The Georgetown Metropolitan

Montrose Park

There are a couple former schoolhouses in Georgetown that have been converted into condos. And you can buy up one of them when then come available every couple years. But if you want to own the whole school, you’re day has arrived: a former boy’s school on P St. is for sale.

And when GM says “former” he means really former. Like 180 years ago, former. According to the listing, the home was a boy’s school in the 1840s. Hopefully by now they’ve washed out the stench. Continue reading →

Photo by Bill Starrels.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Damn, this house is ridiculous.
• Back when the only thing alarming a crowd at the waterfront might present was a chance of a surprise proposal.

1200 block of 30th St.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM was looking through the Henry Wagner collection at the Historical Society of Washington, DC and came across something he’d never heard of before: the Georgetown Poor House.

If you’ve read pretty much any book by Charles Dickens, you know that poor houses were facilities were the poorest residents of a community could go and live. The accommodations were notoriously spartan and the residents were expected to provide labor in exchange for the housing and food. But GM had never heard of such a place being in Georgetown. Turns out it wasn’t quite in Georgetown.

The Georgetown Poorhouse (also known as the Poor and Workhouse) was located in what is now Glover Park. Specifically, it was located just to the east of where the Guy Mason rec center now stands. It was built by the city of Georgetown in 1832, when this area was part of Georgetown. Continue reading →

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Another case of drivers ignoring commonsense, placing far too much faith in their GPS and ending up in the canal.
• The Starbucks is closing. No, not that one. Or that one. No, not that one either. The other one.

3100 block of P St.

Ward 2 needs new leadership, and the candidate best positioned and qualified to provide it is Patrick Kennedy.

Kennedy can unite the ward around a powerful and inclusive agenda of ethics reform, crucial housing growth, stronger schools, and better transportation options. He has served as a successful commissioner on the Foggy Bottom ANC since 2012, and has been selected chair of the commission five times, including this year. He has won plaudits and endorsements from commissioners across the ward. This includes three of the four Georgetown commissioners who have made endorsements. And earlier today, Phil Mendelson, Chair of the the DC Council–a person with whom the next Ward 2 councilmember absolutely must have a good relationship–endorsed Patrick.

Patrick has wide support, ranging from the business community to progressive organizations like Greater Greater Washington and the Sierra Club. This reflects Patrick’s success in building bridges between multiple parties to leverage the limited power of an ANC to achieve meaningful success, such as saving Francis-Stevens school from closure and brokering an agreement for a new and vital helipad at GW Hospital.

And if you hear Patrick speak, you are immediately impressed with the depth of knowledge he brings to the task of governing. He would immediately enter the job with a strong background in just about every topic a councilmember will encounter. And his track record demonstrates how quickly he’d get up to speed with those issues he isn’t already well versed in.

But, let’s face it, the primary concern GM has heard from his neighbors about this election is who can beat Jack Evans? And on that front, the answer is clear: Patrick Kennedy is best positioned to defeat Evans and spare our ward from the embarrassment of allowing the ethically addled Evans to steal back the seat he just quit in disgrace. Don’t take GM’s word for it, look at the polling. In a crowded election, Kennedy would draw almost twice the votes of the closest rival, Evans.:

• Poll results:
  • Kennedy 18%
  • Evans 9%
  • Grossman 8%
  • Fanning 6%
  • Putta 5%
  • Zhang 4%
  • Pinto 2%
  • Hernandez 2%
  • Undecided 44%

The biggest takeaway is this: Kennedy has the best shot at defeating Evans, but Evans can still win this, especially with so many undecided voters, a long ballot, and a likely low-turnout voting day. So it’s all the more important to get behind the candidate who is best positioned to prevent that, and that’s Kennedy. It would be a tough choice if the best positioned candidate to beat Evans were one with little experience or a questionable grasp of the challenges facing our ward (which describes several of the other candidates), but luckily that’s not a dilemma we face.

Patrick is the best candidate to bring a new day to Ward 2. Vote Kennedy.

Voting Information

As GM has mentioned before, there will be two elections for the Ward 2 seat. The first is the Democratic primary, which is the de facto general election for the seat. The winner of this election will almost certainly win the general election in the fall and take the seat starting next January. Two weeks after the Democratic primary is a special election to fill the seat until January. Kennedy is running in both, and you should vote for him in both.

The city is strongly urging people to vote by mail. You need to request a ballot to do so. Annoyingly, you need to print the request, sign it, and mail (or email) it to the Board of Elections. However, you can download an app (either for Apple or Android) and submit your request and signature via your phone or tablet. It’s still somewhat cumbersome, and frankly the city ought to just mail every registered voter a ballot. But it’s what we’ve got to do, for now.

C & O Canal

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is visiting a stout looking horse. This particular horse was a fire horse from Engine Co. No. 5, which was once housed at 3212 M St.

The photo comes again from the Henry Wagner collection at the Historical Society of Washington, DC. The info lists the photo as being from between 1900 and 1910. Engine Co. No. 5 occupied that address from 1883 to 1940. The building (which now hosts Aritzia) has quite a history. Prior to being a firehouse, it was the city hall for Georgetown, when the neighborhood was its own city. Continue reading →