Latest News

Robert Devaney • January 11, 2016

Just in time to bring in 2016, the iconic sign for the former Georgetown Theater at Wisconsin Avenue and O Street NW will be illuminated, beginning 8 p.m., Dec. 31, through the wee hours of Jan. 1, as a preview, owner and architect Robert Bell told The Georgetowner today.

Expect to see the capital letters, “GEORGETOWN,” aglow in neon-red. The lighting of the sign—for the first time since the early 1990s—may stop a few New Year’s Eve party-goers in their tracks.

An official ceremony for the sign’s relighting is not yet scheduled because the main doors of the building are not ready, said Bell, who bought the old theater property in October 2013 and is still renovating the building at 1351 Wisconsin Ave. NW for retail and residential use.

The original sign was hauled away in September 2014 and re-done at Jack Stone Signs, which originally manufactured it in 1950. It was reinstalled in July, but not lighted.

“Restoring the neon Georgetown sign has been a project of mine for seven years,” Bell told the Georgetowner previously. “The Georgetown Theater is the missing link to restoring Wisconsin Avenue from Book Hill to M Street as one of America’s best streets. Restoring the façade and vitality of this property will be a major improvement on the quality of Wisconsin Avenue and Georgetown.”

Architect Robert Bell and his plans for the rejuvenation of the old Georgetown Theater property were the subject of a Jan. 15, 2014, Georgetowner cover story.

Georgetowner •

The Georgetown-Burleith-Hillandale Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 2E) will hold its January meeting, 6:30 p.m., Jan. 4, at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 35th Street and Volta Place, NW, Heritage Room, main building, second floor. Click the following to view Monday’s meeting agenda, as provided by ANC 2E, or simply view below.

Approval of the Agenda

• Approval of January 4, 2016, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda

Administrative

• Approval of November 30, 2015, Meeting Minutes

• Public Safety and Police Report

• Financial Report

• Transportation Report

• Environmental Report

• Ratification of 2016 Public Meeting Schedule

• Areas of Special Interest and election of ANC 2E officers for 2016

Community Comment

Introduction of Rick Murphy, pro bono attorney for ANC 2E

New Business

ABC

Moratorium on new ABC licenses – set to expire in February 2016 (A revised proposed template for a Settlement Agreement with applicants for new ABC licenses in Georgetown/Burleith is on the ANC 2E website at anc2e.com)

Kouzina Authentic Greek Restaurant, ABRA-0099818, 3236 Prospect Street (Class C license) – settlement agreement

Zoning and Planning

Old Georgetown Board

Private Projects

1. SMD 03 OG 16-083 (HPA 16-131) 1417 33rd Street, NW Residence Alterations to carport
Permit

2. SMD 03 OG 16-068 (HPA 16-114) 3420 P Street, NW Residence Addition, demolition, replacement windows, site work Concept

3. SMD 05 OG 16-064 (HPA 16-110) 3251 Prospect Street, NW Commercial Awning, signs – Morton’s Steakhouse – options Concept

4. SMD 05 OG 16-060 (HPA 16-102) 1033 31st Street, NW Commercial Alterations and sign – Ministry of Fashion – Existing alterations without review Permit

5. SMD 05 OG 16-069 (HPA 16-116) 3111 K Street, NW Commercial Alterations, sign and blade signs – AMC Theatres Concept

6. SMD 05 OG 16-063 (HPA 16-109) 1037 Cecil Place, NW Residence New gate in wall – Existing alterations without review Permit

7. SMD 05 OG 16-071 (HPA 16-119) 1044 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Commercial One-story addition, alterations, sign – Sweetgreen Concept

8. SMD 06 OG 16-039 (HPA 16-066) 3059 M Street, NW Commercial Signs – Existing alterations without review – Bluemercury Permit

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E: The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming January 7, 2016, 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 Wednesday, December 30, 2015.

