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Robert Devaney • June 22, 2015

It was a very good year, it seems, if you attended the Georgetown Business Improvement District’s annual meeting, held June 10 at Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place at Washington Harbour on the Georgetown waterfront.

Office and retail space is renting well, consumer spending remains strong and consistent, the C&O Canal, a jewel of Georgetown, will get funding from the District government for rehabilitation — and four restaurants received major honors. To boot, the BID issued its third annual State of Georgetown report and redesigned and upgraded its website.

Now a park, the historic canal which connects the town to its working waterfront past took center stage.  “The C&O Canal is a unique feature of our region and a living piece of America’s history,” said Joe Sternlieb, CEO of the Georgetown BID. “It’s a window into the story of our industrial past, and is also a place for exercise, recreation and reflection.”
 
As previously reported in The Georgetowner and other news outlets, D.C.’s 2016 Budget includes $3 million for restoration and education efforts for the Georgetown section of the C&O Canal National Historical Park.

The BID and other community leaders founded Georgetown Heritage, an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization “with the mission of promoting and presenting the history of Washington D.C.’s oldest neighborhood.” Georgetown Heritage made fixing the C&O Canal its first mission and now works with the National Park Service on repairs, safety efforts and buying a new canal barge.
 
“I am pleased to report today that my efforts to get the city to support the C&O Canal initiatives in the Georgetown 2028 agenda have been embraced by the Council,” Ward 2 D.C. Councilman Jack Evans said.  “We have approved $3 million to the C&O Canal efforts of the BID and Georgetown Heritage.  These funds will be used to fix Lock 4, build a new canal boat and support comprehensive planning efforts to improve lighting, the towpath, wayfinding and interpretation.”

Evans also said, “The city is on board” with not only the canal work and money but also lighting under Key Bridge and the Whitehurst Freeway. Pulling from his standard celebratory stump speech, the longest serving councilman recalled the first year of the 21st century, when Georgetown was known for its exploding manhole covers and its “Little Dig,” torn-up streets because of work on its infrastructure as well as major building going up around town, such as the Ritz-Carlton and the large southwest dormitory complex at Georgetown University. “In Georgetown, nothing is ever easy,” Evans smiled.

Besides the $3 million from the District government, Georgetown Heritage promises to raise $3 million from the private sector.

The goals of fixing the canal and getting a new canal boat is only part of the action agenda items that are contain in the BID’s Georgetown 2028 Plan, “an ambitious agenda of 75 action items aimed to improve Georgetown’s transportation infrastructure and management, public spaces and economy” and “created by the Georgetown BID and community stakeholders and officially launched in January 2014,” the BID says.

Along with awards and discussions, the meeting brought together some interesting aspects of Georgetown business and its people.

Andrew Blair, CEO of Colonial Parking, who said “To hell with U Street,” introduced Paul Cohen, who founded J. Paul’s, Paulo’s, Old Glory and other restaurants in Georgetown. Cohen was recognized by the BID for the his lifelong achievement in town. For his part, Cohen saluted the legacy of “the Laythams, the Millers, the Laniers and the Snyders.” He gently acknowledged of Georgetown: “We’re in a unique situation that not everyone knows.” Cohen’s newest restaurant is Boss Shepherd’s at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Other awardees included Marcus Brown of the BID’s Clean Team and Georgetown Galleries, a consortium of art galleries in town.

The Park Service’s Kevin Brandt was saluted as “Community Leader of the Year.” Brandt noted that the bicentennial of the C&O Canal is 2028, the same year which ends the BID’s 15-year action plan program.

He said that his ideas for the canal jived with the BID’s and that he was “optimistic” about the canal’s future “despite federal cuts.”

The BID’s economic development director Josh Hermias noted that there is 48,000 square feet of retail space under construction or in the planning stage — considering the 3220 Prospect Street project and the old Georgetown Theater reconstruction.

