Holiday Decorations Need a Re-do

In Georgetown, it still looks a little like Christmas. Oh, wait – it’s March. Why in the world are some of the holiday decorations still up?

Lately, people have been talking about a future with gondolas across the Potomac, a Georgetown Metro station and other expensive projects coming real soon. It’s all very well to imagine a dazzling future, to think outside the box and think big.

But maybe we ought to do the right-now things better before getting to work on the future. We all know what the future is like: usually not much like the one we drew up 20 years earlier. We’ve seen what can happen with exciting, big schemes. Witness the not-yet-happening Purple Line and the downtown Silver Spring project. Witness the D.C. streetcar project – with missed deadlines and a continuing series of snafus, collisions and other problems that have the project on life support.

The 2028 Action Plan for Georgetown is being coordinated by the Georgetown Business Improvement District, the same entity in charge of the holiday lights and decorations.

To be honest, it was difficult to appreciate the presence of Christmas in Georgetown this past season. The two Christmas trees – across from the Four Seasons Hotel and at Francis Scott Key Park – were underwhelming. (And the one on the east side of town was only lighted two-thirds of the way up.) The lighting along M Street and Wisconsin Avenue also requires a serious rethinking.

Georgetown’s farsighted planners and leaders should be setting their sights on projects for today and creating a fresher, more hands-on approach to decorating for the holidays, which are the most important season for our merchants. 

Next Christmas, let’s at least get the decorations up and back down in more timely fashion.