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Robert Devaney • April 11, 2016

Because of the snow storm, the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission (2E) has moved its monthly meeting to Tuesday; it usually meets on Monday. Top attention-getters for the meeting are the proposed designs for the renovation of Duke Ellington School for the Arts on 35th Street and the proposed condominiums at 36th Street and M Street (Canal Road), next to the Exorcist Steps and the Car Barn. The condos by EastBanc will occupy the property where the Key Bridge Exxon now stands; the gas station will be closed.

Here is Tuesday evening’s agenda, as provided by ANC 2E:

We will be meeting this month at the Georgetown Visitation School, 35th and Volta Place, Little Odeon Room, first building on left by gatehouse, 3rd floor. Councilmember Jack Evans has kindly accepted our invitation to join us at this meeting and speak with the community — and will join us during a break in the regular meeting agenda.

Approval of the Agenda

•Approval of March 3, 2014, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda

Administrative

•Approval of February 3, 2014, Meeting Minutes

•Public Safety and Police Report

•Financial Report

•Transportation Report

•DPW Report

Community Comment

New Business

•DC Water Green Infrastructure Project Plan – Georgetown Waterfront implications

•Marine Corps Marathon – October 2014

•American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure – September 27, 2014

•West Side Club Volta Park Picnics – Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day

DDOT Public Space

•3206 N Street, NW, Neyla Mediterranean Grill, DDOT Tracking No. 10126007, Application to occupy public space for the purpose of Valet Staging Area

ABC License renewal:

•1063 31st Street, NW, Il Canale, ABRA License No. ABRA-83707, Requesting to expand to 1065 31st Street, NW/1st and 2nd floors/ Sidewalk Café increase to 30 seats/Summer Garden to 150 seats/Increase Seating Occupancy Load to 442 (Petition March 17, Hearing March 31, 2014)

The following establishment is not anticipated to be reviewed by ANC 2E for license renewal. Please contact ANC 2E by Friday, February 28, if you have an issue.

•1025 31st Street, NW, Zenobia Lounge, (Petition March 17, Hearing March 31, 2014)

Zoning

2803 Dumbarton Street, NW, BZA Application No. 18739, Application for special exception for a two story rear addition to a one-family row dwelling not meeting the court requirements (Hearing April 15, 2014)

CFA/HPRB
SMD 01, 1680 35th Street, NW, Duke Ellington School of the Arts remodeling – DGS design revisions to earlier proposal

Old Georgetown Board

MAJOR PROJECTS: SMD 05, 3601-3607 M Street, NW, OG 14-113 (HPA 14-220) Residential, New
building, Concept

PRIVATE PROJECTS: 1. SMD 06, 1337 27th Street, NW, OG 14-108 (HPA 14-213) Residence,
Alterations to brick wall, Concept

2. SMD 06, 1339 27th Street, NW, OG 14-107 (HPA 14-212) Residence, Alterations to brick wall, Concept

3. SMD 06, 1341 27th Street, NW, OG 14-105 (HPA 14-210) Residence, Alterations to brick wall, Concept

4. SMD 06, 1343 27th Street, NW, OG 14-106 (HPA 14-211) Residence, Alterations to brick wall, Concept

5. SMD 02, 1675 35th Street, NW, OG 14-114 (HPA 14-223) Residence, Pergola, Permit

6. SMD 03, 3238 P Street, NW, OG 14-103 (HPA 14-206) Residence, Three- story rear addition, Concept

7. SMD 03, 1357 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 14-14-084 (HPA 14-158) Commercial, Three-story rear addition, Revised Concept

8. SMD 04, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 14-110 (HPA 14-216) Georgetown University – Shaw Field, Accessory building, press box, alterations, Concept

9. SMD 05, 3034 M Street, NW, OG 14-097 (HPA 14-193) Commercial, Kate Spade, Awnings and sign for “Kate Spade – New York,” Permit

10. SMD 05, 3314 M Street, NW, OG 14-111 (HPA 14-217) Commercial, Alterations to Cady’s Alley: green screens, lighting, bumps, Permit

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E:

The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming March 6, 2014, 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, Feb. 28.

