Latest News

Georgetowner • December 17, 2015

Holiday Living Room Live – Jazz & Holiday Tunes by the Fireplace (FREE)

December 17th, 2015 at 07:00 PM | Free | info@artsoiree.com | Tel: 202-470-2642 | Event Website

Take a break from the holiday season’s hustle and bustle, as you cozy up by the wood burning fireplace and enjoy the best of merry tunes in the company of friends and music lover.

Thursday, December 17th will feature Holiday & Jazz Tunes by Sally Linderma, who is a classically trained vocalist and is equally at home singing cabaret, show tunes, pop and jazz.

Seating is on the first come basis. Doors open 7pm. Live Performance start 8pm. Meet & Mingle w/ the artist 10:30pm

Address

The Ritz-Carlton, Georgetown; 3100 South Street NW

IMPROV ACTUALLY

December 18th, 2015 at 10:00 PM

Drawing inspiration from the movie “Love Actually,” the Christmas-themed show takes place in Washington, D.C. Improv Actually introduces us to an eclectic mix of Washingtonians who are falling in love, falling out of love, and (quite possibly) falling back in love again.

Address

Source – 1835 14th St., NW

Star Wars Dance Party!

December 19th, 2015 at 08:00 PM | FREE WITH RSVP | carol@artwhino.com | Tel: 301-567-8210 | Event Website

Storm troopers and Jedis from galaxies far and near rejoice for Art Whino’s: Star Wars Dance Party! Show us your best moves as you traverse through our intergalactic 9000sqft terrain as we celebrate the release of the much anticipated movie. Grab a frosty beverage at Chalmun’s Cantina while you watch Star Wars themed live painting. Get ready to capture your fun with a photo booth ready for you to take your memories as you continue your adventures to other galaxies.

Address

WHINO on H St; 700 H St NE

Washington, DC 20002

Washington Bach Consort presents “Christmas with the Consort”

December 20th, 2015 at 03:00 PM | Tel: 202-429-2121 | Event Website

Washington Bach Consort presents “Christmas with the Consort”

Consort Chorus

Todd Fickley, organ

Join the Consort Chorus for a dynamic program of choral and organ music, featuring the stupendous virtuosity of Todd Fickley on the world-renowned Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ at National Presbyterian Church. Experience the Consort in a diverse program of magnificent repertoire, both old and new, written for this special time of year.

All programs are subject to change without notice.

Address

National Presbyterian Church; 4101 Nebraska Avenue NW

A Choral Arts Christmas

December 20th, 2015 at 08:00 PM | $15 and up | choralarts@choralarts.org | Tel: 2022443669 | Event Website

Capture the joy of the season with a beloved Washington tradition! A Choral Arts Christmas celebrates the holidays with a magical mix of seasonal classics, favorite sing-alongs, and popular Christmas standards. Featuring Terry Bingham, trumpet, as a guest soloist.

Repertoire includes I Wonder as I Wander, Sleigh Ride, O Holy Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Jingle Bells, Silent Night, and more from Choral Arts and our special guests!

Address

2700 F St NW

Carols & Cocktails

December 20th, 2015 at 08:00 PM | $79 and up | youngpatrons@choralarts.org | Tel: 2022443669 | Event Website

Join us for a festive evening of music and holiday celebration!

Attend Choral Arts’ “A Choral Arts Christmas” holiday concert featuring Terry Bingham on trumpet, and a carol sing-along in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Followed by our exclusive after-party featuring light hors d’oeuvres, desserts, beer, and wine at the Hamilton!

Tickets include two free drinks. Additional drinks will be available via cash bar.

Ticket packages are limited and will sell out!

Address

Concert:

Kennedy Center Concert Hall; 2700 F St NW

Party:

The Loft at The Hamilton; 600 14th St NW, Second Floor

Holiday Cocktails and Christmas Flowers

December 21st, 2015 at 06:00 PM | $69 | iricchi@aol.com | Tel: 202-835-0459 | Event Website

Sip sparkling holiday cocktails while you craft a floral arrangement for your Christmas table. Floral designers from Palace Florists will provide expert tips for creating a beautiful arrangement. Keep it for yourself or give away as a gift!

Address

Ristorante i Ricchi; 1220 19th Street, NW

Robert Devaney • December 14, 2015

Rocklands Barbeque and Grilling Company celebrated 25 years on Dec. 1 at its Glover Park location. The hometown favorite opened its doors at 2418 Wisconsin Ave. NW in 1990 during a time when few restaurants were seriously centered around barbecue.

