Georgetown CITIZENS V OLUME XXV / I SSUE 7 / S EPTEMBER 2011 WWW. CAGTOWN. ORG Guided Tour of the Waterfront Park and Reception at Potomac Boat House September 20 The Tuesday, September 20 CAG meeting will provide templation guided tours of the newly completed Georgetown Water- and a diary front Park and a special reception at the historic Potomac for the public Boat Club. Join CAG at the Potomac Boat Club, 3530 to write their Water Street, at 7pm for the reception. Tour groups will thoughts. leave the boat house for a behind-the-scenes look at the Waterfront Park. Many experts, Friends of the George- town Waterfront Park, and National Park Service officials will be positioned throughout the park to tell the intrigu- ing stories behind this remarkable, decades-long project. Georgetown Waterfront Park photo courtesy of Wallace Roberts & Todd The Waterfront Park comprises a ten-acre space hug- Our reception host, ging the turns of the Potomac River from the Key Bridge the Potomac Boat Club to the Washington Harbour complex featuring many at 3530 Water Street, is places to walk, run, bike, sit, and admire the beauty of a hidden treasure in the river. The park project began in the 1970s as an effort Georgetown. Located in to transform the condemned industrial site along the the shadow of the Key water into parkland. Citizens planning groups working Bridge, the historic club with the National Park Service made slow progress. was founded in 1869 Eventually the District of Columbia transferred the and is home to 300 sen- waterfront land to the National Park Service. In the late ior members ranging 1990s, plans for the park received new support from the Potomac Boat Club from recreational row- Georgetown Waterfront Commission, chaired by former ers to Olympic athletes -- and the Washington-Lee High Georgetown resident Senator Charles Percy, and new School crew team. The boathouse has survived several designs were drafted by Wallace, Roberts and Todd that floods, numerous hurricanes, and the catastrophic fire would highlight the Potomac’s signature sport: rowing. that destroyed the Washington Aqueduct, the remaining The Georgetown Waterfront Park Commission and abutment of which shelters many of the members' rowing more recently, the Friends of the Waterfront Park, galva- shells. Aside from providing the training ground for a nized local residents, the rowing community, regional long list of highly successful national team, club, and leaders, and the National Park Service in an effort to masters rowers, PBC is perhaps best known as the host of bring the park to fruition. Now the park can finally be the Scullers' Head of the Potomac, a fall regatta which enjoyed by the public including an interactive fountain, began in 1981. stairs for viewing crew races, and a pergola-shaded plaza A building with a spectacular view of the Potomac for socializing. The park contains three rain gardens of River, it will provide a wonderful backdrop to celebrate native plants and shrubs which assist in catching polluted our new Waterfront Park – and serve as a venue for run-off water before it flows into the storm drains and indoor presentations about the Park should it be a rainy pollutes fresh water. The park also features The evening. Please join CAG to tour the Waterfront Park Labyrinth, designed and funded by the TKF Foundation and enjoy the venerable Potomac Boat Club on Tuesday, to create “open spaces, sacred places.” The space fosters September 20 at 7pm. a sense of community and features a teak bench for con- 1 G EORGETOWN C ITIZENS / S EPTEMBER 2011 President’s letter hope you had a nice summer. I stayed in Georgetown vidual witness- for the most part and enjoyed the heat. And the es, we will file Iquiet. But I am rested and ready for fall. an assessment of these new I would like to update you on the GU Campus Plan programs prior proceedings. Following the presentations by ANC 2E, to the Novem- ANC 3D, the Citizens Associations of Georgetown, ber hearing, Jennifer presenting the prize Burleith, and Foxhall, and individual witnesses in opposi- and we need your input. tion to the Campus Plan, the case before the Zoning to Dorothy Nelson (with mom Please send your com- Laura) for winning the M& M Commission ground to a halt on June 20th. GU’s trans- ments to cagmail guessing contest portation plan was for the second time found inadequate @cagtown.org. by the DC Department of Transportation and the Univer- sity was granted a continuance until November 17, 2011 Over the summer I heard lots of questions about fines resi- to submit a revised plan and its rebuttal arguments. dents and landlords have received for improperly stored trash. It is DC law that all household trash be placed for pick Our principal argument is that in order to deal with the up in containers with tight fitting lids no earlier than 6:30pm persistent and widespread incidents of