1. SMD 02 OG 16-084 (HPA 16-132) 1724 34th Street, NW Residence Two-story plus basement rear addition, demolition – Existing alterations without review. Permit

2. SMD 02 OG 16-077 (HPA 16-125) 1661 35th Street, NW Residence Two-story plus basement rear addition, in-fill areaway, one-story side addition, demolition Revised permit

3. SMD 02 OG 16-074 (HPA 16-122) 3417 R Street, NW Residence Three-story rear addition, alterations, demolition – Design Development Revised concept

4. SMD 02 OG 16-070 (HPA 16-118) 3223 Volta Place, NW Residence Alterations Permit

5. SMD 02 OG 16-066 (HPA 16-112) 1740 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Commercial Alterations
Permit

6. SMD 02 OG 16-089 (HPA 16-137) 1826 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Commercial Two-story plus basement rear addition, partial demolition, roof deck Permit

7. SMD 03 OG 16-073 (HPA 16-121) 3234 N Street Residence Rear and rooftop additions – Demolition Concept

8. SMD 03 OG 14-352 (HPA 14-685) 3240 P Street, NW Commercial Two-story rear addition plus basement Revised permit

9. SMD 03 OG 16-087 (HPA 16-135) 3107 Dumbarton Street, NW Residence Removal of DEFS – Existing alterations without review Permit

10. SMD 05 OG 16-072 (HPA 16-120) 1099 30th Street, NW Commercial Rebuild and waterproof terrace
Permit

11. SMD 05 OG 16-080 (HPA 16-128) 1232 31st Street, NW Commercial Roof, skylight, and gutter replacement Permit

12. SMD 05 OG 16-065 (HPA 16-111) 3281 M Street, NW Commercial ATM, awning, signs – Bank of America Permit

13.SMD 05 OG 16-059 (HPA 16-091) 3307 M Street, NW Commercial Signs – CB2 Permit

14. SMD 05 OG 16-014 (HPA 16-022) 3509 M Street, NW Residence Replacement windows Permit

15. SMD 05 OG 16-035 (HPA 16-060) 3600 M Street, NW Mixed-use Ramp in public space Concept

16. SMD 05 OG 16-081 (HPA 16-129) 3600 M Street, NW Mixed-use Alterations, replacement windows Concept

17. SMD 05 OG 16-013 (HPA 16-021) 3121 N Street, NW Residence New front porch
Permit

18. SMD 05 OG 16-046 (HPA 16-078) 3241-3245 M Street, NW Concept

19. SMD 05 OG 16-076 (HPA 16-124) 3210 Grace Street, NW, #102 Commercial Awnings and signs – Stona Permit

20. SMD 05 OG 16-048 (HPA 16-080) 1055 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Mixed-use Mesh frame Permit

21. SMD 05 OG 16-049 (HPA 16-081) 1077 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Restaurant Sign – Simit + Smith Permit

22. SMD 05 OG 16-075 (HPA 16-123) 1079 1/2 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Commercial Alterations, awning, sign – Lilly Pulitzer Permit

23. SMD 06 OG 16-086 (HPA 16-134) 3045 P Street, NW Residence Replacement windows, garage door, shutters – Existing alterations without review Concept

24. SMD 06 OG 16-062 (HPA 16-108) 3050 P Street, NW Residence Rear fence and trellis Permit

25. SMD 06 OG 16-061 (HPA 16-107) 2815 Dumbarton Street, NW Residence Alterations, replacement roof, site work Permit

26. SMD 06 OG 16-030 (HPA 16-038) 2712 Poplar Street, NW Residence Replacement fence – Existing alterations without review Permit

27. SMD 07 OG 16-057 (HPA 16-089) 1626 29th Street, NW Residence Rear addition, basement window Permit

28. SMD 07 OG 16-027 (HPA 16-035) 1609 31st Street, NW Residence Alteration, addition, site work – Design Development Revised concept

29. SMD 07 OG 16-078 (HPA 16-032) 3029 Q Street, NW Residence Alterations to residence Concept

30. SMD 07 OG 16-079 (HPA 16-032) 3029 Q Street, NW Residence Garage alterations and new parking pad Concept

31. SMD 07 OG 15-341 (HPA 15-618) 3035 Q Street, NW, #5 Residence Rooftop addition and deck Permit

32. SMD 07 OG 16-082 (HPA 16-130) 3058 R Street, NW Residence Side addition, alterations, site work Permit

Submitted December 21, 2015.

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

Gary Tischler •

It appears that former District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray’s long political and legal nightmare is over.

The nearly five-year investigation into Gray’s victorious 2010 campaign against incumbent Mayor Adrian is over with no charges filed against Gray.

