Photo by Ajay Suresh.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s your weekly news round-up:

• I missed this, but the Dutch stroopwaffle place seems to finally have opened after a long delay.
• Waterside Drive closure will continue to cause added congestion in Georgetown.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m checking out another photo from the DC Historical Society. It’s a photo of Q and 31st from 1950.

In a lot of ways, the scene hasn’t really changed much in 75+ years. This stretch of Q St. still is a cathedral of trees with dozens of American elms still around:

The giant elm that used to be on the northeast corner of the intersection (and can be seen prominently in the 1950 photo) sadly came down within the last ten years. But many remain. I would guess that the skinny tall tree second from the right in the 1950 photo is the tall one you can still see today.

This is remarkable for a couple reasons. Of course it’s always striking to see the same tree standing in two photos so long apart in years. But it’s especially notable that they’re American elms. This beautiful tree once covered city streets across the country (hence why “Elm Street” is one of the most popular street names in the US). Its shape is especially well suited to city sidewalks. It has a vase-like shape that fans out at the top with a massive spread, covering a huge area with shade.

But they are susceptible to Dutch elm’s disease, which first reached America from Asia in the early part of the 20th century. But it really took off after WWII and it decimated the tree canopy of countless cities. It reached DC somewhat later than it did in the northeast or midwest. And an aggressive response from NPS and the Forestry Service meant that a lot more of them survived here than in other cities.

And Q street is one of the stretches that can brag of a particularly healthy group of mature American elms. So that’s why the photos are so alike.

And better yet, scientists have identified new sub-species of American elm, like the Princeton elm, that are seemingly more resistant to the disease. These new specimens have been planted along Q St. to eventually fill in the spaces left once the giants finally fall. That is what you can now see on the left in the new photo. (There’s also a bunch of them that were planted in front of the White House about ten years ago).

So with some luck and some time, this view will continue to be essentially the same for a long while yet.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s your weekly news round-up:

• New juice bar open.
• Canal Day returns this weekend.

This week on Georgetown Time Machine, I’m checking out another photo from the DC Historical Society. It was taken just west of the Old Aqueduct abutment.

While much of the scene is at least similar to what you’d see today, the obvious difference is that there’s a goddam freight train passing by.That’s because what we now know as the Capital Crescent Trail was for a long time a railroad spur known as the Georgetown Branch.

I’ve written about it many time before, but in case you’re new here, the train line ran from Silver Spring all the way down to where this photo was taken, and then onward to where the House of Sweden is now. It was a freight line, not a passenger one, and it was mostly used to bring coal to buildings like the West Heating Plant.

The tracks ran right down the middle of the road, as you can see from this striking shot:

(There are more great shots of this train line at this wonderful website).

The top photo was apparently taken in 1961. While they became increasingly infrequent, the last train rumbled away from Georgetown in 1985, i.e. the same year they were filming St. Elmo’s Fire up the hill. It’s wild to think the era of Brat Pack Georgetown overlapped with the last vestiges of industrial Georgetown.

Twenty-five years ago, in the wake of 9/11 Georgetowner Carol Joynt merged her background as a journalist with her then livelihood as a pub-owner and started the Q & A Cafe. For years the interview show was filmed right within the hallowed walls of that pub, Nathans. After an unforgiving landlord eventually sent the restaurant packing, Joynt eventually settled in at the George Town Club and kept going.

She starts her 25th year today with an interview with Carol Leonig, of the Washington Post. On election Day she will interview Chuck Todd. And on December 1st she interviews the head of GU Hospital Lisa Bolye. Call the George Town Club at 202-333-9330 for tickets!

Hello and welcome to your October northwest Georgetown ANC update! If there’s a theme to this month’s report, it’s progress!

Volta Park

The first quantum of progress we accomplished recently is with Volta Park. This past month the city finally installed a whole bunch of new “big belly” trash cans in the park:

This came primarily from the diligent efforts of (and financial contributions from) the Friends of Volta Park. The group has been asking for these rat-proof cans for years and it’s great to see those efforts pay off.

The city also added a new food waste bin that can collect both leftovers from picnics in the park (within certain limits) and residents who don’t use the pick-up service (or those that do and don’t want to wait):

Here is a video on how the food waste bins work:

All good progress for humans! (I like to imagine that a rat ANC commissioner is right now drafting his own constituent report complaining about this terrible development.)

The Lobby

Opening a little over a year ago, the Lobby bar at 1660 33rd St. became a nuisance to the immediate area almost immediately. When it was first proposed the year prior, the neighbors, the Citizens Association and I all were nervous about the impact the rear patio would have on the nearby residences. But rather than fight the license all the way to a hearing (a hearing we could lose), we negotiated a comprehensive settlement agreement that limited the hours that the bar could use the patio and put other restrictions on things like speakers and televisions.

