News & Politics

Peter Murray •

Georgetown residents, police and retailers have come to rely on the Business Improvement District’s GroupMe messaging account to get up-to-date information on thefts, fires and other safety concerns in the neighborhood. The BID and the Metropolitan Police Department launched the “Georgetown Business Public Safety” GroupMe account last March as a way for the community to stay in touch with law enforcement. The BID is in charge of adding new members to the messaging group.

When the group started, most messages came from police officers alerting community members and retailers about things to watch out for. But as the group has evolved, more and more messages come from people working at local shops reporting “suspicious activity,” theft and general disorder in the area. Sometimes these messages are accompanied by photos of those suspected to be causing trouble.

To such messages, police officers on the message chain usually reply ‘omw’ (on my way) or tell the retailers to call 911 for immediate assistance. (As with most messaging media these days, spelling and grammatical errors abound and abbreviations – like ‘bolo’ for be on the lookout – are plentiful.)

Rachel Cothran from the BID says the message board has “been enormously helpful to the merchants. They’re better connected to one another, and they get immediate responses from officers.”

It is unclear what happens when the police arrive at these scenes, but it’s likely that their presence wards off thefts and in some cases arrests have been made. Sales associates at local stores frequently ask for police walk-throughs to deter “suspicious” characters from committing theft or other crimes. Cothran says an exact number of thefts precluded or arrests is “hard to quantify.”

GroupMe was launched in 2010 and acquired by Skype in 2011. Having purchased Skype, Microsoft now owns the app.

Georgetowner •

Aaron M. Lichtman, 52, passed away Feb. 8. He was born May 3, 1962, in Washington, D.C., and worked as a hair stylist at Salon Ilo for the past 30 years.

He and his husband Gary Walker, who hails from Edinburgh, Scotland, met 31 years ago through Walker’s brother. Walker is one of the owners of Salon Ilo with Terry Bell. Walker and Lichtman were legally married last year and lived in Wesley Heights.

Lichtman loved to travel, Walker told The Georgetowner. The two visited Egypt, Israel, Russia and the Galapagos Islands and went on luxury cruises. “His passion was cooking,” Walker said of Lichtman. “He had eight godchildren. He loved children.” They especially enjoyed taking kids sledding at Battery Kemble Park.

Lichtman went to high school in Silver Spring and was a graduate of the Vidal Sassoon School in London.

In addition to Walker, he is survived by his mother and father, Jane and Seymour Lichtman; his sister Judy Sebring; and his nephews and niece, Evan, Jordan and Justine Polk.

A service was held and shiva was observed last week. Contributions in memory of Aaron Lichtman may be made to Adoptions Together or Equality for Maryland, and also to N Street Village, where Lichtman had cooked dinners for the women.

Robert Devaney • February 25, 2015

The legendary Rhino Bar and Pumphouse, popular with Georgetown University students, will close Feb. 28.

Business owner and restaurateur Britt Swan told The Georgetowner the he was willing to go with a new lease that doubled the rent but the owner of the building at 3295 M St. NW declined. “Georgetown has changed,” Swan said. “It’s all about high-end retail.”

There will be a big reunion party and last hurrah for all old timers and past and present staff Sunday, Feb. 22, at Rhino Bar, which opened in 1998.

An insider told The Georgetowner: “From 1953 until this Feb. 28, there has been a long-term lease in place that moved from bar owner to bar owner. As I understand it, this is the first time that the lease will expire after all of these years. Many of us will gather at Rhino on its last Sunday night.”

Known for its collegiate atmosphere and sports bar verve — along with nicely priced drinks and good food — the bar was a big fan zone of the Boston Red Sox, often displaying the team’s name in building-wide signage. The place also attracted a clientele of “bros and basics,” according to one Yelp comment.

The bartender with the longest tenure in Georgetown is Rhino’s own Jeff Stiles, who just celebrated 23 years Feb. 8. Stiles worked at Sports Fans before moving to Rhino Bar. The property previously housed the equally legendary Winston’s and, before that, the Shamrock.

Georgetowner •

Ari Roth, artistic director of Mosaic Theater Company of DC, a new company based at H Street’s Atlas Performing Arts Center, will be the speaker at Georgetown Media Group’s Cultural Leadership Breakfast on Thursday, Feb. 19, at the George Town Club, 1530 Wisconsin Ave.

Mosaic’s work “seeks to contribute to a broader civic conversation in our city and within our intra and interfaith communities.” Roth spent 18 years as artistic director of Theater J at the D.C. Jewish Community Center, a position he left in December. The event runs from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Admission is $20 ($15 for George Town Club members).

To RSVP, email richard@georgetowner.com.

Future speakers in the series, sponsored by Long & Foster, are Martin Wollesen (March 12), Kim Sajet (April 9) and Steven Knapp (May 7).

Georgetowner •

Most of us who practice – or practiced – what remains of the still enduring, alluring profession of journalism deal in stories and reports and tales.

