Robert Devaney • March 11, 2015

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E will hold its March meeting, 6:30 p.m., March 2, at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 35th Street and Volta Place NW, in the Heritage Room on the second floor of the main building. The following is tonight’s meeting agenda, as provided by ANC 2E.

Approval of the Agenda

-Approval of March 2, 2015, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda Administrative

-Approval of January 2, 2015 and February 2, 2015 Meeting Minutes

-Public Safety and Police Report

-Financial Report

-Transportation Report

-DPW Report

Community Comment

New Business

-3324 Dent Place, NW – historic significance of the property and a possible archeological survey

-Jackson Art Center building, 3050 R Street, NW – future use of the building
-Proposed decrease in bus service by WMATA on the D-1 and D-2 routes

ABC Matters

-Bulldog Tavern, 3700 O Street, NW (on the GU Campus), ABRA-096001,
application for a substantial change to its license to allow live music performance, trivia, karaoke, poetry readings, comedy and vocal performances Sunday through Saturday 8 pm – 12:30 am.

Zoning Matters

1. Crumbs & Whiskers,3211 O St., NW, BZA No. 18954- exception to comply with animal boarding requirements for a cat adoption facility and café

2. 3220 Prospect Street, NW, BZA No.18977- variance relief from loading requirements

Old Georgetown Board

PUBLIC AND MAJOR PROJECTS

1. SMD 03, 3255-3259 Prospect Street, NW, OG 15-120 (HPA 15-223), Mixed use (currently Domino’s Pizza), New construction, Concept

PRIVATE PROJECTS

1. SMD 02, 1544 33rd Street, NW, OG 15-057 (HPA 15-085), Residence, One-story rear addition, Concept
(For review by the Historic Preservation Review Board)

2. SMD 03, 3252 O Street, NW, OG 15-095 (HPA 15-183), Residence, Two-story rear addition, Concept

3. SMD 03, 3301 N Street, NW, OG 15-121 (HPA 15-224), Residence, Second story and underground additions, alterations, Concept

4. SMD 03, 1513 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 14-321 (HPA 14-602), Commercial, Rooftop and 3-story rear addition, Concept – revised

5. SMD 05, 1061 31st Street, NW, OG 15-110 (HPA 15-211), Commercial, Awning and signs Canal Inn – Existing, Permit

6. SMD 05, 3205 K Street, NW, OG 15-109 (HPA 15-209), Commercial, Projecting sign Mr. Smith’s, Permit

7. SMD 05, 3251 Prospect Street, NW, OG 15-080 (HPA 15-124), Mixed-use: commercial/residential, New doors, relocation of HVAC equipment to roof, Permit

8. SMD 05, 1218 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-020 (HPA 15-033), Commercial, Alterations to rear fence for incinerator, Permit

9. SMD 05,1225 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-112 (HPA 15-215), Commercial, Replacement front windows, repointing rear and sides, Permit

10. SMD 06, 1236 28th Street, NW, OG 15-111 (HPA 15-212), Residence, Alterations to rear, replacement windows, deck, Concept

11. SMD 06, 3044 N Street, NW, OG 15-108 (HPA 15-200), Residence, Railings / planters at roof terrace above garage – Existing.

12. SMD 07, 1624 29th Street, NW, OG 15-122 (HPA 15-225, Residence, New open garage with roof terrace, Concept

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E: The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming March 5, 2015, agenda of the Old Georgetown Board, have not been added to the ANC meeting agenda for OGB-related design review and we do not propose to adopt a resolution on them at this time. If there are concerns about any of these projects, please contact the ANC office by Friday, February 27, 2015.

1. SMD 02, 3244 Q Street, NW, OG 15-029 (HPA 15-042), Residence, Replacement windows, Permit

2. SMD 02, 1700 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-115 (HPA 15-216), Institution (Dumbarton Oaks), Exterior lighting, Permit

3. SMD 03, 3206 N Street, NW, OG 15-012 (HPA 15-025), Commercial, Addition, alterations, replacement curtain wall, stairs, signs, Concept – revised

4. SMD 04, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 15-126 (HPA 15-229), Georgetown University, Site work for new bus turnaround, Permit

5. SMD 05, 1312 31st Street, NW, OG 15-131 (HPA 15-235), Residence, Replacement security window grilles, Permit

6. SMD 05, 3000 M Street, NW, OG 15-117 (HPA 15-220), Mixed-use, Partial demolition, addition, alterations, Concept – design development