The office of the U.S. District Attorney, headed by Channing Phillips, who took over after then District Attorney Ronald Machen stepped down this year, issued a statement saying, “Based on a thorough review of the available evidence and applicable law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has concluded that the admissible evidence is likely insufficient to obtain and sustain a criminal conviction against any other individuals.”  This means that Gray, although his name was not mentioned, will not face prosecution or charges.

The announcement amounted to a bittersweet victory for Gray.  Federal prosecutors, after all, did uncover a slush fund or “shadow campaign,” presumed to be headed by businessman Jeffrey Thompson, an ally of Gray.  Several Gray campaign aides have already been indicted and await sentencing, along with Thompson, who insisted in negotiations with the prosecutor that Gray knew about the “shadow campaign”.

The investigation into the campaign exploded at the start of Gray’s administration, dogging and shadowing him throughout his tenure, right up to and including his campaign for re-election.  Machen all alone suggested that Gray’s victory over Fenty was suspect and went to great lengths to prove it, snaring aides and Thompson—but without in the end being able to charge Gray.

What the investigation did manage to do was perhaps cause Gray to lose his re-election campaign against Muriel Bowser, who went on to become mayor. Three weeks before the Democratic primary—which is still tantamount to a guarantor of victory in the general election– Thompson pleaded guilty. Prosecutors and Thompson said in court and in public that Gray knew about the illegal funds that fueled his 2010 campaign.  At the time, while Bowser had been surging, the primary still appeared to be in the very least too close to call. That changed quickly with the late-campaign contratemps around Thompson.

While most observers would suggest that Gray’s tenure by and large was a successful one, he was in some ways wounded politically.  With the investigation making constant news as revelations about the “shadow campaign” continuing to erupt in the media and in the courts with every indictment, Gray was dogged by the press and the media about the campaign and had difficulty getting out the news about his policies and programs.

There is probably no question that a slush fund existed—but it also appeared then and appears now that prosecutors had no meaningful or solid evidence against the mayor.

There is an irony in that, of course, several.  Most District political observers suggest that even though it appears that illegal funds were being used, they were most likely unnecessary to defeat Fenty who had been behind in the in the polls for weeks leading up to the election. 

Gray obviously recognized the might-have-been aspects of what transpired, in terms of the 2014 election, in terms of how his tenure was affected.

In a statement released through his former campaign manager Chuck Thies, Gray said, “Here in the District and around the country, many people had had their faith in our justice system tested. Justice delayed is justice denied, but I cannot change history. I look forward to getting on with the next chapter of my life, which will no doubt be dedicated to service.”

The population increase and shift in the  city, and a building boom that came with it, as well the burgeoning reputation of the city as a destination spot can probably be traced back to Mayor Anthony Williams, Fenty and most certainly Gray, who can take considerable credit for the rise of the city. But it was also during his time in office that the investigation put a cloud of distrust over the government.  The convictions of three council members on other matters, did nothing to reduce that impression.

Mayor Bowser released a curt statement Dec. 9 in response to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia’s announcement on the 2010 mayoral election investigation:
 
“The U.S. Attorney is responsible for bringing cases and securing justice.  The new U.S. Attorney for the District has concluded that justice has been secured with seven convictions in the 2010 Gray mayoral campaign and a dozen in total. It is not my job to question his actions but to continue to do the job that the residents elected me to do: expand opportunity to more D.C. residents. And that’s what we do — not just today but every day.”

Peter Murray •

The District Department of Transportation announced Friday that the prices for tickets related to traffic violations are going way up. Under the new proposal, exceeding the speed limit by 25 mph or over could cost you $1,000 while turning right on red without stopping could cost as much as $200.

Other newly proposed fines include $500 for drivers who fail to slow down or move out of the way for emergency vehicles and $100 for going over the speed limit near recreation and senior centers. There’s also a new $500 fine for failing to yield for buses reentering traffic.

The new proposal also includes fine increases for a number of violations regarding car-bike and car-pedestrian interactions. For example, the fine for hitting a bicyclist will increase from $50 to $500, parking in a bike lane will go from $65 to $200, hitting a pedestrian will cost $500 instead of $50, and failing to yield to a pedestrian before turning right on red will run $200 rather than $50.

DDOT proposed the new changes without the District Council’s input, a development that auto club AAA Mid-Atlantic questions. “DDOT is doing this through the regulator process,” said AAA’s John B. Townsend II. “Why not do it through the legislative process, where you can have public hearings?”

