UkeFest at Strathmore
• September 6, 2011

Down at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, they’re saying it’s time to put up your ukes.

That would be the center’s annual UkeFest, a celebration of the ukele, ukele-playing and even an attempt to try to beat the Guinness Book of World Records’ world record for Largest Ukulele Ensemble ever assembled.

The current record was set in London in 2009 when 851 uke players performed at the London Uke Festival. That may give you an idea how many ukers will be at the Strathmore grounds, where its annual series of free outdoor concerts is drawing to a close on August 24 at 7 p.m.

Local two-time Grammy winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer will emcee UkeFest 2011, which will also feature the Riders, amateur musicians from the Riderwood Retirement Community, the Piney Branch Kids Ukulele Ensemble, and the Washington Ukulele Orchestra, as well as the pop folk duo The Sweaters. There’s also an appearance by Baltimore uke singer Victoria Vox.

The Kids Farm is Here to Stay
•

The Kid’s Farm, a recreation of a touch-and-see interactive farm that remains one of the most popular family attractions at the National Zoo, is off the endangered list.

The Zoo had announced earlier that there were plans to close the Kids’ Farm due to budget cuts but
after an outburst of support for Kid’s Farm by local FONZ members and families all over the city, the Zoo found a sponsor that saved the date.

A major $1.4 million gift from State Farm Insurance will keep the family friendly attraction with its barn, grazing area, sheep, goats, chickens, cows and a mule open for visitors.

SlutWalk Marched Through D.C.
•

SlutWalk marched through D.C. on Saturday as one of many recent marches organized by women to raise awareness and reduce the blame put by society on victims of sexual abuse.

Women and men gathered at Lafayette Square and processed down 15th Street to the Washington Monument. Some marchers woreonly in a bra, several painted “Slut” across their chests, others carried signs declaring “My Dress is Not a Yes” and “Even Sluts Have a Right to Say ‘No’.” All conveyed the same message: Consent is not granted by the way a woman dresses or acts, and victims are never responsible for sexual violence committed against them.

SlutWalk D.C. defines its principle goal as onethat “specifically aims to challenge ‘rape culture’ which excuses sexual violence through messaging such as ‘Don’t Get Raped’ – instead the message should be ‘Don’t Rape!’”

SlutWalk D.C. follows a series of marches that began with a small movement in Toronto in April, after a Toronto police officer who suggested that women could better protect themselves by not dressing “like a slut.”

Since Toronto, SlutWalk has not only taken Chicago, Austin, Philadelphia and Seattle by storm, but also gone international with marches in Brisbane, Australia and London, England.

For more information about SlutWalk, its principles and its history, visit slutwalkdc.org
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Thoughts For Freshmen
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Your bags are packed, you’re ready to go . . . and whether you’re leaving on a jet plane or loading up the car, whether you’re excited, nervous or both, hopefully you know you’re about to embark upon the most exciting four years of your life yet. Although I’m by no means an expert, here are five things to keep in mind your first year:

5. Travel: You have all your options open your first year, so use the time to consider your academic interests and think about where that can take you in the next four years. Explore opportunities for research, internships, study abroad and volunteer work that will provide you with hands-on experience with your passions in the next four years.

4.Embrace Challenges: Many students find themselves facing a new level of difficulty in their classes and the workload in college. The best thing to keep in mind is that everyone else is in the same boat, and with time you’ll learn to time-manage and find that your professors and peers are always more than happy to help and advise you.

3. Get Outside: The best way to avoid the “freshman fifteen” is to take a holistic approach to healthy habits – stay active, eat well and find fun ways to de-stress.

2. Try New Things: College is a great opportunity to explore new opportunities and reinvent yourself. In addition to required classes take something that sounds interesting, just for fun, and sign up for clubs and activities where you will meet people of myriad interests, beliefs, politics and backgrounds. There’s so much to learn beyond the pages of a textbook.

1. Work Hard, Play Hard: Your college experienceis supposed to prepare you for the rest of your life. Devote yourself to your schoolwork, and reward yourself with time to just have fun. School comes first, but the college social experience is just as important. If you’re lucky, the friends you make at school will be there beyond graduation.

