Georgetown Students Argue Against ANC Re-Districting
• May 3, 2012

All politics is local – and sometimes hyper-local – as Georgetown University students and long-time residents experienced during the opening community comment of the September Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 2e) meeting held on Aug. 29. The issue was the redistricting plan for the Georgetown-Burleith-Hillandale ANC that adds an additional single-member district (SMD) within the university campus for a total of eight in the ANC. Students had put forth a plan that included an additional eighth and a ninth district for students. A neighborhood group, which included students, voted nine to six for a new plan that keeps most SMDs the same but adds an eighth district for the campus. The role of the ANC at the meeting was neither to approve nor disapprove the proposal.

Commission chair Ron Lewis opened the discussion of the re-drawn ANC 2e boundary plan, saying it showed “respect for political geography” and chose to round down the student MSDs to two. He then asked those attending the meeting to limit their comments of pro and con to three persons who could represent the larger group. Students in attendance – who wanted three SMDs for the university area – expressed dismay at the time limitations but rolled with it, sending Georgetown University Student Association president Mike Meaney and president of the Graduate Student Association Paul Musgrave to the podium.

Meaney asked that the re-districting be reconsidered, seeing it as a dilution of students’ voting power and suggested that his group might “appeal to the Committee of the Whole” of the D.C. Council. He reminded the current ANC of its 2002 affirmation “to full representation.” Saying that Georgetown University students make up “45 percent of the ANC’s population,” Meaney maintained that “equal rights mean equal votes.”

Musgrave, a doctorate student from Burleith, called the situation “disingenuous” for its “extreme malapportionment” and said the ANC must “be a truly representative body.” “Representation means representation by person.” He condemned the plan as “unfair” and “unjust,” and stated so “as a resident, a political scientist and a voter.”

In contrast, Nan Bell of Burleith and Cynthia Howar of Hillandale stood up and succinctly said they supported new re-districting plan.

Undergraduate Robert Biemesderfer went to the podium and dramatically held up his D.C. voter registration card and declared: “I am a full participant, I am not a second-class citizen.” Student Ruiyong Chen stood up to add that councilman Phil Mendelson does not support this plan.

Ed Russell, a Burleith resident since 1954, asked debaters to “consider permanent residents who pay property taxes.” Karen Cruise contended that 1,200 students live off campus and thus can run in their own district if they wish. In the hallway, later, the young Biemesderfer and Allan Wendt of Volta Place had a lively and civil conservation about the issue.

Next week, the plan will be passed along to the Ward 2 redistricting group, headed by Tom Birch, and will be likely approved.
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ANC Approves K Street Restaurant; Criticizes O Street Homeowner
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The ANC approved the voluntary agreement and a new application for a liquor license for Malmaison, a restaurant – soon to open at the corner of 34th and K Streets – from the owners of Cafe Bonaparte. The new dessert cafe’s name is a reference to Napoleon’s Château de Malmaison; it can translate into “naughty house” or “ill-fated domain.” The Alcohol Beverage Control protest meeting is scheduled for Sept. 14.

In other design requests, commissioner Jeff Jones showed annoyance at the owner of 3254 O Street. The design for a second story above a back garage was denied, as Jones said that this scheme has bounced around for 10 years. Neighbors of the residence in question left the meeting smiling. Five Guys restaurant was asked to redesign its new awning with fewer “Five Guys” logos (not five) on the umbrella fabric. Designs for a planned four-story condo at Grace Street and Cecil Place was opposed as being out of size and out of whack with the secluded neighborhood.

D.C. Lobbying Presence in Hollywood During Emmy Awards Weekend
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While the words, “The Amazing Race,” “Modern Family,” “Mad Men,” “The Good Wife” and “The Kennedys,” read like chapter headings in a book about our nation’s capital, they are, in fact, names of TV shows or movies that earned Primetime Emmy Awards Sept. 18 in a place called Hollywood.

With occasional appearances before Congress, at the Kennedy Center or in a downtown restaurant, denizens of Georgetown, Foggy Bottom and Capitol Hill are acquainted with a few of these actors, actresses, directors and producers but know little of the inner-workings of their powerful TV and film industry, those dream factories, in a state called California.