DDOT Director Leif Dormsjo told the Washington Post that there is no formal vote required by the Council on the changes, which are part of Mayor Bowser’s Vision Zero plans, but members can ask to amend or reject the proposed rules through the legislative process.

Bicycle and pedestrian advocate groups supported the proposal as a part of the larger Vision Zero initiative. They argue that stricter penalties will make D.C.’s roads safer for all users, whether they are pedestrians, bicyclists or drivers.

Under D.C. law, regulations can be changed after they are published in the D.C. Register twice, with a comment period of 30 days in between publications. So, while these rules are not final, they are currently in effect.

Robert Devaney • January 10, 2016

That fellow at Dog Tag Bakery just might be a veteran who has quite the story to tell. Some are more intense than others.
Lizandro Mateo-Ortiz and his wife Milena were part of the inaugural class of Dog Tag fellows. Army veteran Mateo-Ortiz barely survived being pulled under a Humvee in Iraq in 2007 and required many surgeries. He still walks with a brace and works with his wife of nearly 25 years. They have been in stories about the bakery.

Another story recalls the days of “Shock and Awe.” The newest Dog Tag fellow is 32-year-old Ayad Ahmed, who got swept up during the Battle of Baghdad in April 2003 . . . actually and harshly. His life changed forever. A bunker-busting bomb hit his street in the Mansour district, looking for Saddam Hussein on incorrect intelligence. The shock bombing killed his girlfriend and left his mother bleeding and grandfather in a coma. Eleven were killed. Ahmed was the only local who could speak English. Tough special operations soldiers grabbed Ahmed, tossed him in a Bradley fighting vehicle, threw a bullet-proof vest at him and told him to translate. None of the Americans spoke Arabic. Ahmed thought to himself: “You came all this way with no translator? What is Saddam doing in my garden, dude?”

His language skills saved the lives of some of his neighbors, whom he never saw again. “Everyone in the neighborhood hated me,” he said. There remains a bounty on his head, and he has never returned to Iraq. He lived with U.S. forces from 2003 until June 2009, when he left for Fort Riley, Kansas, for five years. “I was stuck with them.”

Ahmed became a U.S. citizen in November and wanted something more, he said, perhaps in Washington, D.C. While visiting the Pentagon, he stood in first of the office of Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pondering his future. In a moment, Ahmed’s life would change again, when he was urged to contact Dog Tag, Inc. He began working at the bakery last week.

Georgetowner •

Dog Tag Bakery’s Can-Do Spirit Provides Jobs for Disabled Veterans, Along With Sweet and Savory Treats for All

“True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.”—President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

FDR could have been speaking about Dog Tag Bakery, located on the perfectly named Grace Street, just past the C&O Canal below Wisconsin Avenue and M Street.

It’s an airy place, busy, with room enough to sit in style and ponder the world, take in really good cup of coffee, order up sandwiches, scones, sweets and soups, all while supporting veterans. You can see the bakers, the cooks, the people manning the cash register, the kitchen itself.

Here, the baguettes are exceptional, the chocolate cake great, the ginger pear torte exquisite and the soups super. This place is among the best in the city.

Yet this is more than your neighborhood coffee shop. When you step into Dog Tag Bakery — with its wide entrance for easy wheelchair access — you become a part of something larger than the time of the day, the aroma of coffee, the pleasantries, and stories shared around a table. Becoming a customer at Dog Tag Bakery lets you see the results of a unique program in action.
One of its slogans is “Baking a Difference.”

Dog Tag Bakery is part of Dog Tag Inc., which operates a six-month training program aimed squarely at “driven, entrepreneurial-minded wounded veterans and their spouses.” The program, through Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies, concludes with a group of fellows — all wounded veterans, or their spouses, and other professionals who have served in combat zones — well on their way to perhaps owning their own businesses or finding sustainable slots in the workplace. Its inaugural group of fellows has already graduated, and a second group started last month.

Dog Tag Bakery is a kind of physical, practical and workaday manifestation of the program, where veterans put their new business skills into practice: managing, keeping the kitchen running, preparing food, handling the counter. A chandelier of 3,456 dog tags is both a reminder of purpose and an additional way for customers to get involved. A $125 donation lets you hang one there too.
The program — which also features a lecture series and opportunities for wounded veterans to tell their own stories — is the first of its kind, a pilot program which its founders and operators hope to see duplicated in other cities.

