The Georgetown Metropolitan

Tonight is the June ANC2E meeting via zoom at 6:30 (link here). Two possibly fun topics will be discussed:

The first is the future of the former Dean and Deluca building. This building, which is city-owned, dates to 1865 and federal law requires it to be operated as a market. Last year, Jamestown was going to bring in a Brooklyn-based flea market to operate in the building, at least for a temporary basis. And then the pandemic hit, and well, it’s still vacant.

On the agenda is a discussion of a “retail proposal” for the space. Most in the community hope the city holds Jamestown to operating the market as a food market. But the fact that last year Jamestown was about to bring in a flea market suggests that it is not limiting its search to just food concepts. Tune it tonight to find out.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The home Jackie Kennedy moved into after JFK’s assassination is for sale.
• On Georgetown’s hot real estate market.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is returning again to the Willard R. Ross postcard collection. Specifically he’s checking out a photo from New Year’s Eve, 1928, of the Renwick Chapel in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Not a whole lot has changed of this scene ninety plus years later:

Of course one very significant thing has changed: the ivy. It covered the chapel in 1928 and is gone now. It’s unclear when the ivy was first grown over the building. It was described as “ivy-covered” in 1888 during the funeral of William W. Corcoran (who created Oak Hill Cemetery and commissioned the chapel):

The chapel was built in 1850 and designed by James Renwick in his famous gothic revival style. Growing ivy over it was probably in keeping with the ancient look Renwick was aiming for.

Good morning Georgetown here’s the latest:

• New book released documenting the history of GU owning enslaved people.
• Speaking of GU: Max Scherzer didn’t let GU commencement get in the way of his workouts.

Yesterday, the Dc Council committee on Ward redistricting held its first public hearing. It did not take long before the tensions around this process emerged. But (at least for yesterday) the discussion revolved around possible changes elsewhere, particularly Ward 6. This makes sense since the changes there will likely have to be the most drastic of this cycle. But Ward 2 will need trimming too. And GM considered this possibility last November. And this is what he wrote:

With the 2020 Census wrapping up, the contentious steps of reapportionment are on the horizon. And while DC sadly does not have any Congressional reapportionment to worry over, we do need to redraw the ward boundaries again. And given the huge population growth in other parts of the city, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Georgetown could rejoin Ward 3.

The reason to redraw the ward lines is that the city is required by law to maintain roughly equal populations for each. So essentially the city takes the total population counted by the Census and divides it by eight. That resulting number is the target population each ward must meet by either growing or reducing in geographic size. So, if a ward grew faster than the average, then it has to be reduced in size to bring its total population down.

But reducing or growing a ward isn’t done in isolation. That land has to come from or go to another ward, which itself might need to grow or shrink irrespective of what the first ward needs to do. So needless to say it’s a complicated matter! And that’s just talking about math and geography. It gets exponentially more complicated when politics enter. And next year will likely be an explosive year on the politics front, as GM will explain.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The plan to bring a floating canoe dock to the canal appears set to be approved.
• More on the new canal boat.