The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Joe Flood.

While GM was enjoying his holiday break, he was almost pulled back into service by a story that made all of Georgetown look bad. That story related to a small group of cranks discussing their efforts to thwart the city’s experiment with so-called dockless bikeshare providers.

Specifically, as reported by Martin Austermuhle of WAMU:

Here are the two more egregious emails from the discussion:

Dear Friends,

At the community-wide meeting recently held about the experimental dockless bicycle program being run by DDOT Mr.. Sam Zimbabwe from DDOT advised that if dockless bikes were found which were illegally or inappropriately parked  that 311 could be called to have them removed.  I tried it the week after Mr. Zimbabwe made the announcement and the 311 operator with whom I spoke did not have a clue about what I was reporting and refused to take the report.  This morning I observed one of the Ofo bikes illegally parked in Rose Park and I called 311 to report it.  I’m happy to say that the 311 operator took the report as “an abandoned bike” report.  I received an e-mail confirmation of the report with a report number.  I will pass the report number on to Mr. Zimbabwe.  If you make such a report I would also suggest that you forward the report number to Mr. Zimbabwe.  His e-mail address is:  sam.zimbabwe@dc..gov.  I can’t believe that we have to waste City time and money, via the 311 system, on these ridiculous and unsafe bikes and I hope that the Attorney General’s Office will look into this program.

I have had to call 311 every night this week (leading up to Xmas Eve Sunday). 

When I come home from work, the bikes are all over the sidewalk and in the street. An elderly neighbor hit her head on a bike as she fell, suffering a massive bruise. 

These bikes serve no purpose whatsoever.

We have informed our neighbors to call 911 immediately when you see someone using the bikes, and to snap photos and videos of all individuals using the orange, green, yellow and now RED bikes. 

I didn’t call the real police @911 when my neighbor slipped, but now whenever we see anyone (male or female) using these bikes, we call 911 and report “suspicious activity” 

Provide a physical description of the rider

Color of bike

Direction of travel

And state the assailant suspect is “acting suspicious”

Since Sunday, we have noticed a DRAMATIC decrease since initiating these calls directly  to MPD 2D. 

This pearl-clutching even made the national news. And the headlines simply write themselves: “Rich Georgetowners Don’t Like Outsiders and Complain Like Children to Keep Them Out”. This is an easy article for people to write because it only reinforces what every one already thinks about Georgetowners in the first place. It’s why against all evidence, people still believe racist Georgetowners thwarted a Metro station (they didn’t, although some, like Eva Hinton, took credit for doing just that).

It should not have to be stated–but apparently it does–that it is not ok to call 911 when you see someone do something entirely legal just because you don’t like that they are choosing to do the thing you don’t like them doing. In fact it is itself a crime.

Calling the police to report that someone riding a bike you don’t like to report that he is acting suspicious and is a goddamn “assailant” is repulsive behavior and you bring us all shame to call us your neighbor.

An equal number of people wrote back on the listserv to object to the original emails, which is somewhat heartening. But the gentle pushback is only getting its shoes on by the time the Georgetowner cliché is literally halfway around the world.

It’s ok to not like the dockless bikeshare pilot. You might just be the type of person who hates bikes. Or maybe you don’t hate bikes, per se, but just don’t want to see the bikes on the sidewalk. There are definitely kinks to work out. Maybe all dockless bikes should have to at least lock to something (the Jump bikes already require this)? Maybe one parking spot of every block should be converted to a bike rack? There are problems, but there are also solutions. Above all else, the place you should be lodging your complaints is DDOT, not the police.

Trying to sabotage the pilot by illegally wasting the time of 911 call center employees and police officers is not acceptable. When you do this, we all look bad. Cut it out.

Photo by Victoria Pickering.

Happy New Year! Here’s just some of the stuff that happened while GM was taking a holiday break:

• Historic alley dwelling approved for single family home.
• Sadly, the overlooked but reliable Unum closed in December.
• Also the Daily Grill closed.
• El Centro had a fire.
• Sports Zone filed for bankruptcy and is look to sell its assets. (GM believes they only rent the M St. space).

It’s normally this time of year when GM looks back to see what articles he wrote garnered the most attention. So here it goes, from 10th to 1st:

10:     Boulangerie Christophe to Open this Weekend

GM wasn’t sure what to expect with this restaurant, given its long delay in opening and its location in a bit of a no-mans-land for restaurants. But it’s good! And people seem to agree because this whole year it is buzzing with activity. Even though Georgetown has lots, and lots of pleasant cafes, there was still demand for another. Bienvenue!

9:      Capital One Buys The Old Nathans Building for a Metric Ton in Cash

The neighborhood was shocked to find out that not only was Under Armour not going to occupy the newly renovated old Nathans building, but a bank was buying it. And while it wasn’t clear right away, it sure seemed likely that the bank was going to turn it into some sort of a weird cafe/marketing platform.

GM’s seen what the future Capital One Cafe could look like and it’s….not bad? Certainly not good, in the sense of what great potential that property has. But another ok coffee shop is not the worst thing in the world. Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Bouche de Noel’s are incredible and you can get them in Georgetown.
• In case you’re wondering, the Georgetown GLOW installations will run till January 7th.

The C & O Canal

Welp, look at that. Nine years ago this very day, the Georgetown Metropolitan began its new life (after having been a newspaper in the 1820s and 30s).

Lots has happened to Georgetown and GM over that time period that it’s hard to really take it all in. In many ways, Georgetown is lesser than it was in 2007. We’ve lost so many great stores and restaurants. Just think what was still around back then: Nathans, Furins, a freaking full-service professional photo lab, a bunch of college bars (well ok, they’re not all losses), and countless small but priceless stores like Appalachian Spring or Antiques of Georgetown. Continue reading →

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The story behind Moby Dick’s House of Kabob.
• The life of a Four Seasons concierge.

3200 block of M St.

GM will be shutting down for the holidays later this week, but in honor of the snow from last weekend, here’s his little film he made a couple years ago from a similarly beautiful snowfall. Enjoy!