Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Vol. XXIII, No. 15
The Georgetown Current
Council compromises on ID cards
f it f or a prince
By ELIZABETH WIENER Current Staff Writer
The D.C. Council voted 8-3 Tuesday to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a District driver’s license, but only if the license includes language that distinguishes it from those issued to citizens and other legal residents — as required by the controversial and still-unenforced 2005 federal “REAL ID” law. That step forward, step back
approach caps an emotional debate over whether the usually liberal District government would “stigma- ■ CAMPAIGN tize” the undoc- FINANCE BILL: umented by Reforms win issuing them initial approval. licenses — Page 5. largely as a safety measure — that point out their illegal status. The D.C. Coalition for Immigrant Rights said the decision to
“mark” licenses will “create a discriminatory policy that targets undocumented immigrants. The D.C. Council has chosen to betray [Washington’s] history as a progressive city that welcomes immigrants,” member Marybeth Onyeukwa said in a statement after the vote. But the president of the D.C. Latino Caucus noted that many other states already issue “marked” licenses, giving the undocumented driving See Licenses/Page 7
ANC skeptical of heating plan project By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Bill Petros/The Current
Jacob Rojas-Zelinger, 2, came dressed as a prince to Thursday’s Safe Night Halloween event at Georgetown University. The festivities included a pumpkin patch, apple picking and music.
Plans to demolish much of Georgetown’s West Heating Plant faced opposition Monday, with the area’s advisory neighborhood commission unanimously objecting to key aspects of the proposal. Commissioners said they could accept the proposed demolition of roughly 70 percent of the 1948 building only with more conclusive evidence that it has deteriorated beyond repair. They also said that if the teardown does take place, a replacement building should not — as proposed — emulate the size and shape of the existing heating plant. The Levy Group and Georgetown Co. purchased the federal government property at 29th and K streets for $19.5 million in March, with plans to convert it into 60 to 70 Four Seasons-branded luxury condominium units and to create an adjacent public park. But the developers’ See Plant/Page 15
Rendering courtesy of The Levy Group
Developers hope to largely demolish and re-create the heating plant building, but some community members want the structure preserved.
A half-century later, Camelot still key to Georgetown image
Underground addition for Hyde stirs concern By BRADY HOLT
■ Kennedy legacy: Family’s
Current Staff Writer
When the District set out to expand Georgetown’s Hyde-Addison Elementary School, architects were faced with both space constraints and a need to maintain compatibility with a fiercely protected historic neighborhood. Their solution: to largely bury the two-story addition under the existing playground on O Street, with a gym, cafeteria, music room, library and media room tucked away under a new rolling hillside — a method that project architect Milton Shinberg called “lift the lawn.” This approach solves the “whack-a-mole” of complications that popped up for the project, Shinberg said at Monday’s Georgetown advisory neighborhood commission meeting. He said the new building will be visually unobtrusive
NEWS
homes dot neighborhood
By KATIE PEARCE Current Staff Writer
Bill Petros/Current file photo
Some neighbors worry about impacts of the planned expansion at Hyde-Addison Elementary School. and add much-needed amenities to the school without eliminating its open space. “We think we’ve come up with a solution that puts [the problems] all quietly to bed.” Some residents and neighborhood commissioners See Hyde-Addison/Page 15
SPOR TS
D.C. agency pledges improvements in pool maintenance — Page 2
National Cathedral secures unshared ISL soccer banner — Page 11
After the assassination, Jackie returned to Georgetown, seeking refuge in a friend’s house at 3038 N St. This was the neighborhood she knew best — where she’d met John, started her family and backed her husband during his rise to the White House. A few months later, the young widow and her two children relo-
BUSINESS
Custom-made men’s clothing shop opens Logan showroom — Page 5
cated just down the block to 3017 N St., intending to make it their permanent home. The family lasted there for less than a year, facing constant harassment from the press and tourists, before fleeing to Manhattan in 1964. “It was not a happy time for her,” said Yolande Betzbeze Fox, who lived in Georgetown at the time and moved into 3017 N herself a few years later. “The tourists drove her crazy. They were in front of the house, trying to peep in the windows and all that business. She used to escape through the back.” See Kennedy/Page 18
INDEX Calendar/24 Classifieds/36 District Digest/4 Exhibits/27 In Your Neighborhood/32 Opinion/8
Police Report/6 Real Estate/17 School Dispatches/20 Service Directory/33 Sports/11 Theater/29
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