Packed ANC Agenda: Budget, Field Projects, Streateries
By • June 9, 2025 0 369
They tried. They really tried. The commissioners and presenters at the Monday, June 2, meeting of ANC 2E, the advisory neighborhood commission for Georgetown, Burleith and Hillandale, tried to keep their reports, questions and proposals brief.
But even with a prompt start at 6:30 p.m., the meeting’s first half — devoted to the convoluted D.C. budget and the just-released official report on streateries — did not conclude until 10 p.m.
Everyone seemed to agree that, while 2024 saw Georgetown’s “comeback,” 2025 has become a transitional — perhaps a transformational — year. The impact of a sudden, completely unexpected cut of about $1 billion (reduced to about $400 million) to the District’s already approved and ongoing 2025 budget caused major disruption in April and May.
The diminished funding, allegedly due to a mistaken reading of District budget rules by Congress, was supposed to be fixed immediately. But as Congress became engulfed in national budget debates, Mayor Muriel Bowser eventually proposed a new budget altogether, with immediate cuts to a wide range of what she called “important but not core” programs. On May 27, she presented it to the District Council (see separate story).
ANC 2E Chair Gwen Lohse expressed concern for whether long-committed funds to rebuild the Jelleff Recreation Center at 3265 S St. NW and the Volta Park baseball field, delayed because of a sinkhole on the property, are still in the budget. The mayor’s spokesperson basically promised to “get back on that,” adding that the mayor is working to reduce the red tape on finishing those projects.
The project to rebuild the Ellington School track and field and construct public bathrooms and meeting rooms in the two field houses is now underway, it was announced. The main concern: the untested lights to be built on unusually tall poles to better target on-field activities. With a few exceptions, the field is not to be used for competitive activities. But the residents want all the usage assurances, including access to the field houses and traffic and bus parking management, in writing.
As for what to do about improving, making permanent or terminating the streateries and sidewalk expansions established along M Street, Wisconsin Avenue and some side streets in Georgetown during the pandemic’s social-distancing phase, the District Department of Transportation’s “Proposed Permanent Streatery Guidelines” report was presented.
“The guidelines,” reads the report, “seek to strengthen the safety, accessibility and aesthetics of outdoor dining in public space” and outline “design requirements and the approval process for streateries in the District.”
The lack of planning for, attention to and enthusiasm for widened sidewalks not used for outdoor dining had led to the assumption that the expanded sidewalks will not be made permanent.
Concerns about streatery management came up repeatedly during the meeting. Former ANC Chair Tom Birch outlined a number of issues that he recommended should be committed to in writing, including: requiring each streatery to offer a served outdoor dining experience (not a picnic or fast-food area); setting standardized streatery size limits; fining streatery sponsors for encroachment onto designated parking spaces; and a commitment by D.C. officials that enforcement of streatery regulations will go beyond self-enforcement. This section of the meeting ended in applause.
Other agenda items discussed at the meeting included the probable exclusion from the D.C. budget of the restoration of the historic Foundry Branch Trolley Trestle in Glover-Archbold Park, a favorite project of Georgetown University ANC members for years. The fenced-off trestle is in danger of collapse and a special permit has been issued for its demolition.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority plans to change almost every bus route in Georgetown (see separate story). All commissioners agreed that the buses routed between downtown D.C. and over Key Bridge and up to Chevy Chase are widely used and depended on by many, including students, workers and seniors. Keeping a close eye on proposed changes to every route is essential.
Note: Zoning, Public Space and Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis updates were not covered by The Georgetowner.
