The Circulator is nearly dead. Long live the Circulator.
A victim of deep budget cuts (that apparently didn’t impact the mayor’s obsession with building a wasteful football stadium) the popular bus program is set to cease by the end of this year. Although popular, the system proved too expensive–at least as measured by cost-per-rider–to keep afloat. An alternative, which was pushed by the ANC and many others, was hinted at at the time the cuts became final: ask WMATA to pick up the difference.
The argument makes decent sense, although it is not without its flaws. Many of the Circulator routes overlapped with WMATA bus routes. For instance, the Georgetown-Union Station route is basically the same as the 30 series between Georgetown and downtown. Of course, the overlap is not perfect. The Circulator goes to Union Station from downtown DC. The 30s series simply ends downtown (these days).
Nonetheless, the city and WMATA put forward a plan this week outlining how the replacement service would roughly work. At this point, the plan is only short term. It’s meant to bridge the gap between the end of the Circulator service and the introduction of the Better Bus Network next year.
The details for the Georgetown Circulator routes are as follow:
-For the Dupont to Rosslyn route, WMATA will increase weekend peak hours for the 38B route to create 15 minute headways.
-For the Georgetown to Union Station route, WMATA will merge the 31 and 33 routes and essentially extend the 30 Series to Union Station
Neither of these solutions is sufficient to substantially replace the Circulator service being lost. For the Dupont to Rosslyn route, the 38B doesn’t get near to Dupont at all. The closest it gets is K and 18th, nearly half a mile from Dupont. (For what it’s worth, it goes right to the Farragut Metro stops, so to the extent the line is looking for a Metrorail connection, it would have one).
And while the modified 30 series route may offer a single seat ride to Union Station, it does not even begin to replace the service frequency that the Circulator provides. For the vast majority of riders catching a bus on Wisconsin Ave., the destination is somewhere that the 30 series already goes. Extending the 30 series to Union Station will only help out a small number of riders. The loss of the Circulator frequency, though, will be felt by all riders. This plan does nothing to address that.
And as it stands, the Better Bus Network that is following this temporary plan is no better in terms of addressing this frequency problem. An analysis of the total bus service before and after the end of Circulator and the introduction of the Better Bus Network showed a huge drop off of overall service for Wisconsin Ave. riders. This is something that the city still needs to address.
The Old Georgetown Board agenda is always a great source of information for stores coming to the neighborhood. And with no meeting in August, the agenda for September is often chock full of new applicants. And this year is no different. Here is what’s in store:
Billy Hicks
This isn’t new, per se, because the restaurant itself was announced a while ago, but here is a look at what the new St. Elmo’s Fire-inspired restaurant will look like:
The existing building is not exactly the most attractive building on M St. (in fact, it’s possibly the exact most unattractive building on M St.) And I was afraid this project was basically lipstick on a pig. But by this design, at least, it looks like an actual improvement. We’ll see.
Lululemon
This is a slightly odd one. There is, of course, already a Lululemon in Georgetown at 3265 M St. And the company is applying to update the signage for this location:
But the company is also seeking approval for signage at a totally new location, 3077 M St. (the old Brooks Brothers space):
So I guess Lululemon is looking to double their footprint in Georgetown.
Warby Parker
Another existing store, Warby Parker, is also looking to either expand or move. There is an application to convert 3223 M St. into one of their shops:
The store is currently located next door. It’s unclear if they’re moving or expanding.
Arcteryx
This next one is a bit of a bummer but also genuinely funny. Arcteryx is coming to 3218 M St.:
The bummer is that this used to be J. Paul’s I knew long ago that the beautiful historic bar was long gone, but I held out vain hope that some sort of a similar restaurant would return. Alas.
What’s funny, though is this. When Arcteryx first came to DC, they chose City Center. At the time, they’re broker gave a pretty snide comment about Georgetown:
Edward Goldmeier of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank helped broker the deal. He told Washington Business Journal that, “with no disrespect to T.J. Maxx … when that starts to be the big face in Georgetown as opposed to what was originally proposed as a Bloomingdale’s, it does affect an outsider’s view of what’s going on there.”
Well T.J. Maxx is still here and just down the block from Arcteryx’s new location. I guess that’s not so bad for them afterall…
Hunter and Huntress
Something called Hunter and Huntress appears to be coming to 1665 Wisconsin Ave. Most recently this was the location of an unlicensed pot shop, but for many years it was home to the well loved Bean Counter coffee and sandwich shop.
I believe the new establishment will be an interior decorating firm.
