The Georgetown Metropolitan

By GM’s estimation, Montrose Park is one of the most fabulous parks in the city. But for all its beauty, its tennis courts are in terrible shape. It’s a problem that’s only gotten worse over the years. Thus it was great news when GM heard that they are finally (hopefully) going to get renovated (eventually).

The courts at Montrose Park have a long history. The photo above is of Montrose Club tennis team in 1925, who apparently won the Suburban League that same year. Yet sadly, it seems as if the courts haven’t been cared for much more recently then that date. Continue reading →

Photo by Marc Andre.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GU trying to sell tickets with a marriage proposal package. This sounds like a terrible idea.
• Support earthquake relief and learn some Italian cooking at Via Umbria.

1300 block of 29th St.

Recently GM happened on a photo (above) he took in the middle of September 2013 of his street as a giant crane was being used to install his new HVAC equipment. What he noticed was how much worse the trees appear on this block than they do now, almost exactly three years later:

Continue reading →

Photo by Marc Andre.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Wingos is expanding to Adams Morgan.
• The old canal boat (which is not really that old) is finally going to be taken away as the massive reconstruction project begins on several locks.

1300 block of 29th St.

As GM wrote about last spring, the planned construction of a gym for the Hyde-Addison school will require the school to temporarily relocate (up to two school years). The Department of General Services (DGS) and DC Public Schools (DCPS) are pushing a temporary location that is halfway across town (the Meyer School at 11th and Euclid near Columbia Heights).

[If you don’t care about hearing the backstory, please skip ahead to the bold text below for GM’s call to action.]

This would be hugely detrimental to school population and the community has repeatedly demanded the planners find better options closer to Georgetown. It would require busing kids as young as three years old across town in the middle of rush hour. Google Maps estimates that in normal traffic this could take as long as a half an hour. That’s on top of whatever time it takes a family to get to Hyde and then load the bus. This will mean hours of educational time will be lost every week. Continue reading →

Photo by Geoff Livingston.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Peet’s Coffee at M and 33rd will open next week.
• Broken streetlights cited in connection with sexual assaults. (It should be pointed out that there’s no consensus among criminologists that increased street lighting does anything to reduce crime.)

1200 block of 29th St.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Of all the things GM has written about over the years, the topic that he is most proud about shining a light upon is the pernicious Dessert Deserts in Georgetown. These a places where you may have to walk up to two whole blocks to get to a frozen food purveyor. But what GM only recently realized is that focusing only on the availability of all frozen foods, he failed to recognize that as of right now no frozen yogurt shops exist in Georgetown.

There was a time when there were five different shops selling frozen yogurt: Ice Berry, the other Ice Berry on Wisconsin, Sweet Green, Pinkberry, and Sweet Frog. With the recent closure of Pinkberry, now all of these shops are either gone or have stopped selling frozen yogurt. Continue reading →