Man Invades Georgetown Home, Strikes G.U. students.
• November 6, 2012

Early Saturday morning, Oct. 20, two Georgetown University students were assaulted in their home on the 3500 block of O Street.

A public safety alert was emailed to the campus community at 9:45 a.m.
on Saturday by the university’s Department of Public Safety. It reported the two students noticed the intruder around 3:45 a.m. He struck the two students and retreated towards campus. The email describes the suspect as a 5-foot-10, 21-year-old weighing about 160 pounds, having brown hair, and wearing a light blue shirt an blue jeans.

The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incident.

Fabio Trabocchi to Open Restaurant at Washington Harbour; Citronelle to Reopen
•

Chef Fabio Trabocchi plans to open his next restaurant, the 7,500-square-foot Fiola Mare, at Washington Harbour in fall 2013, according to the Washington Post. Trabocchi has signed a letter of intent with MRP Realty, which owns the popular waterfront complex on the Potomac River in Georgetown. Trabocchi already has Fiola in downtown. Architects for the new restaurant’s build-out of HapstakDemetriou, which has offices at Q Street and Wisconsin Avenue, the Post added. The fish-happy eatery will have inside and outside dining along with a raw bar.

Meanwhile at Washington Harbour, Farmers Fishers Bakers will open in November in the old Farmers & Fishers space, next to Sequoia and Tony & Joe’s, in front of the soon-to-open ice skating rink. Maintaining the rustic theme, Farmers Fishers Bakers will include a “farmhouse sushi” bar.

One block north of the waterfront complex on K Street, chef Michel Richard has told the Washington Post that he plans to re-open his famed Citronelle on 30th Street.

While Richard will be working on opening his New York restaurant next year in the New York Palace on Madison Avenue behind St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he told the Post: “I want to stay in D.C. My wife would never move to New York.”

Asked if he will reopen Citronelle, Richard told the newspaper: “Oui . . . in ‘May or June’ and in its original Georgetown location, the Latham Hotel.”

Biz Group Hosts Autumn Reception at the Ritz
•

After its monthly board meeting on Oct. 17, members and friends of the Georgetown Business Association relaxed at Degrees bar and lounge of the Ritz-Carlton on South Street, catching up with each other and drinking seasonal concoctions like vanilla-infused cognac champagne and spiced Manhattan and sampling finger foods that included beef Wellington, quiche and smores. People were talking about GBA treasurer Karen Ohri’s appearance on a Fox 5 News segment that highlighted the changes in Georgetown retail, especially the reconstruction of the Shops at Georgetown Park which will add discount stores to the M Street commercial scene. Also discussed was GBA’s economic forum at the City Tavern Oct. 18 and GBA’s big annual meeting on Dec. 12.

Check out (GBA’s Karen Ohri on Fox 5)[http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/19837492/changing-business-landscape-in-georgetown] [gallery ids="101026,135829,135824,135820" nav="thumbs"]

Treat, No Trick: Georgetown Nightlife Important for Business
•

Georgetowners are lucky to be within walking distance from nearly everything they might need. Some of the best shopping, dining and nightlife opportunities in Washington are only a short walk away. It makes life easier and fun to have such great resources. Our shopping, dining and historic attractions also bring people from all around the region and the world to our town. They are happy to be here, and most of us are happy to have them.

Nevertheless, the bar and nightlife scene in Georgetown has always been a point of contention between residents, business owners and visitors. Last year’s Halloween night brought gun shots, a melee at the Foggy Bottom Metro corner and a teenager who died later from gunshot wounds. Before that, the ghoulish night was peaceful for years, after D.C. police changed its crowd-control strategy: leaving the streets moving with vehicular traffic and people barricaded back on the sidewalks.

Nightlife in Georgetown is vibrant and classic at the same time. As with anything, there are also negative aspects to it. Like it or not, that includes drunkenness which can lead to bad behavior. (While this may mostly involve loud noise in the neighborhood, it can move up to property damage or physical violence quickly.)

Obviously, this is not beneficial to businesses, residents and others who just wish to have a good time. Controlling nightlife should not be an all-or-nothing discussion: consumers’ interests should be taken into consideration among those of others.

One opportunity for discussion of Georgetown nightlife is the recently launched D.C. Hopper, an evening shuttle bus that travels from Bethesda to Georgetown and Dupont Circle and back. Services like D.C. Hopper often have people upset that many bar-goers are going out primarily to drink and get drunk. There are only so many bars in Georgetown, and only so many ways to get to the neighborhood. The D.C. Hopper is an innovative way for transportation that circumvents expensive taxicab rides and sometimes-undependable Metrorail options. Instead of denouncing D.C. Hopper completely, concerned citizens should promote an open dialogue about what can work for everyone.