Framebridge
Framebridge, the DTC framing company, has grown leaps and bounds since it was founded ten years ago. It’s actually got Georgetown roots. In its early days, its design offices were located on O St. And now it looks to be returning to those roots by opening its first retail location in the neighborhood, namely 1506 Wisconsin Ave:
It’s a Secret
Something called It’s a Secret is coming to the former bank building at Wisconsin and O. It appears to be some sort of a “medical salon”, which I believe is just a place that will give you IV drips:
Brasero & Floreria Atlantico
And finally, some sort of a restaurant is coming to 1066 Wisconsin Ave:
As I mentioned in my September update earlier this week, I am running for reelection to the ANC this November. Moreover, each of my ANC colleagues who aren’t graduating seniors at GU are also all running for reelection. But what’s unusual this year is that not one of us is being challenged for the position (at least not on the ballot).
There are a couple different ways to interpret that! I like to think of it as a show of confidence in each of our performances as Commissioners over this last term. Perhaps a more cynical view is that it’s a really tough position with no pay and only us idiots are masochistic enough to even want the job. Potay-to Po-tah-to I guess.
This is the first time that there will be no ANC2E seats in competition on the ballot this fall since 2012. Since then, there have been a handful of successful challenges against a couple incumbents as well as several open seats that drew multiple candidates (as was the case for me in 2020 and 2022).
As I mentioned, the exception to this consistency are the student seats. Joe Massaua and John DiPierri are both graduating in the spring and heading off to bigger, brighter things. As of right now, no candidates are on the ballot for their respective seats. This is not surprising. The ballot petition period takes place in the middle of the summer and requires the candidate to get 25 signatures from registered voters in their district. This is a minor challenge for the rest of the ANC commissioners who have to deal with residents being out of town. But it’s a major challenge for the students. So few students are actually registered in DC and fewer still are around in the summer. In the case of Joe Massaua’s district, it is literally impossible to get on the ballot since there are fewer than 25 people even registered in his district.
For these reasons, students running for the ANC generally have to run as a write-in candidate. This can result in an actually contested election, as it did for Massaua in 2022. Or it can result in literally no candidate running and the seat remaining empty until someone finally steps forward. I’m hopeful that later scenario won’t occur this year.
Hello and welcome to the Northwest Georgetown September ANC update! I hope you all had a great summer and are still enjoying its tail end. Although we had no meeting in August, I still had a fairly busy summer for my ANC work. So I’ve got plenty to catch you up on:
Tavern on 33rd St.
The most time consuming and significant issue I worked on this summer is responding to the proposing to open a tavern at 1660 33rd St., right where it meets Wisconsin Ave.
I discussed this in my July report, but here’s a quick refresher. The location has the appearance of a residence from the outside (and indeed there are residences in the second floor and the basement) but the property as a whole is zoned commercial. For that reason, no zoning relief is needed to open a bar here.
The applicant, Rassam Rad, is aiming to open what he describes as a speakeasy in the location. The application is for a tavern license. That is a liquor license that does not require food sales by the establishment (unlike the far more common restaurant license that does require a percentage of revenues to come from food sales). Rad also wants to use the rear patio as a “summer garden”, which is basically ABC-speak for “rear patio”.
And the summer garden is the most challenging aspect of the proposal, at least from the perspective of the surrounding residents. The ANC, the Citizens Association, three abutting neighbors, and a group of non-abutting neighbors protested the issuance of the license. This is typically a somewhat perfunctory move that enables the parties to enter into something called a settlement agreement. This is essentially an agreement that contains terms that the applicant consents to abide by in exchange for the parties dropping their protest.
In this case, however, negotiating terms that both Rad and the protesting parties could agree to was a challenge. We even participated in a mediation hearing run by ABCA to see if we couldn’t bridge the gap. I’m happy to report that we have an agreement in principle and are in the process of finalizing the language.
The provisions will govern how many hours the bar and the summer garden can be open (the summer garden will close earlier than the inside, for example). It will govern noise, as the applicant has agreed to certain standards of noise levels that, if followed, will almost certainly reduce the impact compared with the amount of noise that would be allowed if the license were issued without an agreement. (If an agreement were not entered into, the protest would go all the way to a hearing, which the ANC, CAG, et al could very well lose).
Like with most successful compromises, this end result will likely leave both sides a bit disappointed. But I’m hoping that when the bar opens it will ultimately be a gain for the neighborhood.
Two Notable Old Georgetown Board Projects
I will have two notable Old Georgetown Board projects on the agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting. I have tried to alert those immediately near the projects but in case I missed someone:
3327 Q St.
The first project is 3327 Q St. This is a house that is currently in the middle of a rather lengthly construction that was approved last year. It is a small house on a deep lot that is adding on to the rear. This image below shows: a) the previous condition (on top) b) the extension that was approved last year (middle), and c) the new proposal (bottom):
As you can see, the approved plans call for a two-story addition for a portion of the expansion and a one-story extension a bit further. The new proposal would essentially extend the two-story addition to the full length of the proposed expansion.