But when the bar opened, it was as if that agreement didn’t exist. The patio would regularly remain open hours past the required closing time. The bar would sometimes use loud speakers that could at times be heard a block away. And it installed a large screen television in the patio to broadcast sports.

Let me linger for a second on that last part. The agreement was crystal clear that no screen of any sort was allowed on the patio. Despite this, the bar erected the TV shortly after opening. During the protest hearing described below, the owner, Rassam Rad, claimed that the TV was just there to show the bar’s logo and didn’t even have a connection to allow sports to be shown.

This was clearly not true, as shown by a photo taken by a neighbor1:

Despite repeated complaints to both the bar and the city, the behavior continued unabated.

Then soon after these problems arose, the bar’s license came up for renewal. (It came up for renewal so quickly because all tavern licenses get renewed at the same time). The neighbors, CAG and the ANC decided to protest the renewal given the record of noncompliance.

Long story already not short: We eventually participated in a hearing in the spring describing all the bad behavior of the bar and asked the ABC board to cancel the patio from the license entirely. (I’ve had basically zero complaints about the interior operation of the bar, other than how they manage trash, and have no issue with it continuing). After months of delay, the board finally issued an opinion last month somewhat in our favor.

The board did not eliminate the patio entirely, unfortunately. But it did reduce the hours by one for each day. So under the original license, the patio was supposed to close 10 pm Sunday through Thursday and 11 pm Friday and Saturday. Now it will have to close at 9 pm Sunday through Thursday and 10 pm on Friday and Saturday. They also will have to actually have the trash collected every day from the front of the bar, as it originally agreed to, and stop using the alleyway to store trash.

Of course this only matters if they actually live by it, or the city holds them to it. So maintaining diligence is essential. But a marker has been put down. Any further bad behavior could mean the license is revoked entirely. Let’s hope the bar takes the message to heart.

Cannabis Store

Speaking of that block, another ABCA issue is now brewing there. Next door to the Lobby someone is seeking a license to open a retail cannabis shop. The ANC has generally been amenable to these applications as they undercut and mostly destroyed the unlicensed pot shop market. Like with liquor licenses, we seek a comprehensive settlement agreement that establishes clear responsibilities for the licensee and has so far resulted in few problems.

The issue with this particular location is that it is too close to another licensed cannabis retailer at 1641 Wisconsin Ave. Under the law, no cannabis retailer can open within 400 feet (as a crow flies) of another one. These locations are about 375 feet apart, as the city’s own mapping software shows:

I pointed this out to ABCA when the establishment was first “placarded” (i.e. they published their intent to get a license). The ABC board agreed with me and the application was revoked.2

But then the applicant appears to have hired an architect (but not a surveyor) to submit a report that refutes both a basic Google Maps measurement and the city’s own geographic data. This new report concluded, conveniently, that the two buildings were actually 400.4 feet apart. This was submitted to the ABC board, which decided to defer any ultimate geographic assessment to a protest hearing and re-authorized the application.

I am certain this architect’s report is flawed. I am also confident that it constitutes a violation of DC law, since only licensed surveyors can do surveys, particularly surveys that are intended to be submitted to the DC government.

So in consultation with my ANC colleagues I’ve decided to hire our own (actually licensed) surveyor to prove once again that these two properties are too close to allow two cannabis retailers.

It’s important to stay firm on this. We need to send a message to individuals seeking to open here that this sort of BS won’t be tolerated. It’s unfortunate that the ABC board has already fallen for it. So it’s up to us to actually enforce that law as written.

Reservoir Road

And last in the list of progress is the paving of the 3300 block of Reservoir Rd. Until this last week, as far as I can tell it hasn’t been paved in at least 17 years. After incredible advocacy and diligence from its residents, the block was finally paved!

This will be more than a small improvement. Residents on this block have long complained that large trucks using the street create huge banging noises when they go over the many potholes. Residents were even worried about their foundations, the shaking was so bad.

And this week the city is planning on repaving the 3400 block of Reservoir Rd., which was also in rough shape.

So now it will be like riding on a silk carpet from Wisconsin to 35th St. Progress!

1

I attempted to have this photo entered as evidence during the hearing. The board refused. Their reasoning was that at that point Rad had conceded that there was a TV there and had agreed to remove it. I tried to argue that aside from that, the photo demonstrated that Rad had been lying earlier in the hearing when he said it wasn’t even able to broadcast sports. The Board didn’t see it my way and kept it out of evidence. But you can see for yourself.

2

How it got that far you ask? ABCA sent out an inspector with a measuring wheel. Since the direct line goes through the African Embassy and runs diagonally across Wisconsin Ave., the line he measured wasn’t as straight as it should have been.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s your weekly news round-up:

• Mt. Zion Church marks its 210th year.
• More on that Hulu show that was filmed in Georgetown.

