Chez Billy Sud to Take Over Café La Ruche Space

June 30, 2014

Restaurateurs Eric and Ian Hilton will open a Georgetown location, as they take over the former Café La Ruche space at 1039 31st St., NW, in early August. Chez Billy Sud will feature authentic Southern French cuisine, craft cocktails and French wine from the wine selection.

The new place is south of the original Chez Billy in Petworth that Eric and Ian Hilton own – thus, the name, Chez Billy Sud. They also run restaurants on U Street.

“We are very excited to open up a new location in Georgetown,” executive chef Brendan L’Etoile said. “We admire the location of the restaurant in Georgetown for the great potential that the area has. We are looking to accommodate anyone that comes to Georgetown and want to enjoy good French food.”

The interior design will remain the same, but plans include some changes to renovate the interior and replace the furniture in the patio. The menu of the restaurant will remain the same as the sister restaurant at Georgia Avenue.

“When the weather is warm, we will do a lot of light-cooking with olive oil. Once the weather gets cooler, we will do some richer cooking,” L’Etoile said. “We are excited about opening up a new location in Georgetown and carry on the legacy that Café La Ruche has made over the years.”

“Café la Ruche is not closed yet,” said Bill Starrels, neighbor to the restaurant and the local advisory neighborhood commissioner. “We will miss Jean Claude and Cafe LaRuche. He has provided years of good food and been a friend to his neighbors. Chez Billy will pick up the French flair and continue the French tradition.”

Being Green: Good for the Land and Your Body

June 27, 2014

The Green Festival, America’s largest sustainability and green-living event, was held by May 31 and June 1 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

At the festival, participants had the opportunity to listen to speaker address ways that helps to create more sustainable community.

In the presentation, “Strategies for Ultimate Vitality & Longevity with Nutrient Dense Superfoods,” presented by Renita Reitz, the nutritionist explained a way to rejuvenate the body by presenting the nutritional values found in antioxidant food.

“When you use water and hibiscus tea as a base, and sweetness that comes from mulberries, not only is your food all-natural but also has a detoxification effect.” Reitz said.

The nutritionist also stressed on integrating healthy fats and fiber as part of a healthy diet.

“Consuming four to six tablespoons of coconut oil or eating a whole fruit of avocado is highly recommended. Your body needs to accumulate healthy fats apart from all the fat you accumulate from eating meat products.” Reitz said.

As a part of Green Festival’s effort to raise awareness on eco-friendly environment, professionals presented practical tips on how to garden in a way that is beneficial to the environment.

“One of the most important things to remember when gardening is to find the beauty in ecological function — not merely on the color of the flower.” Kim Eierman said. “We always have to think beyond the garden itself and think about the ecosystem and embrace biodiversity.”

Eierman warned the audience of the detrimental effect that many of our traditional gardening practices can have on the environment.

“Some of our standard gardening practices are actually damaging to the environment,” Eierman said. She noted the American love affair with lawns, our tendency to plant in monocultures, our emphasis on exotic, non-native plants, and our frequent use of pesticides. “Every landscape matters.” said Eierman.

Gabriel Axel, a neuroscientist gave a talk on the experiences he had with yoga and the effects that yoga had on his life.

“Despite the busyness that I had with life, yoga is a great place for me to cultivate my mind, soul and body. Yoga can be defined as a way to harness our being to its full-capacity.” Axel said.

Axel also explained how his studies in neurology also helped him in establishing his personal goals in doing yoga.
“I had a personal goal in mind going into yoga, a sense of devotion to nature, to align our lives more to the nature’s harmony. And this goes well with the festival’s theme of green living as well,” Axel said.

Companies that are in line with the festival’s eco-friendly values were exhibitors, including the Veri Soda Company—a organic soda company based in San Francisco.

“We are an organic soda company. In every can of soda we make, we have fruit juices and natural extracts to replace the artificial chemicals that other sodas have,” said Leonard Freeke, the founder of the Veri Soda. He went on to explain how he started to develop the idea of an organic soda and how he managed to produce organic soda.

“The idea of an organic soda came to my mind to give my own kids a healthier soda to drink,” Freeke said. “And when I conducted an extensive amount of research in creating a healthy soda, it wasn’t so easy. But we found a way to adapt recipes of the original sodas—sodas that were free from artificial flavors and chemicals.”

Over the years, Green Festival has become a platform for companies and organizations come to showcase their green-living products and services, and where locals go to learn how to live healthier, more sustainable lives.

Submit Art to Georgetown BID by June 22 for C&O Canal Mural Project

June 23, 2014

The Georgetown Business Improvement District is inviting professional street artists to submit their proposals for art panels planned to be installed temporarily on the construction site of the Latham Hotel at the southwest corner of M street and 30th Street.

The interpretive theme for the project is the C&O Canal at Georgetown. Participating artists are encouraged to do their own artistic interpretation of the canal—Georgetown’s heavily visited, photographed area. Each installation will be displayed for six to eight weeks, after that the art board will be removed and stored by the BID.