It’s an interesting case for a couple reasons. The first is that the first proposal for the currently approved plans called for a similar full two-story extension. But the OGB asked the applicant to reduce it to what got approved. This new application would be a bit of a second go at that first request.
The other reason it is interesting is that it’s a fairly substantial change while the approved plans are still very much in the process of being constructed.
The homeowner has expressed some extenuating circumstances necessitating the changes. And there’s nothing inherently untoward about either of these aspects. But I wanted to make sure people were aware and had their opportunity to chime in.
3246 S St.
The other building on the OGB agenda is 3246 S St. This is a building that certainly divides opinion:
It is an extremely 80s example of post-modernism. Walking through the house definitely reminded me of walking through homes that were new when I was a kid. The S St. facade does not quite relate how stylized the interior is. Is definitely looks like a house that the original Miami Vice could have been filmed at, glass blocks and all:
The owner, a real estate developer, acquired the property recently following the death of the long-term owner. He submitted a proposal in the spring to tuck in a third story by-way of a new mansard roof on the front section of the building:
Due to the peak of the existing roof, this original proposal did not actually call for raising the height of the building. Since ultimately the impact of these changes were overwhelmingly aesthetic, the ANC took no position and deferred to the OGB. The OGB, in turn, did not approve these plans and recommended the new construction not try to mix-and-match styles as the mansard roof would do.
So the applicant is back with these plans that would call for a higher roof for the front two sections:
You can see the changes a bit more clearly in this side elevation:
As I mentioned, the immediate neighbors have been notified, but if you have thoughts on the plans, shoot them to me at 2e02@anc.dc.gov. It will be on the agenda next week for discussion.
It’s somewhat unfortunate that, as far as I understand, a lot of that 80s interior will be removed. To generations that saw this style in the first go-around, there probably won’t be much love lost. But I would not be surprised if in a decade or so, architectural preservationists will lament the loss of this vintage 80s interior the same way we lament the loss of a Victorian Queen Anne. Unfortunately for this building, it’s currently in the uncanny valley where it’s old enough to be disliked for being out of style, but not old enough to be liked for being really out of style. I hope that the applicant saves and restores as much of the interior as he can.
Quick Updates
As mentioned above, the ANC will meet for its September session next Tuesday at 6:30 at Visitation (Zoom link here). Here is the draft agenda.
I’m running for reelection! I hope its a vote of confidence that nobody else is running for the same seat. Thank you to everyone who has been supportive!
Students Back!
With the arrival of September, Georgetown students have returned for the year. As I wrote last year, that may mean you have new neighbors on your block. This sometimes leads to conflict, but I find reaching out directly to the students first is a good approach. Many of these students are living independently for the first time in their lives, so there’s bound to be some growing pains. That said, remember to reach out to SNAP at (202) 687-5138 if there is a problem.
And, as always, if you have an issue you’d like my assistance with, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at 2e02@anc.dc.gov.
Tomorrow is the first day of August, and with it my annual break. Here is my paean to the eight month, see you in September!:
August is here. And it is perhaps the greatest time of year for Georgetown.
Sure, this month is tagged with the “dog days” of summer gibe. And the heat of July is a houseguest with its feet comfortably sprawled on our couch, with its bags not remotely packed upstairs.
And gardens get long in the tooth this month too. Black-eyed Susans wilt. Geraniums burst further out of their pots, knowing the end is near. Petunias get leggy and brown. Even in its overgrown state, an August garden is one succumbing to decay.
And despite the fact that school is still a month away, camps across the city shut down, as if we’re all French and heading off to the Cote D’Azur in our Renaults for four weeks.
But August is still one of the greatest times of year in Georgetown. True, the holiday season fills Georgetown streets with twinkling lights and festive greens. And surely the scent of magnolias and the sight of Yoshinos puts springtime on top. But August is close behind.
Because, in August, Georgetown is empty.
The streets are empty. You can park your car like it’s a suburb in the 60s. The pools are empty because the interns left. The sidewalks are empty because even tourists have better sense than to visit DC in the summer.
Despite the stifling, turgid air, you can breathe. You can walk into a restaurant at 7:00 on a Friday and get a seat. You can even walk on M St. on a weekend.
And like spring, it is great because it is brief. We don’t ultimately love Georgetown because it’s empty, but because it’s decidedly not. That restaurant walking you to a table would be out of business if it were like that year round. Those streets without parking in September mean more people coming and keeping our thriving businesses thriving. Quiet is nice, but too much is boring.
Knowing August is fleeting is the best way to enjoy it. So enjoy it, it’s already later than you think.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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