1. SMD 02, 1660 34th Street, NW, OG 14-062 (HPA 14-104) Residence, Rear additions, reconstruction of front façade, Concept – revised design

2. SMD 02, 3306 R Street, NW, OG 14-077 (HPA 14-123) Residence, Addition at roof level, Concept

3. SMD 02, 3210 Scott Place, NW, OG 14-109 (HPA 14-215) Residence, Retaining wall at rear, Permit

4. SMD 03, 1511 33rd Street, NW, OG 14-036 (HPA 14-058) Residence, Replacement windows at rear – existing, Permit

5. SMD 03, 3240 P Street, NW, OG 14-053 (HPA 14-077) Commercial, 2-story rear addition plus basement, Concept – revised design

6. SMD 03, 3107 Dumbarton Street, NW, OG 14-058 (HPA 14-100) Residence, 2-story rear addition to replace 2-story porch, Concept

7. SMD 03, 3261 Prospect Street, NW, OG 14-101 (HPA 14-204) Commercial, Alterations, blade sign for “Lady Camellia,” Permit

8.
SMD 03, 1351 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 14-007 (HPA 14-011) Commercial, Demolition, roof top addition, alterations to garage and new loggia, Concept – revised design

9. SMD 05, 1115 30th Street, NW, OG 14-112 (HPA 14-219) Commercial, Replacement windows, Permit

10. SMD 05, 3334 Cady’s Alley, NW, OG 14-098 (HPA 14-194) Commercial, Lighting and signs for “Donghia,” Permit

11. SMD 05, 1241 Potomac Street, NW, OG 14-95 (HPA 14-179) Residence, Rear fence replacement, Permit

12. SMD 06, 2725 N Street, NW, OG 14-094 (HPA 14-172) Residence, Alterations to dormer at rear, Permit

13. SMD 06, 2531 P Street, NW, OG 14-031 (HPA 14-036) Commercial, Awnings – existing, Permit

14. SMD 06, 2531 P Street, NW, OG 14-033 (HPA 14-046) Commercial, Signs for “TTR / Sotheby’s International Realty,” Permit

15. SMD 06, 3030 P Street, NW, OG 14-117 (HPA 14-227) Residence, Partial demolition, 2-story rear addition, alterations, Permit

16. SMD 06, 3036 P Street, NW, OG 14-096 (HPA 14-192) Residence, Replacement windows at rear, Permit

17. SMD 07, 1644 31st Street, NW, OG 14-115 (HPA 14-225) Tudor Place, Alterations to west entrance, fence and sliding gate, Permit

18. SMD 07, 1644 31st Street, NW, OG 14-104 (HPA 14-207) Tudor Place, Repairs to slate roof on Administration Building, Permit

19. SMD 08, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 14-055 (HPA 14-080) Georgetown University, New construction – residence hall, Revised concept

Sent out 4 p.m., Feb. 27: GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA — Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E — 3265 S St., NW — 202-724-7098 — anc2e@dc.gov — www.anc2e.com.

Georgetowner •

On Feb. 19, the long-troubled Corcoran announced a plan for George Washington University to take over its landmark 17th Street building and the Corcoran College of Art and Design, housed there and at the former Fillmore School on 35th Street in Georgetown.

The Corcoran art collection – minus works to be distributed to other museums – is to become the property of the National Gallery of Art, which will use the 17th Street galleries to show modern and contemporary art. (There is also talk of a “Corcoran Legacy Gallery,” where some of the museum’s most famous works will continue to be displayed at that location.)

In the Washington Post, Philip Kennicott called the plan “the end of the Corcoran and its final dismemberment.” But there is a good chance that some of what made the Corcoran a uniquely valuable Washington institution will live on. It is a question of leadership.

GWU President Steven Knapp was provost of Johns Hopkins University from 1996 to 2007, when the formerly independent Peabody Institute, a music conservatory of national importance, expanded as a constituent school of Johns Hopkins without giving up its distinct culture, faculty and student body.
National Gallery Director Earl Powell wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on Thomas Cole, a major figure in 19th-century American art, in which the Corcoran collection is unsurpassed. Chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, Powell called the Corcoran’s exhibition spaces “arguably the most beautiful galleries of any museum in the United States” in a New York Times article about the proposed partnership.

