The Georgetown Metropolitan

Come on out this Sunday to Volta Park for the annual Breakfast with Santa! Proceeds go towards improving Volta Park. As always there will be coffee, donuts, and crafts. Photos (printed on site) will be available for purchase! See you then!

Photo by Ian Stedman.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Fascinatingly bizarre art exhibit on Cady’s Alley.
• The recall effort to oust Jack Evans was thrown out for lack of obtaining enough valid signatures. The effort will be largely moot if the Council move forward with expulsion. However Jack Evans seems to think the failure to obtain enough signatures is a sign he should stay in the seat. (It’s not).

3200 block of Q St.

The Board of Zoning Adjustment met and considered again the variance application for Call Your Mother. This was a follow up hearing from an initial hearing in October. After some legalistic discussion, the BZA strongly encouraged the applicant to explore a slightly different approach and is scheduled to consider that alternative next Wednesday.

The application as it stood yesterday was for a use variance. As GM explained in the link above, they need to do this because the building is zoned residential (notwithstanding the fact it literally has never been used exclusively for residential purposes).  Variances are tough to obtain since the burden is on the applicant to show, essentially, how they are uniquely burdened by the application of the relevant zone. This is compared with special exceptions, which can be granted simply so long as it wouldn’t unduly burden the neighbors. Continue reading →

Photo by Marc Andre.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Washington Harbour explores new flood walls.
• The Board of Zoning Adjustment deferred its decision on Call Your Mother to next week (more of this later).

2900 block of R St.

In a stunning move yesterday, an ad hoc committee consisting of all of Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans’ colleagues voted unanimously to recommend that Evans be expelled from the Council.

This was just a preliminary recommendation to move the expulsion forward. At least one more vote is needed to make the expulsion official. That is preliminarily scheduled for December 17th. There is a further possibility that a third and final vote would be needed, which would push the process into January. But the proverbial writing is on the wall. Unless Evans can peel away two of his colleagues (eleven votes are needed for the expulsion), he will no longer be councilmember by February. Continue reading →

Photo by Geoff Livingston.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Every one of Jack Evans’ council colleagues voted to expel him (more on this later).
• Proposed apartment building on Prospect still getting push-back from Old Georgetown Board.

3200 block of N St.

As part of GM’s annual commercial survey, he likes to summarize the variety of cuisines available in Georgetown. Above is a chart showing the distribution for this year.

Unsurprisingly, the distribution hasn’t changed that much. American cuisine still dominates, with Asian restaurants, coffee shops and sweet shops closely behind. Continue reading →