The Georgetown Current
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Vol. XXV, No. 27
Serving Burleith, Foxhall, Georgetown, Georgetown Reservoir & Glover Park
Dems see three-way race for at-large
DAY AT THE OPERA
■ Politics: Gray said to plan
bid in Ward 7, not citywide By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
In a departure from many previous at-large D.C. Council races, this year’s Democratic field has remained narrow, with the two opponents challenging incumbent Vincent Orange promising a com-
petitive contest. David Garber, a former Navy Yard advisory neighborhood commissioner, filed to run in August. Joining the pack in December was 2014 at-large candidate Robert White, who most recently was director of community outreach for D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. The latest fundraising totals available from the Office of Campaign Finance Monday show Orange with a war chest of
$145,479 on hand, while White and Garber each have roughly $50,000 cash remaining after expenditures. With the March 16 deadline approaching for candidates to file for the primary, the city is also waiting to see what former Mayor Vincent Gray decides to do. After federal investigators dropped the nearly five-year-long investigation into his 2010 mayoral camSee Council/Page 14
Heating plant plan faces ANC questions By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
Georgetown University’s weekly Friday Music Series featured members of the Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program performing arias and duets from popular operas at McNeir Hall.
The planned West Heating Plant redevelopment is facing lingering concerns over demolition of a building within the Georgetown Historic District and the scale of its replacement. The Levy Group and the Georgetown Co. are hoping to convert the vacant industrial complex at 29th and K streets NW into a new 10-story luxury condo building and an adjacent public park. They’re hoping to tear down the monolithic heating plant and replace it with a similarly shaped but slightly smaller building with monumental architecture designed to fit in with the Kennedy Center and the Lincoln Memorial. At Monday’s meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E (Georgetown, Burleith), most comments about the plans were favorable. The current building has few fans aside from ardent preservationists, and developers say it’s structurally unsound.
Rendering courtesy of the Levy Group
A newly revised design for the proposed building adds balcony railings for a more residential feel.
Many have lavished praise on the proposed replacement designed by renowned architect David Adjaye. But for all of the plaudits expressed by residents See Plant/Page 4
Arrests prompt call for safety focus at Wilson
Georgetown delivery service seeks approval to sell alcohol
By MARK LIEBERMAN
■ Business: ANC airs fears
Current Staff Writer
Wilson High School students have been generating a lot of headlines lately — but not for the reasons the community might want. Just last week, six Wilson students — five male and one female — were arrested in the Woodley Park Metro station after allegedly punching a fellow rider at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station. Around 30 minors were kicked out of the Metro at Woodley Park, according to media reports. This incident comes a little more than a week after another Metro-related crime on Jan. 20, when a Wilson student was stabbed outside the Tenleytown station shortly after school let out. Wilson also made headlines in December, when a student brought a semiautomatic handgun into the school.
about hours, sales to minors By BRADY HOLT Brian Kapur/Current file photo
Some parents and community leaders say Wilson High’s administrators should do more to address students’ off-campus behavior.
The events have inspired a range of responses from community members. Some believe the high school should be held responsible for its students’ behavior even outside of its halls. Others caution that the incidents represent a small fraction of the Wilson population. See Wilson/Page 15
Current Staff Writer
A student-focused food-delivery service received a frosty reception in Georgetown on Monday over its plans to add alcohol to its offerings — with residents concerned about late operating hours, underage drinking and the smoking-related wares that inspired its name, goPuff. The company, which launched in Boston in 2013 and also oper-
ates in three other cities, expanded into D.C. about a year ago, opening in a warehouse at 3401 Water St. NW near the Key Bridge. Under the current model, customers place online orders for such items as snack foods, basic household goods or e-cigarettes, and they’re delivered within 30 minutes for a $1.95 fee, goPuff cofounder Rafael Ilishayev told Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E (Georgetown, Burleith). He hopes that alcohol can join that list in D.C. “We’re basically like a 7-Eleven,” he said. “We don’t sell anySee Delivery/Page 26
NEWS
SPORTS
BUSINESS
INDEX
Renovation advances
Sidwell snaps streak
Meat-light Beefsteak
Calendar/20 Classifieds/29 District Digest/5 Exhibits/21 In Your Neighborhood/18 Opinion/8
Contentious overhaul of Friendship Rec Center set for completion this fall / Page 2
Quakers boys basketball defeats local archrival Maret for the first time in three years / Page 11
Veggie-focused eatery set to add Tenley location to join Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom sites / Page 3
Police Report/6 Real Estate/17 School Dispatches/16 Service Directory/27 Sports/11 Week Ahead/3
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