In July 2011, the Georgetown Business Forum on Nightlife and Hospitality was an effort by the business community and residents to have a constructive conversation about the careful balance that needs to be maintained so that everyone wins.

The Georgetown community needs to support local businesses that attract people to the
neighborhood, while controlling the less desirable aspects of nightlife. There could be any number of measures taken to prevent the bad behavior that rises from nightlife, but there will always going to be a range of both good and bad that happens. People who want to come to Georgetown to support local businesses should be welcomed. Today, there are lots of choices of where to go in Washington and the surrounding metro area after dark. We should be proud that Georgetown is a center for nightlife, too.

President Barack Obama for a Second Term; For District Council: Evans, Orange, Grosso
• November 2, 2012

Many of us watched with a certain amount of elation four years ago as America elected Barack Obama as the first African American President of the United States and then stood in the bitter January cold to watch his inauguration. We felt then that—while the election spoke to the best in the American spirit—Obama was also the best person to inspire Americans to overcome the disastrous repercussions from an ongoing recession still sliding toward an economic cliff, the remaining sour after-effects of terrorism directed against us by al-Qaeda and the debilitating costs of two ongoing wars.

So, how do we feel now, today, this very minute, as President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are locked and apparently deadlocked, according to the latest polls, in a bitter campaign that will come to a climax next week?

Are we—as the challenger likes to ask—better off today than we were four years ago? It is a question that is as much about the state of the economy, about morale and about perception of what the future holds and what must be done about it—as it is about party and philosophical loyalty and personal preference, as well as how we are doing. It involves a choice: Democrat or Republican, liberal-moderate or conservative-pragmatic, Obama-Biden or Romney-Ryan, struggling or doing just fine, better or worse.

To answer those questions properly, clearly and unhesitatingly, without reservations or nuance is impossible. Only a fool or a fanatic, after enduring a campaign like this, could embrace one side without objection or pause. But let us say this: when all is said and done, the president’s effort to stem the tide of recession into full-blown depression did work and his interventionist policy on the auto industry did work and saved this U.S. industry. Romney, in spite of his business credentials, has been unconvincing in his efforts to prove he could have done better. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that the president stopped the deluge and prevented this country from going into a depression. Since then, the economy has been at best slow in recovering, but it is recovering, as opposed to sliding backward.

President Obama did lead the effort to kill Osama bin Laden, although it’s true that “You can’t kill your way to a Middle East policy,” as Romney has indicated. The president ended the war in Iraq, as promised, and he is ending the war in Afghanistan, efforts that a majority of Americans support.

Lots of things still bother us about Obama: his education approach leaves a lot to be desired and penalized older teachers by too often blaming them. Obamacare, is an imperfect work, which, politically, has hurt him, but we suspect the timing was one of now or never. His economic and jobs plans seem to look to the future, not to mention addressing environmental issues. For Romney, the first seems mainly about drilling, the second is nonexistent, in spite of the daily—Hurricane Sandy being the latest example—evidence of climate change and its disastrous effects.

We would have liked to have seen Obama deploy his inspirational, visionary and rhetorical skills more consistently and more often, especially during the course of this campaign, which has consisted of a barrage of negative ads on both sides. We remain mystified by his first debate performance, which changed the campaign dramatically in its ebb and flow

It seems to us that, unlike his opponent, the president sees the country as a whole, not divided by a 47 percentile, and revels in its diversity—and not just because he is the most visible manifestation of the strength of America’s diversity. When Obama talks about the unemployed, the underemployed, the poor, the middle class, the struggling, he seems to know (from experience), the rich, sometimes anguished, triumphant, hard-working, ambitious and energetic mosaic of the country, its coat of many colors.

Romney was born rich, and this has never changed in the course of his life. This is not a criticism or some sort of sin of class and privilege—many consequential, patriotic, compassionate, caring, inventive and visionary men and women have worn and lived their wealthy status well. Yet, it was Romney who appeared to dismiss nearly half the population of this country in cavalier terms in the company of friends, where persons feel comfortable enough to be bluntly honest. He has shown throughout this campaign—and we should consider its totality, not just the debates—that he is tone deaf when it comes to the life experiences of others. He seems to lack, not necessarily compassion, but imagination and curiosity.

