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Erin Schaff • January 16, 2015

The Boathouse at Fletcher’s Cove — a concession owned and controlled by the National Park Service — is upstream on the Potomac River about two miles from the Georgetown shoreline and is stuck in the mud. Literally.

The boathouse has operated out of this small cove for more than 100 years, but the cove has now filled with silt and debris, which has grounded and isolated the walkway out to the dock at an angle and has made getting to it unsafe. Additionally, silting at the entrance to the cove from the water side makes entering the entire cove virtually impossible at any time other than at the highest tide.

In mid-October the NPS declared the walkway to the dock unsafe for public use, effectively shutting down the business and access to the river two weeks before the end of the season with no concrete plans to fix the problem. One NPS official admitted that the NPS does not have the money to dredge the cove or make any substantial long-term repairs.

Fletcher’s is treasured by fisherman who see it as an ideal fishing location, in part because of the currents from Great Falls and the depth of the water mid-river.

Aside from fishermen themselves, the biggest impact may be for the D.C. Fisheries & Wildlife Division. Fletcher’s is the only boathouse that rents fishing boats which, according to the District, account for 60 percent of D.C’s fishing and wildlife permits sold in the city, bringing in $60,000 for D.C. government.

At a Dec. 17 public meeting, held by the Park Service at its Ohio Drive office for the National Capital Region, Bryan King, director of D.C. Fisheries & Wildlife Division, saw the problem as urgent, saying that without Fletcher’s there would be no D.C. Fisheries and Wildlife Department. Without a working boathouse at Fletcher’s, King said, “We don’t even qualify for de minimis status . . . we don’t exist and that’s not hyperbole, that’s not exaggeration, we don’t exist.”

In a Dec. 29 follow-up with the Georgetowner, King said that he had later found that the department would still exist, but it would be hard pressed to cover its expenses and would be spending much more money than it brings in. “It’d be a slow painful death if we didn’t have that money,” King said.

At the Dec. 17 NPS meeting, King also said that D.C. has “literally hundreds of thousands of dollars,” part of a federal aid package “that we are currently not using, and it is strictly for boating access. . . . Now given that we haven’t spent any of this money of which we are supposedly obligated to spend, and we have money going back two, three, four years and in that sense it has been assigned to us, and it is non-competitive. … we could have a grant [for Fletcher’s] off our desks in a matter of weeks.”

There is a catch in this possible federal bailout: commercial activity is not allowed to take place where the federal funds are used. “The question is whether or not a government entity, [in this case the Park Service concession, operated by Guest Services, a private corporation] is considered a commercial enterprise. If the answer is no, it opens up literally hundreds of thousands of dollars with a 25-percent match.”

King is expecting an answer to whether D.C. government dollars can and will be used to help resolve the issue, at least in the short term.

Georgetowner •

Actor Tom Hanks and singer-songwriter and actress Rita Wilson co-hosted the 92nd annual National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony Dec. 4 at the Ellipse, where the first family lit the tree around 5 p.m. Wilson also performed during the show. Hanks did a little schtick with President Obama about a possible film the two of them could do after he leaves office: cops by day; NBA basketball players by night. Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and actor Ne-Yo, platinum-selling artist Steve Miller, and country star Chely Wright joined pop phenomenon Fifth Harmony, Grammy-winning legend Patti LaBelle, pop world duo Nico & Vinz, and award-winning vocal group the Tenors in performing a collection of holiday favorites. With first lady Michelle Obama, Little League star Mo’Ne Davis read “The Night Before Christmas” to children. At the end, all were stage — first daughters Malia and Sasha Obama — where the president high-fived Santa Claus. [gallery ids="101945,135938,135935,135930,135925,135921,135916,135907,135912,135944,135946" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

Even though the holidays are technically over, at a function like the 2015 Inauguration of Muriel Bowser as the seventh mayor of the District of Columbia, you start to feel like a political Ebenezer Scrooge. Look, here are the ghost(s) of elections past. Here are today’s leaders,  ensconced, and here is generation next, proclaiming the future of the city.  