Herb Heiserman of Streetsense, which helped design such spots as Bandolero and ShopHouse, talked about restaurants and retail shops and how people experience those spaces. Heiserman brought up the fact that “rents have exploded.” He lamented the intrusion of the clothing store, Francesca’s, on Bistro Francais, which owns only half of the space it used.

Restaurateur Ian Hilton sat down briefly to discuss his work and restaurants with Steinlieb. Hilton opened Chez Billy Sud in October 2014 at 1039 31st St. NW., and it quickly become a neighborhood favorite. It is
in the old Cafe LaRuche space — he said he tried to buy the property.

Of Georgetown, Hilton, who grew up in Capitol Hill and now lives in Arlington, said: “It’s almost not D.C. I’ve always thought of Georgetown as this little town that I’ve always loved. . . . I think people are rediscovering how special Georgetown is, and with more and more people biking in the city I had this vision of people biking in to be in the neighborhood and eating at our beautiful spot. We wanted to open in a pretty space, serve good food at a good price and serve the neighborhood.”

Hilton also quipped that “the celebrity chef climate” was “kind of the apocalypse.” He added his two cents to the conversation about Georgetown’s liquor license moratorium: building new restaurants “can’t be done in the current liquor license environment.”

As the crowd adjourned, Fred Moosally, director of the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, reminded business folk of the four liquor licenses now available for Georgetown with application beginning June 25. Moosally also noted that the town’s liquor license moratorium expires Feb. 3, 2016.

In its State of Georgetown report, the BID highlighted:

= Strong office sector performance for a third year in a row, with vacancy dropping to 7.1 percent—outperforming all other submarkets in the region.

= Retailer interest remains high, evidenced by a net gain of 19 new stores and services, a total collection of over 350 retailers, rising rents and property values, and a retail vacancy rate of 2.7 percent at year-end 2014.

= New LEED certifications for six office and retail spaces accounting for 671,000 square feet (12 percent of total rentable building area in Georgetown), signaling growing interest in renewing buildings.

= Turnover in the restaurant industry produced exciting, critically praised concepts like Fiola Mare, Chez Billy Sud, a revamped Grill Room helmed by Chef Frank Ruta, and Dog Tag Bakery.  Georgetown hotel occupancy rebounded, moving slightly above the five year average to 71.5 percent, and revenues increased to $72 million (up 12 percent from 2013).

Visit the BID’s revamped website to download a copy of the report, or click here.

Carolyn Landes •

In Washington, House and Senate members play hardball in politics everyday, but on a steamy, late, spring evening in June, after months of preparation and grueling 6:30 a.m. practices, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle gathered around the diamond at Nationals Park to play partisan ball of a different kind. 

It was the 54th Annual Congressional Baseball game, held June 11 – a storied political showdown that pits Democrats against Republicans in a time-honored fight for victory on the field – and later, bragging rights throughout the halls of Capitol Hill.  This year’s game had been especially highly anticipated as the Democrats and Republicans were playing a tie-breaker game, each party entering with a overall record of 38-38-1.

Only one person could heighten the drama and excitement of the game: the President of the United States. Yes, the real president, Barack Obama, did show up at the game – especially when he needed votes for a critical trade bill, as a few staffers noted.

Baseball fans who attend Nationals games at the South Capitol Street stadium are used to seeing a few presidents, especially those racing presidents, George Washington, Tom Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Bill Taft.

It was a major surprise for the crowd of around 10,000 gathered for the Congressional game, when Obama arrived during the third inning, toting two dozen bottles of White House-brewed beer, reserved for the winning team. The president wore slacks, a dress shirt and black Ray-Ban sunglasses, visiting both parties’ dugouts and staying about a half hour before leaving, as the Democrats led 3-1.

While the Dems continued their lead, extending their six-game winning streak by taking home a victory after the tie-breaker was dispelled with a final score of 5-2, it was the recipients of three D.C. area charities who really came out on top.  Though members play to win and bragging rights are coveted, over the years the ballgame has evolved into a fundraiser, raising money for the Washington Literacy Council, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation. 

