The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Yesterday was the 130th anniversary of Georgetown’s dissolution as a separate municipality with the District of Columbia.
• The demolition of the Key Bridge Marriott is finally underway after years of abandonment.

A new Japanese restaurant is set to replace another Japanese restaurant that is in the process of moving up the block. The location, 1608 Wisconsin, was the home of Oki Bowl, which is taking over the old Jaco Taco space. The new restaurant will be called Koryouri Urara, according to a new liquor license application.

Here is how the application describes the new restaurant:

NATURE OF OPERATION
New Class “C” Restaurant with a Seat Capacity of 55, and Total Occupancy Load of 85, and a
Summer Garden with 25 Seats.

HOURS OF OPERATION AND HOURS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE SALES,
SERVICE AND CONSUMPTION
Sunday through Saturday 11am – 12am

(The application itself does not describe itself as Japanese but this generally reliable source does. And from Google Translate, I believe the name of the restaurant translate from Japanese to something like “Beautiful Small Dishes”)

This establishment is in my SMD, and so I will take the lead from the ANC in handling it. I do not anticipate any major issues, so I hope they can open soon!

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Write up of our last ANC meeting.
• I missed this from a few months ago, but here’s a fun article about living at Oak Hill Cemetery.

This is the time of year when parents of young children looking to make plans for next fall start applying to nursery schools. And with that in mind, please consider my heartfelt recommendation: the Children’s House of Washington.

The Children’s House of Washington (or C.H.O.W.) is a Montessori school located in the Dumbarton Methodist Church right here in Georgetown. It doesn’t get quite the same attention as some of the other nursery schools around Georgetown, but my daughter had three wonderful years there, and I can say with confidence that it was absolutely one of the best decisions my wife and I have made for her.

Teaching children 2-6, the school follows the Montessori method, which may be unusual for some people. In Montessori, students pursue their education at their own pace, working on their skills via a variety of “work” activities in which they have been trained. It would seem that it should be chaotic, but well run Montessori classrooms hum with productive activity as the teachers move from group-to-group ensuring that they are on track with whatever task they’ve chosen. And C.H.O.W. is one of those productive Montessoris.

The school attracts a great mix of families. Most are from the Georgetown neighborhood, or a neighborhood close by. Many are international families, here either permanently or for a few years. Most of my daughter’s friends from C.H.O.W. speak (at least) two languages. And regardless of whether they are international or not, the families were all incredibly lovely.

I can also speak from experience that the Montessori method works. My daughter moved on to Kindergarten already reading and comfortable with math and other important areas. And she has continued to thrive ever since. The arts program is also superlative and instilled a creative drive in my daughter that has lead to a house full of projects too precious to throw away.

It is a wonderful, small, and affordable school right here in the heart of Georgetown. If you are looking for a preschool (either for now or next year) I highly recommend you check out C.H.O.W. Drop me a line if you want to learn more!

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Theoretically DPW crews are on their way to finally collect the leaves in west Georgetown. Their collection so far has been abysmal and we are continuing to push them to collect all the leaves, bags and Christmas trees they have missed. I regret that this year has been so bad and I hope our pressure will result in improvements soon.
• All that said, it looks like we’re in for a decent accumulation of snow midweek, so it might be worth while regathering whatever leaves have spread around your block before the snow falls. This might help limit the icy (and slippery) patches of leaves for the near term.

“Take this with a grain of salt” is an old expression. I’ve heard of different origins for it. With one, the idea is basically that you are being fed a meager piece of meat/information, so only a small amount of salt is necessary. For that reason, some people object to the modification that some piece of information should be taken with a giant grain of salt, since that would suggest it’s a more substantial meal. According to wikipedia, though, the phrase has its origins with Pliny the Elder, who published a recipe book with a method of how to avoid being poisoned. The recipe called for a grain of salt. And so with that origin, it’s not necessarily contradictory to advise more salt, since it might be necessary to counteract a higher dose of poison/false information.

I mention that because (barring some dietary restrictions) you should take the following information with some substantial amount of salt.

And with that intro, I turn to the subject of today’s article: an update from the Department of Parks and Recreation on the multiple capital projects we have going on in Georgetown (and Burleith) right now.

The first is Book Hill:

This project was originally included in the budget two years ago will repair the fencing, stairs and irrigation for the park. It will also upgrade the tables and chairs at the top of the hill. According to the DPR materials presented Monday night, it is currently in the design phase with construction taking place sometime this year. Frankly I have not heard any news about the design being done and I am skeptical the work will be done this year.