“This is an auspicious day,” said WUSA Channel 9 reporter Bruce Johnson, presiding at the Washington Convention Center ceremony. He should know, since he’s been doing the presiding for years and presents himself as a familiar, affable ghost of politics past, present and future.

It was indeed, with all those timelines crisscrossing. Here was Muriel Bowser, who had rolled over formidable opponents to be here on the dais being handed the city seal in a formal handover of power from Mayor Vincent Gray,  proclaiming in a empathic windup to her speech that “I’m ready to get to work.”

Here was a generational moment and occasion, with three newly elected and energetic District Council members making their presence felt with speeches laced with optimism — and with two more council member seats (Ward 4 and 8) to be filled, making for a council full of relatively new faces.

Elissa Silverman—a policy analyst but also well known for years as a reporter and “Loose Lips” on the irreverent City Paper—won an at-large seat. Our process was  “keep it simple and make it fun.” Brianne Naldeau, upset the long-time Ward 1 rep, the always bow-tied (along with former mayor Anthony Williams) Jim Graham. Charles Allen, the young chief of staff for Tommy Wells in Ward 6, won his boss’s seat after Wells ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic Primary for mayor.

There was also the dynamic Kenyan McDuffie, winning his first full term as Ward 5 Council Member easily after a special election to replace the disgraced Harry Thomas, Jr., gave him a seat on the council.  McDuffie duly noted the importance of ethics and honesty in politics, and he did not have to go into specifics for people to understand what he was talking about.  Thomas and the two Browns, former chairman Kwame, and former at-large member Michael,  were the ghosts and shadows of politics past, promising politicians and elected officials who had run afoul of the law. (The three were not in attendance.)

Consider, then, the also auspicious presence of Karl Racine, the Washington lawyer, who became the District’s first-ever Attorney General.
           
The future—impatient, with its own set of challenges, problems to be solves, obligations to be met—was invoked often by all the people sworn in, the incumbents, the newcomers,  those elevated—like Bowser and Racine—to new responsibilities.

“Fresh starts,” embraced by just about everybody, might have been a part of the swearing-in oath, so often was it invoked by speakers—that and “Let’s get started,” “We must work together so that all of the city’s residents are served,” “Let us move forward” and “affordable housing . . . ”

The ghosts made their way into the speechifying machinery. “Marion, you are not forgotten,”  Bowser said at one point, to cheers from the audience.  Former Mayor Marion Barry, who passed away Nov. 23, still seemed a vivid presence at the inaugural proceedings, like a ghost not yet invisible. His memorial was held in the same hall less than a month ago.

Bowser, whose confidence grew with every appearance and interview and debate—“Actually, I kind of liked the debates”, she said, even though she was criticized for not having enough of them during the general campaign—burst onto the dais in full bloom. 

She was empathic, full of hope and plans: “We’re going to tackle homelessness head on,” “We need good jobs “ and “Si se puede [yes, we can,” “We’re going to allocate $100 million for affordable housing” and “We’re going to bring the Olympics to the District.”  She is the second female mayor, the second youngest (Adrian Fenty was the youngest), and the seventh elected mayor.

When you listen to Bowser talk like in this manner (and in person), you can see how see she’s grown. She touted her hometown beginnings. “I’m in Ward 4.” “My parents, as everybody knows, are in Ward 5, and my siblings are in Ward 6 and 7, but I aim to be a mayor for all eight wards.”
           
You could see a friend helping a couple, who said they were not “from here or from this country,” explain the ward system by drawing a diagram on the inaugural program for them.

An inauguration is a kind of spectacle of hope, memory and forgetfulness—judges and children move up with the new council members and the old ones.  Allen’s two-year-old daughter, once on the dais, seemed reluctant to leave her daddy.  “Actually, if you know two-year-olds, that was pretty good,” Allen said.  District Council Chairman Phil Mendelson’s daughter gently padded her dad’s partially shiny dome. 

One shouldn’t expect detailed policy speeches from those recently—seconds ago—sworn in.  It is the tone and the key words that count—”humble” was another word used one and all,  and the tone throughout was one of gratitude, of inclusion,  community, and uniform support for the promise of statehood . . . eventually. 