Romney is fond of touting his experience as a manager of a company—which he thinks of as a small business—of running the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and as Governor of Massachusetts, where he actually created the prototype for Obamacare, which he plans to end the minute he takes office. He is, in the end, not the dreaded right-wing conservative that some people see. If he is anything, it is as the apostle of corporate divinity, as business embodying all the requisite American virtues and wisdom to solve all our future economic and international problems. He is a firm believer that big businesses are not only people, but patriots, which may explain why General Electric found a way not to pay taxes of any sort in hard times because it was legal.

The other problem with Mr. Romney is that we actually don’t know what he stands for on numerous issues about which he has changed his mind. We wonder not what his principles are but sometimes, if he has any that he’s not willing to discard in order to get elected, given his sudden discovery of American women voters whom he’s now courting with all the ardor of a swain afraid of being left at the altar.

The question is not, “Are we better off?” but, “Will we better off over the course of the next four years, and who can lead us in that direction of eventual triumph and destiny?” Which candidate will not only stand up against our foes, but stand out among world leaders and work with them? Which one can offer the kind of inspiration to move us forward in what is a new and changing world of both great peril and great opportunity?

In the end, it is not business experience which will move us forward, but human experience in as many manifestations as possible. That requires strength in the crunch, curiosity, empathy and imagination. For those qualities, we look to and enthusiastically endorse President Barack Obama for a second term.

District Council: Evans, Orange, Grosso and Mendelson
The Georgetowner also endorses Jack Evans for the Ward 2 seat on the District Council, for which he is running unopposed. Evans is the longest serving councilman we have and has served with honor, high effectiveness and expertise, without which the council would be at a serious loss.

The District Council’s At-Large race features a number of challengers and will result in the election of two candidates, at least one of whom has to be a non-Democrat, per council rules. Among the newcomers and challengers, David Grosso, a Brookland resident and attorney and one-time staffer for former Ward 6 Councilwoman Sharon Ambrose and counsel for D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, strikes us as the best qualified with ideas, pushing for workforce help in the poorer parts of the district, open to new ideas and lots of fight and energy to take on what is often seen as a beginning-to-ossify council. At a recent at-large candidate forum in Georgetown, we were also impressed by Republican Mary Brooks Beatty (Yes, we were), who was a hands-on advisory neighborhood commissioner in a changing H Street, NE, neighborhood and was part of the successful efforts to revive that neighborhood.

In the end, the two incumbents—Democrat Vincent Orange and Independent Michael Brown are one too much. Brown has had just one too many iffy clouds hanging over him—including donations from developer Jeffrey Thompson, a connection he shared with Orange. Last week, the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance asserted that Orange’s special election campaign finances were in order, a position the councilman had maintained since the first questions about donations. Both Orange and Brown are long-time veterans of the D.C. and the council political scene—both ran unsuccessfully for mayor, for instance.

We very much like Orange’s ability to play and work well with others on the council and his ability to get things done in ways that are not divisive. While he is surely a good friend of Georgetown, the energetic Orange also sees all of D.C. as one city and tends to it accordingly.

The Georgetowner endorses incumbent Councilman-at-Large Vincent Orange and independent newcomer David Grosso for the two at-large seats on the District Council.

The Georgetowner also endorses Phil Mendelson for a full term as Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia. In a council plagued by ethical concerns and troubles, not to mention a city government burdened with the same concerns, Mendelson stands out as not only an ethical leader and legislator but as a leader who leads by example and around whom the council has rallied all but unanimously. ?

Living in PinkNovember 1, 2012
• November 1, 2012

When it comes to illnesses, especially with, but not limited to, cancer, we live in a time of high and keen awareness, a time of activism, and pro-activism, of an urgency working toward finding a cure, of gathering and distributing information and reaching out. This is the age of ribbons, runs and research.
The first time Michele Conley was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was 35, a mother of four young children with a career as a State Farm Insurance Agent living in Chevy Chase. She was a self-described fanatic when it came to athletics, running, physical fitness and exercise.

That was in 1995, and back then, there wasn?t a ribbon or a run for every illness, and what you could call medical activism of the kind started by Susan G. Komen for the Cure non-profit was not as all-pervasive as it is today. Many of the options now open to cancer-diagnosed patients were not yet available.

?I was shocked, but went through the chemotherapy, the radiation and the surgery,? she said. She had reason to be optimistic afterward?the cancer seemed to have gone into a long remission.
In the interim, her mother was also diagnosed with breast cancer and then, five years after her own bout with breast cancer, it came back.