Are We In A Recession?
• August 25, 2011

Are we in a double dip recession?

Economists hedge their bets using percentage. Most suggest a 30 percent chance we’ll go back into a recession though some go out on a limb and peg the odds at up to 50 percent.
The better question is whether we are out of the one we entered three years ago. Unemployment rose from 5 percent to 9 percent and has not come down since.
I’m not an economist, so what do I know? But the answer is Yes. 100 percent. We are in a recession. My money says the Labor Department will confirm this after it accumulates and analyzes the data in 45 days.

A recession occurs when a country produces less than it did for two prior quarters. Production declines when people stop buying, and the U.S. economy relies upon the consumers buying 70 percent of production. Another 30 percent comes from federal, state and local governments.
Congress is locked in a death spiral to cut federal spending. Federal discretionary spending – dollars not on auto-pilot – will be the lower as a percentage of the economy in over 50 years.
Entitlement spending – those dollars on auto-pilot like Social Security and health care – is rising. Most of entitlement spending is merely a transfer of money from one taxpayer to another. For example, social security takes money from current workers and transfers it to retirees. That’s government spending, but not production.

Increased Medicare, Medicaid, and military health costs are rising because of we are getting older, poorer, and wars have hidden costs.

The federal government’s stimulus two years ago – a continuing source of political warfare – was very small and mostly offset by spending cuts by state and local governments. Teachers, policemen, firemen, and government employees were fired. School budgets and local governments have reduced services. Highways and bridges and other infrastructure needs are not being built or fixed. In the end, the net additional government spending was close to zero.

A fired teacher who starts a new lawn care or babysitting business earns less and buys less.
Consumers buy less for many reasons. Wages haven’t grown in 30 years. Increased gas prices and food costs mean more money goes to the same quantity of goods, so fewer dollars are available to buy other consumer goods needed to pump up the economy.

Home values have declined 30 percent and demand has declined even more. Sellers are receiving less for their property and have less to spend after they sell. New construction is almost non-existent, so construction workers have had not work for years.

Foreclosures are four times higher than just a few years. Banks are nervous that flooding the market with almost 2 million foreclosed houses will push values down further. If that happens, more banks risk becoming insolvent and being taken over by the government.
History teaches that recovering from a recession doesn’t happen when real estate values decline. Jobs cannot grow without a stable real estate market which pulls construction, manufacturing, banking, furniture, materials like steel and concrete and aluminum, and so many other industries with it. These industries that feed construction are suffering. The real estate industry is in tatters – probably the equivalent of a depression.

Banks are nervous about lending because they are afraid they won’t get paid back. Even with historically low interest rates, lending standards make it more difficult for borrowers to qualify for loans to buy a house or start a business. Consumers are buying fewer new cars.
Fewer consumers are using their credit cards that allow them to buy-now, pay-later. For years, economists have scolded consumers for using their credit cards and told them to save more. Nervous consumers are paying down their credit cards and using them less. Fearful about an uncertain future, consumers are saving more.

Stock markets have lost 15 percent of their value – trillions of dollars – in a few weeks. Retirement accounts are lower. Consumers are scared. The U.S. public and world markets have lost confidence in the U.S.’s ability to govern itself. Other countries worldwide have their own economic problems, so they are buying less.

If we’re not in a recession, that is merely a technicality. We went into a recession when unemployment rose from 5 percent to 9.8 percent. Because 90.2 percent of the workforce doesn’t produce and buy what 95 percent of the workforce would, the new goal line for determining growth became the 90.2 percent. So if unemployment drops to 9 percent and the economy rises to 92 percent of full production, that’s about 1 percent growth, though lower than the 95 percent production before the recession began. Only an economist could call that growth.

Are we in a recession? Absolutely. Have we come out of the past recession? No. We all know this. Only the economists don’t.

A Hurricane, Not An Earthquake
•

Last week, I saw a headline in one of the few remaining daily newspapers left in the whole wide world which indicated that the reptile house in Washington would be renovated.

Naturally, I headed to Capitol Hill to see what was going on in Congress. Turns out nobody was home. The guys are out of town, on vacation or running for president. Or just running.

