The Georgetown Metropolitan

1800 block of Wisconsin Ave.

As GM has detailed here several times before, Hyde-Addison elementary school is planning a significant expansion. It will add a gym (which the school lacks), a more significant library, a cafeteria that can fit more students, and several more class rooms. The expansion is crucial to the school’s future, which has grown in leaps and bounds over the last couple years. It will be a beautiful addition once it’s complete.

But due to budget confusion, just when it gets done is up in the air. It is absolutely critical that construction start right after the school year ends this June. Unfortunately, the expansion is only clearly funded starting next fiscal year (i.e. October). A delay of five months, might not seem like much but it puts many things into limbo. For instance, it’s not clear that with a delayed construction that the school will be able to fully function next year.

And if you’re like GM and have a three year old, it’s particularly troubling if the project isn’t approved to start in June. That’s because with the addition of the Pre-K3 program next fall, many spaces in the following year’s Pre-K4 program will be taken up by this year’s lottery. If, however, the construction timeline is clear, then the school can give parents like GM comfort that it can use the completed expansion for an additional Pre-K4 classroom in the fall of 2016.

Moreover, there’s always a chance that if the project slips further back that it may get delayed indefinitely. If you like the success that Hyde has achieved recently, you will appreciate the need for a modern campus to reflect the quality teaching the school is providing. Continue reading →

Photo by Mel Peffs.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Having filled up on bargain retail, the mall now wants more restaurants. (GM’s Glover Park readers won’t agree, but GM hopes the ejected Glover Park Hardware considers setting up shop in one of the remaining open spaces).
• More details on that cannonball.

3000 block of R St.

There are some place, mostly in the deep South, where the Civil War never ended. Well you can add Georgetown to that list! (Not really)

A homeowner on Cambridge St. hired a chimney sweep to clean their flu. What did they ash-covered cheerful chimbley sweep find? A freakin’ Civil War cannon. From an public safety alert:

The fire department has confirmed that a potentially explosive Civil War Cannon Ball discovered in a fireplace on Cambridge Place.

The Military has been called to remove the ordinance.

30^th St between R & O is closed. Please avoid this area.

You can’t make this up…

NBC reported that the homeowner actually found the cannonball months ago and only yesterday alerted the authorities to the possibility that it could still be explosive.

A couple questions come to mind, like, how the hell did a cannonball end up in a chimney in Georgetown? And how the hell has it not been found for over 150 years? Why hasn’t this house burned down due to an egregious failure to adequately clean the chimney? Continue reading →

Photo by Mel Peffs.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM is hearing that the old Nathan’s building (which was bought by Under Armour owner and Georgetown resident Kevin Planck) is under review for a interior gut job with an eye towards retail conversion. So, yeah, probably going to be an Under Armour. Really depressing.
• Another profile of Dog Tag Bakery.

3200 block of O St.

Photo by Luca Pascotto.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Rave review for Meridian Health spa.
• GU prof obsessed with DC flag.

3400 block of N St.

For so long the cupcake has dominated the cheap luxury food market around DC. With Georgetown Cupcake snagging a national reputation, and others-most notable Baked and Wired-staking a claim on the hearts of locals, the cupcake has stood alone.

Except, wait, no. The macaron was supposed to have dislodged it right? Well, no bother, because a new pretender is due to arrive: the cream puff.

GM has heard that a chain bakery that specializes in that treat is going to open at 1332 Wisconsin Ave. (most recently the home to a series of failed frozen yogurt shops). GM was not told the name of the chain, but was told it was coming from New York. The only restaurant that fits that bill is actually an originally Japanese chain known in the U.S. as Beard Papa. GM has no verification for this, of course. So take it with a grain of salt. Continue reading →