?I had a much harder time with that,? she said. ?It was a tough, very tough. But this time, I thought, let?s go get it done with. And I thought, I?m going to do everything I can to not just fight this but end it in some way.?

This time she opted for radical surgery ? double mastectomy and hysterectomy ? which meant a hospital stay and a lengthy recovery period.

We visited Conley in her State Farm Office on upper Wisconsin Avenue, and found an outgoing, straight-talking, attractive blonde woman who gave no appearance of having gone through such a life-changing ordeal, even if it was in the somewhat distant past. When she talked about her experience, she was blunt, direct, animated.

There was no complaint, no whisper of long suffering. There was talk about running marathons, her
four children, about the hope and need to find a cure for cancer, which had made long and wrenching
visitations in her life and that of her family.

She?s a doer, pro-active, purely active. ?I?ve always been like that, and I think I get that from
my mother, who is amazing, really amazing,? she said. ?When we found out that mom, Annette,
was diagnosed, we went to the doctor together, and we were told about options and plans, and what
was required, starting in her case with chemotherapy. And she listened, and she said, ?Well, okay,
let?s do that. When do we start??

That ?let?s do it? attitude comes natural to her. Because she did more than just take on the cancer
and all it entailed. In 2004, she decided to do something a little more involving. She started the
?Living In Pink? Foundation, with a core committee of ten women, which sponsors a yearly fundraising
luncheon (It?s Nov. 2 this year) as well as the awarding of a grant, which supports innovative
research toward breast cancer research. Or, as the mission statement reads, Living in Pink was
created to ?help find a cure for breast cancer so that the next generation of women will not have to
endure the emotional and physical pain of breast cancer and treatment.?

Conley is president of the foundation, her good friend Dr. Pamela Peeke, a Bethesda physician
and diet and fitness specialist, is Chief Medical Advisor and Laurie Zorc is Director of Operations.
?Things have changed over the years, all sorts of cancer foundations and treatment centers
are have emerged,? she said. ?We?re all working toward the same thing, and I want to help. I met
through Dr. Peeke a lot of people who went through similar things and that?s one of the other things
that results from all this, the knowledge that we?re not alone. You can?t feel like you?re handling
this alone.?

?For me, I have to say that my children, twins Brooke and Denver, 22, Brendan Riley, 19 and
Forrest 17 have been just a tremendous source of support for me,? she said. ?They?re the reason
you want to fight so hard, but they were also there for me, especially the second time. Not fighting
back was not an option.?

?We?re looking toward the future,? she said. ?We?re talking about the future of our children.
Recipients of Living in Pink Research Funding have included Dr. Eliot Rosen from the Lombardi
Cancer Center at Georgetown University; Dr. Koji Itahana from the University of North Carolina;
Dr. Sandra M. Swain of the Washington Cancer Institute at the Washington Hospital Center;
Dr. Robert Strange of the University of Colorado; Dr. Ehsan Samei of the Duke University Medical
Center and Ann-Marie Simeone of the University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
?It?s a lot different today,? she said. ?More and more people and groups are involved.

Married for a second time to mortgage banker Mark Eigerbrode, Conley is in some ways much
the same woman as she was before she encountered the disease that looms so large in the minds of
women. She is still a runner, a doer, a straightforward, plain speaker with style and verve. Except
you think that everything she does now has a dollop of urgency in it. ?Cancer,? she said, ?is not for
the faint of heart.?

News BuzzNovember 1, 2012
•

**Get Ready for Flooding
Along the Potomac**

As Georgetown and other D.C. neighborhoods
cleaned up after Hurricane Sandy, dodging
a major hit compared to New Jersey and
New York, flooding along the Potomac River is
the next worry. Especially for Georgetowners,
the riverside complex, Washington Harbour,
is on their minds, as they recall the April 2011
flood there.

The Potomac was predicted to overflow its
banks and flood by late Oct. 30, according to the
National Weather Service. It advised that ?residents
and businesses along the Potomac River in
. . . Washington should prepare for a flood not
seen since the floods of 1996.?

Citing Little Falls as a point of reference, the
Weather Service predicted flooding at 10 feet
and continuing to 15 feet in the early hours of
Nov. 1. The waters should recede to nine feet by
Nov. 2, according to the NWS.