Knapp and Powell are leaders who are likely to “get it,” at the helm of institutions with the resources to make full use of the Corcoran’s exceptionally fine building and collection. Whether they will work together to sustain the museum-school model and community engagement that helped to define the Corcoran’s identity – both locally and nationally – remains to be seen. We hope so.

Robert Devaney •

One of the most recognized properties at Georgetown’s most famous intersection was sold Feb. 21 for $12.2 million by the Heon family to 3150 M Street, LLC, a source close to the sale told the Georgetowner.

The 6,662-square-foot trophy retail space currently houses Serendipity 3 restaurant but is best known as the place, where Nathans, a Georgetown classic restaurant and watering hole, once stood. Nathans closed in July 2009, after 40 years.

The Heon family — which sold the former Georgetown Theater property to Georgetown architect Robert Bell for redevelopment in October 2013 — had owned the corner property for 100 years. During the middle of the 20th century, the family lived in the upper floors of 3150 M St., NW. For the present generation, this was where parents and grandparents lived. One family member said it was hard to let go of the property.

Robert Devaney •

Town Liquors at 1326 Wisconsin Ave., NW, has been shut down by the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board for serving to minors. Because of the violation, the board also fined the business $5,000. The liquor license for Town Liquors was suspended from Feb. 23 to March 4.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Bill Starrels, the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner who heads up the local ANC’s alcoholic beverage committee. “But they have to do what it takes not to serve minors. The rules are the rules.”

Located next to the Georgetown Inn, Town Liquors is one of only five liquor stores in Georgetown.
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Serafine George •

Tudor Place Historic Home and Garden received a $100,000 grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

When asked how the Tudor Place team felt about receiving the grant, Leslie Buhler replied, “Gratitude. The maintenance of a historic site is tremendous work.”

The money from the grant will go towards three major projects: the painting and restoration of the windows on the national historic landmark house, the repointing of the bricks on another and the replacement of a roof.

“You can actually put your fingers through the brick,” said Buhler, stressing the importance of these renovations.

Tudor Place must now focus on fundraising to match the grant.

Tudor Place has been a part of Georgetown since it was completed in 1816 by Thomas and Martha Custis Peter. He was the son of Robert Peter, who was the first Mayor of Georgetown, and she was the granddaughter of Martha Washington.
Today,

Tudor Place offers visitors a look into American history at this virtually untouched landscape along with the collections of the Custis-Peter family from the 18th through the 20th centuries. It is a popular spot for special events and weddings.

Paulina Phelps •

The Georgetown Public Library hosted Ruth Trocotolli, archaeologist for D.C.’s Historic Preservation Office Feb. 22 for a lecture in its Peabody Room.

Despite the beautiful weather, which Washingtonians were enjoying outside, the afternoon lecture had an impressive turn-out of 50 persons. This is no surprise, however, as the history and preservation of Washington, D.C, especially Georgetown, is so fascinating. The diversity of the audience was especially notable as well. Sprightly young students and much older grey-haired men and women scattered throughout the room. The age range within the room presented its own historical narrative, just as the historical excavations and discoveries in the area.

In her presentation Trocotolli raised an interesting observation: “People don’t realize the history that’s below their feet.” She went on to add what distinguishes archaeology: “It’s not biased the same way as written history is.”

The Historic Preservation Office works to encourage the protection of D.C.’s historic and cultural resources through the 3 p’s: planning, protection and public education. Trocotolli reiterated these principles and emphasizing the focus on reviewing project plans. Oftentimes, this process involves looking at properties throughout time and determining what beneficial resources would be there. Emphasis is also put on the effort of protection. Artifact Rescue Projects are frequent, especially in as historical place as Georgetown.

Trocotolli mentioned several historical buildings in Georgetown, which have undergone such rescue projects. For instance, the Forrest-Marbury building, now the Embassy of Ukraine, dates to 1788, and another nearby one, Halcyon House dates to 1787.