Luckily, D.C. had some knowledgeable representation out there during Emmy Awards weekend. Businesswoman Elizabeth Webster is newly employed as director of business outreach at the District’s Committee for Small and Local Business Development which oversees the Commission on Motion Pictures and Television Development, chaired by At-large Councilman Vincent Orange. So, Webster reached out to Los Angeles, attending pre- and after-parties and the awards show during a trip that she planned and paid for before her District government job began. She is also well known as secretary of the Georgetown Business Association.

“My favorite part of the Emmy Awards show was Michael Bolton’s performance and the beautiful, colorful staging throughout the show,” said Webster, who, like many, wore a red dress to the show. “I thought Melissa McCarthy was very down to earth. I could relate to her comments in her speech about her parents’ endless support of her career.”

Clearly in her element, Webster, a former actress and model, spoke of meeting friends and former colleagues at the Governor’s Ball, HBO’s after-party, the NBC party at Spago’s in Beverly Hills and the Vanity Fair pre-party in West Hollywood. She said she was also glad to see longtime and family friend, actor Vincent De Paul, a former Marylander who lives in L.A. and whose sister lives in Georgetown.

En route back, Webster said she is preparing for public hearings before the District Council on Nov. 9, 10 a.m., with “studio executives and experts in the entertainment industry to testify about what incentives and requirements D.C. needs to implement to be more movie- and production-friendly.” Orange and his TV-film team have set a goal of getting two permanent TV series to be produced regularly out of DC. as well as increasing film production. (Mayor Vincent Gray and Orange last met with film executives in L.A. on July 21.)

Aside from rushing to fly home from sunny Southern California so soon, Webster was asked, any other vexations? “Betty White should have won in her category.”
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On Oct. 7, 1954, A Singular Newspaper Made its Debut
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Ami Stewart, who worked as a sales representative for the Washington Star, told the Randolph sisters at Little Caledonia, a famed home goods store on Wisconsin Avenue, of her plans to begin a community newspaper. They encouraged her, and the Georgetowner was born on the fabric table of that shop, publishing its Volume 1, Number 1, on Oct. 7, 1954.

The newspaper grew with its news and profiles of a quieter time and homespun ads of retail along Wisconsin Avenue and M Street. It is a delight to look at the archives and interesting to see the story, written before the 1960 election season, on an N Street resident who was planning a run for president: John F. Kennedy.

Stewart ran the Georgetowner until the mid-1970s when she moved to a nursing home. Her assistant editor since the late ’60s had been David Roffman, another transplant from the Midwest to D.C., who helped her along with others like Richard McCooey of 1789 Restaurant who sent meals to her home.

The newspaper office was at the corner of 28th and M Streets above Chi Chi’s Poodle Parlor (the space is now Das Ethiopian Restaurant, the former Zed’s). The Georgetowner moved from there to what was Crumpet’s in 1200 block of Wisconsin Avenue and then across the street above Swensen’s Ice Cream. Over the years, the newspaper has occupied space in Hamilton Court (31st Street) and Georgetown Court (Prospect Street). That’s called getting to know your neighborhood.

Roffman took over upon Stewart’s passing and gave the newspaper his own flare, especially during the go-go 1980s. He swept the streets with an elephant vac, getting his picture in a national publication, and called for Georgetown to secede from D.C. more than once. The crew of writers and sales reps included his brother Randy Roffman. Then arriving from California, writer Gary Tischler remains with the paper and is considered central to its heart and soul.

Here is how Tischler described his old friend, Roffman, who was given the lifetime achievement award in 2010 by the Georgetown Business Association, where he was once its president:

“Small community newspapers are tricky businesses — they’re usually free, they depend on the kindness of local businesses to provide advertising revenue, they reflect and report on and are reflective of the community they serve. With all due respect to other such publications in this city, no other paper is so associated with place than the Georgetowner. And it’s fair to say that Roffman, when he owned and published the paper, reflected the community in all of its facets.