The plywood panel will cover up a wall of the building facing M street until December which will alternate between the selected art proposals. The BID’s intention to install the art panels is to improve the overall streetscape of the street and discourage illegal graffiti drawings to happen on site.
The Latham Hotel was closed in 2012 to make improvements and repair water damage. In 2013, the property was purchased by SB-urban, which converted the property to a mixed-use retail and residential site.

All proposals must be submitted to Josh Hermias through email at jhermias@georgetowndc.com with the subject, “3000 M Street Public Art Proposal,” and be attached as a PDF file by 11:59 p.m., June 22.

BuddhaFest: Mindfulness for Stressed Washingtonians


The Fifth Annual BuddhaFest: A Festival for Heart and Mind will be held on June 19 to 22 at Artisphere’s Spectrum Theater (1611 N. Kent Street at the corner of Wilson Blvd).

The event will feature talks by famous speakers including Dan Harris, co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline and the weekend edition of Good Morning America and Ram Dass, the author of “Be Here Now.”

At the festival, six different movies that highlight the Buddhist values of finding inner peace will be featured followed by a question-and-answer session with the director of the movie. The movie, “Blood Brother,” winner of the Grand Jury Award and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, will be shown on 7 p.m., Thursday June 19. Also, the documentary film, “Monk with a Camera” will be shown on Friday night at 9 p.m.

The major highlight of the festival is the Tibet Fest—scheduled to take place on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., where participants will have the opportunity to experience the Tibetan Buddhist culture and enjoy authentic Tibetan food, dance and music.

The BuddhaFest was created by Eric Forbis and Gabriel Riera “to share stories that would encourage people to explore meditation, live mindfully and seek greater levels of awareness and compassion.” the BuddhaFest website said.

To attend the festival, tickets will be available for purchase through the festival’s website at www.buddhafest.org. Free parking will be available at the Spectrum Theater garage and the Artisphere building garage.

Reading of ‘Ulysses’ Climaxes Tonight at Georgetown Public Library

June 19, 2014

In honor of Bloomsday, an annual celebration of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” Georgetown Public Library has been hosting a reading marathon of the novel. The readings began June 9, and tonight will mark the finale of reading the book at the library on R Street.

Bloomsday is celebrated June 16 because it is the anniversary of Joyce’s first date with his wife, Nora Barnacle and also the day that the plot of the novel is based upon.
The innovative novel, filled with literary devices, is a timely account of Leopold Bloom’s day in Dublin in 1904. The sometimes difficult to fathom “Ulysses” is considered to be one of the greatest novels of all time.

Herb Guggenheim, a local writer and psychotherapist, has assembled 30 actors and scholars who will alternate in reading the Ulysses aloud to the audience. Tonight, Laura Baxtor, a well-known opera singer will read the last chapter.

“We are thrilled to feature Laura Baxter as Molly Bloom in this year’s reading. At the end of ‘Ulysses,’ Molly Bloom’s soliloquy is the most dramatic part of the book, and Laura Baxter is the perfect performer to bring Molly to life.” Guggenheim wrote of the event on his website.

In addition, an evening seminar on James Joyce and “Ulysses” by Collin Owens, a professor emeritus at George Mason University, is scheduled Monday night at S. Dilion Ripley Center (1100 Jefferson Dr., SW) from 6:45 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Owens will offer his personal insight by discussing the distinctive literary language presented in the novel.

BID Report: Optimistic Assessment of Georgetown’s Economy


The Georgetown Business Improvement District released the second edition of the State of Georgetown Report 2014 at its annual membership meeting June 10 at Pinstripes.

As a part of the Georgetown 2028 plan, which was released last year, this year’s Georgetown BID report examined statistics about core features of the Georgetown economy, including demographics, transportation, office activity, retail market and tourism in town.

“Businesses in our [BID] district are thriving,” said Josh Hermias, the Georgetown BID Economic Development Director. “As D.C.’s densest retail market place, our local businesses are currently supporting 13,000 jobs.” According to the Georgetown BID, there were 11,000 jobs in the BID area in 2010. There has been an 18-percent increase in jobs from 2010 to 2013.

The report said that about 26 percent of jobs within the BID area fall under the professional, scientific and technical services sector. Other sectors that had a net gain in jobs created include: real estate (which had a net gain of 15 percent), accommodation and food services (a net gain of 11 percent), retail trade (a net gain of 34 percent).

The retail market in Georgetown is booming. Last year, Georgetown gained 18 new retail stores, including Billy Reid, Frye, Goorin Bros, Hat Shop and Steven Alan. According to the report, there are more than 450 shops, restaurants and salons all within a quarter square mile of the historic district. – further evidence that Georgetown contains the city’s densest retail area.

The tourism sector is also on the rise. With six hotels in Georgetown, the total revenue that hotels have made in 2013 grew seven percent from 2012, generating 64 million dollars in total revenue.

The report also highlights the transportation system in town and how it is shifting to meet the needs of young workers (ages 20 to 24) who have become the dominant demographic in the district. Apart from the BID’s effort for a Georgetown Metro station, the 2028 plan will consist of plans to make Georgetown a bicycle-friendly destination as Capital Bikeshare trips are on a constant rise.