But you know it’s been a weird summer. Heck, it’s been a weird year. Just plain everybody is still embarrassed and ticked about the way our resident politicians from the president to congress to tea party-ers to the media dealt with the debt crisis, which went from a routine yearly thing to political Defcon 3 in about the time it takes John Boehner not to return a call.

Was that a mess or what, and now you know why Eric Cantor was smiling. He for one is not running for president, but the dean of the GOP Young Guns is aiming straight at the speaker’s job. Squeaky wheel, indeed.

The Chinese are mad at us, so mad they picked a fight with the Georgetown University basketball team in China on a good will game tour.

The S&P is mad at the country because of the way Washington—that would be the fools on the hill and at the White House—handled the whole debt mess, so much so that it lowered our borrowing rating to AA, a low-light battery if there ever was one.

The media seems to be mad at Obama along with any number of people who are unhappy about him vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard with rich people. Did you expect him to vacation, I don’t know, Detroit, maybe or on the Texas-Mexico border with the drug lords?

Already, the media is in a kind of frothing frenzy about the GOP primary race, especially now that Texas Governor Rick Perry is in the race. Michelle Bachman won the straw poll in Iowa, whatever that gets you, Tim Pawlenty dropped out, Ron Paul finished second and Newt Gingrich, living up to his first name, finished behind but stayed in for reasons that defy logic, common sense, and Murphy’s Law.
Perry, the dark-eye-brow man who looks like and drawls like a Texas gunslinger, all ominous and mouthy, made his announcement in South Carolina, where all common sense takes flight to destinations unknown. Or as someone said, in South Carolina, Yahoo is a state of mind not a search engine. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, and Perry is the only current GOP runner who thought that might be a good idea.

So far Perry has called the Chairman of the Federal Reserve a traitor, and reiterated that global warming is a science community plot to get grants, or something like that. He’s easy to mock if you’re one of those soft liberal commentators, or Bill Maher, but he’s also serious. I’m guessing he’s a pretty good poker player. Bill Clinton called him a handsome rascal, an odd choice of words which indicate he reminded him of another handsome rascally Southern governor of yore.

Almost everything that could happen this year, happened: Japan, the Middle Eastern spring turned into violent summer, the death of Bin Laden, the heightening casualties in Afghanistan, the debt ceiling fiasco, the shootings in Arizona, strikes by high paid athletes, horrible draughts, fires, tornadoes and heat waves, a stock market operating like a whiz bang, atrocity in Norway, the Kardashian wedding.
It’s nice to still be able to feel safe in our own neighborhoods. I mean, it’s not like we could get hit by an earthquake or something.

Oh wait. That happened. Just now, or less.

Cans flew off the shelves in the Adams Morgan Safeway, where a counter girl was in tears. Cars shook on the street; a chimney fell off an apartment building as a 5.8 or 5.9 quake hit the East coast, specifically Virginia. The Pentagon was evacuated. I was walking on 18th street and felt nothing. But the folks at the post office were a little off, feeling dizzy and everyone felt and sometimes saw buildings shake.

Well, there goes that.

A hurricane is coming, and it’s Hurricane Perry.

2012 Budget
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I thought I had written my last Georgetowner article about the 2012 budget last month.

Unfortunately, the Council was taken by surprise by the pocket veto from Mayor Gray and will have to revisit some of the problems that we had just worked hard to solve. Of particular note was the proposal to retroactively tax interest earned on out-of-state municipal bonds all the way back to Jan. 1, 2011, which I have been advocating strongly against. You may recall that the Council passed an amendment on July 12 to push the implementation of this new tax proposal on municipal bonds back to cover only earnings from Jan. 1, 2012 and beyond, giving everyone a little more time to make responsible changes in their investment portfolios and tax payment schedules if needed. Now that the Mayor’s veto has undone the Council’s solution, I will be working again with my colleagues to come up with creative new ways to postpone and then repeal this tax, which disproportionately impacts retirees. It is absolutely irresponsible for Mayor Gray and the Council not to grandfather in existing bondholders, as has been done in every other state without exception. Three of your at-large Councilmembers – Phil Mendelson, Michael Brown and Vincent Orange – do not support grandfathering unless the income tax is increased. This is another bad idea which will harm our city.