It was all strangely intimate.  

Newcomers, millennial types, mixed with officialdom, and officials past—hello, Harold Brazil, now a practicing lawyer, there’s Bill Lightfoot, who, while not running himself, has helped many to run, and media types, Tom Sherwood and legendary photographer Lateef Mangum and a pat on the back for Jim Graham from old constituents.  

There were politicians from the past or elsewhere: D.C. mayors Adrian Fenty and Anthony Williams—the recent past–former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, who lost his bid for governor—and current stars—Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

And so . . . as they might say, the newly minted “honorable” and the mayor herself, wrapped around a prayer breakfast, a gala: “Let us begin,”  “moving forward” and “l’m ready to get to work”—and, for sure, “God bless us, everyone and the District of Columbia.”
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Robert Devaney •

The three days of services and tributes to former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion S. Barry, Jr., ended Saturday, Nov. 6, at Congressional Cemetery, where many other significant local and national figures have been laid to rest. During this time for Barry, it was written: “A Life Ends. The Legacy Begins.”

Barry was mayor from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. He died Nov. 23 at 78.

On Thursday, his casket was officially received by the District government at the Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue and was in repose for more than a day. On Friday, a procession took the casket to the Temple of Praise Church on Southern Avenue.

At the Washington Convention Center on a rainy Saturday, speakers moved along the stage with Barry’s casket front and center in the upstair exhibit hall for a nearly day-long tribute to the former mayor and councilmember. Each noted on how Barry’s life touched them and how it changed the life of the nation’s capital and its residents. Here he was with his friends and people.

After the invocation, the former mayor’s son Christopher Barry addressed his father’s past and present. Another speaker wondered if the young Barry should go for the now vacant Ward 8 seat.

Later on, Barry’s wife Cora Masters Barry spoke of her husband, from whom she was separated, as someone who talked to everyone and gave away money.

Watching the clock because of the need for burial before sunset, master of ceremonies Rev. Willie Wilson kept the speakers moving on. Those included Mayor Vincent Gray with former mayors Sharon Pratt and Anthony Williams standing behind him, along with Ras Baraka, Mayor of Newark, N.J. Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser cited Barry’s summer jobs program, which so many Washingtonians have said gave them their first job.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, gave a heart-felt eulogy, recalling his time with Barry as “blood brothers” in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam gave the fiery speech of the day at the convention center. He equated Barry’s sins of marital infidelity and drug use to those of President John F. Kennedy. Farrakhan also called for activists to be “lions” instead of “pussycats,” knowing that sometimes the elders do not make it to the promised land but that their children do.
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Gina Robinson •

A 15-room boutique hotel, the Avery, is planned for the 2600 block of P Street NW — between the Jerusalem Baptist Church, Chichie’s Grooming Spa for Dogs on one side and a new restaurant, After Peacock Room, and the Georgetown office of Washington Fine Properties on the corner, which brokered the property sale.

Located at 2616 and 2620 P St. NW, the new hotel is being created from two office townhouses, Samantha Schneck of the Avery Georgetown LLC told the Washington Business Journal. She said she expected the Avery could open by September after major interior reconstruction but no changes to the exterior.

Planners for the Avery expect its clients would be parents of Georgetown University students or guests of embassies.

“We plan to bring a lot of cool ideas to it to modernize the inn concept,” Schneck told the Journal. “We’re hoping the neighborhood embraces it.”

The proposed hotel is on the agenda for community comment during tonight’s monthly meeting of the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School on 35th Street, NW.

Robert Devaney •

Someone stole the hands of the clock, facing east, on Georgetown University’s Healy Tower last week, prompting an online posting of a picture of the hands-free clock with the accompanying words, “Timeless Tradition.” Of late, this dangerous prank occurs almost every year after a break that began in the 1990s.

Yet, within two days, the hands were back on the clock after university workers put replacement hands on it. This time, it seems the university was ready.