Next up is Duke Ellington Field in Burleith:

According the materials, construction will start this spring and will end by the summer. There are still outstanding complaints from neighbors about parking and lights that DPR has said they will work through. Whether that will delay the completion date is to be seen, but a safe bet would be yes.

Next up is Jelleff:

This will be the most significant of the various capital projects in Georgetown. It will involve completing demolishing and rebuilding the rec center. And it has a budget to match: $28 million. The project is still getting final design review through Old Georgetown Board, but it will likely look something like the previously issued plans. The materials state that construction will start this summer and continue through late 2026. For what it’s worth, I think these timelines are somewhat more reliable than for the other projects (but I’ve been burned on that many times already).

Although the work is centered on the rec center, DPR has stated that Jelleff pool will be closed during the construction. I believe the field will remain open, but I am not certain of that.

Not for nothing, but I should point out that S St. is going to be an absolute nightmare over the next couple years. There will be this construction. Dumbarton Oaks has its own projects. A new development with a dozen or so townhouses is going to be built immediately to the west of Jelleff. And a developer is doing major work on one of the houses on the south side of the street. There’s no sugar-coating it: this will be a huge pain in the ass for residents. It will be great when it’s all done, but in the meantime….

Finally, Volta Park:

I have written about this project a bunch, especially since joining the ANC, as it is in my district. After publicizing multiple supposed dates when the construction would begin (going back to 2023) I ultimately gave up passing them on since they proved unreliable time-and-time-again. So keep that in mind when I tell you that on Monday night they promised that construction would start this spring and would be completed by the summer. Personally I would not bank a great deal of hope on those dates, but who knows? Maybe Charlie Brown will finally punt that football?

I wish I could be more confident in this information, but experience has shown that these projects just keep getting delayed for no discernible reason. I think they will ultimately get built, but when is really hard to say right now.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Marriott-owned Canal House hotel on 31st St. set to open this month.
• Some business ins and outs.

Today for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m investigating an amusing series of photos from the DC Historical Society. They come from their Emil Press collection, which I’ve featured before. These particular photos are labeled simply “‘Hippies’ in Georgetown”. They appear to have been taken in May 1967.

The first photo, above, shows a couple of gents walking by the National Bank of Washington, which used to occupy the northwest corner of Wisconsin and M. The facade looks different now, but you can see from this older photo that that is how the south side used to look like:

Of course the next question is: are these really hippies?

I’m not expert, but I’d probably agree the tall guy on the right qualifies, but I don’t think I’d call the other guy a hippy if he weren’t next to Mr. Leather Fringed Boots.

The next group of hippies is standing in front of 3279 M St. I believe the buildings they’re standing in front of were demolished for the Eton Court development. It looks like a diner on the left, an interior decorating shop in the middle, and some other restaurant on the right.

But to the more important question: are these guys hippies too?

I was going to call the guy on the left a borderline case, but then I saw that he’s barefoot. So definitely a hippy there. The other guys a bit shaggy and sporting cool shades, so I’ll grant him hippy status too, if not just because he’s hanging out with a barefoot guy, and that’s pretty standard hippy behavior.

The last photo gives a bit of a more intriguing hint of what’s going on. It’s a hippy looking guy (of the collegiate sort) giving an interview in front of the old Little Tavern burger shop at N and Wisconsin. He’s surrounded by a couple more hippy looking people with at least one police officer looking on. For a moment I wondered if the date of the photo wasn’t wrong and this was part of the May Day anti-Vietnam War protests. But looking at photos from that day, it just feels like a different year and a different occassion:

Photo by Washington Area Spark.

So I would guess this was some other protest, which seemed to be happening a lot that month:

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Long planned replacement to Paolo’s finally moving forward.
• Great update on various building projects around Georgetown.

Welcome to the February Northwest Georgetown ANC Update!

Although I grew up in New England, I’ve been living in the DC area for over 25 years now. And in that quarter of a century, I’ve gotten a bit soft with regards to harsh winters. The nice thing about DC winters, though, is that just when you start to get sick of them, they’re already on the way out. And with that (and an eye on the extended forecast) I can say that spring is already on the way! Pitchers and catchers report next week!