Dog Tag has gotten a lot of attention from media, local and national, from the get-go. Its goals and the stories of the veterans are compelling. Retired Army Ranger Sedrick Banks, who had his neck broken in Iraq, told CBS News: “Dog Tag was my first major step back into the working mindset. Before the program, I didn’t have confidence. I didn’t feel like I had the ability. Now, I’m confident in myself, you know?”

The mission of Dog Tag has also earned the confidence and support from the likes of Mark and Sally Ein, Steve and Jean Case, Tammy Haddad, Roy and Kelley Schwartz, just to name a few.

Among the many human ingredients that go into Dog Tag’s operation are co-founders Rev. Richard Curry, S.J., and Constance Milstein; Chief Operating Officer Meghan Ogilvie; General Manager Justin Ford; Head Baker Rebecca Clerget; and Director of Development Simone Borisov.

Yet the most critical human ingredients are the fellows, the wounded veterans themselves, seeking doorways to enter the workforce, learn new skills, become entrepreneurs, become a part of the American mainstream. And that’s where the 72-year-old Father Curry comes in.

“He is the Jesuit father, and I am the Jewish godmother,” Milstein, one of Washington’s — and the country’s — leading philanthropists, told the crowd at the bakery’s grand opening in December. The attorney and real estate developer said she considers their partnership “a match made in heaven.” She is committed to helping veterans — her involvement with Blue Star Families is one example — and has also set up nonprofit bakeries in New York.

“It is because of my father, friends I lost in Vietnam, and those who continue to defend our freedom today that I am dedicated to our military and to helping empower and care for our military families,” Milstein has said.

It is Curry — a Jesuit brother who was ordained a priest at age 66 — who brings with him just what is needed to help disabled, wounded veterans. If there were degrees and medals in empathy, affinity, the ability to listen to and tell stories, Curry would have a fistful of them.

Curry founded, and headed for three decades, the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped, a nonprofit theater-arts training institution for persons with physical disabilities. Reaching out to disabled combat veterans, especially amputees, he began the Writers’ Program for Wounded Warriors, which encourages wounded veterans to tell their stories.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, he is technically disabled himself, having no right forearm. “I was born this way,” he told us in an interview at Dog Tag Bakery. He laughed. “I’m still wrestling with that. It still hurts.” But it also lets him understand with deep feeling, intellect and sometimes humor the plight of wounded veterans.

“Many people faced with a loss of a limb or internal organ internalize things. They can’t let it out,” he said. “And they think they won’t be able to do anything in life, all the things they could have done, all the tools to provide for a family. And that’s not true.”

“I don’t think of myself in terms of my disability,” Curry said. “And it’s important that our wounded warriors not be defined by their disabilities. This program is about confidence.”

Curry himself is a lot about building confidence — he exudes not so much strength as a kind of viability. He has that air of Irish curiosity about him, a conviviality that comes naturally, a love of the human race and its individual spirits.

In many ways, he is the heart of the Dog Tag enterprise, or at least its warmest cheerleader. The veterans themselves are the real stories, of course, and over the years Curry has managed to get them to tell their stories, time and again, in school and on stage; the stage at Dog Tag is one of his innovations.

“That was one of the reasons I started the wounded veterans’ writing program. There is this need for them to tell and write their stories,” Curry said. “Look what happened during the course and aftermath of the Vietnam War. The veterans, many of them badly wounded and maimed, and just as much psychologically, couldn’t tell their stories. Nobody wanted to hear them.

“This is about their stories as much as learning how to run a business, how to be part of a business,” he said. “So many buried their stories in silence and they have made us realize that war has its price.”

The need is obvious. Nearly 120 veterans applied for spots in the first group of fellows. Ten were chosen.

Curry decided to enter the priesthood after many of the wounded veterans he dealt with asked him to hear their confessions.

According to one story, a veteran asked him why he wasn’t a priest and Curry said he felt he had not been called. “Well, I’m calling you,” the man said to him.

Beyond his ability to administer the sacraments, Curry has written two books, “The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking” and “The Secrets of Jesuit Soupmaking.”