7. SMD 05, 3330 Cady’s Alley, NW, OG 15-047 (HPA 15-075), Commercial, Alterations to masonry openings, Concept – revised

8. SMD 05, 3207 Grace Street, NW, OG 15-123 (HPA 15-226), Commercial, Alterations, light fixtures, sign – Chaia Farm to Taco, Permit

9. SMD 05, 3614 Prospect Street, NW, OG 15-100 (HPA 15-188), Residence, Partial demolition, 2-story rear/ rooftop addition, alterations to front, replacement windows, Permit

10. SMD 05, 3614 Prospect Street, NW, OG 15-129 (HPA 15-232), Residence, Alterations to 32.rear terrace, decks, Concept

11. SMD 05, 1132 29th Street, NW, OG 15-052 (HPA 15-080), Commercial, Rear additions, Concept

12. SMD 06, 1319 30th Street, NW, OG 15-091 (HPA 15-179), Residence, Alterations, Permit

13. SMD 06, 1319 30th Street, NW, OG 15-119 (HPA 15-222), Residence, Replacement fence,
Permit

14. SMD 06, 2701 Dumbarton Street, NW, OG 15-118 (HPA 15-221), Residence, Rear addition, dormer, alterations, Permit

15. SMD 06, 1215 31st Street, NW, OG 15-074 (HPA 15-118), Georgetown Post Office, Alterations to entrance ramp and sign – EastBanc Technologies, Permit – revised

16. SMD 06, 2715 M Street, NW, OG 15-127 (HPA 15-230), Commercial, Alterations – options
Concept

17. SMD 07, 1502 27th Street, NW, OG 15-063 (HPA 15-103), Residence, front porch, alterations, wall and fence, Concept

18. SMD 07, 1633 31st Street, NW, OG 15-094 (HPA 15-182), Residence, Two-story rear addition, Concept

19. SMD 07, 1650 Avon Place, NW, OG 15-116 (HPA 15-218), Residential, Alterations, replacement windows and door, rooftop HVAC , Concept

20. SMD 07, 2500 Q Street, NW, OG 15-113 (HPA 15-208), Gateway Georgetown condominiums, Rooftop antennas and equipment for T-Mobile, Permit

21. SMD 08, 1229 37th Street, NW, OG 15-125 (HPA 15-228), Residence, Replacement wood siding, Permit

22. SMD 08,1239 37th Street, NW, OG 15-124 (HPA 15-227), Residence, Alterations, HVAC equipment, Permit

Government of the District of Columbia: Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E — 3265 S St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20007 — 202-724-7098 — anc2e@dc.gov — www.anc2e.com

Robert Devaney • March 9, 2015

“I’ve been living for this since January,” said Lorraine Burns of Arlington, who had requested tickets for “Antiques Roadshow,” which set up camp for the first time ever in D.C. at the Walter Washington Convention Center Aug. 21. The show, approaching its 15th year on PBS, has attained cult-like status with TV viewers and owners of family heirlooms which they believe might be worth big bucks. Its D.C. inauguration fetched 23,000 requests for 5,000 tickets, a record for this year. The show, which took to the road in San Diego, ended its taping here. (Its new season begins January.)

“Antiques Roadshow” prompted Patricia Erickson of Charlotte, N.C., to visit the nation’s capital for the first time ever, too, making a family vacation of it. Citing the show’s broadcast time, Erickson said, “Don’t call me between 8 and 9 on Monday nights.”

Then, Burns and Erickson met appraiser J. Michael Flanigan, and you’d think they had seen Bono or Sting or President Obama. The Keno brothers were nearby, walking out of the taping circle to visit those waiting in the long lines. Again, rock stars. These guys appraise old wooden furniture — with passion, admittedly.

We finally got a chance to show two old family pieces — one in the metalworks line and the other in the paintings line. (Generalist appraisers at the end of the long, initial line hand out tickets which categorize the piece, whether it be furniture, a toy or a sword, and send their patient cult followers to another line.) The longest line was for Asian arts. We were told about the guy with a bearskin rug, supposedly belonging to Bette Davis’s daughter. Which line is that one?

Kerry Shrives of Boston’s Skinner, Inc., looked over a bronze statuette, called “the freed slave” by our family, and smiled, “About $300, maybe a little more.” Then, David Weiss of Philadelphia’s Freeman’s Auctioneers pondered an oil painting of the English Lake District, struggling to see the signature on the lower right just under the frame. An inner frame blocked his complete view. Nevertheless, Weiss declared,”It’s a wonderful 19th-century painting, perhaps worth $1,500.” (O.K., that’s cool. Now, do you realize the appeal of this TV show?)