I also wanted to briefly address the iGaming proposal that is currently under consideration by the District’s Lottery Board. In case you are not familiar with the concept of iGaming, the idea is to offer internet games such as Texas Hold ‘em Poker on computers in yet to be determined locations within the District. In response to concerns from community members at a Finance & Revenue Committee hearing I chaired, I asked the Lottery to schedule a number of community meetings to receive input on iGaming before moving forward with enabling these games in any neighborhoods. I subsequently requested that the Lottery move to further accommodate community members by postponing meetings originally scheduled for August to more convenient times in mid-September and October, and am pleased that they have done so. This change in the schedule will allow more residents to return from out of town summer trips and be engaged in the community meeting process.

Finally, Advisory Neighborhood Commission redistricting is well underway. The neighborhood-based subgroups of the Ward 2 Redistricting Task Force have been checking in with my office regularly, and I look forward to seeing their final recommendations in the near future. Please feel free to contact Ruth Werner at rwerner@dccouncil.us or Kevin Stogner at kstogner@dccouncil.us, both in my office, to be added to the redistricting distribution list, or to answer any specific questions you have.

Georgetown Observer August 24, 2011
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ANC Votes for Co-Chairs’ Redistricting Plan; 8th District Added
In response to population growth, the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission’s working group to redraw ANC 2E, which represents Georgetown, Burleith and Hillandale, voted in favor of a plan advanced by working group’s co-chairs – commissioner Ron Lewis of ANC2E and his co-chairs, Jennifer Altemus of the Citizen’s Association of Georgetown and Lenore Rubino of the Burleith Citizen’s Association. The proposal adds a new single-member district (SMD) by increasing the number of Georgetown University student districts from one to two, bringing Georgetown’s ANC districts to a total of eight (each accounting for roughly more than 2,000 individuals).

The approved plan splits SMD04 into two, creating a totally new SMD08. (The student districts would account for about 2,500 individuals.) Burleith remains SMD01, and a few blocks are added north on Wisconsin Avenue to SMD05. Voting in favor of the co-chairs’ plan, commissioner Bill Starrels said, “I think it was thought-through, well laid-out and addressed the concerns and all aspects of the community.”

An opposing view, advocated by John Flanagan, a student on the ANC 16-member working group, called for three student-dominated zones, folding parts of the west side of Georgetown into the university districts. Flanagan had cited the principle of “one man, one vote,” arguing that increased student population warranted three districts. The co-chairs’ proposal answered back, in part, with a call for continued “community cohesiveness,” where traditional borders between several blocks had naturally developed.

The plan will be discussed at the next week ANC meeting with any changes requested by Sept. 7, then passed to the Ward 2 re-districting team and onto Council member Jack Evans. The re-districting changes must be voted on by the D.C. Council by the end of 2011 and will become effective November 2012.
Next ANC 2E meeting: Monday, Aug. 29, 6:30p.m. at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 35th Street and Volta Place.

Evans’s Use of $135K of Service Funds over a Decade to Buy Sports Tickets Questioned
Taking money from a D.C. Council member’s citizen service fund to purchase tickets to local baseball, basketball, hockey or tennis games – while perfectly legal – was been called into question because of an investigation by the Washington Post.

According to the Washington Post, “D.C. Council member Jack Evans has paid $135,897 for professional sports tickets over the past decade using money from his constituent services fund, renewing calls for tighter restrictions on the accounts, which are meant to help city residents. A Washington Post review of Office of Campaign Finance records shows that Evans (D-Ward 2) has spent $437,720 since January 2002 under the program, which allows District politicians to raise money to help constituents and spend the funds largely unfettered.”

“I think it’s appropriate to support those teams and give [tickets] to constituents who otherwise may not be able to get to a game,” Evans told the Post. The newspaper added, “When the fund is examined back to 1991, when Evans was elected to the council, he notes that only 13 percent of the $1 million he has spent has gone toward sporting tickets. He said that 20-year period provided a more accurate picture of his spending.”

Under D.C. law, constituent services funds may be set up to offer “charitable, scientific, educational, medical, recreational and other services” and improve residents’ “general welfare.” Any other restrictions – save for political campaigning – are not outlined.

