Town Topics

Robert Devaney • October 10, 2013

The Georgetowner first published Oct. 7, 1954. Its frontpage held a profile, an essay, news about an outdoor art fair and column, entitled “Potomac Packett,” along with a memo from founding publisher Ami Stewart. It was the 20th century, yet this newspaper looked like it was from the War of 1812.

The succeeding owner-publishers have only been two: David Roffman and Sonya Bernhardt. Each has added his and her stamp on the paper. To leaf through the newspaper archives of the Georgetowner during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s is to see hometown American history in the nation’s capital. How special it is to read a story in the Georgetowner that reports N Street neighbor John Kennedy is considering a run for the presidency.

Those seven individual decades have seen and brought many changes in America, in media and in journalism. You and we know all about the digital revolution and live it. Ways to communicate may shift, but a good story remains a good story. And truth remains the truth. These are core principles at the Georgetowner.

In 2014, the Georgetowner will turn 60 all the way, will introduce a few surprises — and will, no doubt, celebrate with its own gala.
Meanwhile, and more importantly, let us wish a great Georgetowner a happy birthday. Frida Burling turned 98 on Sept. 16. She had a party at her 29th Street home with her family. At 98, she still e-mails friends and family and remains interested in and supportive of her Georgetown community. And we expect to hear from her soon enough. Stay well and true, Frida, and we will, too.

Robert Devaney •

Theirs is a Georgetown story few could keep up with, much less conceive. Developer Herbert Miller and his wife Patrice Miller have lived throughout Georgetown in some of its finest houses as well as being part of community service and charities. In Herb’s case, his career involves work on major real estate projects across Washington, D.C.

While the Millers lived here for decades from N Street to O Street to Q Street and back, they have downsized to a condo near 14th and P Streets, NW, and have departed Georgetown.

For all this, they are the honorees for the 2013 Georgetown Gala — the annual Citizens Association of Georgetown event that brings together more than 350 guests, neighbors, sponsors and politicos — to be held Oct. 18 at the Italian Embassy. The gala committee said of the Millers: “We couldn’t let them leave without a proper goodbye.”

CAG’s big event and the Millers certainly meet the group’s goal: “to celebrate Georgetown and CAG’s mission of historic preservation and improving the life of the community.”

While Patrice Miller has volunteered for many Georgetown non-profits that include CAG and Georgetown Senior Center as well as offering the family home for many fundraisers, she is not one to be in the limelight.

The Miller family has five children: Ben, Alexis, David, Daniel and Caroline (the oldest two from a previous marriage), now in their 20s and 30s. Ben and Dan Miller have their own take on development work with their Fundrise concept and run the Powerhouse on Grace Street.

The empty-nesting parents spend a lot of time in their place on the Eastern Shore, where Patrice is on the board of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md.

She charmingly points to her husband, whose mixed retail projects in D.C. are epic tales. They married in 1983, after Herb asked Patrice to marry him on a birthday and the same day he bought a house on N Street. Meanwhile, Patrice is happy to have Herb talk at length to anyone else.

After George Washington University, Herb Miller lived on M Street, next to the Round Table, near 28th Street. In 1967, Miller founded Western Development Corporation, a real estate development and management organization with a 44-year history of innovative mixed-use development.

Its signature work in Georgetown: the condos and the Shops at Georgetown Park retail as well as Washington Harbour. Elsewhere in D.C.: Market Square on Pennsylvania Avenue and Gallery Place next to the Verizon Center.

Miller also formed the Mills Corporation — which held super regional malls: Potomac Mills, Franklin Mills (Philadelphia), Sawgrass Mills (Ft. Lauderdale) and Gurnee Mills (Chicago).

In the mid-1990s, Miller led the Mayor’s Interactive Downtown Task Force, a 100-member committee charged with re-vitalizing Washington’s central areas. Apparently, it worked: a new convention center and renewed Carnegie Library, two examples among many.

