The Georgetown Metropolitan

ANC 2E returns for their March meeting next Monday night via Zoom at 6:30 pm.

There are several interesting items on the agenda, including a reconsideration of the topic of requesting lower speed limits on side streets (which was initially discussed last month) and the question of the future of Hardy Middle school (discussed here yesterday). But the item that particularly caught GM’s eye is a discussion on whether to request DPW return to ticketing cars in Georgetown.

You may or may not know, but DPW has essentially stopped writing tickets throughout the city for many common parking violations. This unofficial policy was adopted for several stated reasons. The first is that with the pandemic, people are having a tougher time taking steps to keep their cars properly registered. For example, if you just moved to DC, getting new DC plates would involve a trip to the DMV, which was considered too much of a burden (at least as of last year when this policy was quietly rolled out). And since DPW ticket writers couldn’t tell whether a car without DC plates (or a Zone 2 sticker) was a genuine resident who simply had not been able to get properly registered or just an out-of-towner, they stopped writing tickets for violating the 2 hour parking rule. Continue reading →

Photo by Thomas Hawk.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Jack Evans car was stolen. (No, not the blue Sebring).
• What the Georgetown professor learned when she became a cop.

3200 block of M St.

Georgetowners have been about the most successful DC residents in terms of obtaining the Covid vaccine. This conclusion comes from the release of data by the city detailing how the vaccine has been rolled out to residents by neighborhood.

As GM has explored previously, the city breaks Georgetown into two neighborhoods for the purpose of health tracking: Georgetown and Georgetown East. (“Georgetown” is west Georgetown, plus Burleith). And East Georgetown is doing particularly well. As of yesterday, 925 East Georgetown residents have received both doses of the vaccine, which represents 6.6% of the population. This makes the area the fourth highest across the city in total numbers and second in terms of percentages.

West Georgetown lags a bit. On that side, 296 have been fully vaccinated, representing 3.4% of the population. The total number puts it in the bottom half citywide, and as a percentage basis about in the middle. Continue reading →

Photo by Victoria Pickering.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• That lovely Second Empire home at 32nd and P finally sold.
• 47 students living in the neighborhood tested positive for Covid over the last week.

3200 block of M St.

A small working group formed by DC Public Schools to address overcrowding at Wilson High School is considering among its options to convert Hardy Middle School into a new high school.

This process, described to the community over the weekend by ANC commissioner Kishan Putta, is still very early and could result in a very different final product. But here are some of the ideas on the table:

The city is contemplating purchasing Georgetown Day School’s lower campus on MacArthur Blvd, which the private school no longer needs. If that deal happens, then one option would be for this campus to be converted into a new high school middle school [ed: there is some talk about adding a high school here, but the DCPS materials only discuss adding a middle school]. This is needed because Wilson High School is overcrowded. A new high school could take all the kids from Hardy, who currently feed up to Wilson.

Under that scenario, Hardy would remain as is. Continue reading →

Photo by Vincent.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GU students upset with lack of clarity concerning spring classes on campus.
• Biden appears to have chosen Holy Trinity as his parish, echoing the choice of JFK.

1500 block of Wisconsin Ave.

DC Urban Turf reported this week that a new apartment building is being proposed for the corner of 1805 Wisconsin Ave., just north of  S St. The new building would occupy the lot currently occupied by the Sherwin Williams paint shop, the vacant space next door, and the adjacent parking lot.

DC Urban Turf reported that the proposed building would have 35,000 square feet of residential space (no word on how many apartments that would consist of). It would also have 10,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor.

As GM has written about previously, this stretch of Wisconsin Ave. trails most other parts of Wisconsin in terms of economic activity, with storefronts remaining vacant for years. Adding more residents will inject much needed demand, which will hopefully encourage more stores and restaurants to take over those vacant spaces. Moreover, there is a housing crisis in DC. It’s easy to scoff at the idea that adding (likely) expensive housing in Georgetown will help address that, but that’s misguided. Every unit added in Georgetown relieves pressure on the housing markets in other neighborhoods, which relieves pressure on yet another set of neighborhoods, and onward from there. Continue reading →