The Georgetown Metropolitan

Last week the ANC considered a resolution concerning proposed legislation on “right turns on red” (“RTORs”). GM mentioned this topic briefly in his preview of the meeting. In short: the Council is debating a bill that would make it the default that RTORs are not permitted throughout the city. GM was hoping the ANC would see the benefit in this proposal for pedestrian safety, but sadly the bugaboo of traffic won out. Nonetheless, the ANC eventually reached the correct position, if not a bit grudgingly.

The resolution adopted by the ANC calls for, among other things, the Council to exempt streets like M and Wisconsin from this change. Specifically, it discusses how at intersections like Wisconsin and M, there are so many pedestrians that drivers looking to turn right have to wait until the end of the light for all pedestrians to clear the intersection. The fear is that this would cause a back up of drivers. So then, the ANC concludes, drivers should be able to make that right even when they have a red light. The resolution does not, however, contemplate the fact that if there are a lot of pedestrians crossing M (and thus blocking a driver turning right from Wisconsin with the green) there would probably be a similar number of pedestrians crossing Wisconsin during the cycle when the driver would be turning on the red.

It’s the very fact that drivers have a difficult time turning with the green that makes allowing them to turn with the red so dangerous: there’s a lot of human beings legally crossing the street in front of them in either case. The ANC has it exactly opposite. Banning RTOR is especially necessary in places like Georgetown where there are a lot of pedestrians and drivers competing for the same bits of asphalt. This is why New York City never allowed RTOR in the first place.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Friends of Volta Park celebrated.
• GU rescinds mask mandate.

Tonight at 6pm Georgetown Main Street and ANC Commissioner Jenny Mitchell will be hosting an online discussion about the proposals for 1721 Wisconsin Ave.

GM wrote about this proposal in April. In short, a “ghost kitchen” would move in to the space that was previously Ledo’s (and is now Noosh). This would be essentially a commercial kitchen that produces food for multiple restaurants, some which may actually exist somewhere else and some which won’t really exist anywhere. The vast majority of the food produced by the ghost kitchen would be delivered to the customers via third party delivery companies (e.g. Uber Eats). Turning this block into a depot for Toyota Corrolas pulling illegal u-turns is somewhat concerning to GM, perhaps it is to you too.

Click here to register for the call. This is meant to be mostly informative, so even if you’re as concerned as GM, it would not be helpful to get up on a soapbox just yet. There’s a whole zoning application process for that…

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice article on the return of the canal boat rides.
• US Capitol Police officer indicted for a hit-and-run that occurred in Georgetown in 2020.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Acclaimed national reporter Ryan Lizza at this week’s Q&A Cafe.
• Final admissions bribery case involving a GU student goes to trial.

It’s that time of year again.

Several weeks ago, GM noticed some robins building a nest in his patio umbrella. Soon after four little blue eggs appeared:

And then about a week ago, three of the eggs hatched. All day long the mom and dad robins fly back and forth delivering worms and bugs to those three hungry mouths. (It seems the fourth egg didn’t hatch. The reason you don’t see it in the photo with the chicks is likely that often the parents will eat unhatched eggs.)

GM’s happy they set up underneath the umbrella. Two years ago another robins nest appeared in GM’s hydrangea tree. Sadly after the chicks hatched, the crows found them. Hopefully these new chicks won’t be found hidden away like this!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Yesterday marked the 151st anniversary of the end of the municipality of Georgetown, when it was folded in with the city and county of Washington into one unitary District of Columbia.
• Also, yesterday marked the anniversary of the official opening of the completed Capital Crescent Trail, connecting Georgetown to Bethesda.