“We secured a set of hands in 2012,” the university’s spokesperson Rachel Pugh told the student newspaper, the Hoya. “The condition of the clock facing Healy Lawn permitted us to install new hands today while the scheduled repair was underway.” Pugh declined to reveal the cost of the clock fix. The Hoya added: “In addition to replacing the hands of the clock facing Healy Lawn, the university had the hands of the side of the clock facing Dahlgren Quad removed today as part of scheduled maintenance.”

The investigation into the theft continues by the campus police.

No word on whether or not the thieves plan to mail the lifted hands to the Vatican, as others threatened in the past. In 1989, the year of the university’s bicentennial, student mischief led to the hands being delivered to the White House. The Secret Service returned them.

Robert Devaney •

Stabbings at late-night bars in the last 10 days have occurred on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House and in the West End — adding to the recent uptick in violent crimes for the District of Columbia.

A Dec. 27 stabbing of five persons in McFadden’s has resulted in the restaurant’s closing by the Metropolitan Police Department with a Jan. 9 hearing with the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage and Control Board, which also suspended its license and said the restaurant “presents an imminent danger to the health and safety of the public.”

Located at 2401 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, three blocks from Georgetown, McFadden’s is popular with college students, especially those from nearby George Washington University.

None of the stabbing victims — who did not have life-threatening injuries — were identified as college students. The MPD has made no arrests or found the knife supposedly used by “a black man in a trench coat.”

At the time of the crime, neither security guards nor victims were said to be fully cooperative with the police.

According to the Washington Post, “no weapon was recovered, and two witnesses saw a bar-back ‘mopping up blood’ instead of preserving the crime scene. The manager admitted there were ‘about 215 patrons’ at McFadden’s, when the maximum capacity is 136. And though McFadden’s has a settlement agreement with neighbors that requires it to have a reimbursable detail, or officers assigned to monitor the location, police say McFadden’s hasn’t paid for one since June.”

A week after the McFadden’s stabbings and five blocks away, police arrested a man for stabbing and critically injuring another man in Zanzibar Night Club at 1901 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (its entrance is on 19th Street) on Jan. 3.

From the MPD: “The investigation revealed the stabbing occurred following a verbal dispute between two males. The victim was transported to a local hospital. The suspect 35-year-old Joseph Ricardo Johnson of Northeast, D.C. was arrested and charged with Assault with Intent to Kill.”

Like McFadden’s, Zanzibar is shut down and will face alcoholic beverage regulators on any other future issues.

Meanwhile, the MPD is looking for two persons of interest concerning the Dec. 27 incident at McFadden’s. It offers descriptions of the subjects as follows:

“Subject one: pictured below is a black male, approximately 28 years-old, approximately 5-feet-11-inches tall, with a slim build, medium complexion, and goatee. He was wearing a mid-length coat with a belt, a hat or hood.

“Subject two: pictured below is a black male, approximately 25 to 30 years-old, 5-feet-8-inches to 5-feet-10-inches tall, with a medium build and medium complexion. He was wearing a white shirt, dark jacket with a faux fur collar and trim, and light colored jeans.

“Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099. Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411. The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $1,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons wanted for any assault committed in the District of Columbia.”

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mpdc.dc.gov

Gary Tischler •

Are you ready for the 2024 Olympics?

Some powerful folks in the District of Columbia are hoping that the city will get a strong shot at hosting the Olympics that year.

That includes Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser, who’s now joined a delegation heading to San Francisco tomorrow to make a final pitch for the District as a candidate to host the 2024 Olympics. The delegation, which includes Bowser, D.C. 2024 chairman and Caps and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, Russ Ramsey, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and Montgomery County Olympic swimming superstar Katie Ledecky, will make the city’s final pitch in front of the U.S. Olympic Committee in the city by the bay.

Advocates of bringing the Olympics to the District argue that a number of factors make D.C. a great place to host the Olympics: the city is ready and able to handle large crowds with regard to transportation and security; it is located near other cities like Richmond, Annapolis and Baltimore, which could host some events; and has a number of areas that would benefit from Olympic-sized economic development.

According to reports in the City Paper, District Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, after hearing from Olympic bid advocates, moved the legislative portion of the committee meeting to Wednesday. That allowed the mayor-elect, who’s still a council member, to join the delegation in San Francisco to push for D.C.’s bid.

