The Georgetown Metropolitan

In the first several years of the Georgetown Metropolitan, GM closely tracked what he dubbed to be a baby boom in Georgetown. It’s been, well, a long, long time since GM looked into the numbers. So where do we stand?

Back in 2014, GM looked at the American Community Survey for 2013 for age data. Although compiled by the Census Bureau, the ACS is not the capital ‘C’ Census. Like its name suggests, it is the result of surveys. And as such, is more of an estimate. For geographic areas as small as Georgetown, the estimates are for five trailing years. So if the ACS data says as of 2013 that there are 12,000 people in Georgetown, it means that on average from 2008 to 2013 there were roughly 12,000 people in Georgetown.

That throat clearing complete, the numbers GM highlighted in 2014 said the following:

2013:

• Under the age of 5: 605
• Between the age of 5 and 9: 257
• Between 10 and 14: 183
• Between 15 and 19: 553

The youngest cohort was the most striking since just three years earlier the Census has actually counted (not estimated) that only 400 children under the age of 5 lived in Georgetown. This is what GM cited as the boom.

Well what does the ACS say now? Well the talk of a boom might have been premature:

2019:

• Under 5: 373
• 5-9: 300
• 10-14: 200
• 15-19: 444

Those numbers are far more in line with the 2010 Census. And it may turn out that the supposed baby boom was nothing but a statistical blip. Which would not be surprising since the Census Bureau makes it clear that the ACS data for areas a small as Georgetown comes with really high margins of error. For instance, for 2019 the margin of error for the under 5 category is 217. Meaning that there are likely 373 little kids in Georgetown, plus or minus 217. It’s basically a complete crapshoot. We won’t know for certain what the demographics are for Georgetown until the complete 2020 Census is released.

So stay tuned…

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• 300-seat beer garden proposed for Hotel Latham spot.
• A rare Wardman apartment building in Georgetown.

Anecdotes are always a risky basis upon which to infer a trend. So take the following observations with a grain of salt. That said: GM has observed that over the past six months two different homes on his block have sold for north of $1 million in all-cash deals to parents who intend the homes for their Georgetown University student children.

This would appear really to be two different (possible) trends coming together: the rise of all-cash deals and the rise in parents buying housing for their student children. The first one is definitely happening. With supply not remotely meeting demand, buyers have had to make all-cash offers if they can. This advantages the seller since it leads to quick closings with no pesky banks demanding appraisals.

To the average person, this is a striking and alarming trend. It puts buyers who don’t sit on a huge pile of money at a great disadvantage, even when they can afford the house. And it is all the more striking and alarming when that very real trend plays out with parents buying housing for their children.

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Holy Trinity buries a time capsule.
• Georgetown revokes honorary degree for former provost following abuse allegations.

This week on Georgetown Time Machine, GM visits the west end of M St. circa the 1960s. And it offers a striking contrast to the scene today.

The specific location is the intersection of 33rd and M, looking east. Right away one thing you’ll see is that the historic Georgetown market (soon to be a fancy Italian restaurant) was then occupied by Southern Distributors Auto Parts Store:

Nearby you can just make out the horse statue outside of Stombock’s (which sold horse riding equipment):

You also have a great view towards what later became the Georgetown Park Mall:

The long building lurking behind the M St. buildings was the old streetcar storage facility whose footprint was used to build the mall in the 80s.

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Soon you can buy Julia Child’s old house.
• GM received a tip that the new burger place that is taking over the short-lived Mono Diner’s space has opened. Will it last longer than Mono Diner? We’ll see…

In celebration of Pride, a “loud and colorful” boat with dancing unicorns will buzz by the Georgetown waterfront this Saturday afternoon at 2:45ish.

What does a boat full of dancing unicorns celebrating pride look like? Well check out this interview from Wharf Life with the man behind the plan:

Georgetown doesn’t get much of a taste of the rowdy colorful fun of Pride. But this should give us a little bit of it.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• This list of Instagram-able spots around Georgetown oddly leaves out GM’s home, which must have been an oversight.
• People getting rid of their pandemic puppy 😢