The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Urban Bohemian.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Some background on the Exorcist celebration this Friday.
• DCRA now doing door-to-door inspections of off-campus housing to ensure that they’re up to code.

3000 block of O St.

GM was going to publish this article to remind you that the West Heating Plant open house was tonight. He just received notice that the meeting was postponed because the architect can’t make it. Here’s the post for some more background info:

Tonight at Georgetown Visitation, the public will be given an opportunity to review the state of the plans for the replacement of the West Heating Plant. The meeting will be hosted by the Georgetown Citizens Association and will also serve as a meeting of the whole of the ANC.

When last we heard publicly about these plans, this is what famed architect David Adjaye drew up for the project:

It would involve taking down almost all of the building, leaving just the 29th st. facade. The bulk of the current building, however, would largely be replicated in the new building. A park would be created on the south part of the lot. Continue reading →

Photo by Urban Bohemian.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Paolo’s wants Georgetown to love it again.
• Great write-up of the Peters Sisters tennis court dedication.

1300 33rd St.

Photo by Steven Vance.

Water, water everywhere and not a sufficient sewer system to handle it in an environmentally sound manner. That’s not just an excerpt from the world’s worst sailor’s poem; it’s a good description of Georgetown when it rains heavily. As GM will explain, that causes some serious problems that DC Water is under a court order to remedy. And to remedy the problem in Georgetown, they’re considering the creation of “Green Infrastructure” (“GI”). A lot of GI. So much that you might wake up one day with trucks outside your house ripping up the street and sidewalks, and you’ll shout “Nobody told me about this?!” Well, here’s your opportunity to be told before the trucks arrive (and possibly forestall those trucks from coming in the first place).

As GM has written about a (surprising) bunch of times before: our water agency (DC Water) is under a court order to remedy the pollution created when it rains too much. Here’s why: the pipes that take our rain also takes our, ahem, “waste” (i.e. poop). On a normal day, those pipes bring everything to the Blue Plains treatment plant and clean it up. But when they get overloaded, they dump the excess right into the Potomac.

DC Water is addressing this problem with a city-wide effort. They’ve already dug a couple fabulous tunnels to act as massive underground reservoirs, holding the rain water until Blue Plains can work through the backlog without dumping the excess into the river.

The existing tunnels are on the east side of town, focused on the Anacostia watershed. DC Water is also contemplating a tunnel along the Potomac. Originally it was to stretch approximately from the Kennedy Center all the way up past the Georgetown Waterfront park. But tunneling is expensive, and DC water is exploring whether a cheaper alternative can’t be used to supplement a smaller Potomac tunnel.

And that alternative is GI. The idea is that by capturing the rain before it even hits the storm drains, it will limit the need for a huge tunnel. So DC Water is going to focus its GI effort squarely on west Georgetown.

But what that means is still anybody’s guess.

Some hazy details, however, have emerged from meetings with DC Water: Continue reading →

Photo by Urban Bohemian.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• TD Bank robbed. (Funny(?) note: GM once participated in a fundraiser at the bank with a robbery theme. Can it be “too soon” when it’s three years before?)
• Story of GU’s Jester Kings.

1400 block of Wisconsin Ave.

Just a reminder: The rescheduled Volta Park Day will take place this Sunday from 1pm-4pm. Wear you’re costume on and keep the Halloween party rocking through the weekend! The annual East v. West softball game will take place at 12 pm. See you there!

Photo by Urban Bohemian.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Some more info on that “technical cashmere” shop that’s coming. (Which, by the way, GM reported on back in September).
• The search for the missing partner to the famous Yarrow Mamout painting hanging in the Georgetown library.