Photo by Daquella Manera.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by Focused Until Successful.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by Flicker Clicker.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Last night the Zoning Commission held its second hearing on GU’s proposed campus plan. You can watch it here (sorry GM can’t embed it for some reason, and you’ll have to install Microsoft Silverlight to watch it, but it’s worth it).
The main attraction of the night was the testimony of the Office of Planning. As discussed here, that office issued a report devastating to GU’s position. So it was very interesting to here what they had to say about their report.
The main speaker for OP was Jennifer Steingasser, who was apparently the main drafter of the report. Her testimony begins around the 1’12” mark of the video.
In her speech she emphasized several aspects of OP’s report. She explaining that she welcomed GU’s move from using an average to an absolute in calculating the student cap. But she argued that rather than use either of the methods suggested by GU or the ANC, such as the full-time equivalent calculation, they should simply count the number of students absolutely.
She explained that OP rejected the GU hospital element of the plan because it was clearly just a placeholder and none of the specifics had been fleshed out. She stated that any major development there should be handled by an amendment. Continue reading
Filed under Zoning
As mentioned here on Monday, GU has amended its proposed campus plan as the Zoning Commissions hearings approach. The changes can be found here, but here’s a quick list of them:
There has been a lot of teeth-gnashing around the Internet since these changes were proposed, but GM thinks a lot of that frustration stems from not understanding the context of the situation. It is GM’s opinion that GU stopped seriously trying to win over the neighbors and the ANC a long time ago. As soon as it became clear that the anti-GU groups were not going to accept anything but a significant reduction of students living in the neighborhood, GM believes that school started playing to a different audience: the Office of Planning and the Zoning Commission.
Because in the end, those are the primary parties that will decide the fate of the campus plan. The Zoning Commission will be the party actually deciding it, but it will be greatly influenced by the Office of Planning. This represents a change from ten years ago. Back when the last GU campus plan was being submitted, it was the Board of Zoning AdministrationAdjustment that decided the case.
And the BZA actually ruled against GU during the first go around. In 2001, it approved the campus plan by modifying it to set an enrollment cap at the 1990 levels. GU appealed, and in 2003 the DC Court of Appeals overturned the BZA decision and sent it back for rehearing.
The second time the BZA heard the case, it swung dramatically back in favor of GU. Much of this has to do with the fact that the minutes to the original hearing were not well kept, so there wasn’t much of a factual record for the second BZA to rely on (GU successfully blocked CAG’s attempt to add to the record the second time around). Second, the BZA had a different composition by the time it heard the case again. The second BZA review resulted in, among other things, GU having the higher undergrad cap it requested and no overall cap. Continue reading
Filed under Zoning
Today for St. Patrick’s Day GM thought he’d broach a more somber topic than you normally see on St. Patrick’s Day. The topic: the Holy Rood Cemetery on Wisconsin Ave. This cemetery is the final resting place of generations of Irish-Americans (and other groups) who once lived in Georgetown. GM brought this up a couple years ago, but now seems like a good time to repost the article because absolutely nothing has changed since then. So without further ado, GM presents “A Pity on a Hill“:
On a hill overlooking Georgetown sits a shameful display of neglect on the part of Georgetown University: Holy Rood Cemetery. Built by Georgetown’s Holy Trinity Church in 1832, the cemetery has a strong connection to the neighborhood’s history. It is the final resting place of generations of Georgetown’s German and Irish Catholics as well as up to 1000 slaves and free Black residents.
And today it is a mess.
Grave stones are toppled left and right. Weeds grow through the cracks. The overall feeling you get visiting it is that it has been abandoned. Check it out:
Vodpod videos no longer available.Filed under Uncategorized
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