This game was truly a win-win for all, no matter your politics.
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Kelly Byrnes • June 18, 2015

Navigating a festival lineup can be hard, especially for an event as expansive as DC Jazz Festival. Here are some of The Georgetowner’s picks for this weekend:

Notable shows to catch include vocalist-guitarist duo Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke performing at Bohemian Caverns on U Street at 7:30 p.m. on June 11, soulful singer Alison Crockett on June 12 at Kennedy Center Millennium Stage at 6:00 p.m., and The Bad Plus Joshua Redman. The latter artist–a trio comprised of pianist Ethan Iverson, drummer David King, and bassist Reid Anderson—brings along saxophonist Joshua Redman for their June 12 performance at The Hamilton Live. It should be noted that the 8:30 p.m. show is sold out of seated tickets, with standing room only tickets available.

The weekend’s lineup is an exciting one, as Hecht Warehouse is hosting the Ernest Khabeer Dawkins Orchestra and the Organix Trio, comprised of flutist Nicole Mitchell, cellist Tomeka Reid, and drummer Mike Reed, in celebration of AACM’s 50th birthday on June 13. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

Also June 13 is the jam-packed line-up of Marshall Keys, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, and Grammy award-winners Esperanza Spalding and Common performing at the Yards Park from 3:00-10:00 p.m.

Seven-member band The Cookers performs an 8:00 p.m. show June 14 at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, bringing both charisma and generational experience to their showmanship.

Alto saxophonist Bruce Williams takes stage at UDC, along with the school’s jazz program director Allyn Johnson and the UDC Jazztet for a 7:00 p.m. show on June 15.

The D.C. Jazz Festival runs from June 10-16, featuring over 125 performances at 40 different venues. See the full event schedule here.

Georgetowner •

Thursday Night Rock

June 11th, 2015 at 10:00 PM | $10 | tbarnes@entertainmentdc.com | Tel: 301-441-8899, Ext. 5 | Event Website

The popular rock band Nexus will headline “Thursday Night Rock”, a new weekly concert debuting on June 4, 11, 18 and 25 (every Thursday) at the historic Fire Station 1, 8131 Georgia Ave. in downtown Silver Spring, Md. The band will perform rock/pop classics and originals from 8-11 p.m. on June 4; 10 p.m.-1 a.m. on June 11; 10 p.m.-1 a.m. on June 18; and 8-11 p.m. on June 25. Admission is $10 at the door. For more information, call (301) 441-8899, Ext. 5 or visit www.NexusRockBand.com.

Address

8131 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910

“Weird Al” Yankovic

June 12th, 2015 at 08:00 PM | Event Website

Fueled by clever, zany lyrics, this parody master transforms pop hits from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” to Lorde’s “Royals” into hilarious, new renditions.

Address

Filene Center; 1551 Trap Road; Vienna, VA 22812

Ritz-Carlton: Kids Carnival

June 13th, 2015 at 11:00 AM | $65 | aba@taapr.com

The Kids Carnival is the perfect way to kick-off summer for the entire family as guests are invited to indulge in the luxe experience complete with an extensive buffet featuring everyone’s favorite carnival treats including funnel cakes, cotton candy, sliders, chili-dogs and more. Experience a high-energy carnival performance by the South Riding Dance Academy that dazzles and delights with its Ringmaster, lion tamers, clowns, acrobatic duet, and showgirls on pointe.

Address

1700 Tysons Blvd; McLean Virginia

Historic Gay DC Walking Tour

June 13th, 2015 at 10:00 AM | Free | Tel: (202) 670-7470 | Event Website

In the 1960s, the Dupont Circle area was a center of antiwar activism and the counterculture, an environment in which many of the young gay and lesbian activists of the 1970s learned the tactics of protest. In the 1970s and ’80s, Dupont Circle became the center of Washington, DC, gay life. Join in on this walking tour highlighting bars, homes, and protest spots that have played a significant role in the experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities of Washington, DC.
Address

Meet at Q and 20th STs

Reading from “Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs” by Sally Mann

June 14th, 2015 at 02:00 PM | Free | Event Website

In this presentation at the National Gallery of Art, acclaimed photographer Sally Mann reads from her revealing memoir and family history, Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs. In this groundbreaking book, a unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann’s preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are described as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her.

