DCentric

M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, Georgetown.

Before moving to Columbia Heights, I lived in Georgetown, a neighborhood I have always loved without any embarrassment or hesitation. I can’t count how many times I was either teased or questioned about being a POC (Person of color) living in the one part of the city where “they don’t want minorities”; then I’d hear a familiar tale about “the only reason Georgetown isn’t on the Metro is to keep it white.” I’d sigh and explain that while that theory was popular, it was a myth; there were logistical issues behind the lack of trains in popped-collar-land. Besides, when I lived there, there were plenty of teenagers roaming M Street or Wisconsin Avenue– and they were minorities. So it’s not like the lack of a metro stop was a particularly effective strategy for keeping the chocolate away from the vanilla.

I see that the Georgetown Metropolitan is sick of that unnecessarily divisive and inaccurate explanation as well, since he tackled it admirably in his post, “All You Need to Know About the Georgetown Metro Stop“.

Why There is No Georgetown Metro

If you take anything away from this article, please let it be this: the reason there is no Metro station in Georgetown has absolutely nothing to do with neighborhood opposition. Nothing. No “rich Georgetowners wanted to keep out minorities”-conspiracy. No matter how much it fits with the popular stereotype, it’s just not true.

As rigorously documented in Zachary Schrag’s Great Society Subway, the planners behind Metro simply never seriously considered putting a station in Georgetown. The reason: the Potomac. To get under the river, the Metro tunnel has to start heading down far enough away so that it’s not like a roller-coaster.

Commercial Georgetown is very close to the river and on a steep hill, which wouldn’t give the tunnel much distance to reemerge from underneath the river. Thus a Georgetown station would be extremely deep. It would be physically possible to build, but it would be extremely expensive…That’s it. No matter how affirming of all the stereotypes of Georgetowners the myth is, it’s absolutely false.

See? Blame the Potomac, not racism. D.C. has many real issues with regards to race and class that need to be addressed; we don’t need to invent– or in this case, perpetuate– fake ones.

DCentric

Hey, holiday shoppers-- be careful out there!

Worrisome, but predictable (via TBD):

D.C. police second district commander Matt Klein sent out an email saying a woman was robbed last night shortly after leaving the Georgetown Apple Store on Wisconsin Avenue NW near M Street.  As she was headed to the 3300 block of N Street, a pair of thieves threw her to the ground and fled with the two laptops she’d just bought.

According to Klein, it appears the woman was tailed from the store. “The suspects may have been waiting for someone to leave the store with large bags or other obvious indications of a large purchase,” Klein wrote.

Last Christmas (I gave you my heart), I was still living in Georgetown and I was always a little paranoid about exactly this happening– not that I was dropping a few thousand dollars for anything as spiffy as a new Mac, but still. There were plenty of logo-covered bags bearing loot, hundreds of shoppers carrying too much stuff and nowhere near enough vigilance. Several times a day, I saw people on M street put down their shopping bags and turn around to use the PNC Bank ATM which is next to Old Glory, blithely assuming their packages were safe.

I think some people are lulled in to a warm, fuzzy sense of complacency because it IS Georgetown, but that’s the wrong attitude to have. It may be an expensive neighborhood to live and shop in, but that’s exactly what would make it attractive to people coveting shiny white and silver toys.

super-structure

Hasn’t the “Oh, no! I’m having a baby! I need a stroller!”-blog post/article been done ad nauseum? Apparently the newly-launched Georgetown Patch doesn’t think so, offering these privilege-laden nuggets in their latest Opinion column, “Urban Parenting: Tackling D.C. Streets With a Babe in Tow“:

How would I navigate the narrow sidewalks and cobblestone streets of Georgetown ? How would my gear and I tread into tiny Trader Joes? Would Dupont Circle’s Farmer’s Market followers freak if my infant had a colossal meltdown while I was buying organic eggs? AHHH!!

I took a deep breath and made a decision. This beautiful girl was coming into MY world and she was going to love it as much as I do…

By the way, I ended up getting the Snap n Go by Baby Trend. Its compact size makes it Farmer’s Market/Trader Joe’s friendly and the basket makes for a great wine carrier.

Well, I’m glad the agony over being able to purchase gourmet foods post-baby has subsided. If you click over to the column, you can even see a picture of the stroller’s basket being used as, yes, a wine carrier. I wonder what my favorite Georgetown wine merchant, Bassam, thinks about that.