June 12, 2012 · 10:00 am

100 Acres Where?

GM forgot to mention last week that this Thursday, the ANC will hold a special meeting to discuss the agreement on the GU campus plan. So if you have questions or concerns, come out to Visitation this Thursday at 6:30.

GM sort of glazed over it last week, but one item probably deserves some more discussion (or at least some baseless speculation!). The agreement says that so long as relations go well, the parties will start discussing in 2018 the long term goals listed on Exhibit A of the agreement. And one of the goals listed under GU’s goals is “identify and develop next 100 acres”.

The agreement doesn’t give context for the goal. Given the timing, GM guesses the purpose of this new 100 acres is to relocate the hospital and medical school. But regardless of what purpose this 100 acres would serve, the bigger question that jumps to GM’s mind is: where the Hell is GU going to find 100 acres!?

For reference: GU’s main campus is 100 acres. There aren’t many available parcels close by that are that large. But there are a few:

St. Elizabeth’s

St. Elizabeth’s is a historic psychiatric hospital located across MLK Ave. in Ward 8. It has 350 acres spread over its west and east campuses. At one point the hospital served 8,000 patients. Nowadays it serves only a very small group of patients, primarily those determined mentally incompetent to face trail (including Albrecht Muth).

In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to consolidate its many offices around the DC area onto the west campus of St. Elizabeth’s. The District kept the east campus, and is planning to redevelop it. The east campus is 170 acres itself. So there’s definitely room if GU wanted to be an “anchor tenant” of the development. The city would probably be happy to make a deal with GU if it meant the construction of a top notch hospital square in the middle of the city’s poorest ward.

An alternative thought is this: DHS has dragged its feet actually moving to the west campus. GM has spoken with a senior DHS official who told him that they doubted the move would ever happen. It’s remotely possible that DHS might be looking to back out of the deal, and GU could step in. Continue reading →

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June 12, 2012 · 8:00 am

The Morning Metropolitan

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

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June 11, 2012 · 2:00 pm

The Georgetown Metropolis

Water St.

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June 11, 2012 · 10:00 am

Now and a Long Time Ago: Wisconsin and P

This week on Now and and Long Time Ago, GM stops by Wisconsin and P St. When researching last week’s post, he came across a site with old DC streetcar photos. One of which shows the “pit” that was once on Wisconsin Ave. at P St. The old Photo is from the Ed Havens collection.

Last week commenter Nemo explained the purpose of the pit:

 In fact, if I’m not mistaken, the Wisconsin Avenue streetcars changed over from underground “plows” to overhead wires and catenaries at the intersection of Wisconsin and “Q” Streets, just south of the West Georgetown School. Back when Metro first opened in the mid 70s, The Post carried a fascinating profile of one of the first class of subway motormen, who was probably in his 60s at the time. He had worked his way up in the old Capital Traction/DC Transit system, where one of his first jobs had been as a “pit boy” assigned to Wisconsin and “Q.” He sat in a hole in the street, and when a streetcar came to his station, his job was to unhitch the underground connection to the electric cable while the car’s motorman was ratcheting up the catenary to connect w/ the overhead wire. Must have been a h***ish job during the summer months.

According to the DC Trolley Museum website, there were pits across town. The other Georgetown pit was on the campus of Georgetown University, approximately where the south parking lot is. Continue reading →

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June 11, 2012 · 8:00 am

The Morning Metropolitan

Photo by Daquella Manera.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

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June 8, 2012 · 2:00 pm

The Georgetown Metropolis

1600 block of 33rd St.

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June 8, 2012 · 10:00 am

Details of the Campus Plan Agreement

Yesterday evening, the details of the agreement between the ANC, the civic groups and Georgetown University were finally made public. The parties had announced a deal Wednesday, but were still hashing out the finer points through Thursday.

Before getting into the details, the highest level takeaway is that while the agreement is a genuine compromise whereby neither side got 100% of what it wanted, the respective parties are very happy with the outcome. That we could actually get to this point seemed impossible just a few months ago. So kodus to all the parties involved and the power of mediation!

Now to the details:

  • GU agrees to move 450 students from off-campus to on-campus. This is up from the 250 it had come up to in its most recent offer. This number will be met by moving 65 students out of Magis Row by the fall of 2013 (Magis Row is a row of university-owned townhouses on the 1400 block of 36th St.) and then constructing 385 new beds by the fall of 2015.
  • The bulk of those 450 new beds will be found by converting the Leavey Center hotel to dorm use.
  • A new Georgetown Community Partnership will be formed by reps of the ANC, civic groups, and GU. This committee will hopefully provide the sort of periodic pressure release that GM has supported before. It will serve as a forum for addressing issues without waiting for the next ten year plan. Continue reading →

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June 8, 2012 · 8:00 am

The Morning Metropolitan

Photo by ThisisBossi.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

  • As cryptically hinted, the legendary Connecticut-Copperthite pie company is being revived in Georgetown under the decidedly less historic name “Shut Your Pie Hole”. Some aren’t excited about the name, but the only reason GM doesn’t like it is that if they went with the original name it would be the second Nutmeg state-themed restaurant in the city. Qui transtulit sustinet!
  • Need some expensive stones?

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June 7, 2012 · 2:00 pm

The Georgetown Metropolis

1600 block of Wisconsin Ave.

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June 7, 2012 · 10:00 am

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, so here’s the 2012 update:

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 still relatively new Safeway should be on your weekly checklist. You can load up on groceries without going totally broke. 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 Qdoba every night. It’s up to you.

Also, you’ll get pressure to eat some cupcakes. Try to act like a local and go to Baked and Wired instead of Georgetown Cupcake. There’s no line, and they’re better. Continue reading →

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