It become an instant hit, especially after the Washington Post gave the new joint a great review: “some of the best barbecued meat and accompaniments north of the Carolinas and east of Texas.”

Arriving from Washington and Lee University, where he perfected his special Washington barbecue sauce, Rocklands founder John Snedden catered his first party in 1983, when he won first place for ribs in the International Barbecue Competition.

“The restaurant’s original barbecue sauce—still its house sauce today—marries a tomato base with plenty of onions and vinegar, still Snedden’s favorite not-sweet complement to chopped pork,” according to the company. Also, Rocklands still cooks the same way, “including smoking only over wood (no gas), offering a limited and barbecue-true menu, and serving the original vinegary barbecue sauce to accompany its smoked meats.”

Neverthless, the company adds, “the menu at Rocklands has changed slightly over the years, including the addition of grilled salmon, more vegetarian options and creation of two ‘sister’ sauces to the original barbecue sauce. The company has been ahead of the clean-food curve as well: In part as a response to the Snedden family’s own dietary changes, everything Rocklands serves is free of artificial dyes. By making the salads and sides in-house, the restaurant can also ensure that only wholesome ingredients go into the dishes.”

While remaining true to his own grill rules, Snedden — involved in business association and other philanthropic efforts — is happy about the food progress he has seen in the last quarter center.

“The whole restaurant scene in D.C. has changed in the last 25 years,” he said. “We have more specialized cuisines, and many more options at the high and low end. This means that for the past few years, we’ve be able to buy reliably from local growers and meat purveyors, so that I can offer truly regional foods, which is how barbecue should be. Everybody wins from the fact that Washington has become a true food town.”

Besides its original Washington, D.C., Rocklands has three other locations, Alexandria, Arlington and Rockville — and continues to runs its popular catering operation. And, yes, it has four food trucks.

For its birthday on Dec. 1, Rocklands rolled back the price of its chopped pork sandwich went–from $5.99 to $3.99 — and hosted a pig pull during the evening, open to all customers.
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Robert Devaney • December 9, 2015

One day after Halloween when D.C. endured six shootings – including the shooting along the 2800 block of M Street, N.W., of a 17-year-old boy, who remains in George Washington University Hospital near death – law enforcement officials attended the Nov. 1 meeting of the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission.

An officer from the Metropolitan Police Department is a regular visitor. However, attorneys from the Office of United States Attorney for the District of Columbia were special speakers, scheduled before Georgetown’s violent and near-wilding Halloween – it only added to underline the frustration of random muggings, urban crimes and other violence.

MPD’s Capt. Jeffrey Herold said officers were positioned along the town’s commercial corridor and its street corners. There were three robbery arrests along with three persons whose firearms were taken away, he said. The homicide unit is still investigating the shooting on M Street. As others muttered about the amped up groups of black teenagers, Herold – a veteran of many Georgetown Halloweens – said that this year’s Halloween had been “more dramatic.”

Ronald C. Machen Jr. , the U.S. Attorney for the District, already scheduled to speak at the meeting, asked for the community’s willingness to come forward and cooperate, especially as witnesses to a crime. He acknowledged everyone’s frustration with young persons who grow up in a fatherless or broken home and then display “a brazen lack of respect” toward those in their life and in public. He also shared with the audience the huge socioeconomic – if not moral – problems of youths who do not respect the law: “Somehow you have to get through to these kids.”

While he said his office would ask for long sentences for violent crimes, Machen added that law enforcement officials “can’t arrest our way out of the problem.” He also said his office would prosecute 16-year-olds as adults if the crime warrants it: “If you commit an adult crime, you’re going to do adult time.”

Machen, who lives in the same police district as Georgetown and sends his children to D.C. public schools, said gang activity is not suspected in the Georgetown shooting. As the Second District Community Prosecutor, Trena Carrington, assistant attorney in the office, acts as the prosecutor for Georgetown; her phone number is 202-715-7374.

Georgetowner •

Georgetown Heritage, the new nonprofit “with the mission of promoting and presenting the history of Washington D.C.’s oldest neighborhood,” named Terrie S. Rouse as its executive director.

“Rouse is a seasoned museum and nonprofit professional with experience in start-ups, museums, interpretive centers and visitor centers,” according to Georgetown Heritage. “Previously, she served as chief operating officer for the launch of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta and was CEO for Visitor Services at the United States Capitol Visitor Center.