Nevertheless, the money can add up quickly over the years for tickets to sporting events. The Post went on further: “On March 1, for example, Evans wrote a check for $4,681 for a season ticket to the Capitals. Two days later, he paid the Wizards $7,644. His two 2011 season tickets at Nationals Park, which he said are behind first base, cost him $10,945 last fall, the records show.”
At least one council member – Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) – told the Post, “I think it’s inappropriate.” A few community leaders did not really wish to comment, and a few others wondered where their tickets were. For the kids, of course.

Georgetown Waterfront Park’s Grand Opening Set for Sept. 13
Yet another win for Georgetown. After years of fundraising, designing and construction, the transformation from old parking lots on the Potomac to an urban park, inviting the public to play along the waterfront, is complete. On Sept. 13, Georgetown Waterfront Park becomes the largest national park created in the Nation’s Capital in 35 years since Constitution Gardens was finished on the National Mall in 1976.

Thanks to the National Park Service, the Georgetown Waterfront Park Commission, architects Wallace Roberts & Todd as well as donations by MRP Realty (the owners of Washington Harbour), Pepco, the Georgetown BID, and the District of Columbia, a 10-acre park stretches out at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue on the Potomac River.

Once the land of old Georgetown’s wharves and then factories, the riverside deteriorated into parking lots and empty land. In 1985, the District of Columbia transferred the waterfront land to the National Park Service. In the late 1990s, the Georgetown Waterfront Commission made the final, long push for completion, bringing together volunteers, residents, the rowing community, local leaders and the National Park Service as it highlighted the Potomac’s signature sport: rowing.

The Georgetown Waterfront Park provides a green space for visitor recreation and contemplation, the commission is proud to point out. Cyclists, skaters, and pedestrians have their own car-free pathways with views of individual boaters, kayakers and competitive crews as well as of Roosevelt Island and Key Bridge. The park curves along 10 acres from the Washington Harbour complex at 31st Street to Key Bridge, a vital last link in 225 miles of parkland from Mount Vernon, Va., to Cumberland, Md. The park will have Wi-Fi, the commission reports, and it adds:
“The Wisconsin Avenue part of the park will greet the visitor with a low arcing fountain lined with benches, while the riverfront will have steps laddering down to the river at the site of the finish line for the regattas. A wide walkway will be continued along the river with an area with benches and a pergola for river viewing. In this section of the park, crowds can gather to watch rowing regattas or just look at the river from the sheltered pergola. The interactive fountain will add a playful aquatic feature to attract visitors to the river from Wisconsin Avenue. An arbor above the benches will invite visitors to relax by the water. The arbor will support flowering vines, filtering the sunlight over seating areas. Below the arbor, river stairs will descend to the water, forming an amphitheater where people can view activities in the park and watch the finish line of the boat races.”

Chain Bridge Weekend Closures Begin
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced it will be closing the Chain Bridge on weekends to conduct structural repair work activities under the bridge deck. The majority of the repairs on Chain Bridge completed last spring were conducted on the bridge deck. Now through Dec. 23, weather permitting, DDOT will be conducting an additional series of repair related activities that will be concentrated under the bridge. Weekend closures will be necessary to perform this work.
During the following weekends, Chain Bridge will close starting at 8 p.m. on Friday and will reopen at 5 a.m. the following Monday: Aug. 19 to 21; Sept. 9 to 11; Sept. 16 to 18; Sept. 30 to Oct. 2; Oct. 7 to 9; Oct. 21 to 23; Oct. 28 to 30; November 18 to 20; Dec. 2 to 4; Dec. 16 to 18.

There will be no access to the bridge from either the District or Arlington. That includes cyclists and pedestrians because the sidewalk will also be closed. Through traffic on Canal Road will not be obstructed, but motorists will not be able to turn onto Chain Bridge. Motorists are advised to use alternate routes and river crossings including the American Legion, Key, Roosevelt, Memorial and 14th Street Bridges. For additional traffic advisories, visit DDOT’s Traffic Alerts page or visit goDCgo.com for more information on transportation options in the District.