Leaf Collection

Despite the fact that spring is right around the corner, for many of us autumn is still sitting on our curbs. The leaf collection this past year has been abysmal. In our SMD two over arching failings are evident:

1. DPW crews failed to collect bagged leaves
2. DPW crews didn’t collect just about any leaves north of Q St.

To the first issue first: the messaging from the city was confusing and conflicted on the question of whether residents should bag the leaves. Some sources suggested it was ok, others said they should not be used. (This is, of course, doubly confusing since for the rest of the year, DPW always insists you bag your leaves if you want them collected).

I was advising people to not bag the leaves since the primary way that the DPW crews collect the leaves is with this massive suction tube, which doesn’t really work with bags. But, again, some messages suggested the bags were fine. And, frankly, some people have no other choice but the bag the leaves given their house configuration.

So we ended up with dozens and dozens of bagged leaves sitting on the street for months now:

The bags are not designed to survive weeks and weeks of winter weather. And as a result many are breaking open, spilling the leaves on the sidewalk.

I walked the neighborhood taking photos of each collection of bags with the goal of submitting 311 requests to have them taken away. But the process is so cumbersome and the number of bags so high that I had to give up. The ANC is pushing DPW to come back and collect the bags en masse. But if there is a group of bags by your house, it would be helpful to file a 311 request to have them removed.

Which brings me to the second failing: that they simply missed many blocks. Walking around the blocks before the first snow storm hit (and supposedly after DPW had performed the first round of leaf collection) it was clear to me that they had not come through. Here are some photos from early January:

This is clearly not a case of mixed messaging. No crews even tried to clear these blocks. As far as I can tell, no blocks north of Q St. were addressed at all.

In fairness to DPW, the snow storms can at least excuse the fact that the second phase of leaf collection is being delayed somewhat. But it is starting now and I have been pushing them to make sure they don’t miss these blocks again. And, as discussed above, we will also push them to take the bagged leaves as well.

I’ll keep you updated on this!

WMATA Bus Changes

Last month I wrote at length regarding the forthcoming radical changes to the Metrobus network. I’ve since learned that the plans have been tweaked from the ones I discussed then. Please see this article detailing all those changes. In short, the tweaks are:

• The Wisconsin Ave. line will be like the current 30 Series, with one line ending at Foggy Bottom and the other going to Union Station
• The D2 replacement will travel through Dupont more like the current route does rather than the more circuitous route that was previously proposed
• The G2 replacement will no longer go to Union Station, as had previously been proposed, but will head to Howard University (like the G2 currently does)

These are smallish tweaks, but I want to reiterate that the overall changes coming to the Metrobus network are truly transformational. If you are at all a Metrobus rider, it is imperative that you start getting familiar with the changes now. There still is no clear timeline for when the changes will be literally and figuratively rolled out, but they are likely to be introduced sometime this summer.

AT&T Construction

In December I discussed how contractors for AT&T were ripping up 33rd St. to build a new trench, despite the fact that the street was repaved just one year before. I’ve since confirmed what I suspected, that this was part of a massive project across the city. Here is a partial map of the course it is taking through Georgetown:

If you’ve travelled up Wisconsin in the middle of the day recently and been forced into one lane: this is the reason. I don’t know how far up Wisconsin they are traveling, but it is a fairly massive project, all so one other telecom can sell people Internet service.

Beyond the hassle of the construction itself, the patch job they are leaving behind is completely unacceptable. It’s coming away in some places and creates a bumpy surface everywhere. It is particularly dangerous for cyclists and other two wheel vehicles as the uneven surface is often right where they tend to travel. The contractor is supposedly coming back to perform street “restoration” starting later this month. I am trying to find out whether that simply means a better patch or a complete repaving of the block. In either event, residents will have to put up with yet another disruption as a massive for profit corporation comes back to (maybe) clean up the mess it created.

The contractor is supposed to be at the ANC meeting Monday night and will hopefully answer these questions and give a better idea of what timeframe they are working with.

ANC Meeting

Speaking of that ANC meeting, it will take place at Visitation next Monday night at 6:30 PM (with a Zoom option). One additional item I want to highlight is that request from Romania for embassy parking along Wisconsin Ave. The eastern European country has acquired the former Long and Foster building at Wisconsin and Reservoir. It is in the process of converting it to provide consular services (the actual embassy will likely remain at Sheridan Circle). They are requesting about 2-3 spaces on Wisconsin to be reserved for embassy parking during business hours. I am disinclined to support this request since the building already has about ten parking spaces. Parking along Wisconsin this block does not normally get super filled up, but that’s all the more reason that they don’t need special treatment. It will be discussed at the meeting.

The agenda can be found here.

Have a great February and just remember that spring will be here soon!