At Dog Tag Bakery, he’s already sharing his finely tuned Jesuit gift for compassion, hitched to intellectual curiosity and empathy, linked to worldly action. [gallery ids="102126,133741,133739" nav="thumbs"]

Peter Murray • January 9, 2016

After weighing a number of redevelopment options for the Franklin School at a special meeting on Nov. 16, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, or ANC, with jurisdiction over the area, voted unanimously to support Georgetown University and Thoron Capital’s plan to turn the old school into new academic center focusing on technology and multi-media art. Previously, the school was slated to host a contemporary art museum but Mayor Muriel Bowser shelved those plans in February shortly after coming into office.

Four companies presented redevelopment proposals for the school, built in 1869, to the ANC. The crop of proposals included plans to turn the space into a co-working office space or a boutique hotel, with a focus on either the arts or on fine dining.

Georgetown’s plan, on the other hand, involves turning the space into “a technology, arts, and media center envisioned as the ‘Y Combinator start-up model meets Juilliard with live performance, educational activity, and a dynamic space where technologists, artists, and entrepreneurs come together,” according to the ANC. Robert Taylor, founder of Thoron Capital, explained to the Washington Post that the plan is based off “the idea of bringing different arts disciplines together and letting them play off of one another.”

Included in the plans are a performing arts hall run by the operators of Bohemian Caverns, a live music staple on U Street, an outdoor performance courtyard, and a restaurant facing 13th Street NW. According to Urban Turf, “there will also be community-based courses for Georgetown students which the public can audit, as well as a partnership with various public high schools in the city to teach and train youth and provide college students with community-based learning credits.”

Randall Bass, Georgetown vice provost for education, suggested to the Washington Post that a new university center at the Franklin School would help connect the school’s other downtown programs, like its continuing education campus near Mount Vernon Square and the Georgetown Law premises close to Union Station.

“We think that this is a really unique opportunity to be able to bring the music and film studies work to the heart of downtown,” he said to the Post.

Under the ANC’s recommended plan, Thoron would lease the old school from the city and undertake renovations, while Georgetown University would be the primary tenant. Thoron will consult with a number of experts on historic preservation for the project, but Taylor called the project a “comfortable undertaking” because it will not seek to “radically change the layout of the building.”

A panel within the Deputy Mayor of Planning & Economic Development’s office is in charge of the final decision on the building’s redevelopment. Bidders anticipate a decision by the end of the year and the Bowser administration aims to begin construction in 2017, around the same time that the National Park Service will be putting the finishing touches on its overhaul of Franklin Square Park.

Robert Devaney • January 6, 2016

Pre-parties, post-parties and brunches, as usual, surrounded the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue April 27. Friday night parties involved a Creative Coalition Coalition and Lanmark Technology, Inc., dinner at Neyla, a Vote Latino reception at the Hay Adams and a People-Time party at the St. Regis. On Saturday afternoon, Tammy Haddad’s brunch at Mark Ein’s place on R Street created more buzz. At the Hilton, several receptions went on before the dinner bells chimes. Afterwards, Bloomberg-Vanity Fair, Capitol File and MSNBC parties commenced. On Sunday, more brunches by Politico on Q Street and Reuters and Yahoo at the Hay Adams. Besides the parties and dinners, Georgetowners spied WHCA dinner headliner Conan O’Brien on P Street and Korean rapper Psy in front of the Four Seasons Hotel. [gallery ids="101272,148463,148457,148451,148445,148438,148431,148425,148419,148413,148475,148406,148480,148399,148485,148490,148469" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • December 22, 2015

Cardinal Donald Wuehl, Archbishop of Washington, was the main celebrant of the Dec. 6 Mass, which formally installed the 52nd pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Rev. C. Kevin Gillespie, S.J. Founded in 1787, Holy Trinity on 36th Street NW is the oldest Catholic parish in Washington, D.C. Formerly the president of St. Joseph’s University, Gillespie also taught religious studies and coached baseball at Gonzaga College High School and Georgetown Prep.

Robert Devaney •

At the Nov. 30 meeting of the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission, representatives of DC Water, also known as the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, stood in front of a table of commissioners and were scolded like schoolboys.

What was the problem? If you live or drive along P Street on the east side of Georgetown, you have no doubt experienced the slow progress of the water work, digging and repaving.

P Street resident and commissioner Monica Roache criticized DC Water representatives, who said they were also frustrated and wanted the pace of work quickened — and put the blame on their contractors. Roache and her neighbors got the noise and parking restrictions reduced. After months of disruption, streets around 27th and P were fully paved and smooth this week.