Georgetown Heritage says its first priority is “to restore and revitalize the Georgetown section of the C&O Canal National Historical Park,” and adds, “In recent years budget cuts have forced the National Park Service to eliminate educational programming and defer important maintenance work in Georgetown, leaving canal infrastructure in disrepair. Georgetown Heritage was created by local business leaders and residents to address these issues.”

The nonprofit has administrative, staff and office support thanks to the Georgetown Business Improvement District. The group says that BID CEO Joe Sternlieb and two BID board members serve on the Georgetown Heritage board along with neighborhood leaders.

Rouse has 35 years of experience in nonprofit and museum management. She worked for Kansas City’s Union Station, a historic landmark, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the New York Transit Museum.

Robert Devaney •

One of this town’s, Washington, D.C.s and America’s great houses and gardens, Tudor Place, will celebrate 200 years of life and history in Georgetown next year.

“This is a remarkable and dynamic place,” said Mark Hudson, the new executive director of Tudor Place. “We’re making new discoveries every day, learning about life and culture in the capital city over two centuries.”
“America’s story lives at Tudor Place,” as the landmark museum officials say, “animated by the lives of six generations of the Peter family, their community and the enslaved and free people who worked for them.”

Built by Martha Parke Custis Peter — Martha Washington’s granddaughter — and husband Thomas Peter in 1816, the estate at 1644 31st St. NW is a treasure trove of America’s first first family.

Taking up five-and-a-half acres in the city, Tudor Place opened to the public in 1988. It has an array of programs for 2016 — from a Presidents’ Day open house, a Peters family reunion, its annual garden party (Tudor Place is the honoree) and a birthday party for the estate on July 2. There will be an 1816 Dinner in October.

Gary Tischler • December 7, 2015

By now, we are well aware that we live in dangerous times, and we have become familiar with the police and security official admonition to American citizens in a time of terror and violent crime.

“If you see something, say something.”

That familiar plea, usually accompanied by admonitions not to get involved in active crime scenes, or “active shooter” situations, may be changing.  It appears to be heading toward “If you see something, do something.”

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier took part in a “60 Minutes” segment, aired Nov. 22 and entitled “Active Shooter,” in which CBS News reporter Anderson Cooper interviewed Lanier, as well New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and detective Raymond McPartland, a lead trainer with the NYPD Counterterrorism.

Lanier said—after describing the aftershocks of the 2013 Washington Navy Yard shootings, when a shooter killed 12 persons before being shot by law enforcement officers—that civilians who are a part of an active shooter situation have three options.

“Your options are run, hide or fight,” Lanier told Cooper, who noted that “according to the FBI, 60 percent of active shooter attacks are over before police ever arrive, so now law enforcement agencies throughout the country are trying to educate theory public  on how to survive on their own.”

Asked by Cooper if that’s what she would tell people to do, she said yes. “What we tell them is the facts of the matter are that most active shooters kill most of the victims in 10 minutes or less, and the best police department in the country are going to be about a five-to-seven minute response,” Lanier said.

Lanier said that “getting out should be your first option, the best option.” Then, she added that “if you’re in a position to try and take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there.  And that’s kind of counterintuitive to what cops always tell people, right? We always tell people, ‘Don’t … you know …don’t take action. Call 911. Don’t intervene in the robbery.’ We’ve never told people: ‘Take action.’  This is a different scenario. 

“You’re telling them that now though?” asked Cooper of Lanier’s advice to intervene. “We are,” Lanier said.

When questioned by Cooper if she worried about overreaction, Lanier replied, “You can be prepared and you can have a society that is resilient and alert and conscientious and safer without scaring people.”

“You don’t want people to be afraid?” Cooper continued. “No,” Lanier said, “that works against you. If you educate people on actions they can take to reduce their risk, then you can save some lives. And I think it’s irresponsible for us not to do that. I’m not worried about an overreaction. I’m more worried about a numbness to what is potentially a reality. Just ignoring it and not preparing yourself. That’s not an option anymore.”

Lanier did not elaborate during the “60 Minutes” interview what form action by civilians would take and whether this meant people should carry weapons.

It was plain from the interview that the nightmarish situation of the Paris attacks—seemingly random shootings and bombings in several locations—haunted police.

Lanier was blunt in her assessment of what happened in Paris—and as far back as the 1999 Columbine school shootings. “I don’t think you’re going to stop the shootings,” she said. “I think that a person who’s committed to carrying out an act of violence like this is going to carry that act out. How successful they are and how many people they kill, we can try and intervene on.”

