sign up!

And here is the first edition that I published yesterday:

Northwest Georgetown ANC Update – January 2023

Welcome to my inaugural ANC update email! I will be sending one out every month giving you information on what’s happening in our corner of Georgetown (and the rest of Georgetown too).

And to kick it off, I though it would be helpful to layout what exactly is our corner of Georgetown, or at least what my district entails. Roughly, it’s north of Volta Place and west of Wisconsin Ave., and east of 35th. Additionally it includes the Cloisters and a few blocks east of Wisconsin between Reservoir, 32nd and S St. Here’s a map if it helps:

(Of course anyone can sign up for the newsletter! But my primary focus will be on news that impacts my constituents.)

And now on to the updates:

As you may have noticed, the city was fairly delayed in leaf collection. The Department of Public Works (DPW) was scheduled to take away our accumulated piles of leaves between November 28th and December 3. That clearly didn’t happen. It wasn’t until last week that the crews finally came around and collected the leaves. It’s certainly better late than never. News reports suggest that DPW is blaming rain and the switch from gas powered to battery powered leaf blowers. The ANC will look into whether a more realistic time frame can be communicated in the future.

As for disposing of your Christmas trees and other greenery, that will begin on January 3rd and run all the way till March 3rd. Just remove all the ornaments and lights and put it out on the sidewalk, preferably in a tree box or otherwise out of the way. The city will eventually collect it and turn it into mulch (which you can get from the city for free.) Alternatively you can bring the tree to Guy Mason, where the city is also collecting them from January 3rd till March 3rd.

And what to do if you still have bags or leaves or garden waste? As is the case for the rest of the year, you have to submit a request through 311 to get those bags picked up. (And they will only pick them up if the bags are those brown paper bags you can get from the hardware or garden store). If you have any problems with this, let me know and I’ll take care of it!

Speaking of waste collection remember that trash and recycling will shift a day twice this month: the week of January 1st due to New Years, and the week of January 16th for MLK day.

And with the arrival of winter, remember that you are required to clear the snow from the sidewalk in front of your home (and both sidewalks if you’re lucky to live on a corner lot!) I would like to gather the names of our neighbors who are physically unable to fulfill this job and arrange for volunteers to handle their sidewalks. So please reach out to me at 2E02@anc.dc.gov or 202-827-5405.

That’s it for now, but as I get up to speed with the job my future updates will be more robust. Please spread the word for the newsletter and encourage as many neighbors as possible to sign up.

Good morning Georgetown, and happy new year! Here’s the latest:

• Mid-block pedestrian crossing coming to M St. between Wisconsin Ave. and Potomac St. Should make crossing the street a lot easier and hopefully cut down on dangerous jaywalking.
• I was happy to participate in the inaugural Georgetown caroling! Join us next year!
• Permit finally issued for West Heating Plant construction.

I’m signing off for the year so that I can get Xmas shopping finally! Have a happy holiday and see you in 2023!

Well, it’s that time again. The Earth has made it around the sun again, and the Georgetown Metropolitan is adding another hashmark to the wall: this here publication is now 14 years old.

Fourteen’s an odd age. Squarely a teenager, but without any specific landmarks, like a driver’s license or a quinceaneras. It’s just one of those in between years. But next year really will bring some changes here! As I transition to my new role as ANC commissioner you’ll probably see some new features here. If anything it should get more informative as I get somewhat flooded with notices and events that I will pass along to you all.

But the meat and potatoes of the Georgetown Metropolitan will remain! Still plenty of Time Machine posts and other deep dives into obscure Georgetown history. And all the openings and closings I hear about will be reported here too. So please stay tuned!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Moroccan fans take to M St. to celebrate their monumental win over Portugal.
• New Water Street hotel gets final approval.

Back in October, I explored what an artificial intelligence might come up with when asked to draw Georgetown. The results were mixed! But as you may have heard, the same website that offered up AI-generated art is now offering an AI-generated text.

So I got to wondering, “Hey I might get a little busy with the new ANC position next year, maybe I could outsource the website to AI?”

So I gave the chat-bot a simple request: “Write an article in the style of the Georgetown Metropolitan where you discus why there used to be two different Gay Streets in Georgetown.” That’s just the very article I would write! So what did it come up with?

Well, let’s just say I’ll be still writing these myself for now. This is what it produced:

Georgetown residents may have noticed that there are two different streets named “Gay Street” in the neighborhood. This may seem like a confusing and unnecessary duplication, but the reason behind it dates back to the city’s history.

In the early 1800s, Georgetown was a bustling port town and the center of trade and commerce in the Washington, D.C. area. One of the main streets in the town was named “Gay Street” in honor of the family who owned much of the land in the area.

Continue reading →

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Although it was supposedly going to first open on Saturday, Yellow is already open. Check it out!
• Rare chance to buy a canal house.

3300 block of O St.

Today for Georgetown Time Machine, we’re visiting with a little girl who had just become a big sister. It was November, 62 years ago, and the girl had just got back from a walk with her dad, who was about to change jobs on top of everything.

If you haven’t guessed yet, the little girl is Caroline Kennedy, and her new little brother was John Jr. According to the text with the picture (from the Dec. 5 1960 Life magazine) “Caroline Kennedy peers out from her Georgetown home on the afternoon of her brother’s birth. Kennedy [her father] had just taken her for a walk and was about to tell her she had a little brother.”

The home she’s peering out of is 3307 N St. JFK lived here with his family while he was a senator and during his run for the presidency. In fact he gave impromptu press conferences on the steps of the home during those weeks between his successful election and his move to the White House.

Of course, tragedy befell the family and the nation. But for a little while they were just another young Georgetown family:

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Yellow opens this Saturday, and it looks delicious.
• I was feeling pretty confident, but just for the record the final election results were officially released and there were no surprises from the preliminary results. I am now officially commissioner-elect. Now the work begins!