Happy 90th Birthday, Ben
Best known for the Washington Post’s Watergate investigations, former Post executive editor Ben Bradlee turns 90 on Aug. 26. But don’t look around town for Bradlee and his wife Sally Quinn. They are in France – on the Ile de Ré, an island in the Atlantic off its west coast, as well regarded as Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket here. Dozens of guests at the birthday party, planned by Quinn, include family members along with friends, such as Christiane Amanpour and her husband, James Rubin, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

National Jewel Center at Old Georgetown Theater Site to Empty by Aug. 31
The classic neon “Georgetown” sign is what everyone cares about, but the stalls in the National Jewel Center are leaving the old site of the Georgetown Theater on Wisconsin Avenue at O Street. The property – owned by the Heon family, which also owns the Serendipity 3 building (Nathans) at Wisconsin and M and the Philly Cheese Steak place (Cellar Door) at 34th and M – is renewing its sales pitch, as reported in the Prince of Petworth blog. The building went on the market two years ago for almost $5 million; most figure it will go for half that amount. Here is what one real estate entry discloses: 1351 Wisconsin Ave. consists of 6,086 square feet, including street and mezzanine; the lot is 6,569 square feet. It has the famous landmark “Georgetown” sign marking the entrance of the building. The retail space can be increased by up to 3,767 square feet at the rear of the building which now has seven parking spaces and an out building. Zoned C-2-A, it is currently the largest lot in Georgetown for sale.

Foggy Bottom Whole Foods Opens Sept. 6
The Foggy Bottom Whole Foods Market holds its grand opening on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 10 a.m. With an entrance at the corner of 22th and Eye Streets and near the Foggy Bottom Metro stop, the food company’s newest store in D.C. is part of the building complex, known as “The Avenue,” at 2200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., with offices, banks and a Sweetgreen eatery. Just east of Georgetown at Washington Circle, the store is set to serve Foggy Bottom and George Washington University, but you can go, too. Hours: Monday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Phone: 202-296-1660.

Chris Furin: ‘Making Your Memories Sweeter’
While Furin’s the place may be gone, its beautiful cakes live on with Chris Furin, “a self-taught cake designer who has perfected his skills over the past decade working at his family owned and operated gourmet bakery and cafe, Furin’s of Georgetown,” he writes. The owners’ son created Cakes by Chris Furin, he added, “In response to the growing requests from his customers seeking extraordinary quality and detail in their special event custom cakes, cupcakes and cookies at an affordable price.” Visit CakesbyChrisFurin.com for the delicious details – or call 301-775-0799.

HMX Group to Open ‘The Streets of Georgetown’
The boys are trying to catch up with the girls in terms of fashionable clothing stores. New York-based HMX Group, which features men’s brands such as Hickey Freeman, Hart Schaffner Marx and Bobby Jones, will premiere a store at 1254 Wisconsin Ave. next month, called “The Streets of Georgetown,” reports the business section of the Washington Post. The other town, outside New York City, for HMX’s new “Streets” stores is Beverly Hills. “There is definitely more pronounced interest from men’s fashion retailers for the first time that I can remember in my 25 years in business in D.C.,” retail space expert and Georgetown Business Improvement District board member John Asadoorian told the Post. HMX’s mix of clothing labels sell at different price points and the company hopes to serve a variety of men’s fashion customers.

Where to Park? They’re Back: Freshmen Arrive Aug. 27; Classes Begin Aug. 31
Will we see a parking snafu next week? Already Georgetown University students are setting up for new student orientation, and some students are moving in. Freshmen officially arrive on Saturday, Aug. 27, with other undergraduates to follow, as registration begins and then classes start on Wednesday, Aug. 31. Residents who park their cars on 35th Street and adjacent streets, near the university, should expect double the effort to find spaces. As work at Nevils dormitory continues on N Street and road construction expands along O and P Streets, entire blocks have lost their parking spaces. The streets are alive with dump trucks throughout the day. How difficult it gets to find a space remains to be seen. We will know soon enough.