Georgetowner •

The Georgetown-Burleith-Hillandale Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 2E) will hold its December meeting, 6:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 30, at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 35th Street and Volta Place, NW, Heritage Room, main building, second floor. The following is Monday’s meeting agenda, as provided by ANC 2E.

Approval of the Agenda

— Approval of November 30, 2015, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda

Administrative

— Approval of September 29 and November 2, 2015 Meeting Minutes

— Public Safety and Police Report

— Financial Report –Approval of Quarterly Financial Report due 11/30

— Transportation Report

— Next ANC 2E meeting January 4, 2015, and tentative 2016 Public Meeting Schedule

Community Comment

— Report on Peters sisters/Rose Park Tennis Courts dedication

— Introducing Mark Hudson, incoming executive director of Tudor Place

— December 9 meeting of the ANC 2E Committee of the Whole (jointly with the Citizens Association of Georgetown town hall meeting), re design proposals for the West Heating Plant, at 7:00 p.m. at the Georgetown Branch Library, 3260 R Street NW

New Business

Disruption to the community and to traffic from D.C. Water’s construction techniques on P Street NW in east Georgetown

ABC

Moratorium on new ABC licenses – set to expire in February 2016 (A proposal by the Georgetown Business Improvement District is on the ANC 2E website at anc2e.com)

Zoning and Planning

— An appeal to the Mayor’s Agent of a decision by the Historic Preservation Review Board to deny a subdivision application that would permit combining five assessment and taxation lots into one lot of record, H.P.A. No. 15-529, Square 1230, A&T Lots 804, 814, 818, 820 and 822

— 3324 Dent Place, NW, BZA No. 19056, zoning relief application from requirements re side yard width and on-site parking

— 1815 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Paisano’s Pizza, BZA No. 19158, zoning exception application for a carryout establishment

Old Georgetown Board
   

Private Projects

1. SMD 07 OG 16-053 (HPA 16-085)?
2705 P Street, NW
?Residence?
Rear additions, roof deck?
Concept?

2. SMD 07 OG 16-003 (HPA 16-009)
?3029 Dent Place, NW
Residence
?Rear addition, alterations
?Concept

3. SMD 02 OG 16-045 (HPA 16-077)
?1679 35th Street, NW?
Residence?
One-story rear addition, porch enclosure, demolition
?Concept?

4. SMD 03 OG 16-013 (HPA 16-021)
3121 N Street, NW
Residence
Reconstruct front porch
Permit

5. SMD 05 OG 16-046 (HPA 16-078)
?3241-3245 M Street, NW
?Commercial?
Storefront alterations, sign – & Other Stories?
Concept?

6. SMD 05 OG 16-041 (HPA 16-073)?
3299 M Street, NW?
Commercial?
Alterations, sign – Peet’s Coffee & Tea?
Permit?

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

8. SMD 05 OG 15-347 (HPA 15-625)?
3225 Grace Street, NW, #207
Multi-family residence?
Replacement doors
?Permit?

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

10. SMD 05 OG 16-043 (HPA 16-075)?
1079 1/2 Wisconsin Avenue, NW?
Commercial
?Storefront alterations, signs – Lilly Pulitzer?
Permit

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E: The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming December 3, 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, November 27, 2015.

Major and Public Projects

1. SMD 08 OG 16-050 (HPA 16-082)?
3700 O Street, NW?
Georgetown University – Dahlgren Chapel
?Installation of Healy Hall crosses on berm, landscaping?
Permit?

2. SMD 05 OG 16-040 (HPA 16-068)?
1055 29th Street, NW
Industrial – West Heating Plant?
Site wall reinforcement?
Permit?

3. SMD 06 OG 15-239 (HPA 15-449)
?2715 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
?Mixed-use?
Demolition, new construction?
Concept?

4. SMD 05 OG 15-317 (HPA 15-567)?
1055 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW?
Mixed-use
?Addition/alterations – Foundry
?Concept?