We also saw Sally Davidson of Clyde’s Restaurants being interviewed on camera about her Japanese filigree bowl. Ask her, or wait until next year to learn its value.

Upon our exit, we saw an abandoned cracked figurine on the sidewalk. A couple wheeled past with a Victorian-style baby buggy. “50 bucks? You’re kidding me, right?” Many are called, but few are chosen. [gallery ids="99296,99297,99298,99299" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • March 8, 2015

Forty years ago, as a Georgetown University student, I gave the Georgetowner Newspaper little attention. It seemed to me to be the old people’s newspaper. Today, it occupies my waking hours and then some.

My news journey between then and now remains oriented to Washington, D.C., and Georgetown. While I may have worked for U.S. News & World Report, Army-Navy-Air Force Times and the Washington Times, the Georgetowner was always there, whether in the background or not.

I met editor and publisher David Roffman through his brother Randy, who worked for the newspaper, at the Bread & Chocolate on Prospect Street (it would become Cafe Milano). Dave muttered to his brother, “Another [guy] in a suit.” I can also say I met the Georgetowner staffers through Georgetowner Francis Scott Key. In my work for the Francis Scott Key Foundation, I had completed the Star-Spangled Banner Relay — from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to Georgetown, specifically the as-yet unbuilt Key Park in 1991, and wrote about it for the newspaper. Dave and I became great friends.

In 1992, I met Sonya Bernhardt when she owned an art gallery, and she, too, has become a great friend. She credits me with getting her involved with the newspaper. I credit her with saving the Georgetowner and breathing new life into the old girl. The paper had gotten zippier under the influence of Roffman during the 1980s, but it was Bernhardt — as third owner and third publisher — who put the newspaper on a more serious business footing for the 21st century.

Friendship is perhaps not the first word to come into one’s mind when thinking of Georgetown. Yet, it is a defining, quiet feature of our neighborhood. I have experienced such loyalty and trust with businesses and neighbors here. In 2005, sculptor and fellow Key Foundation colleague, John Dreyfuss invited me to rent an apartment at Halcyon House, a glorious, historic spot. My other little places around 35th and Prospect streets attest to neighbors’ generosity and concern.

Most of us in the news business may not make it to the millionaire’s club, but we do get opportunities to meet some of the world’s most interesting folks. Within weeks at the newspaper, I saw Frank Sinatra at Warner Theatre and, soon enough, Gov. Bill Clinton at Gaston Hall. A year or two ago, it was Bono at Gaston Hall and President Barack Obama at Georgetown Waterfront Park. Regardless, the lives and stories of Georgetown neighbors can keep up with all those high and mighty – that’s why this newspaper was created in the first place.

Yes, we have run many excellent stories and profiles over the years, but we believe the Georgetowner’s coverage of the September 11 attacks with front pages through the end of 2001 was superlative — given our resources — and revealed the urgency of our new century. Again, I tip my hat to writer Gary Tischler, the strong heart and gentle soul of the Georgetowner.

Meanwhile, the work and fun never end — whether meeting and working with the most interesting persons in Georgetown, covering various news, attending community events or showing our interns how to report (or giving them a tour of this great town). As with the phrase, “once a Georgetowner, always a Georgetowner,” it is the same with this newspaper: “Once on the staff of the Georgetowner, always on the staff of the Georgetowner.”

Robert Devaney •

The scene: Gaston Hall in the Healy Building at Georgetown University; a Nov. 12 lecture hosted by the Georgetown McDonough Global Social Enterprise Initiative in partnership with Bank of America. On stage: Georgetown University President John DeGioia; Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan; McDonough Business School dean David Thomas; student Ammu Menon.

Also on stage — and the main attraction — was a global activist, talking about social enterprise and advocacy, as if he were a rock star. Oh, wait, he is a rock star. He is Bono.

The program handed out at Gaston Hall proclaimed it thus: while it showed time, place and sponsors, but front and center appears one simple word, “Bono.”

The lead singer for the Irish rock band U2 was also in D.C. to meet Vice President Joe Biden and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. Bono’s fight against AIDS and extreme poverty is legend. While his well-executed Gaston Hall speech informed and entertained, it went beyond its goals to charm, convince and claim students, professors and politicians.

Musician and activist Bono began by waving back to the student crowd, giving a shout-out to DeGioia’s son, J.T., who is learning the chords of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”

“At this lectern or podium, I am oddly comfortable,” Bono smiled. “Welcome to Pop Culture 101. … What am I doing in Healy Hall? I could be on my third pint at the Tombs.”