The DC Council is finally moving forward on a proposal that would potentially increase the reliability of parking enforcement in neighborhoods like Georgetown. The bill, the Strategic Parking Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2026, would create a new reimbursable detail program for DPW ticket enforcement officers. This would allow organizations like Georgetown University and the Georgetown BID to pay for additional targeted ticket enforcement in designated areas. After years of fairly toothless enforcement since Covid, this could finally send the message that it’s not worth it to come and park all day on the residential streets.

How Would it Work?

Reimbursable details already exist for MPD officers. The way it works is that businesses, like a dance club, pay to have MPD officers come and work directly at the club’s location to provide extra targeted policing. It’s a win-win because the club gets added protection and the officers–who are working overtime when they participate–get extra money.

The idea with the new bill is to import this idea to parking enforcement. Since Covid there has been a steep drop in parking enforcement and (consequentially) a huge spike in people routinely ignoring the parking laws. My personal theory on this is that when the city completely stopped any parking enforcement during the early months of Covid, a lot of people who previously took transit decided that actually they liked driving better, so long as they weren’t getting ticketed. While enforcement was restored, it never reached the level it did previously, so the newly learned behavior stuck.

Wait, Why is Enforcement Still Down?

That’s somewhat of a million dollar question, but the main explanation I’ve heard is simply a question of manpower. We’ve learned that on most days there are only one or two ticketing agents working across all of Ward 2. (And none on Sundays). It would be impossible for a staff so small to ticket people often enough to actually dissuade them from parking all day here.

Think of it this way: if you park over the two-hour limit in Georgetown and you actually get a ticket, the fine is just $35. A monthly parking space in a garage in Georgetown probably costs around $250. Do the math: You’d have to be consistently getting 7-8 tickets a month before you’d start to question your approach.

DPW has a personnel shortage. It’s something we keep seeing across their operations, included trash and snow removal. So there are only two ticketing agents because that’s all there is, apparently.

So How Would it Work in Georgetown Specifically?

What would happen here would likely include Georgetown University and, possibly, the BID participating in the program. The idea would be that one or more ticket agents would be working only in Georgetown during certain hours. This could provide for the targeted and consistent enforcement that would make those scofflaws finally reconsider.

Of course there are a lot of questions and unknowns about this. The most obvious is, of course, if there aren’t enough agents to work the normal shifts, where would the new ones come from? The hope would be that the possibility of earning a lot of overtime could help DPW actually hire more officers (or get the existing ones to work more hours). This is obviously a big “if”.

Another question that came up at the ANC meeting the other night is whether this would benefit only parts of residential Georgetown. In other words, if Georgetown and the BID participate in the program, will that mean enforcement will only be directed at west Georgetown and the commercial areas? That’s possible. But as I pointed out at the meeting: the bill allows for organizations, such as citizen associations, to seek mayoral approval to participate. So CAG could possibly also participate in order to spread the enforcement around the whole neighborhood.

Another question is whether the next Mayor will embrace or even put this program into effect. Of the two “no” votes on the Council against this bill, one was from Janeese Lewis-George, the likely next mayor.

So there is lots to still flesh out, but I am hopeful that if this program is given a chance, it could dramatically improve the parking situation.

After years of a major overflowing trash problem (and, consequentially, a rat problem) the Department of Public Works installed new trash bins at Volta Park. This was accomplished in partnership with the Friends of Volta Park.

Unlike the previous open top trash bins, these new bins are fully enclosed and open with a pedal at the bottom. They are as rat-proof as a trash bin can be. Although it should be said that if they also become too full, people may continue their past behavior of placing trash on top of the bin, which will then attract rats anyway. So regular service from DPW or DPR is essential for their success.

You’ll also notice from the photo above that the city has also installed a food waste bin. This enables food waste to be diverted from the trash stream and eventually composted. Lots of residents current participate in the curb-side collection of food waste (they’re the small orange boxes you may have seen on the sidewalk). This is a popular program but participating is strictly limited due to capacity. With the new food waste bin, however, anyone interested in composting their food can participate.

Here’s a video explaining how it works:

The two bins shown at the top are located right off of 34th St. in the northwest part of the park. There are other new big-belly trash bins around the park as well, like by the ballfield:

This will hopefully bring a huge improvement to the trash and rat situation in Volta Park (and the surrounding blocks). But, as I mentioned above, that success is absolutely dependent on the city adequately emptying these new bins. To that end, if you notice any of them overflowing, please contact 311 or email me at 2e02@anc.dc.gov.

And thanks again to the Friends of Volta Park for being instrumental in getting these bins installed!