5. D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), Volta Park
1555 34th Street, NW?
Addition, replacement ramp?
Concept

Private Projects

1. SMD 02 OG 15-276 (HPA 15-520)
?1695 35th Street, NW
Residence?
Window replacement
?Permit?

2. SMD 02 OG 16-032 (HPA 16-044)
?3401 Dent Place, NW
Residence?
Solar panels?
Permit?

3. SMD 02 OG 16-001 (HPA 16-001)
?3223 Volta Place, NW?
Residence?
Alterations – options?
Concept?

4. SMD 03 OG 16-034 (HPA 16-059)
?1415 33rd Street, NW
Residence?
Window replacement?
Permit?

5. SMD 03 OG 16-044 (HPA 16-076)?
1617 33rd Street, NW?
Residence?
Window replacement
?Permit?

6. SMD 03 OG 16-058 (HPA 16-090)
?1519 35th Street, NW?
Residence
?Alterations at carriage house?
Permit?

7. SMD 03 OG 15-285 (HPA 15-531)?
3301 N Street, NW?
Residence?
Rear addition, alterations – Existing alterations without review
Permit?

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 16-055 (HPA 16-087)
?3247 P Street, NW
?Residence
?Alterations
?Permit?

10. SMD 03 OG 16-016 (HPA 16-024
?1254 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Mixed-use?
Alterations
?Permit?

11. SMD 03 OG 16-056 (HPA 16-088)
1422 Wisconsin Avenue, NW?
Commercial?
Rear addition, alterations, sign – Boulangerie Christophe Permit?

12. SMD 05 OG 16-037 (HPA 16-064)
?1038 31st Street, NW?
Commercial?Sign – Existing alterations without review – M Institute for the Arts?
Permit?

13. SMD 05 OG 16-054 (HPA 16-086)
?3219-B M Street, NW
?Restaurant
?Alterations, alley lights, signs – Sovereign?
Concept?

14. SMD 05 OG 16-033 (HPA 16-048)
?3111 K Street, NW
Mixed-use
?Internally-illuminated blade sign – Colonial Parking Permit?

15. SMD 05 OG 16-051 (HPA 16-083)
?3225 M Street, NW?
Commercial?
Front door replacement?
Permit?

16. SMD 05 OG 16-047 (HPA 16-079)?
3320 M Street, NW
Commercial?
Signs – Boffi, B&B Italia?
Permit?

17. SMD 05 OG 16-048 (HPA 16-080)?
1055 Wisconsin Avenue, NW ?
Mixed-use?
Signs
?Permit

18. SMD 05 OG 15-266 (HPA 15-478)?
1255 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Multi-family residence?
Replacement fence
?Permit?

19. SMD 06 OG 15-323 (HPA 15-599)?
1423 28th Street, NW?
Residence?
Roof replacement?
Permit?

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

21. SMD 06 OG 15-348 (HPA 15-626)
?3061 M Street, NW?
Commercial?
Storefront alterations, sign – Rag & Bone
?Permit

22. SMD 06 OG 16-036 (HPA 16-062)?
2804 P Street, NW
Residence?
Alterations at rear?
Permit?

23. SMD 06 OG 16-038 (HPA 16-065)
?2914 Olive Street, NW
Residence
?Repair metal stairs in public space
?Permit?

24. SMD 06 OG 15-343 (HPA 15-620)
?3015 P Street, NW?
Residence?
Rear addition and dormer – options?
Concept?

25. SMD 07 OG 15-346 (HPA 15-624)
1502 27th Street, NW
?Residence?
Front porch, site alterations?
Concept?

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

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

28. SMD 07 OG 16-052 (HPA 16-084)
?2816 R Street, NW?
Residence?
Roof replacement?
Permit

29. SMD 07 OG 16-028 (HPA 16-036)
?3252 S Street, NW
?Residence?
Site alterations?
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

Peter Murray •

To celebrate Small Business Saturday, President Obama, along with his daughters Sasha and Malia, patronized Upshur Street Books, an independently owned bookstore in Washington’s quickly gentrifying Petworth neighborhood. The 800-square-foot Upshur Street Books opened last year thanks to Paul Ruppert, owner of Petworth Citizen and Crane & Turtle, restaurants that abut the bookstore on either side. Aside from the Obama family stop, the store celebrated Small Business Saturday with baked treats, free drinks and discounts.

After buying a number of books, including Jonathan Franzen’s “Purity: A Novel” and the latest chronicles from the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, Barack, Sasha and Malia were off to Adams Morgan, where they stopped at Pleasant Pops for some frozen confections. (Read The Downtowner’s profile on Pleasant Pops here.) According to the Washington Post, President Obama declared the shop’s pops “the highlight of Small Business Saturday, before departing the store with a wave and a “happy holidays.”