Becoming sympatico with the audience, Bono congratulated the crowd for re-electing President Barack Obama and was glad that all were now free from “the tyranny of negative ads.” He added, “I’d like to hear an attack ad on malaria.”

Acting as if a Hoya, Bono dumped on Syracuse and Duke universities and their mascots, “a fruit” and “the devil.” To wit, he concluded, “God is a Catholic.”

Bono pronounced AIDS the huge disease but said the “biggest is extreme poverty.” He called this fight a transformative element for the college-aged generation.

For this activist, the 21st century really began in 2011 with the protests of the Arab Spring along with the advent of mobile phones and other digital devices, saying the pyramid of power has flipped. “There are millions of levers of power,” said the rocker, who added that today is analogous to the rise of punk rock in the late 1970s taking on progressive rock. Bono then joked that the audience had never heard anyone link the Arab Spring with the punk band, the Clash.

Cuts in the budget can hurt, he cautioned: “Don’t let an economic recession become a moral recession.”

Bono focused on sub-Saharan Africa, talking about the success of Rwanda in reducing AIDS, thanks to American support. He talked about the dark side of expansion, as al Qaeda controls part of Mali, citing the three extremes of our times: poverty, climate and ideology.

As “an evidence-based activist,” Bono said the heart was not the most important aspect of action; it is justice. “You want data. I got data.” He mentioned the Asian Tigers — even the Celtic Tiger — but added the African Lion. “Aid is just a stopgap,” he said. “We need Africa to become an economic power.”

Bono said he could just imagine the headline: “Rock Star Preaches Capitalism.”

Asking the students for a drum roll, Bono paused to reveal a force of change: “Enter the nerd . . . it’s the era of the Afro nerd.” And another huge obstacle in the developing world? Corruption. But again with digital mobile activists—and websites like IPaidaBribe.com—it is becoming harder to do so without someone knowing.

Bono turned to the work on foreign aid by political and business leaders, thanking those sitting in front of him, such as House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., and former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, the younger Barbara Bush (because of President George W. Bush’s substantial aid to Africa) among others, such as Irish Ambassador Michael Collins and singer Andrea Coor.

Still, in a politico mood, Bono jumped into a quite good imitation of Bill Clinton to the roars of laugher from the audience. “He’s more a rock star that I am,” Bono said.

As for the Jesuit tradition, he offered founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola, warrior and priest, as the exemplar for “the conversion of the heart” and service to others.

“That’s what I’m hoping happens here at Georgetown with you,” Bono said. “Because when you truly accept that those children in some far off place in the global village have the same value as you in God’s eyes or even in just your eyes, then your life is forever changed. You see something that you can’t un-see.”

It looks like Georgetown Business School picked a perfect keynote speaker to pump up its Global Social Enterprise Initiative, which “aims to prepare current and future leaders to make responsible management decisions that yield both economic and social value.”

Now, that is wide awake in America.

Robert Devaney • March 5, 2015

Legendary Washington newsman Arnaud de Borchgrave, former editor-in-chief of the Washington Times and top foreign correspondent for Newsweek for 30 years, died Feb. 15 at the age of 88 of cancer.

Known around town and the world for his access to international leaders as well as for a stylish, high-profile manner, de Borchgrave was one of the last of the great, on-the-scene, hands-on journalists who were actually where he said he was. He personified and lived the life of the foreign correspondent at Newsweek magazine and later put his charismatic and journalistic stamp on a young Washington Times.

He was born in Belgium on Oct. 26, 1926. During World War II, his father, Count Baudouin de Borchgrave d’Altena, was director of military intelligence for the exiled Belgium government. His mother, Audrey Townshend, was the daughter of a British general. De Borchgrave escaped the Nazi invasion of southern France only to return with Canadian forces at Juno Beach during D-Day in 1944.

In 1949, de Borchgrave worked for the United Press news agency and succeeded Walter Cronkite — later the managing editor and lead anchor for CBS News — as its Belgium bureau chief. By 1951, de Borchgrave was head of the Paris bureau for Newsweek in Paris and later hired his successor, Ben Bradlee, who would go to become executive editor of the Washington Post.

The list of places and persons de Borchgrave reported on is a long one and included leaders of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Syria and wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Known for his foreign reporting, de Borchgrave was also known for the advantage of his sartorial style, his expense accounts and his seemingly perpetual tan.