Address

East Building Atrium; 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW

Cathedral Sings! Mozart Requiem

June 14th, 2015 at 07:30 PM | $10 | lsheridan@cathedral.org | Tel: 202-537-2228 | Event Website

Join us for a community sing-along of Mozart’s Requiem at Washington National Cathedral! Led by Cathedral Choral Society Music Director J. Reilly Lewis with Todd Fickley at the organ. Singers of all abilities are welcome! Tickets are $10; scores provided.

Address

Washington National Cathedral; 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW

Peter Murray • June 12, 2015

Public policy professor Emad Shahin has been sentenced to death in Egypt along with 35 others on charges of espionage. Luckily for him, he’s safe in Washington, acting as a visiting professor at Georgetown University.

The death sentences, which Shahin called “unprecedented,” were handed down by the Cairo Criminal Court in response to criticism of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who rose to power in July 2013 in a military coup.

Shahin said he first heard of the charges being weighed against him through a stranger’s message over Facebook. Shahin was roped into the espionage case because he was cc’ed on a number of emails that the court claims discussed undermining Egyptian power with agents of Hamas and Iranian nationals.

The professor left Egypt in January 2014 and maintains his innocence. Shahin told Vice News, “The judicial context and the political environment in general is not conducive to a fair trial and due process [in Egypt].” Shahin argued that Sisi is “treating Egypt as an extension of the army and not the other way around.” He also said the trial are a “sham” and that Sisi’s reign resembles that of Hosni Mubarak or Saddam Hussein.

The Cairo Criminal Court proceedings have also been called into question by the U.S. State Department and Amnesty International, among other foreign policy players. Unsurprisingly, the Egyptian government has defended the trials as fair and called international criticism “an unacceptable intrusion into the work of the Egyptian judicial system.”

Shahin plans to take on the role of activist at the end of this semester. “I wanted to be viewed as an academic and scholar solely but this is too much,” he told Vice, adding, “they are acting on their madness so they have to be stopped, that’s what I am trying to do.”

Gary Tischler •

The story came over the news world online as a New York Times piece, straightforward as a hurtful arrow:  “Beau Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s Son, Dies at 46,” read the headline.

Everything after that—the sparse details of his death of brain cancer at Walter Reed Hospital, his seeming escape from the same fate with an earlier bout of cancer, his career as attorney general of Delaware, the possibility that he might have run for governor—instead of the Senate—his military service as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the Delaware National Guard who was deployed in Iraq in 2008 where he was a recipient of the Bronze Star—all that were biography heavy with undertone.

The deeper, larger story was about family and how and why family matters so much in the lives of the people we chose to be our leaders, and how, when tragedy strikes those same people, it seems more than usual, also to strike us, as a kind of informing warning, as a piece of knowledge that hurts us, too.

He was officially and by birth certificate Joseph R. Biden III, which made his father the vice president, a Jr., but taken together the two men were two sides of a life’s coin—the face of each predicated the other at times, as if Beau had anticipated his father’s older face with the same broad smile, not in mimicry, but in sunny, buoyant exactitude.  

This death, one assumes was horribly hurtful to Biden, to the family—deep feelings, in plain written words could be felt in the vice president’s public statement: “It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley , Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life.”

In the words of the Biden family: “Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known.”

There was a kind of sad echo in the statement, the memory of a previous major tragic loss for Biden and the family—it was the absence of other names—Biden’s first wife Neilia and their 13-month-old daughter Naomi, who were killed in a car accident on December 18, 1972, only a few weeks after Biden had won an improbable come-from-behind Senate race.  His sons Beau and Hunter were hurt in the crash.  Biden took his oath of office in the hospital where his boys were being cared for.   Senator Joe Biden was 30 years old then.  Famously, the new senator commuted by train, going home from Washington to his family every night.  He had said it was not that he could be there for them, but primarily, so they could be there for him.