At whatever level we work – magazine, big city newspaper, blog, television, small-town paper – we come to the job armed with training, experience, curiosity, compassion and empathy, as well as acquired expertise. The things, people, places and events we write about on a daily basis are part of our life. But they do not occupy the same space held by people we love, parents, wives, husbands, friends, children, pets and other passionate regularities. In short, we don’t bring our personal lives and history to the profession.

We can write about politicians, but, other than voting, we are not in the political stream. We write about criminal acts, but, as a rule, are not criminals. We walk with soldiers at times, even in a war zone, but are not soldiers. We opine about theater, but are not actors. We write about drugs and addiction, but are not drug addicts ourselves.

Except of course, when we are, for whatever reasons.

David Carr, the highly respected New York Time media columnist, former Washington City Paper editor and red-carpet commentator, died Feb. 12 after collapsing in his office at the Times. He was only 58, thin, with a raspy voice and totally in love with the job. The causes included lung cancer, which spoke to a worn-out immune system.

Carr had all of the aforementioned professional requirements for a journalist in spades, especially when it came to a stylish, tough, layered, intelligent and often moving – as well as funny – writing style. He had a boundless curiosity and strongly held views. He also (and it’s easy to assume that it informed his writing) had a nightmarish fall to the bottom of life’s pit, that time when you fall into the cold basement only to discover that there is a door in the room to a deeper cellar.

He was raised in Minnesota, worked at an alt paper in the Twin Cities and along the way became addicted to, among other things, crack cocaine. He fathered two children by a girlfriend who was also his dealer. He apparently came close to dying. But, instead, he went into rehab and was successful, married, had other children.

And he wrote a memoir in 2008 about his addiction called “The Night of the Gun,” approaching the job like an investigative reporter in his own life, questioning everything in search of his own true story. That might have been harder than going cold turkey.

He brought his gifts to the job, both the necessary tools and a champion way with words. He worked at the City Paper in the 1990s, encouraging and nurturing a talented group of writers: Amanda Ripley, Michael Schaffer, Jake Tapper, Eddie Dean and Eric Wemple. Google will take you to Wemple’s enthralling and affectionate tribute.

In 2002, Carr joined the New York Times, at first reporting on entertainment celebrities, which included several gigs on the edge of Oscar’s red carpet. But he gained stature, fame and respect when he took on the Media Equation column for the Times, and in many ways – speaking to groups, teaching classes, going on television and hosting panel discussions – became the face of the most honored newspaper in the land. He played a memorable role as himself in the 2011 documentary “Page One: Inside the New York Times.”

Recently, in all of the journalese that came out of the s—storm over Brian Williams, it was Cole who nailed it, smartly, kindly, without malice, in a summary that managed to say everything that needed to be said about Williams and anchors in general: “We want our anchors to be both good at reading the news and also pretending to be in the middle of it. . . . We want our anchors to be everywhere, to be impossibly famous, globe trotting, hilarious, down-to-earth and, above all, trustworthy. It’s a job description that no one can match.”

He also wrote a thoughtful, spot-on, serious essay on the reasons why “Selma” seemed to be lacking in support come Oscar-time, a piece that made me want to disown every silly word I wrote about the aftermath of Oscar.

It could not have been fun to be his friend or loved one during his trial by fire, but you can also more than admire the life he led after his recovery – all of it, in fact – and think that it would have been the highest sort of fun to work with him.

He had the grace of understanding his own life. To quote from the conclusion of his book, as did his last employer, the New York Times: “I now inhabit a life I don’t deserve, but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn’t end any time soon.”

It ended way too soon for Carr.

Robert Devaney • February 23, 2015

A fight between two potential riders and their limo driver escalated into a stabbing around 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at the entrance to the Washington Harbour retail-condo complex on K Street. Two young persons were allegedly stabbed by a for-hire limo driver.

According to the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service, the incident occurred in the 3000 block of K Street, NW. The Secret Service police were nearby — as part of its regular patrols to protect embassies — and made the arrest, while the Metropolitan Police arrived to assist.

The two attacked with a knife were taken to the hospital. According to WJLA, the driver for the car service who was arrested is Yohannes Deresse. He is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

One self-described eyewitness told the Georgetowner that the young men were beating up the driver who subsequently pulled out a knife. “They were hitting him hard,” he said. “Then, blood everywhere.” The crime, seen by passers-by at the riverside complex which attracts sightseers and restaurant-goers, occurred within the Washington Harbour traffic circle at K and Thomas Jefferson Street and was over in less than five minutes.

Police have not said what provoked the attacks.

UPDATE, 5:38 p.m.: the Secret Service called the Georgetowner to clarify whom and what it protects, besides the president and those in the Executive Branch. It is not assigned to protect those in the U.S. Congress. (The original Georgetowner story mentioned that House minority leader Nancy Pelosi lives near the scene of the Sept. 8 incident. U.S. Capitol Police would be assigned to protect her.)
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