The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Runwashington.com.

Last night the ANC met for its November session. Thankfully it was a short agenda, but really all that means is that they’ll find a way to stretch out the proceedings (actually in all fairness they finished up relatively early).

Those Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad (And Excessive) Street Closings

The ANC has been making some noise for sometime about the ever increasing number of street closings in Georgetown for various marathons, 10ks, funwalks, etc. They have particularly been critical of events that show up at the last minute. These typically have a disproportionate effect on lower Georgetown, although as demonstrated last weekend when three Potomac bridges were out, they can affect all Georgetown residents.

So rather than respond on a case-by-case basis, which doesn’t seem to work, the ANC is going to start to take a more proactive approach with the city, and in particular the Mayor’s Special Event Task Force. It’s not clear, though, how much they’ll be able to convince the city to limit the number of events coming through Georgetown. Tom Birch had the perceptive point that working with other neighborhoods to convince the city would increase Georgetown’s sway (and conveniently make it less of a “whoa is Georgetown”-thing, which doesn’t win many sympathetic ears).

Ron Lewis was particularly concerned that these events be charitable and not a profit-making enterprise. Birch also suggested the city come up with some more locations that don’t affect residents (GM can’t think of many of those that aren’t NPS land).

So after spending a good five minutes railing against the creeping menace of races, the ANC turned to its next item:

Lawyers Have a Heart 10K

After listening to the commissioners complain about races, a representative of the Lawyers Have a Heart 10k race presented their plans for their next race. It will be in June 2011 and will involve shutting down K St., the Whitehurst, and Canal Rd. Continue reading →