“He wasn’t just a publisher, and his efforts weren’t only about stories, scoops, ads, deadlines and headlines. He was the village’s biggest cheerleader and booster, acting as if Georgetown were a particular lovely, elegant lady who needed to be helped across the street. He sometimes acted as if she were a party girl, to be sure, but that was part of the times. Roffman would do stuff — he hosted parties, fund-raisers, publicized charity events (at good old, reliable Nathans), promoted festivals (the annual Francis Scott Key day), institutions (the Georgetown Senior Center was a particular favorite) and events (Volta Park Day). He got involved — he went to ANC Meetings and CAG meetings, not just to report on them, but to speak at them and make himself heard. . . . In the pages of Roffman’s Georgetowner, the neighborhood became full bodied — it was the sleepy village and the noisy night time, it was contemporary and historic all at once. It was a classy place, but it was also democratic.”

Today, owner and publisher Sonya Bernhardt, also with Midwest connections, has entered her 13th year at the helm of the newspaper which is now part of the Georgetown Media Group. She publishes the Georgetowner and the Downtowner, runs the business side, directs the group’s presence on the web and social media and staff and interns. Her passions include the community as well as promotion of small and local businesses. She is also an avid fundraiser for various causes including research for cancer cures. With the newspaper, she is committed to the Georgetown House Tour, the Senior Center, Living in Pink, Volta Park Day and Francis Scott Key Park, to name a few local charities.

Here is her take on the media product: “Our publication reflects the Georgetown lifestyle, focusing on the arts, history, real estate, education, dining, health, fashion and philanthropy. With a print circulation of 40,000, the Georgetowner is mailed to all Georgetown residents and businesses and has a thriving website. The newspapers’ distribution covers parts of D.C., Maryland and Virginia.”

The endlessly energetic Bernhardt has put her mark on the newspaper whose “influence far exceeds its size,” and taken it firmly into the 21st century. A portrait of founder Ami Stewart hangs above her office mantle. And, yes, the office is on Potomac Street, next to Dean & Deluca; it’s been there for the last 10 years.

Citizens’ ‘Winter Wonderland’ Melts Into ‘Disco Inferno’
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You know you got a hot party going on, when the Mayor of Washington, D.C., boogies until the last dance, wearing a red boa. Yes, hizzoner Vincent Gray along with hundreds of Georgetowners got down at the Russian Embassy Dec. 2 at “Winter Wonderland,” the annual gala for the Citizens Association of Georgetown.

Fine food, Russian vodka and caviar with disco and motown music were the formula for fun — and with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and his wife Natalia providing their elegant venue once more. The Right On Band returned with its high-energy ’70s music with tunes like “Disco Inferno,” “Love Train” and “I Will Survive.”

Gala co-chairs Nancy Taylor Bubes, Michele Evans and Patrice Miller organized the night which honored Georgetowners John Richardson and Franco Nuschese. Richardson helped transform Volta Park in the 1990s; his contracting firm has renovated many houses in Georgetown. Nuschese, owner of Café Milano, supports many community charities. The lively auction, run by newcomer Martin Gammon of Bonhams, got the crowd to put their hands up and bid — and they did. Councilmembers Jack Evans and Vincent Orange were dancing; former Mayor Anthony Williams showed up, too.

Sponsors included Vornado Realty Trust & Angelo Gordon & Co. on behalf of the Shops at Georgetown Park, M.C. Dean Inc., MRP Realty, Washington Fine Properties (Nancy Taylor Bubes), Western Development Corporation, EagleBank, EastBanc Technologies LLC, Georgetown Cupcake, Georgetown University Hospital, Clyde’s Restaurant Group and The Georgetowner.

Oh, yes, Mayor Gray joined the conga line with the band’s Arline Baxter nudging him on.
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U.S. Park Police Sgt. Michael Boehm Laid to Rest With Full Honors
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U.S. Park Police Sgt. Michael Boehm, who suffered a fatal heart attack responding to an injured man near Key Bridge at the C&O Canal towpath Dec. 16, was eulogized and honored Dec. 28.