**The Barber of Georgetown:
Rigo Landa to Retire**

Rigo Landa of Georgetown Hairstyling, the
classic, old-school barber shop at 1329 35th St.,
NW, will officially retire Nov. 8. Landa, who
began working at the barber shop in 1968 and
bought it from two brothers who owned and
operated it, has sold it to his stepson Ed Lara,
who previously worked in the airline industry
and also is a guitarist. Rigo, who has traveled all over the world, was born in Cuba and will hold
on to his barber?s license for now ? in case Ed
needs an extra day?s work for himself, Veronica
or Nguyen.

**Doc?s Georgetown Pharmacy
To Become a 7-Eleven**

We know our former publisher Dave Roffman
will not like this news flash one bit.

According to Carol Joynt and CarolJoynt.
com, the retail space once known as the
Georgetown Pharmacy, which closed years ago
to become a clothing store and then an art and
decor store, is set to become a convenience store,
i.e., a 7-Eleven. The closed store is at the corner
of Wisconsin Avenue and O Street.

?My source on this is
next to golden, and so I?m
going with it,? Joynt writes.
?Apparently, the Donohue
family has done a deal to
lease its building at Wisconsin
and O to the 7-Eleven chain.
Work already has begun on
the interior. Everyone seems
to like to look for signs that
Georgetown?s charm is a
thing of the past, and this latest
development will probably
be included on that list, along
with reports of a TJ Maxx,
Target and a bowling alley at
Georgetown Park mall, and the
new mega Nike store on M
Street. But, the times they are a changin?.?

The Georgetown Pharmacy was run and
owned by Harry Alexander ?Doc? Dalinksy, who
was a Georgetown institution with customers
that included senators, judges and journalists.
His Sunday brunch, provided by the Georgetown
Inn, was frequented by the likes of Ben Bradlee,
David Brinkley and Art Buchwald, as seen in a
classic Fred Maroon photo.

**Comedy Legend Carl Reiner
Gets His Georgetown Degree**

Comedian, writer and director Carl Reiner
? who received the Kennedy Center?s Mark
Twain Prize for American Humor in 2000 ? was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Oct. 23 at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Calif. Reiner studied at Georgetown?s School of Foreign Service in 1943 after joining the Army during World War II.

?Today, Georgetown University delights to honor the director of ?The Jerk,? the father of Meathead and Betty White?s on-screen boyfriend,? the university?s Bernard Cook said. ?Actor, writer, producer, wit, Carl Reiner is a renaissance man whose seven-decade career spans the history of television and the maturity of feature film.? Reiner is also known for his creation of the 1960s television series, ?The Dick Van Dyke Show.?

Reiner says his ?biggest triumph? as a comedian was when he impersonated his professors in a Christmas show he was asked to put on in Georgetown?s Gaston Hall, according to the university. ?This evening I will never forget,? he told Cook. ?There we were ? Gaston Hall was packed with soldiers, the balcony was filled with the Jesuit fathers, the priests and the lay teachers.? The comedian even impersonated the stern mannerisms of Rev. Edmund Walsh, S.J., after whom the university?s foreign service school is named.

Reiner recalled his days in D.C. fondly. After all, he also met and married his wife Estelle while in Georgetown. ?

Ins & OutsNovember 1, 2012
•

**Bowling, Bocce Coming to Georgetown Park**
That bowling might be going to Georgetown Park was first reported at a meeting of the Citizens Association of Georgetown and DCist.com two weeks. There is more to the story.

*Here is how the Washington Business Journal reported on the situation:*

Another piece of the Shops at Georgetown Park puzzle is falling into place. Vornado Realty Trust has an all-but-done deal to lease roughly 30,000 square feet to Chicago-area entertainment-restaurant chain Pinstripes. The chain, which features indoor bowling and bocce courts, hopes to open by the third quarter of 2013, Pinstripes founder Dale Schwartz said. Pinstripes plans to sign a formal lease with Vornado once it gets zoning approval. It is scheduled to plead its case at a zoning hearing in January, Schwartz said.

The chain, which opened its first location in the Chicago area about five years ago, put D.C. on a list of top markets across the country as part of a nationwide expansion. The restaurant would be its fifth, with three in Illinois and one in Minneapolis. Schwartz said Georgetown Park met the criteria Pinstripes is seeking out.

?We?ve been looking all over the country for high-quality, select-communities,? Schwartz said. ?The D.C. market, it?s just a very, very attractive market, and also a market that we would envision over time doing two or three locations.?

Pinstripes is the latest of several new tenants Vornado is lining up at Georgetown Park, with other recent additions including a combined T.J. Maxx-HomeGoods and an expanded J. Crew.