D.C. will face off against San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles in front of the USOC. USOC can choose one city to present to the International Olympic Committee for further determination, or decline to endorse any U.S. city. The U.S. hasn’t hosted the summer Olympics since 1996.

Gary Tischler •

Only two days in and newly sworn-in District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser was already on “Meet the Press.”

What caused all this ruckus? No ruckus. It appears that Chuck Todd of NBC News, himself a newbie as “Meet the Press” moderator, happened to notice, if not a trend, an actual first as of Sunday.

While women make up at least half of the population, their representation is not near that percentile for representation in legislatures and public executive positions. The leadership of Washington, D.C., is a stand-out with a female triumvirate in power.

With the swearing-in of Bowser Jan. 2, Washington, D.C., becomes—yes—the only city among the country’s 50 top municipalities to have women in the three leading jobs of mayor, school chancellor and police chief.

Thus, in a heavily promoted Sunday morning segment, “The Women Who Run Washington,” Todd of “Meet the Press” interviewed Bowser, D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier in full uniform.

Bowser happily announced, “We want the whole world to know we are a city on the move.”

Todd noted that “Meet the Press” was a show usually dominated by discussions of national and international events with interviews with such female leaders as Hillary Clinton. “Well, guess what, the city is already run by all women,” he said.

Todd twice pressed Bowser—who was upbeat throughout—whether she would sue Congress over its opposition and possible challenge to enactment of Proposition 71, the marijuana legalization proposal approved by voters. Bowser, didn’t exactly take the bait, saying only, “We’re going to explore every option” and “We want to work with our Congress, and we want the will of the residents of D.C. to be enforced.”

Henderson was also upbeat, saying more and more families were opting to send their children to D.C. public schools, although many of those are sending them to charter schools, which are a part of D.C. public schools.

Addressing the issue of protests in the streets—which have been largely peaceful in the District—in the wake of Ferguson and New York, Lanier said, “I think it’s really about building those strong relationships with the community and you really have to do it every single day.”

The discussion did not include comments about recent incidents in which one man was shot and killed by police who said he fired on them, and another was wounded.

Talking about transportation in another conversation over the weekend with NBC4 News, Bowser seemed especially enthusiastic about public transportation, especially Metro, and especially buses. “Our Metro system is really the engine of this region and we have to make sure that the system has the money that it needs to continue.

“I think, really,” she said, “that our future is in the bus.”

Robert Devaney •

Hundreds gathered inside and outside the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue Jan. 7 to stand with those in France and elsewhere in protest of the massacre of 10 journalists and two police officers earlier in the day in Paris by Islamic terrorists — and to stand for the right of free expression for everyone everywhere.

Three gunmen burst into the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical news publication also known for its provocative cartoons, shooting editors, writers and artists, and then shot a wounded police officer as they fled.

At the Newseum, many held signs that read, “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) and “Nous Sommes Tous Charlie” (We are all Charlie), supporting the right of the humor magazine to express itself, whoever or whatever is insulted. (The Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo had been bombed in 2011 because of its depiction of the Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam.) Other signs read “The pen is mightier than the sword” and “Liberte. Egalite. Fraternite.” The group stood in front of the sidewalk display around 7 p.m. in temperatures dipping into the teens.

On hand among the crowd, many of whom were French, was Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, who echoed the sentiments of many lovers of democracy and free expression: “It’s an attack against the freedom of speech, and what it changes is that you have masses of people gathered here in Washington. You have masses of people who are standing up today to say freedom of press is critical.”

The group had thought of standing in front of the White House but chose the Newseum because the non-profit is a well-known museum of journalism and its history along with its primary “mission is to champion the five freedoms of the First Amendment through exhibits, public programs and education.”

The sanctuary to news and reporting wrote this about the Jan. 7 terrorist act: “The Newseum joins with journalists and all others who support freedom of expression to declare that such cowardly attempts to thwart free speech and a free press will not succeed, and that all people should be able to express themselves freely and without fear.”
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