Boehm’s funeral mass was at the Church of the Nativity in Burke, Va. The funeral procession of police and other vehicles moved north on I-395 to the Memorial Bridge, entering Washington with D.C. Fire Department trucks extending their ladders as an arch of honor in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The procession went on to pass the headquarters of the U.S. Park Police in Potomac Park near Hains Point and then turned back to Virginia to Fairfax Memorial Park for the burial.

Boehm is survived by his wife Corrina and son Christopher. He entered service with the U.S. Park Police on Oct. 11, 1992.

The injured man near Key Bridge — to whom police and firefighters first responded — also died that Dec. 16 night. The nature of the unidentified man’s death is still under investigation by police.

Paparelli Brings Out the Youth in ‘Gentlemen’
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Director P.J. Paparelli often refers to the title of his new gig at the Shakespeare Theatre Company as “the two gents.”

That would be “The Two Gentleman of Verona,” one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, and to Paparelli’s way of thinking, his most youthful. One way or another, you can expect that youth will be served in his production of the play.

“The Two Gentleman of Verona” is lumped in with Shakespeare’s comedies, a kind of precursor to “The Comedy of Errors,” when the Bard was more assured in matters of twins, doubling up, the big laughs and setups. In “Verona” Shakespeare was not yet the poet that he would soon become, most notably in “Richard II” and “Romeo and Juliet,” two later but still early plays that sang with true poetic music and genius.

“It’s a comedy,” Paparelli says of ‘Two Gentlemen.’ “But I like to think of it leading to “Romeo and Juliet.” Both plays are about young people—in R&J’s adolescence, here, maybe late high school or college. To me, it’s about young people learning about the real meanings of friendships, love, jealousy, real adventure and challenges. Like a lot of his plays that are, like you say, dense, it’s full of possibilities. Things went completely wrong for the protaganists, which is why it’s a tragedy. Here, it could have gone wrong—two life-long, steadfast friends fall out over a woman—a situation that can always go wrong.”

“I like the challenge of doing ‘Verona’ because it’s not done very much,” Paparellli said. “The Shakespeare Company did it a few years ago, but it’s still rarely done. But I think you can find all sorts of later Shakespeare tropes here—strong female characters, issues of friendship, outlaws in a forest and so on.

“One of the things about Shakespeare is how we confront him early on,” Paparelli said. “In high school, he’s sort of shoveled at kids. I spent a lot of time trying to get it, to understand it all and it’s not that easy.”

This production of “Verona” is very special to Paparelli, 37. He got to plunge deeply early and with lots of responsibilities right here with the Shakespeare Company, where he worked under Artistic Director Michael Kahn as assistant and associate director from 1998 to 2004. “So this is really a wonderful thing for me,” he said It’s like coming home.”

Listening to him talk, there’s a youthful precociousness in his voice even though he’s amassed quite a reputation and impressive credits already, including currently running the American Theatre Company in theater-crazy Chicago for the past seven years. Shakespeare isn’t much on the seasonal bill at the ATC, which concerns itself with contemporary, often new American plays and issues. “We try to be like the Public Theatre in New York,” he said. “Our plays are on the edge, new, fresh, often dealing with contemporary issues.”

Prior to that, Paparelli was artistic director of the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, a company that had originally been brought to prominence by Molly Smith, now the high-profile artistic director at Arena Stage.

“Two Gentleman of Verona,” which features Adam Green and Miriam Silverman in a large and stellar cast, is the tale of Valentine and Proteus, boyhood friends raised in Verona who are thick as blood brothers until both fall in love with the comely Sylvia, the daughter of the Duke of Milan. Things happen—jealousy, fights and love and the whole damn thing. Still, it’s awfully funny. “But you know,” Paparelli said, “It could have gone the Romeo way.”

That observation mines the fact that many of Shakespeare’s comedy are only a split hair away from tragedy, that his tragedies are replete with comic characters at times (with the exception, perhaps of “Macbeth”).

