The Georgetown Metropolitan

Wednesday night, the Citizens Association of Georgetown hosted a fascinating evening talk with Eastbanc’s Anthony Lanier and the BID’s Joe Sternlieb. Honestly it was so packed with information and tidbits, that GM could hardly keep track. But here are some of the major take aways:

The reason Georgetowners are often disappointed in the state of Georgetown’s retail options is the Georgetown’s retail doesn’t need Georgetowners.

Sternlieb drew a comparison between Georgetown in 1990 and today. One of the starkest differences is that in 1990, Georgetown retail was equally dependent on Georgetown residents to be customers as it was dependent on DC residents generally, people from the DC region, and tourists.

Nowadays those first two categories are relatively insignificant to Georgetown retailers. Georgetowners don’t spend money at local stores like they used to. And DC residents have many more neighborhoods now to spend their money (and they also have shifted to online spending like Georgetowners). Georgetown retail still gets a healthy amount of money from regional customers (mostly Arlington residents, according to Sternlieb). But by far the largest category now is tourists.

This is a problem for many reasons. The first is that restaurants that target tourists don’t have to be very good. There will be a new crop of tourists next week. That turnover presents another problem. Georgetown has to constantly market itself if its primary customer base is brand new every single weekend.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Continue reading →

Photo by Olli Thompson.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Alexander Graham Bell lived here.
• Chez Billy Sud already getting good reviews.

3200 block of O St.

Photo by Jacquesofalltrades.

Well DC only took a small part of GM’s advice on Election Day (yay Elissa Silverman!) but how did Georgetown vote?

Mayor: David Catania

The city didn’t agree with GM, but Georgetown did. It went for Catania 53% versus 36% for Bowser (which is almost the exact reverse of how the citywide results stacked up). Carol Schwartz picked up 6%.

At Large Councilmember: Anita Bonds and Elissa Silverman

Hey, Georgetown agreed with GM here too! Bonds, the only (identified) Democrat took 17% of Georgetown’s vote, but Silverman rode that GM bump to 14% of the vote. The next closest vote getter was Marc Morgan, the Republican, with 10%, because yeah, we’ve got just about the only Republicans in the city living here. Continue reading →

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• History of the one wood Queen Anne Victorian in Georgetown.
• “Washington Marriott Georgetown” is not in Georgetown.

1500 block of 33rd St.

Tonight the Citizens Association of Georgetown is hosting a fantastic evening talk with Eastbanc president, Anthony Lanier, and his former employee, BID President Joe Sternlieb. They will be speaking on the status of commercial development in Georgetown. How’d we get here? Where are we going? Why can’t we get a hardware store, etc.?

The last time Lanier spoke for CAG, it was a packed house. He spoke at length about his past, how his vision came about, and what he’d like to see in the future for Georgetown. The crowd ate it up. Continue reading →

Photo by Mark Andre.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM wrote this update before the election results were in. So YAY WE DID IT!!!/Oh Well, we gave it a good fight.
• BID-initiated non-profit moving ahead with plans to acquire a new canal boat.

3100 block of P St.

It’s that time of year again, when people start to wonder what the hell are those giant grain brain-shaped fruit around Georgetown. As in past years, GM is ready with the answer, as reprinted below:

This time a year, if you wonder around Montrose or Volta Parks you’re bound to find on the ground weird softball-sized green fruit like the one above. People are often so struck by the sight of the fruit, they pick up one or two of them and bring them home. But what are they, you ask?

Despite their green color, they’re oranges. Osage oranges, to be specific. They are grown by Osage trees, which line the Parrot rope walk. These trees are prevalent in the Great Plains states, where they are often planted along hedgerows. Traditionally, the pliable but strong nature of this tree’s wood made it valuable for fence posts and archery bows. Continue reading →