A few quotes by de Borchgrave in a Newsweek feature in 2012 tell the tale:

— “I saw this in Morocco once. I had a Chesterfield coat with a black velvet collar. Looked like a diplomat. Nasser was coming in his yacht to Casablanca and getting together with all these Arab heads of state, and the media was dressed, as you know, how the media dresses. I was dressed like an ambassador. And I managed to get in with the ambassadors. I did that over and over again.”

— “Reporting always came first. For example, Newsweek had me on the lecture tour after each major scoop. They would bring me back to talk to the advertisers. But I remember once having a deal with Juan Carlos of Spain. I said, ‘Newsweek is about to put me on a big lecture tour of the states. What if something happens to Franco and you become king?’ So we organized a little code. The message that he would send me was, ‘Charlie is on his way to Rome and wants to see you.’ That meant Franco is sick and dying. I was in Seattle when I got it. I canceled the rest of the tour. The Newsweek business team was furious. They’d invested a lot of money. But I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to get the biggest scoop—the first interview with the new king of Spain.’ Which I did.”

— “I lived extremely well. I traveled a lot. In those days we always traveled first-class. Was never questioned. We stayed in five-star hotels. Never questioned. If we had to stay in one place for several days or weeks, we could get a suite. Never questioned. I never had an expense account questioned in the whole 30 years I worked at Newsweek.”

In 1985, de Borchgrave, who had never worked at a newspaper, became the editor-in-chief of the then three-year-old Washington Times and quickly put it on the map, going up against the city’s biggest paper, the Washington Post, which at the time owned Newsweek.

Owned by the Unification Church and its founder, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Washington Times was a conservative voice in the nation’s capital during the Reagan years. Nevertheless, de Borchgrave denied that Moon or the church directly influenced editorial policy at the newspaper. De Borchgrave left the Times in 1991.

“Arnaud was an extraordinary man,” Wesley Pruden, told the Washington Times, where Pruden succeeded de Borchgrave as editor-in-chief until his retirement in 2008. “He came to us when we were struggling against considerable hostility to establish a second newspaper in Washington, and overnight he gave the Times identity, purpose and credibility. His friends teased Arnaud that he was ‘a legend in his own mind,’ but we were all in awe of his enormous self-confidence and his intrepid and relentless pursuit of the story. He leaves us a true legend in his own times.”

Indeed, the headline of a specially printed fake edition of the Washington Times in 1996 did read, “A legend in his own mind,” accompanied by a front page photo of de Borchgrave wearing military fatigues. It is for a 70th birthday party for de Borchgrave at the Washington Times headquarters on New York Avenue. The party was attended by Bradlee, who knew de Borchgrave from his Newsweek years — it is the only time that Bradlee is known to have come to the Times offices.

In 1998, De Borchgrave went on to work for United Press International and stayed on as a columnist until his death. He was also director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

De Borchgrave’s survivors include his wife of 45 years, Alexandra Villard De Borchgrave; a daughter by his second wife (Eileen Ritschel), Trisha de Borchgrave; a sister; a two granddaughters. A son by his first wife (Dorothy Solon), Arnaud de Borchgrave, Jr., died in 2011.

Robert Devaney • February 26, 2015

While some in the neighborhood knew Rhino Bar would be closing, this week’s news still made major media buzz. The legendary Rhino Bar and Pumphouse, popular with Georgetown University students, will close Feb. 28.

Known for its sports bar verve, Rhino at 3295 M St. NW is a big fan zone for the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Eagles as well as for college basketball, especially the Hoyas. It is full of sports memorabilia.

For those who want a piece of the place, there is an online auction by Rasmus Auctions that lists just about everything that isn’t nailed down. Lighted advertising signage, flat-screen televisions, bar tables, stools and other restaurant fixtures are on the list, but it is the memorabilia that is worth noting.

First, there is the presiding rhino head at the center of the bar as well as signs from previous bars that existed at the property: Winston’s and the Shamrock. There are signed sports jerseys in frames that include Patrick Ewing, Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan, Joe Namath, Magic Johnson, Joe Theisman, Larry Bird and many more along with autographed magazines covers of sports figures.

The bidding continues until Feb. 27 with inspection at Rhino Bar, noon to 4 p.m., Feb. 26, and removal, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 2. Check out Rasmus.com/auction/250679/bar-and-restaurant-online-auction-washington-dc/

Robert Devaney •

Martin’s Tavern, established 1933, threw its annual employee and customer appreciation party Feb. 17, as chef Gregorio Martinez brought out lamb chops, shrimp, quesadillas, roast beef and more. Addressing the happy partygoers, fourth-generation owner Billy Martin, Jr., said, “Georgetown has gone through a transformation in the last couple of years. So have we.”