Beau was remarkably like his father, giving his dad’s nomination speech at the 2008 Democratic Convention.  He told the gathered political family of his father: “I have something to ask of you. Be there for my dad like he was for me.” Beau was soon to leave for Iraq.

They were bound, it seems now, by strong love, no doubt humor, idealism and deep respect.

Bonds of family are like ropes that can be frayed with losses, but ultimately, for some, they are difficult to break, the true bonds that bind.

President Barack Obama said, “For all that Beau Biden achieved in his life, nothing made him prouder, nothing made him happier, nothing claimed a fuller focus of his love and devotion than his family.  Just like his dad.”

The best political leaders—the best presidents—we have had had an acute sense of tragedy, from experience and through empathy.  That was true for Washington, Lincoln,  all the Kennedys, the Roosevelts and, sadly,  again, now for the vice president.  

Joseph R. Biden III, Beau, is survived by his wife Hallie, and their two children, Natalie, 11 and Hunter, 9; his parents, the vice president and Jill Biden, his brother Hunter and his sister, Ashley Biden.

Richard Selden • June 11, 2015

Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Don Quixote. Who are your heroes in real life? Those who serve over in Afghanistan, or six months underwater in nuclear subs.

So answered Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk, then 97, in the October 2012 Vanity Fair. The writer of “The Caine Mutiny,” “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance” – the first made into a classic Humphrey Bogart film, the others into television miniseries – turned 100 years old May 27.

Almost half a century ago, a profile in the Nov. 26, 1971, issue of Life magazine reported, “Wouk lives in chandeliered elegance in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., in an 1815 townhouse.” He and his wife Betty along with their sons moved to 3255 N St. NW in 1964.

When the house was renovated about five years ago, architect Simon Jacobsen discovered a small, secret room along with an interesting movie memento: steel balls used as stress-relievers by the cross-examined Commander Queeg, played by actor Humphrey Bogart, in “The Caine Mutiny,” made from Wouk’s novel. There was also a note, which read, “To Herman from Bogie.”

The house, on the corner of N and Potomac Streets, is now owned by dermatologist Tina Alster, M.D., and her husband and political consultant, Ambassador Paul Frazer, who put it on the market several months ago.

The son of immigrants from Minsk, Wouk, the future hewer of bulky wartime narratives graduated from Columbia University and wrote comedy sketches for Fred Allen’s radio show. His World War II service in the Navy inspired “The Caine Mutiny,” which was published in 1951. He moved to Washington, partly to be near the National Archives and the Library of Congress.

In 2000, the Library of Congress gave him its Living Legend medal and, eight years later, the first Library of Congress Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Writing of Fiction. At that time, he donated his journals, more than 100 volumes, to the library, retaining a copy for his own research.

Wouk’s wife, Betty, who had served on the board of directors of the Georgetowner Newspaper, died in 2011.

Wouk now lives in Palm Springs, Calif. His new memoir, “Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author,” will appear in December.

Robert Devaney • June 8, 2015

Members of the Georgetown Senior Center and its volunteer staff celebrated all things Thanksgiving at St. John’s Church on O Street Nov. 26. Happy for health, for friends and for a lunch where someone asked for more plates from the kitchen, the seniors first said grace with Rector Rev. Gini Gerbasi, who gave thanks and also asked that those traveling in the rainy, sleety weather be safe and have the appropriate clothing to wear. The traditional lunch — regularly donated by 1789 Restaurant for years — consisted of turkey, string beans, stuffing and mashed potatoes, along with cranberry sauce and turkey gravy. And for dessert? Of course: pumpkin and apple pies. Guests felt doubly blessed to partake of the pate prepared by the former interim rector, Rev. Bruce McPherson. [gallery ids="101935,136065,136062" nav="thumbs"]