After the presentation of the annual report, Jeff Reid, founding director of Georgetown University’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, spoke to the audience and explained his career as a professor in the business school at Georgetown University and the impact that entrepreneurship is making in Georgetown.

“As an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, I cannot stress enough the importance of educating students about entrepreneurship and the impact that it is making in our community.” Reid said.

Reid also pointed out the fact that many of the businesses in Georgetown are owned by entrepreneurs, who stepped out of complacency into creative ideas.

For more details on the Georgetown 2028 report, [click here](http://www.georgetowndc.com/customer_media/2028-plan-agenda_1-29.pdf).

A Walking and Biking Trail from Palisades to Georgetown?

June 9, 2014

The Palisades Citizen’s Association announced May 30 that it is still in the “talking process” to help develop a walking and biking trail project that extends from the Palisades to Georgetown.

This prospective trail project is expected to extend a little more than three miles from Georgetown to Galena Road along the Potomac River.

This project will include a paved trail which will give room for bicyclists, joggers and pedestrians to enjoy the trail as well as repairing old bridges in Glover Archbold Park.

Some in the neighborhood, however, have expressed their concerns and have posted signs arguing that the trail is better in its own “natural” state. The signs urged people to make their voices be heard by officials so that the development plan is not approved.

As to the concerns raised by some in the neighborhood, the Palisades Citizens’ Association said that it is looking to host meeting to find a general consensus from the people before developing this project any further.

Homeless Student Earns Full Scholarship to Georgetown University


Rashema Melson, the Anacostia High School senior who has lived in a homeless shelter for the past two years, has gained local fame for the perseverance that she displayed in academics. Georgetown University has offered the 18-year-old girl a full scholarship for the excellence she displayed in graduating from high school with a 4.0 grade point average.

Melson has lived in the homeless shelter, which used to be D.C. General Hospital, where missing eight-year-old Relisha Rudd once lived.

“We have selected Rashema Melson for the resilience that she portrayed in her academic career. Despite the tough personal background she comes from, she pulled through and displayed excellence,” said Cinthya Salaz, director of Georgetown University’s Community Scholars Program.

Melson is eligible for two scholarships: the Community Scholars program, a scholarship program offered to bring ethnic diversity to Georgetown’s campus and the 1789 Scholarship, a scholarship funded by the alumni, parents and friends of Georgetown University to retain students who display excellence in academics.

“In order for a candidate to be invited into the Community Scholars program, the applicant must have a nomination from their high school admission counselor,” Salaz said. “When the application proceeds, the application goes through review by our team. Every year we receive about 150 applicants and only 60 percent make it through.”

As a part of Georgetown University’s effort to create a support system for new students, Melson plans to attend a five-week-long summer school program to get ahead in her undergraduate studies in biology.

“We are excited to bring diversity into our school by offering excellent students from the District the opportunity to be enrolled in our school,” said Charlene Brown-McKenzie, director of the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access at the university.

Rose Park Renovations Set to Begin in July

June 2, 2014

Rose Park — which runs next to Rock Creek from M Street to P Street and along 27th Street and 26th Street – is scheduled to break ground for renovations in July.

The park will receive many upgrades, including the installment of LED lights for pedestrians, resurfacing of the playground, tennis and basketball courts, new climbing wall, new picnic tables and updated landscaping. The tot lot will have a larger sandbox and new slides.

The $ 1.5-million project is set to begin in July after the Old Georgetown Board approves of the final concept plan at a meeting in June. Georgetown’s Kadcon Construction will be in charge of making renovations to the park.

Rose Park will also get new structures with a Rock Creek and farmers market theme.

“Rose Park will also continue to have its farmers market theme, and the construction will not interfere with the Georgetown Farmers Market which happens every Wednesday,” said John Stokes of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

“We are very excited for this project,” Stokes said. “As a part of the District’s PlayDC initiative, we are hoping to see more residents and kids come out and enjoy the renovations that will be made to the park,” Stokes said.

After all the renovations are completed, Rose Park will have a ribbon-cutting in October.

The Green Festival: Your Ticket to a Cleaner, Healthier Life


The Green Festival, America’s largest sustainability and green living event, will run 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, May 31 and June 1 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

At the event, participants will have the opportunity to listen to speaker address ways that helps to create more sustainable community. In the panel discussion “Creating Healthy, Sustainable & Livable Communities,” scheduled 3:30 p.m., May 31, the panel will share their successes and failures that they had in accelerating sustainability and greener living through their local initiatives. They will discuss the connections that green living has with community entrepreneurship.

Under business and technology, speakers will discuss the economy and how various companies are making the way to create a greener future with various types of technology emerging. The panel discussion, “A Greener Future: A Business Perspective,” will discuss how environment-friendly businesses are thriving in their industries.

There will also be interactive sessions where participants will learn about nutrition and how to develop a sustainable diet, including “Spring Clean your Cooking” by Deboleena Dutta, a session where practical tips will be shared on how to clear out the junk from your kitchen and cook more healthfully.

Many companies that promote a sustainable environment, including Busboys and Poets, Downtown D.C. BID and Benitez Collection, will be vendors at the festival.

For more details, visit GreenFestivals.org or follow @GreenFestival.