The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Jacquesofalltrades.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GO VOTE! And strongly consider giving your vote to David Catania, Elissa Silverman, Tim Krepp and Paul Zuckerberg.
• Dog Tag Bakery is supposed to open today. It’s a great cause, check it out!

1500 block of 33rd St.

Tomorrow is the general election. If you haven’t already voted early (which is a great idea, by the way) tomorrow’s the day for you to do your civic duty. For Georgetowners, if you typically vote at Christ’s Church, you will do so again tomorrow. For the west side, however, if you typically vote at Ellington High School, the voting machines will be at the library due to the school’s construction.

And for what it’s worth, here is who GM thinks you ought to vote for:

Mayor: David Catania

GM detailed the reasons he supports David Catania last month. As the Washington City Paper said in it’s endorsement of Catania: “The city’s recent political history, [Catania] argues sharply, has been marked by a lack of urgency about fixing problems, and now sweeping change is what’s called for.Which, ultimately, sounds more accurate to us.”

Despite the countless construction cranes dotting the skyline and the budget surplus, the city is in a crisis. Affordable housing is evaporating, the federal glut of dollars that has fed our expansion is ending, multiple recent ex-councilmember sit behind bars, and schools across the city are still failing. Catania understands the seriousness of these crises and has the urgency to tackle them. Please give him your vote.

At Large Councilmember: Elissa Silverman

There are two spots available for At Large candidates. Anita Bonds is certain to win one of them. But the other seat is truly a toss-up. GM believes that you should give one of your votes to Elissa Silverman.

A former Citypaper politics writer, Silverman appreciates as much as anyone the corrosive effects of corrupt government, particularly the chummy pay-to-play practices common in DC. As detailed by WAMU, there is an endemic culture of corruption between some councilmembers and the corporations that fund their campaigns. Silverman, on the other hand, refuses campaign contributions from corporations. Period. This goes way beyond the legal standards, even after the new ethics rules kick in next year. It’s a testament to the fact that Silverman is dedicated to the premise that good government means not just avoiding conflicts of interest, but avoid even the appearance of conflicts.

Continue reading →

Photo by Bossi.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Great old view of downtown from Georgetown.
• Christ’s Church reverend signs off.

3000 block of R St.

Photo by VKKV.

Today’s Halloween; the first time it has fallen on a going-out-night since 2009. In 2010, GM looked into the crime numbers for Halloween (which he’s republishing below). The gist of it is that crime goes up on Halloween, whether it falls on a weekday or a weekend. But somewhat surprisingly, weekends generally have less crime than weekdays. So, statistically speaking, tonight might be slightly more dangerous than last Friday, it will be less dangerous than exactly a year ago. Of course, the reality is that regardless it’s still pretty safe to walk Georgetown streets (certainly not enough to be a grinch about buying candy.)

Here’s the article:

At the ANC meeting Monday night, Ed Solomon reported that Georgetown is experiencing a crime spike. GM’s crunched the numbers recently and concluded for himself that, yes, crime did tick up in the third quarter. But he was curious to know whether there’s a particular spike in crime in and around Halloween. So he went back and recrunched the numbers, this time he looked at crime on Halloween weekend (for the sake of clarity he chose the weekend before Halloween when it fell on a Mon-Wed, and the weekend after if it fell on a Thursday or Friday; in either case he looked at Fri-Sun for the numbers). Looking back to 2006, this is what he found out: Continue reading →

Photo by Elvert Barnes.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Avoiding traffic tonight. And watch out for the kiddies tonight!
• Stolen poodle found!

3100 block of Dumbarton St.

This Halloween there is going to be a (hopefully) inaugural Halloween walk on Book Hill. This event, organized by Georgetown parents, will run from 4 pm to 6 pm. It’s not quite the parade GM envisioned a while back, it’s more of an organized trick-or-treat route involving the businesses on Book Hill.

Here are the participating shops:

• All We Art
• Appalachian Spring
• Britt Ryan
• David Bell Antiques
• Bacchus Wine
• Susan Calloway Fine Arts
• Sherman Pickey
• Patisserie Poupon
• Salon Ilo
• Urban Chic
• Duo
• Comer and Co.
• Little birdies – P St off of Wisconsin
• The Phoenix
• Sabun Home
•  egg by Susan Lazar

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Photo by Caitlin.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• More on that stolen dog.
• Some GU students lost their experiment to the rocket explosion Tuesday.