Exorcist Steps by NatalieTracy.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
On Tuesday, a tiny electorate sent Vincent Orange back to Council (despite GM’s clear instructions to the contrary). But it was with little help from Georgetown, which went heavily for Republican Patrick Mara.
Here are the numbers:
This may support the widely held suspicion that Georgetown is a hotbed of Republican voters. While Georgetown votes more Republican than the District at large, it’s still typically votes overwhelmingly Democratic. For instance, while Georgetown gave about 16% fewer votes to Obama than the rest of the city in 2008, it still gave him about 75% of its votes.
GM thinks that this election is a perfect argument for the adoption of the instant run off system, an argument he’s made elsewhere. The way that would work is that you would rank the candidates by your preferences. If one candidate doesn’t get 50% of the first choices, then the last place candidate is thrown out and the second preferences of his or her voters get spread out to the other candidates. If that doesn’t put a candidate over the top, then the process is repeated until it does. Continue reading
Filed under Government
Photo of last night’s storms by Brownpau.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
This week on Not So Long Ago, GM heads to the heart of Georgetown: Wisconsin and M. And there’s is only one difference on this block from 1993 till today, but it’s a significant one: where the fancy BCBGMaxazria now is, a Burger King once stood.
This block is particularly appropriate to consider after yesterday’s post on chain restaurants in Georgetown. When considering the relative merits of independent restaurants versus chain restaurants, it’s important to remember that there are big differences between chains. While Pain Quotidian and Paul Bakery are not unique to our neighborhood, and thus lend the neighborhood a little bit of a generic vibe, they’re still miles better than a Burger King.
This block echoes the changes made in the first Not So Long Ago, when GM discussed how the Restoration Hardware used to be a Roy Rogers. Like the BCBG store, you may not particularly care for Restoration Hardware, and it might be a soulless chain, but in GM’s opinion it’s still better than a chain fast food joint.
As GM said in response to complaints about the loss of good and cheap eats: we’ve got good and cheap eats with local character to boot, Wingo’s. Continue reading
Filed under Not So Long Ago
Justice William Douglas arrives in Georgetown after his famous hike by NPS.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The other day a few of GM’s readers lamented that the new Paul Bakery restaurant that is to open next to the Banana Republic is a chain. While it’s fair to complain about the lack of genuinely exciting or even interesting restaurants in Georgetown, one of the things Georgetown’s definitely not is chain-dominated.
As of GM’s latest count, there are 126 restaurants in Georgetown. Of those, only 20 are part of a big chain. An additional 5 more are part of a regional chain (i.e. Five Guys). So even if you lump the regional chains in with the national chains, there are still only 25 chain restaurants in Georgetown. That’s less that 20%. (And the number of chains is unchanged from last year, while the number of independent restaurants has increased).
Is the Georgetown restaurant scene a little threadbare? Absolutely*. Does it seem like no new and interesting restaurants open here? You bet. But that’s a product of a lot of forces, only some of which are controllable. Continue reading
Filed under Restaurants
Photo by biberfan.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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