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The Green Phoenix
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Home to Congress, Washington D.C. is the center of social movements that sweep our nation. Innovative and inspiring ideas are brought before our nation’s leaders, are debated and refined, and often transformed into legislation. Recently, the hype has been about “going green” and making changes at home and at work to lower one’s carbon footprint. It’s now fashionable to wear “organic” clothing and to find a blue recycling bin to put aluminum cans instead of throwing them away.
In 2009, the House passed a historic climate change bill that requires 20% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020. The bill also increases electricity prices by $175 a year per household by 2020. Yet, even with congressional pressure to improve energy efficiency, why aren’t more local businesses following the trend of “going green?” The high cost of installing renewable energy systems and the significant time commitment required to explore greener resources are just two challenges that business owners face when making the switch to a greener business model.
One local businessman, John Hays, has managed to overcome such setbacks and convert his Georgetown store, The Phoenix, into an environmentally friendly business. For years, Hays has demonstrated a commitment to sustainability through recycling, selling renewable bags, and buying products with “fair trade” certification.
About a year ago, Hays wanted to make his commitment to the environment even stronger and signed up to install 30 solar panels on the roof of The Phoenix. Hays recognizes the significant cost of installing solar panels and how many might find the numbers daunting, but has managed to take advantage of numerous local and federal incentives that make the transition more affordable. “One-third of the cost of the panels is funded by the DC government,” Hays explains, “and I will also receive a 30% tax cut from the federal government.” In addition, Hays can exchange some of the energy produced by the solar panels in the form of solar Renewable Energy Credits (sRECSs) for cash from local electricity distributors such as PEPCO. With financial help from the D.C. government, the federal government, and sRECs, Hays saw little stopping him from converting to solar energy.
The solar panels are expected to generate over 7,000 kilowatts of power each year, which will amount to 60% of The Phoenix’s total power usage. After five years, the total energy produced by the panels will make up for their cost.
Hays hopes that other local businesses will follow in his footsteps and install solar panels or make other changes to promote the environment. “All the economic incentives in place make using renewable energy possible,” Hays says. “With rising energy prices, companies might be paying more for power if they don’t make the switch.” An investment in solar energy today might even be profitable in the long-term.
Next week, the installation process will be complete and the solar panels will be up and running, generating energy for The Phoenix while simultaneously helping Georgetown become a greener neighborhood. Who will be next?
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Weekend Roundup August 18,2011
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Live Jazz With Vocalist Nancy Scimone

August 20th, 2011 at 07:30 PM

No Cover

livejazzconcerts@verizon.net

Tel: 571-232-1873

Vocalist Nancy Scimone delivers spirited performances of lively and lush American jazz standards, French and Latin-influenced tunes. The Henley’s extensive wine list, classic cocktails savory treats (crispy shrimp) and desserts (pear bread pudding!) are perfect accompaniments to these sublime songs. Cozy tapestry seats, intimate lighting. No Cover. Saturdays 7:30 – 11:30 Perfect for conversation or just listening.
Near Metros, on-street parking

Address

The Henley Park Hotel

926 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20001

Martin Luther king Jr. Memorial Celebration Cruises

August 24th, 2011 at 12:00 PM

Tel: 866.404.8439

On August 24 and August 25, the Odyssey and the Spirit of Washington are celebrating the historic dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with memorable civil rights-inspired cruises. Guest will enjoy music and live entertainment from the Civil Rights Era, special narration highlighting Martin Luther King Jr.’s achievements, creative plated cuisine and monumental views. For cruise details, directions or to make reservations, visit www.entertainmentcruises.com or call 866.404.8439

Address

Entertainment Cruises

6th and Water Streets,

SW Washington, D.C.

(three blocks from Metro via the Waterfront Station on the Green line)

UNLEASH AT ROOF TERRACE RESTAURANT’S DOG DAYS OF SUMMER CELEBRATION: BBQ & BREW BASH

August 25th, 2011 at 07:00 AM

$40 per person

Tel: 202- 416-8555

Roof Terrace Restaurant & Bar invites you to wash away the work week with a few beers and BBQ favorites. The sun is sizzling, the days are long – here’s an excuse to let loose. Reservations are required; business attire is not. Dog Days of Summer is part of Roof Terrace Restaurant’s monthly Wine & Cultural Celebration Series, in which patrons are invited to experience wines, beers or spirits of a particular type or region, paired with food and entertainment.

Address

Roof Terrace Restaurant

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

2700 F Street

Washington, DC

www.roofterracerestaurant.com