student noise, trash the night before pick up (Tuesdays and Fridays unless there is and misconduct, GU needs to house undergraduate students a holiday). Residents who put their trash on the curb in plas- on the main campus or a satellite campus. In addition, GU tic bags are breaking the law and, more importantly, inviting needs to limit its growth in graduate enrollment unless and rats. The Department of Public Works has been issuing cita- until graduate housing is provided because the total number tions to residents who do not put their trash in cans with of the students residing in and traveling through West tight fitting lids. If you do not have a proper trash can you Georgetown and Burleith is threatening the viability of can call 311 to have one delivered to your house but I under- those neighborhoods as residential communities. stand there is a waiting list. An alternative is to purchase a similar can and mark it with your address. After rebuffing the communities’ demands for relief in its Campus Plan filed December 30, 2010, the University When our association’s Beautification Committee met tabled at the Zoning Commission a number of proposals with Gerard Brown and Gabe Curtis, the city officials in an attempt to address our objections to the Campus responsible for rat control, they emphasized that one of Plan. While their proposals are welcome and steps in the the primary sources of food for rats is plastic bags left right direction, they are totally inadequate to deal with the curbside. For rat abatement to be effective, everyone multiple problems the University has created during the must work together. last 20 years by enrolling many more students than it houses. For example, GU’s proposal to house 250 under- The city has also been working with the Georgetown graduate students, probably in the Leavey Center Hotel on Business Improvement District (BID) on fifteen trouble campus, accounts for a small percentage of the approxi- areas, mostly alleys. The businesses have hired one cen- mately 1,700 undergraduates living in West Georgetown tral exterminator, Western Pest Services. With just one and Burleith. The University is also still proposing to contractor, efforts are coordinated so rats don’t just increase graduate enrollment by almost 1,000 students move from one spot to another. I recommend that resi- over current levels without providing any housing. dents consider using Western for their homes. Residents having problems should also give group consent to the Finally, GU proposed in June a number of minor tweaks Department of Health rodent control program to exter- to its existing off-campus student life programs. They minate on private property. include hiring additional off-duty MPD “reimbursable detail” officers to patrol West Georgetown and Burleith, Also pick up your dog droppings and cleanup leaves implementing a new daily trash pick-up in “student-centric and debris that offer rodent harborage. We must eliminate areas,” and more follow-up on resident complaints. GU food sources and hiding places for rodents. If everyone says it will implement these programs by September and we does their part we can get control of the rodent situation. expect GU to contend at the November hearing that these steps eliminate the need to provide more student housing. Town/gown issues and rats, I feel like a broken record. Sorry about that. I know the next couple of months will We request that residents communicate to CAG the have many more uplifting topics for us. I’m looking for- effectiveness of these new initiatives. While the Zoning ward to seeing you at the Waterfront Park on the 20th. Commission is no longer accepting submissions from indi- —Jemmifer Altemus 2 S EPTEMBER 2011 / G EORGETOWN C ITIZENS Aspects of Georgetown Georgetown Village Plans Launch of Services Executive Director Recruited; Fall Party September 8 ast spring, the Georgetown Vil- 10% discount against future fees for and more than 20 years of experience lage initiated its campaign to as long as they remain members. in heading programs for seniors. She Lobtain at least 100 member- Those who join after September 1 will be introduced to the community ship pledges from seniors 55 years will pay $600 for the single member- once the appropriate background and older by September 1. The Vil- ship and $900 for the household checks have been completed. lage’s mission is to help seniors live membership. better and longer in their homes with The Village has accepted the very neighbors helping neighbors. More After the threshold of 100 member- generous offer by Nancy and Alan than 140 residents of Georgetown ship pledges was crossed, the Board of Bubes to host the Georgetown Village and Burleith have responded with Directors began recruiting an execu- Fall Party on September 8 from 6:30 - their pledges to become Founding tive director to organize the services, 8:30 p.m.