The Georgetown Metropolitan

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.

It was just about a year ago that GM lamented the fact that the public pools were unlikely to open that summer. And it was just last month that GM was celebrating that the pools would be open this summer, albeit with a 50% capacity limitation. Well now the city has announced that the pools are opening on time this weekend and with no limits on capacity.

This is incredibly welcome news to residents who baked with little relief from the heat last summer. Georgetowners are blessed with two fantastic outdoor pools at Volta Park and Jelleff. And it will be fantastic to take a dip soon. The hours will be the normal pre-Covid hours: 11-8 on the weekdays and 11-6 on the weekends. Volta is closed Mondays and Jelleff is closed Wednesdays.

There will be reams of papers written debating whether closing outdoor pools in the middle of a pandemic was the right call or not (particularly when you’re opening restaurants for indoor dining at the same time). But for now, let’s take a breath and dive in!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• “Chambongs” (and other fancy booze) available at the Donahue cocktail bar.
• How Georgetown is reacting to “Georgetown”, the movie.

The DC Department of Transportation is pushing ahead with its plans to repair sidewalks throughout Georgetown with composite material over the objections of the ANC.

As every resident knows, while they are lovely, brick sidewalks can be hazardous. It does not take much to make them a tripping hazard. And growing tree roots are especially a problem in terms of pushing the bricks up. Historically, to fix this the city would occasionally come in and remove the offending bricks and replace them with an asphalt patch. This would often sit for months or years before the city would then get around to rebuilding that portion of the brick sidewalk.

Starting recently, the city began taking a different approach. It started using porous flexible pavement (PFP). PFP has the appearance of asphalt but is–as the name suggests–flexible. This has the benefit of allowing the sidewalk to bend around the growing tree root while still maintaining a smooth and safe sidewalk.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Apero opens in the former After Peacock Room space.
• GM can confirm: the canal is finally full of water.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is checking out another photo from the Willard R. Ross postcard collection. It’s from November 12, 1910 and shows a football game between Georgetown and UVA.

The game was taking place on Georgetown Field, otherwise known as Varsity Field. It once stood north of Healy Hall where now Copley and White-Gravenor Halls stand. It was built 1894 and remained until 1930. It hosted both the baseball and football teams:

Georgetown first started playing football in 1889, just twenty years after the very first college football game. The team first played on the old Georgetown Field, which was what was there before the stadium above was built. They spent a couple years playing at American Park (where the Nationals played at the time) before moving to the new Georgetown Field in 1894. They played here until 1920, at which point they moved to Griffith Stadium. They played there until 1951 when the team was disbanded. (It was reformed as a varsity sport in the 1970s).