Both the history of Georgetown and the keen interest of its community are equally impressive. Tricotolli’s work within the community as well as the audience’s participation and interest in the area reflect Georgetown’s authentic collision of the past and the present.

Robert Devaney •

As the snow continued to melt during this long winter, the Georgetown Business Association met for its February reception at Neyla on N Street in its special tented room that reminded all of balmier climes. Touted for its Mediterranean cuisine, the attentive staff kept the table full and the glasses full. GBA president Riyad Said thanked the guests who filled the room and said that the GBA had its 2014 to-do list ready with lobbying efforts and special events — as well as focusing on parking options and shuttle service. Also on the table are help and incentives for small businesses coming to Georgetown.
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Robert Devaney •

Dean & Deluca at 3276 M St., NW, was closed Feb. 19 for one day by the D.C. Health Department. The fancy food store was cited for various health hazards, “including but not limited to heavy infestation of vermin.”

Last year — also in February — Dean & Deluca was closed for a day by D.C. Health for rodent droppings and more. Live birds in the outside cafe were also a problem. At the time, the coffee bar in the outside cafe was moved into the building. Also sold outside were bagels, pastries and other sweets. Now, all those items are sold in the historic market building.

The store is open again and did not comment on this citation.

Robert Devaney •

An elderly man is dead and his wife is in stable condition after a double stabbing in their Georgetown home in the 3300 block of Q Street, NW, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, which was called around 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

The deceased was identified by police as 88-year-old Le Roi Elliott, who was stabbed to death. His wife, 81-year-old Vaughan Elliott, was taken to the hospital with injuries. The MPD also identified one of their sons, Bradford Elliott, 56, as the suspect in the double stabbing during an early morning fight and arrested him. He is reportedly mentally ill and lived in the Q Street home with his parents. Vaughan Elliott called 911.

Bradford Elliott answered the door with blood-soaked hands when police arrived, police told the Washington Post.

From first reports, police called the attack “domestic in nature.” Assistant Police Chief Patrick Burke told the media: “The situation appears to be mental-health-related.”

Georgetown-Burleith advisory neighborhood commissioner Ed Solomon, who spoke with the media at the crime scene, said, “This is something that could happen anywhere, whether it’s a mental health issue or something else going on. We don’t know. Of course, we are very concerned for our community.”

Neighbors are shaken by the news, and a few talked to the Elliotts’ other son Reade who lives in Loudoun County, Virginia, and arrived at the house on Sunday afternoon. The home sits across from the Volta Park tennis courts. Two blocks east of the murder scene was the Q Street home of 91-year-old Viola Drath, killed in August 2011. Last week, her husband Albrecht Muth was convicted of murdering her.

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Gary Tischler •

The District of Columbia’s Democratic mayoral primary is coming up faster in your rear window than a speeding motorcade. It’s on April 1 in less than 80 days, and its winner will likely take the general election to become mayor.

With a crowded field, it remains an unsettled and unsettling race—at least if the Jan. 9 mayoral debate, held at Dumbarton House in Georgetown and co-sponsored by the Georgetown Business Association and the Citizens Association of Georgetown, was any indication. The forum also got a bit of a stir when an uninvited candidate came forward and joined the panel.

Before a packed, standing-room-only audience, a total of seven candidates showed up to debate a variety of issues, some of them Georgetown-centric as befitted the location. Nevertheless, the whole process still resembled seven candidates in search of a dominating issue.

While the District Council candidates for mayor—Ward 2’s Jack Evans, Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser, Ward 6’s Tommy Wells and at-large Vincent Orange—jockeyed for leader-of-the-pack position, Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal and State Department veteran Rita Jo Lewis went some ways in establishing their bona fides as legitimate candidates.

But there was confusion on two fronts at this debate. Due to a public safety meeting, Mayor Vincent Gray did not show, depriving his competition and moderator Davis Kennedy, publisher of the Current Newspapers, from asking him once again about his role in his heavily investigated 2010 campaign for mayor. If that wasn’t enough, the debate at times threatened to turn into the Carter-Kennedy show, after late-arriving (by more than 15 minutes) candidate Christian Carter, a 31-year-old businessman in the District, was told by Kennedy that he had not been invited and would not be asked questions.

