The Georgetown Metropolitan

Five years ago, in a deal that still leaves a bad taste in GM’s mouth, the city entered into an agreement with Maret School to renovate the Jelleff field. In exchange for Maret moving the pool and building an artificial turf field, the private school was granted a generous easement to give it exclusive use of the fields during prime hours. The easement was to last ten years, we’re halfway to its extinguishment.

Don’t get GM wrong, the fields are beautiful and the pool is great. When the property was owned by the Boys and Girls Club, the pool was not open to the general public (outside the club’s programs), and the fields were often in rough shape. In 2009, the city purchased the property from the Boys and Girls Club. At the time, the club was apparently in the midst of an RFA process to allow a private school to renovate the fields in exchange for certain use privileges. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown student dies in Dupont fire, in unlicensed apartment.
• Cat Cafe opens June 20th.

Volta Park

During pretty much any heavy rainfall, like we received yesterday, GM’s street floods. As in, the sidewalk turns into a river two inches deep. Basement steps on GM’s street regularly turn into waterfalls.

That’s a problem, but not the one GM wants to talk about today. The problem is that all that water, which accumulates so fast, goes down the storm drains.  In the old parts of DC, like Georgetown, the storm drains and the household sewage lines are merged. And on nights like last night, they get overwhelmed.

Rather than back up the sewage into our homes, the system overflows into Rock Creek and the Potomac. It works, but it’s terrible for the environment. And the EPA sued the city’s water authority in 2004 for this practice. The agency-now known as DC Water-settled with the EPA and agreed to take remedial measures. Continue reading →

Photo by Payton Chung.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown restaurants among the winners at the 2015 Rammy awards.
• Living in a car-dependent sprawlscape is the opposite of “Georgetown-style”.

1500 block of 33rd St.

Today with Now and a Long Time Ago, GM visits a corner oft visited by tourists these days: 33rd and M. While it’s cupcakes that bring people these days, 100 years ago visitors looking to fix a flat tire might’ve stopped here.

The old photo was taken in 1922. (Go to Shorpy for more info on the photo). It shows the Potomac Garage (3307 – 2209 M St.) According to the sign on the side of the truck, if you wanted them “Just Call West 344”.

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Why Nixon hated Georgetown.
• The cream puff place at Wisconsin and Dumbarton will be open by August.

1500 block of 33rd St.

It’s that time again, and GM will today provide (and slightly update) his annual Intern’s Guide to Georgetown:

As year-round Washingtonians know, it’s that time of year again. Eager young interns have arrived in earnest droves to fill those couple inches on their resumes between their GPAs and their “other interests”. Many of these interns will be drawn to live and/or play in Georgetown. GM publishes the below crash course for interns each year:

To Live:

Even in the boom times, interns don’t get paid much. And these ain’t the boom times. So you’re probably living on little to no pay. Can you afford to live in Georgetown? Maybe. But you’ll have to look hard. You’re young, so you probably can’t even remember a time before Craigslist, so no need mention that. But there are other places to look too. The City Paper still has decent listings, but for the short term rentals that you’re probably looking for you may try off campus housing listings like you’ll find here. Good luck.

To Eat:

The Safeway should be on your weekly checklist. You can load up on groceries without going totally broke. For some variety, go to the Whole Foods up in Glover Park sometimes, or the Trader Joe’s in the West End. Or you could sign up for Car2Go and head out to Costco at Pentagon City to really make your dollar go far.

Or you could eat Chipotle every night. It’s up to you. Continue reading →