Paparelli thinks “Verona” is about youthful angst, so don’t be shocked if you think you’re hearing things—like Bono, Maroon Five and other contemporary rock. “Music is one way of contemporizing. It will be Verona, but you might see a McDonald’s there.”

One thing that won’t change is the dog. You might recall a sequence in the Oscar-winning film “Shakespeare in Love” where the young Bard is working on “Verona”. “Don’t forget to put in a dog,” a friend tells him. “The queen loves dogs.”

Oliver, a veteran Broadway performer in ‘Annie’ among other shows, a super-pro mutt, takes on “Crab” the dog, although he doesn’t answer to the name.

“But,” Paparelli says, “he’s a real pro.”

As is often the case with Shakespeare, the play will be familiar. And with Paparelli there, it will be as fresh as an adolescent with attitude.

“Two Gentleman of Verona” will be performed at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Lansburgh Theatre, January 17-March 4. For more information visit ShakespeareTheatre.org.

Ins & Outs 1.11.12
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IN

P Street Pictures is now on O Street on the west side of town. After losing her lease on the P Street shop, owner Judy Schlosser opened next to Emi and Harry’s Georgetown Dinette. Schlosser is grateful for the community’s support and is a welcome addition to the block. Check out her new space: P Street Pictures on O, 3204 O St., N.W. 202 337 0066, PStreetPix@Gmail.com.

Barre3, a yoga and dance fitness studio, opened last week at 1000 Wisconsin Ave, N.W., Suite G-100 (on the ground floor of Old Dodge Warehouse at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and K Street; its front door is next door to Chadwick’s Restaurant). It offers classes seven days a week in two studios with a locker room and a shower, lounge with fireplace and a childcare area. 202 450 3905. Georgetown@Barre3.com.

Pie Sisters of Georgetown has opened at 3423 M St., N.W. With ovens, coolers and counters ready for action, Allison, Cat and Erin Blakely will feed Georgetown’s ever-expanding palette for all things sweet, creamy and fruity—with a few savory options, to boot. Flavors include apple caramel crunch, pecan, key lime and banana, coconut and chocolate cream. The shop sells pies in three sizes: the four-dollar “cuppie,” and seven- and nine-inch pies ($14 – $16 and $35, respectively). But if you return the glass plate that the pie comes in, you receive $5 off your next purchase. There are chairs and tables in front of the shop with a coffee counter as well. Pie Sisters is next door to Dixie Liquors, one of the shops along Regency Row: 202 338 PIES (7437). PieSisters.com.

OUT
Barnes & Noble closed in M Street store Dec. 31. A favorite of residents, the large store at M and Thomas Jefferson Streets had lost its lease. Except for Philip Levy’s Bridge Street Books on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Latern Bryn Mawr Bookshop on P Street and Georgetown University’s book store, almost no book stores remain in Georgetown. There is speculation that Nike will take over the space.

The Pinball Museum moved out of the Shops at Georgetown Park and has re-located in Baltimore.

Business Group Celebrates Valentine’s Day with ‘Heart-to-Heart Networking’
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The day after Valentine’s Day was as good a day as any for the Georgetown Business Association to hold its monthly get-together, calling it a “heart-to-heart networking reception.” The group packed the upstairs at Cafe Milano Feb. 15 with warmth — and with hors d’oeuvres by the famed Prospect Street restaurant and drinks by the GBA. Brian Armstrong thanked the happy, talkative crowd and said that GBA’s March reception would be held at Sequoia Restaurant. [gallery ids="100496,118101,118092,118049,118085,118060,118078,118069" nav="thumbs"]

A Toast to Pierre L’Enfant at Dumbarton House
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In 1791, Pierre-Charles L’Enfant arrived in Georgetown on the evening of March 9 to begin work on the soon-to be nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. The Mayor of Georgetown had not gotten the memo, and L’Enfant felt less than welcomed and complained to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. In recent decades, Washingtonians have been making up for that with an ongoing annual “Welcome, Pierre!” reception. Friends and history lovers raised a toast the city’s designer March 9 at Dumbarton House, headquarters for The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America.