The Georgetown Metropolitan

1500 block of 31st St.

There is no municipal body called Georgetown. But once there was. From the founding of the District of Columbia, in 1801, until 1871, Georgetown was a separate city within the District. After the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, Georgetown and the City of Washington were merged together and with the surrounding Washington County to form a unitary body simply called the District of Columbia. There were many stated reasons for this move, but one of the main reasons behind it were, frankly, quite rotten.

GM came across this topic while reading Howard Gillette’s fantastic book “Between Justice and Beauty“, which tells the sad story of the negative impact Congressional interference has had on the people of DC. In one section, Gillette writes about the state of DC immediately following the conclusion of the Civil War.

In the wake of the emancipation of the enslaved peoples, radical Republicans in Congress took up the cause of the extension of the vote to Black men. After some failed attempts to pressure President Andrew Johnson into forcing the newly re-formed southern state governments to guarantee the vote, legislators like Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner turned to the District. Using the power of Congressional autonomy over DC, Sumner pushed for and achieved the vote for African American males in DC in early 1867. It took a Congressional override of Johnson’s veto to pass.

The first black votes in DC history were cast in a Georgetown municipal election just weeks after the passage of the bill.

As elections then took place in the City of Washington, race became a defining issue. Local radical Republicans reached out vigorously to the newly enfranchised voters and promised that the extension of civil rights was critical to the rehabilitation of a city torn by war.

In 1868, Sayles Bowen, a radical Republican, was elected mayor of the City of Washington with strong support from the black population. He quickly moved to make good on his promises of expanded civil rights and targeted social welfare spending. He pushed for the full integration of schools. When that effort failed, he pushed for the construction of new schools for black students. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• As GM reported a long time ago, Hinckley Pottery is planning to open a studio space on Blues Alley. Unfortunately they’ve run into a lot of complications and legal fights with their landlord. They seem like a good group, why don’t you consider helping them out?
• GM can confirm the Georgetown Running Company offers great advice about shoe selection.

1500 block of 33rd St.

                                                            Photo by Jenn Wurzbacher.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Breaking news: Georgetown has a lot of rats.
• GM was researching an article and came across this piece by a Glover Park resident about the “Georgetown Market War“. It’s a fascinating read.

1400 block of 33rd St.

As GM has written been covering, the Deputy Mayor for Education, Jennie Niles, is dead-set on sending Hyde-Addison school children to Meyer Elementary for two years during the school’s planned renovations. The primary complaints about using that building relate to its location: it’s about 4 miles away across the heart of the city and will cost children hundreds of hours of time every year traveling on a bus from the Hyde-Addison campus. But a video released in September calls into question the quality of the Meyer building as well.

Currently the students of Duke Ellington School for the Arts (DESA) attend the classes at Meyer while their campus is being renovated (to the tune of roughly a quarter billion dollars). At a conference run by the education non-profit XQ America, DESA students challenged the DCPS Chancellor, Kaya Henderson (who has since stepped down), over the state of their temporary location.

The video is located here and the relevant section starts at 46:00. Katie, a DESA student, asked Chancellor Henderson the following:

I go to Duke Ellington School for the Arts…our two buildings [Meyer] are falling apart. They’re dirty. A ceiling collapsed. Twice. A woman fell through the floors and we’re still in this building. Innovation in the other schools is amazing but what about the schools that you already have?

Henderson blames the problem on 40 years of deferred maintenance and the difficulty in catching up to the needs. But they key part of her response is this: Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Das gets Michelin recognition.
• Some speculation on the location of the proposed gondola station.

Montrose Park

Deputy Mayor of Education Jennie Niles should be fired.

That is the only conclusion you can reach after considering the shameful manner in which DCPS has handled the Hyde-Addison expansion project. The most recent disaster was well summarized in the Current this week, and GM recommends you pick up a copy and read it.

In short, as discussed by GM last week, Niles appeared before the Hyde School Improvement Team (SIT) last week to announce a decision on the location of a swing site for the school during the construction. Despite word from Jack Evans’ office that the mayor had decided to choose Hardy as the location, Niles announced that in fact the horrible choice of Meyer Elementary school–nearly four miles away across town–would be the location.

Oh, and the project itself was going to be significantly reduced, with the cafeteria and gym sharing an underground space.

The Current put a little more meat on the bone reporting that the mayor had indeed decided on using Hardy before Niles talked her out of it. Why? Niles didn’t say at the SIT meeting and she won’t say now either. Continue reading →