Carter, who throughout the proceedings sounded both refreshing and outrageous at turns, pulled up a chair anyway, even after Kennedy said only the council candidates and two candidates—presumably Shallal and Lewis—who were considered to be plausible long shots had been invited. That was mildly insulting enough. Then, Carter asked, “Isn’t it hard enough to run for mayor without dealing with you,” and declared, “I am a free African American man.” He then asked Kennedy, reluctant to recognize him: “Is this slavery?” Kennedy replied, “Yes.” By this time, there were shouts from the audience along the lines of “Let him speak”—meaning Carter, not Kennedy.

The two would spar a little later when Kennedy asked what he called a serious of tough, even “rude” questions of each candidate, including Carter, when he questioned his knowledge about D.C. issues, and whether, given that fact, he should be running at all.

Wells fared not much better when Kennedy, citing an unnamed colleague of Wells, said that Wells hadn’t accomplished much during his tenure, a charge which Wells appeared to refute without much of a sweat.

Evans was asked about his initial refusal to strip Ward 8 Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry of a committee chairmanship. Evans responded it was enough that Barry had admitted to wrongdoing and that stripping him of the chairmanship would not allow him to be an effective representative of his ward.

The fate and future of a Georgetown Metrorail Station and the Whitehurst Freeway appeared to be hot button topics—almost everyone seemed to be for a new Metro stop—part of the Metro’s long-range plans as well as that of debate sponsors CAG and GBA and the Georgetown Business Improvement District’s long-range plans. Shallal, a trolley car enthusiast, threw in a word of caution: “Imagine the traffic jams around that project in Georgetown, because it will take a long time to complete and will be disruptive.” Nobody particularly likes the Whitehurst, but only Lewis outright suggested that it should be torn town. As Evans noted, quoting someone else, that “people hate it when they look at it and love it when they use it.”

There was some talk about local, neighborhood anti-crime watches funded by special taxes, which brought Evans to recall that he had been instrumental in the passing of BID legislation. “You’d have to have something like that,” he said. Orange went a step further: “Isn’t it about time we had a BID in Anacostia?”

Orange, Shallal, Lewis and Wells—in different ways—all called for dealing with the District’s growing income gap, for creating more real affordable housing, for challenging the government to make sure that it would not lose its middle class and for helping its least advantaged, most struggling residents.

Wells was obviously proud of the fact that he’s accepting no corporate donations. Money, he said, has always had a corrosive effect on politics, as it did, it appears, in the last campaign or in any campaign. He has already indicated that corporate contributions ought to be banned. He also advocated that school reform was a mixed bag, that it wasn’t over, that much more work needed to be done. “Every student in the District should have an elementary school within walking distance to his or her home,” he said. Orange suggested that one way to deal with financial ethics is to make it so that council members could not hold down another job.

The problem, however, remains the same in this campaign: incumbent and candidate Gray—absent or present—was and is the elephant in the room, precisely because of the cloud that hangs over him about his previous campaign and the fact that the investigation is ongoing. It’s an issue that now hangs over this campaign. The media won’t leave it alone—nor should it—and it’s fodder for his rivals.

In a city which appears to be economically strong and prosperous, which is, in fact, on its way to becoming that world-class city everyone talks about, other issues remain to be dealt with—liveable wages, low income housing, the homeless, fair tax breaks, the plight of seniors and children, a still wobbly education system increasingly charter-heavy, ethics problems, the disparity between highest and lowest earners, none of which by themselves seem to find clear visibility or traction.

All of those issues made an appearance in the debate, but not so much that the earth shook noticeably. The council candidates have records to defend or brag about, and Evans has more to talk about than anybody, one way or another, given that he’s the longest-serving council member.

None of the candidates appear to be solidly in the imagination of large parts of a population, which is visibly changing in its make. Hark the millennials are here, and Chocolate City has diminished in size. In terms of the campaign, it’s that old Carpenters’ song: “We’ve only just begun. [gallery ids="101595,147420,147412,147407,147417,147423" nav="thumbs"]