Today, after taking back, trying to retain and revitalize Georgetown Park in his own vision, Miller seems pragmatic, knowing all things change. He did note that the complex could not get an anchor, such as Bloomingdale’s Soho, a deal he almost sealed — it was complicated by D.C. government. After all, this is the guy who in his first years as a broker in the shopping center business convinced Stanley Marcus to put Neiman Marcus at Mazza Gallerie. Some people also forget that Georgetown Park was the first urban mall in America.
These days, Miller will only work on projects that have a community benefit, he says. There is one that involves businesses, real estate and the community, but that’s all he is letting on for today.

One of his passions is the Chesapeake Crescent Initiative, “a regional collaborative to advance innovation in energy, life sciences and security in the ‘Chesapeake Crescent’ region of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. CCI’s leadership includes federal government agencies, state and local government leaders, major private sector companies as well as academic institutions.”

Miller believes it is the national capital region that should be leading the way in innovation and integration of “safe and smart city” technologies.

“Government needs innovation,” he says. He cites numbers and statistics: growth over decades, only 6 percent for the non-military part of the federal budget, whereas states have averaged a 400 percent increase and cities a 600-percent increase. The aim is to get rid of things that are inflexible, he says.

As far as the so-called Walmart bill that was vetoed, Miller says, “Don’t penalize the merchants, help them.” Perhaps, he adds, give back a bit of excess sales tax to them to help increase wages. And in the campaign for mayor, as much as he likes Mayor Gray — who has not declared whether he will run for re-election or not, Miller simply says, “It’s Jack’s time,” referring to councilman Jack Evans, who is running for mayor.

And, as much as Miller is seeing the big picture in terms of government and economic development, he concludes: “In the future, people need to manage their own neighborhood.”

That is something Georgetown knows a lot about — and it is glad to have had Herb and Patrice Miller in its midst for, lo, these many years.

Meet the Millers — and Your Neighbors — at the Gala
Come to the Georgetown Gala, Oct. 18, to cheer the Millers and also thank other for their community work, such as the second of the gala’s“Community Pillars”: Capital Asset Management Group.

A Community Pillar sponsorship patron, Capital Asset Management Group, founded by John Girouard, is celebrating a big year. Not only was the firm named as one of the Premier Advisory Practices in the Washington, D.C., metro region, Girouard ‘s second book, “Take Back Your Money: How to Survive the Next Recession and the One After That” will be published this month. For over 35 years, Girouard and CAMG have taught families throughout the Washington metropolitan area region how to achieve financial independence sooner and safer in both good times and bad through CAMG’s learning center, the Institute for Financial Independence. The Girouard family has planted deep roots in the Georgetown community as John’s wife, Colleen Girouard, is the co-chair of the Citizen’s Association of Georgetown Gala and on the board of the Washington Animal Rescue League. John Girouard is on the board of the George Town Club.

Robert Devaney • September 4, 2013

The front bar at Clyde’s of Georgetown, at 3236 M St., NW, was full and busy, the back rooms and the omelet room and the atrium were bustling and young waiters and waitresses scurried about carrying coffee and plates with Clyde’s omelettes and eggs Benedict — free to any customer who walked in before 10 a.m. The scene could have been a 1980s Georgetown Saturday morning rising out of and recovering from a Friday night. It was something better. It was a Monday morning — Aug. 12, 2013 — and Clyde’s was celebrating its 50th anniversary. That’s right: 50 years, and 14 restaurants and counting.

“It’s a Washington legend now, and we’re delighted to be a part of the history and success of D.C.,” said Tom Meyer, president of Clyde’s Restaurant Group. An ebullient Mayor Vincent Gray arrived and made it official, along with the District Council, proclaiming August 12 “Clyde’s of Georgetown Day.”

Later that day, an evening reception and party brought Clyde’s employees, past and present, together to celebrate, dance and cut the 50th birthday cake.
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