Ultimately, Pinstripes envisions adding at least two other locations in the metro area, including in northern Virginia and suburban Maryland. Schwartz put Rockville among the likely expansion towns in Maryland. It is also planning restaurants in Kansas, California and Texas, Schwartz said.
For those struggling to envision how fine dining, bowling and bocce intersect, Schwartz describes it more along the lines of fine dining than bowling and bocce. ?We?ve really redefined entertainment dining in a very high-quality, sophisticated way,? Schwartz said.

Pinstripes has retained KLNB Retail as its local brokerage firm and RDL Architects to plan out its space at Georgetown Park.

**Coach John Thompson, Jr., Honored at Nike Store Debut**

Sports legends were on hand to open the new Nike store in Georgetown Oct 25. The Vornado-owned building that formerly housed Barnes & Noble is now a three-story, 31,000-square-foot store that carries a wide range of Nike?s athletic gear at 3040 M St., NW.

Homages to Georgetown University athletics are present in numerous areas of the store. Displays include gear from Georgetown?s track & field team and a display case of Georgetown University Air Jordans.

In the entrance of the building is a commemorative display honoring former Georgetown University men?s basketball head coach John Thompson, Jr., who coached at the school from 1972 to 1999. A neon-sign quotation by Thompson reminds athletes not to ignore life beyond the court. ?Don?t let the sum total of your existence be 8-10 pounds of air.?

Tim Hershey, head of North American retail for Nike opened the ceremony. Hershey manages Nike?s 202 stores in North America. He explained how the store received 4,500 applications to work there, which were eventually whittled down to 500 interviews, and finally, to 171 employees working in the store today. One employee said he was in three weeks of training for his sales position.

Michael Jackson, who played point guard on Georgetown?s 1984 NCAA championship team, is now Vice President and General Manager of Basketball in North America at Nike. Jackson remarked on the new store and presented Thompson with a one-of-a-kind, commemorative jacket honoring his career in the basketball. Also at the event was Georgetown great and former New York Knicks star Patrick Ewing.

Thompson, who is on the board of directors at Nike, was characteristically to-the-point. ?I?d rather eat a bug than what I?m doing right now,? he said.
Thompson spoke about Nike?s commitment to Georgetown University?s basketball program when the team needed support. ?Nike was one of the few corporations who jumped in when we needed help,? he said.

On his quote in the store, Thompson explained how he convinced his former player, Jackson, to leave the NBA to pursue a career off the court. He emphasized that there is more to life than basketball. ?If that?s what defines you totally, you?re a damn fool,? Thompson said.

Current Georgetown University basketball coach John Thompson III also spoke about the new store.

After the ceremony, Thompson, Jr., was joined by his son, his two grandchildren, Michael Jackson, Tim Hershey and Jack the Bulldog for the ribbon cutting. Afterwards, eager shoppers poured in to see the new store for themselves. Along with sports gear in other sports, such as that of the Washington Redskins, the store will manage a running club.

**EastBanc West End Library Project Delayed**

A D.C. nonprofit is delaying the construction of a new library in the West End, according to the Washington Business Journal. The D.C. Library Renaissance Project wants to end a deal between the District government and developer EastBanc that would result in a new West End Library at 23rd and L streets NW. The nonprofit has appealed the decision of a Zoning Commission order, which is now before the D.C. Court of Appeals.

**In: Buffalo Exchange Opens on M Street**

The empty store at 3279 M St., NW, once a Annie Creamcheese retro clothing store, is set to be re-born as a Buffalo Exchange, a resale chain with more than 40 thrift stores through the U.S. that focuses on style trends for its customers who can buy or trade clothing. Buffalo Exchange was founded in Tucson, Ariz., in 1974. Another Buffalo Exchange is already on 14th Street.

Here is how the store explains itself: ?Buffalo Exchange is unique because clothing and accessories are bought, sold and traded locally with store customers. You?ll also find brand new merchandise and accessories.?

**Economic Forum Highlights ?Fiscal Cliff,? Dynamic D.C.**

The Georgetown Business Association joined with the New York-based Financial Policy Council to produce the first-ever D.C. Financial Policy Economic Forum at the City Tavern Club Oct. 18. It was the FPC?s first-ever event in Washington, D.C.

The forum, introduced by GBA?s Janine Schoonover and moderated by Davis Kennedy of the Current Newspapers, enlisted the advice of former Rep. Jim Moody, D-Wisc., high-tech consultant Ray Regan, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and tax lawyer Payson Peabody.

