The Georgetown Metropolitan

Eleven years ago Friday the Georgetown Metropolitan was born. Many, many posts and comments later, somehow GM is still at it.

It’s not always the most important stuff–and it’s almost certainly the least well proofread stuff–but GM hopes it’s been informative and maybe occasionally funny. GM feels blessed that what amounts to a simply hobby to him is enjoyed by so many other people. And he hopes to keep it going for as long as he can.

Thank you for reading!

Photo by Geoff Livingston.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• On top of the physical changes, the menu (and name) has changed a lot at Cafe Bonaparte.
• Update on the continued Verizon outages caused by a cable cut on 31st st.

1600 block of 29th St.

The Board of Zoning Adjustment met yesterday and considered again the zoning relief application of the Call Your Mother. Despite this being the third time the board heard arguments about the application, it still did not come to a decision. No decision will be made before mid January.

As explained in the link above, the BZA was considering a modification of the application. Instead of seeking a variance from use restrictions, the applicant was seeking a variance from the area restrictions which prevents them from taking advantage of the corner store rules. If they qualified for those, then they’d be able to operate as they like as a matter of right.

Before hearing arguments from the parties, the board made a decision to recognize one of the neighbors as a party to the proceeding. This enabled her to formally ask questions of the applicant, any witnesses and the Office of Planning. More importantly it enabled her to file additional materials for the board’s consideration. In order to give her time to file those materials, the board delayed its decision. Unfortunately after next week, it’s not meeting again until January. So no decision can be made until then. Continue reading →

Photo by Ashlyn Pai.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Winter Wonderland on Book Hill this weekend.
• Chez Billy Sud is definitely one of the coziest restaurants in town.

2800 block of P St.

To compensate for the fact that no clips of Georgetown made it into the first trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 (despite lots of filming here) GM thought he’d take the opportunity to run through some of the other notable movies filmed in Georgetown.

The Exorcist – 1973

Arguably the most famous movie filmed in (and about) Georgetown, The Exorcist still brings tourists to those iconic steps. The movie itself is a treasure trove of scenes of Georgetown in the early 70s:

Notice how much shorter the trees are here compared with today.

Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Another GU parent pleading guilty to cheating for their kid.
• Georgetown’s got three tourists traps that are actually good.

1500 block of Wisconsin Ave.

WTOP reported yesterday that WMATA is considering significant changes to its bus service for next year. On top of some fare increases, the agency is proposing to shutter dozens of bus lines. Unfortunately for Georgetown five of them go through Georgetown. While the agency is likely going to pitch the changes as rationalization or simplification, it almost certainly will mean worse bus service to and through Georgetown.

Most alarming of the proposals is the proposal to cancel the D1, D2 and G2 lines. The report states that the D2 and G2 would be “folded” into each other. The D1 would simply be eliminated.

There are no details of what that would mean exactly. The D2 runs from Glover Park to Dupont via Georgetown. The G2 runs from Georgetown University to Le Droit Park. They parallel for only a small portion of their respective routes. Presumably WMATA would not stop servicing Glover Park (although who knows with them) so the route from Georgetown to Glover Park would probably remain in the new route. And the route from Dupont to Le Droit Park would also likely remain. It’s what happens to the overlap that is a mystery. It could go along the current G2 route from 35th St. east. Or it could stick to the Q St. route of the D Series. Either way, people will likely have to walk further to get what isn’t even guaranteed to be any better service.

On top of this terrible idea, WMATA is also ending the 30N and 30S service. This is less of a surprising proposal. These are the last remaining routes of the former fully crosstown 30-series. WMATA has chipped away at this long ride over the years, substituting shorter legs. The report says the rides on the western end would be replaced with 31 and 33 routes. Only the 33 goes east of Foggy Bottom to downtown. This is all part of WMATA’s push to get people to transfer to Metrorail instead of riding all the way across town. It is proposing to introduce free transfers between buses and Metrorail to ease the sting.

An additional change is the cancelation of the D5 route. This route goes along M St. and out to the Palisades via Canal Rd. and MacArthur Blvd.

WMATA will claim that this all will improve service somehow. It will be a lie. It will be up to the leaders of the community to push back against this crap and assert that a neighborhood like Georgetown, where Metro doesn’t reach, must have as good bus service as is possible.