The surprisingly lively wonkfest ranged in topics from the global and national econony to parking in Georgetown. Moody, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Berkeley, said he was ?very worried about direction country is taking.? Evans, who went to the Wharton Business School, said, ?Now, D.C. is the most dynamic city,? and then called for a way to make many immigrants — and who are not — legal. He got the most applause of the evening. Pollster Ronald Faucheaux of the Clarus Research Group highlighted the main take-away from the forum, as he spoke about the consequences of Congress and the president not dealing with automatic budget cuts, also known as ?fiscal cliff?: ?In December, there will be the most important decision in U.S. history.??

Pollster John Zogby Shares Insight
•

Pollsters—who have proliferated with every
presidential election—are funny people. It
turns people just don’t understand them, or
rather what they do.

We hadn’t talked with Pollster John Zogby,
then of John Zogby International, since the last
presidential election campaign in 2008, right
after the New Hampshire primary which produced
some interesting results then.

Back then we caught up with him on his cell
phone. He was enroute—we forget to where—
and he was on a train.

Four years later, after some digging around
on the net, we found him again last Wednesday—
heading toward an airport. We finally talked last
Friday—and indicative of what’s been going
on the polling arena, things had changed in the
interim.

“Yes, last night (Thursday, October 26), I
thought I detected a little bit of a surge towards
Obama, but by the time I got back, we saw a
dead heat in Virginia—48/48.”

That was an indication of how tight this election
has become—depending on the pollster and
polls you look at, there are national deadlocks
among likely and/or general voters, and many
but not all of the battleground states are heading
towards: you guessed, it deadlocks, depending
on what polls you read, study or believe.

Of course, for Zogby, since we talked to him
last in 2008, there have been a lot of changes,
too. Back then, he was (and continues to be) one
of the most respect pollsters in the country. He
had gained some fame back in the 1990s, after
founding his firm Zogby International in 1984,
after one of his polls showed that New York
State Governor Mario Cuomo would lose to then
president George. H.W. Bush in his home state.
Later, in an astonishing feat giving the outcome,
he polled ahead of the result the final numbers
of the 2000 presidential election within a tenth
of the actual result.

In 2008, just to show the vitality of things
even then, Hilary Clinton—after showing
what was detected to be some teary emotion—
had won the New Hampshire Primary stalling
Barack Obama’s impending victory parade.
Zogby’s rolling polling had apparently missed
that development. Back then, he said “Look,
we got everything else right—we got McCain,
we had Obama’s almost exact numbers, but we
had stopped before the effects of the “moment”.”

Since then, after years of heading Zogby
International, he sold his controlling shares to
the Brazilian company IBOPE. “That was a
big thing, sure,” he said. But Zogby is still a
major force in polling—the recent Virginia tie
for instance was part of polling he is doing for
and in conjunction with the Washington Times.
In addition, he polls with Forbes Magazine and
others, and most important of all, he’s joined
JZ Analytics, a Polling Firm run by his son,
Jonathan, in the role of Senior Adviser.

“Nope, I haven’t retired,” Zogby, 63, said.
“But working with my son, that’s very, very nice,
sure, that’s very special, of course it is. It’s a
very major thing.”

Other things have changed, too, not so much
for him, as in the world of polls and pollsters.
“Sure, sure, there’s more of them, the tools have
changed, and the techniques have changed—the
robo calls, for instance are still there, but that’s a very difficult thing to bring off in depth when
you have so many people using cell phones, it’s
harder to get the numbers.”

Zogby did not agree, and he did not agree
then that voters are heavily influenced by polls.
“I honestly can’t say that I have ever met anybody
that voted because of a poll.

“What I do believe is the media makes more
use of polls now than they did four years ago,”
he said. “And they create story lines from polls,
they look at certain things and emphasize them,
sometimes even if they’re not important, or just
to frame their stories And now, today, in the
debates for instance. There is no question that
Obama’s debate performance in the first one was
a big deal, it changed things altogether. I had
him running ahead by as much as eight points in
Ohio before that debate. That changed things,
no doubt. But all those subsequent polls, that’s a
little different. The media continues to compare
current polls in terms of Obama to where he was
before that debate. That makes things look much
more dramatic than they are.”

Zogby remains unafraid to say three words
that many pollsters would rather avoid. He’s
been often asked this time around as he was back
then to predict the outcome of the election. We
gave it a try just in case he’d changed. “Who’s
going to win?” we asked him. “I don’t know. I
just don’t know” he said.

And right now, he says, there’s no way of
knowing. “Look, every sign is heading towards
a deadlock, like the Virginia thing,” he said. “It’s
volatile. I can’t say that if some big deal happens
that it couldn’t change everything. It might.

“Here’s the thing about this election as things
stand right now,” he said. (This was October 26).
“Anything can happen. That talk about Obama
winning the electoral vote and losing the popular
vote? That could happen. But it could happen
for Romney too. Can Romney win without
Ohio? Maybe, but he’d have to sweep just about
everything else. You could have one of them
win all the key states by less than a percentage
point and create an electoral rout, and still lose
the popular vote.”

“What’s worth looking are the things you
find when you dig deeper in your polling,” he
said. “That gender gap. Well, it was there, but
you’ll find that married women are more concerned
about jobs and the economy than single
women. That youth vote—it might not show up
for Obama or some of it might go the other way
again because of jobs. Or ask if Romney is making
a dent in the Latino vote? See how the turnout
might be in the Evangelic vote—six months
ago, a long time ago, understandably, it was still
iffy . Will they show up? Turnout is key. The
early voting, that’s a thing to watch out for.”

“Anything can happen.”

“I’ve been doing this a long time, I can
remember making calls and a woman would answer and say, I’ll have to check and see what
my husband thinks,” he said. “The tools have
changed. The social media has been become
very important, or at least more important. This
instant feedback on the debates for instance. But
the instant polling, trying to gauge the immediate
effect, sometimes that’s not worth much because
you don’t know how deep the polling has gone,
who they’ve talked with.”

Zogby’s mantra is worth remembering in
terms of polling. “A poll is a snapshot in time.
It’s not a prediction. It says here is where we are,
right now, not yesterday, not tomorrow. That’s
real information, but it can change.”

Zogby and talked before the beginning of
a different sort of storm—Sandy, the so-called
perfect storm. It’s already caused candidates to
cancel appearance, to re-direct their efforts, and
its effects are still not known. For Obama, he
has to more president than candidate.

Like Zogby said: “Anyting can happen.” ?

The Jack Evans Report: This Is Getting Old
•

It seems like not a week goes by
without another news story about an
irregularity in the office of our Chief
Financial Officer. The latest revelation
was last Tuesday morning, in which news
outlets reported a criminal indictment of a
CFO employee accused of assisting with
more than $300,000 in fraudulent District
tax refunds (and more than $3 million in
federal taxes). I remain very concerned
that we don’t have the types of controls
that prevent fraud before it takes place.
I believe the District stands a chance of
receiving restitution for these amounts and
will follow up to ensure it is done.

Then, later the same day, I was told
that the CFO received a letter from the
Securities and Exchange Commission
asking for copies of audits, document
retention policies and other information
that were the subject of my hearing earlier
this month. I am a former Securities and
Exchange Commission Enforcement
Division lawyer, myself, and I believe
that the goal of the inquiry is to determine
whether the city’s bond offering documents
contained any material omissions about the
state of our tax office that should have
been disclosed to investors prior to selling
our bonds.

As a practical matter, the number of
recent news stories on the audits prior to
the bond sale most likely ensures that all
potential bond purchasers were aware of
the information prior to purchase. The
interest of the SEC, even in the form of
an informal inquiry rather than a formal
investigation and subpoena, is of great
concern to me. I have asked for regular
briefings from the CFO on these matters
and will continue to conduct regular
oversight over Gandhi’s office. I have
been a consistent defender of Gandhi, but
the constant drum beat of negative news
from that office is a problem that must be
addressed.

On a lighter note, I wanted to write at
least one more article about the Washington
Nationals this year – is it too soon? I made
a point of purchasing tickets to all the
playoff games to support our team and
our city, and while I am so proud of our
historic season, I am also disappointed that
our playoff run got cut short. Anyone who
was at the game for the Thursday night
win, though, will tell you that there was an
electric feeling in the stadium and a real
sense of community.

When I last wrote about our team, in
August, the Washington Nationals had the
best record in Major League Baseball. It
was then widely reported that you have to
look back to 1945 to find the last time our
team was 20 games above .500. This whole
season has been an experience in uncharted
territory. Not only did the team perform so
well, but the area around the ballpark is
now beginning to develop rapidly. I cannot
begin to tell you the number of articles I
read about the failure of this concept. With
a little patience, I knew the investment
would pay off.

As we move squarely into fall, I hope
everyone has a safe Halloween. Please
keep in touch with my office, and let me
know what issues are of interest to you. ?