The Georgetowner: May 20, 2020 Issue

SINCE 1954

GEORGETOWNER.COM

VOLUME 66 NUMBER 16

MAY 20 - JUNE 2, 2020

‘ MY G E O R G E T O W N ’ — MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

VOT E J U N E 2 & 16 WA R D 2 C O U N C I L C A N D I DAT E S Q& A S T Y L I S H S C A RV E S À L A D R . B I R X K I T T Y K E L L E Y O N ‘ P E LOS I ’

E ND ORSE D BY “...steeped in reality ...with grit and smarts.” *For th e Spec i a l El e c ti on

“...Brooke’s character is beyond reproach.”

“...I don’t know any public servant more dedicated and impressive than Brooke Pinto.”

“...I look forward to working closely with her...”

“I am very impressed by her commitment and dedication to public service.”

DC ATTORNEY GENERAL KARL RACINE

US SENATOR RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT)

CONGRESSMAN JOE KENNEDY III

CHRIS KENNEDY, CHAIRMAN OF JOSEPH P. KENNEDY ENTERPRISES

“Brooke is just the type of leader Ward 2 needs...”

“...will provide practical solutions with empathy and transparency...”

PROFESSOR VICKI GIRARD, GEORGETOWN LAW

JOHN CASTELLANI, FORMER CEO OF THE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

“...she represents a new generation of servant leaders...”

“...capable, assertive, accomplished, intellectually agile and forward-thinking...”

RUSTY CONNER, PARTNER, COVINGTON & BURLING, LLP

CHRISTINA JOHNSON, AFFORDABLE HOUSING EXECUTIVE

“...an unwavering guide... will get us nurses through this.

“Ward 2 needs her strong voice to protect the rights of seniors...”

CATHERINE WEISS, NURSE, SIBLEY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

HOWARD MARKS, FOUNDER, WARD 2 BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION

THEY BELIEVE IN BROOKE.

YOU CAN TOO. VISIT

BrookePintoForWard2.com/HowToVote FOR A GUIDE TO ORDER MAIL-IN BALLOTS JUNE 2ND DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY

JUNE 16TH SPECIAL ELECTION

to fill the vacant seat

MAY 22ND - JUNE 2ND EARLY VOTING PAID FOR BY THE BROOKE PINTO FOR WARD 2 CAMPAIGN. 1219 Q STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009. BROOKE PINTO, TREASURER. A COPY OF THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT IS FILED WITH THE DIRECTOR OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BOARD OF ELECTIONS.

2 MAY 20, 2020

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“...the candidate with the knowledge to get things done.”

US SENATOR MICHAEL D. BROWN (D-DC)

“...integrity, insight, and determination to lead us forward.”

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DASCHLE (RETIRED)

April 10, 2020

“...Evans remains the District’s most knowledgeable and experienced lawmaker on the tax code and city finances.”

— Colbert I. King May 12, 2020

“...Evans is the experienced hand and knowledgeable guide needed as the District confronts major economic challenges and massive financial deficits in coming years.”

— Mark Lee

“Experience counts

now more than ever when the city is facing a financial and health crisis. As councilmember, I will focus on making sure the city rebounds from the financial crisis while prioritizing job creation, supporting small businesses, and investing in affordable housing across Ward 2. After we stabilize our economy, we will focus on a new era of growth in the District.”

Budgets are more than numbers on paper. They show how we put residents first. We will: ●

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Invest in small businesses in every neighborhood by making rent affordable so businesses can stay open.

Protect small business jobs and make sure we create more jobs after we rebound from the financial crisis.

Prioritize the creation of affordable houses and family units so families and seniors can live, thrive, and stay in Ward 2.

In 1991, downtown DC was an urban wasteland. Jack, newly elected, vowed to transform downtown DC to what it is today: a thriving, nationally recognized innercity destination.

Envisioning the future, Jack will start planning for it to become an affordable residential center of the city by: ●

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Repurposing vacant commercial buildings into affordable residential housing units.

Creating more public space: pedestrian walk-ways, parks, dog parks, and playgrounds in the Downtown neighborhood.

Focusing on bringing “Made in DC” businesses to the downtown area.

Vote May 22nd through June 2nd

Visit vote4dc.com

by Tuesday, May 26 to request a ballot to vote by mail.

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PAID FOR BY: EVANS 2020, DON DINAN, TREASURER, 3141 P STREET NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20007

— Jack Evans, Candidate to represent Ward 2 on the DC Council

MAY 20, 2020

3

IN THIS ISSUE IN THIS ISSUE

ABOUT THE COVER

Photograph of Madeleine Albright, professor as well as former U.N. ambassador and former secretary of state, by Lauren Bulbin.

NEWS · 6 - 7 Town Topics

PUBLISHER Sonya Bernhardt

FEATURES EDITORS COPY EDITOR Ari Post Richard Selden FASHION & BEAUTY SENIOR DIRECTOR CORRESPONDENT Lauretta McCoy Peggy Sands GRAPHIC DESIGN Troy Riemer

EDITORIAL/OPINION · 8

PHOTOGRAPHERS Philip Bermingham Jeff Malet

Editorial John Fanning Opinion Patrick Kennedy Opinion

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Kate Sprague Richard Selden Kelly Sullivan

GEORGETOWNER · 9 New Georgetowner Stakeholders

REAL ESTATE · 10

Real Estate’s New Normal D.C.’S FISCAL 2021 BUDGET ROSIER THAN EXPECTED

COVER · 12 - 13

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robert Devaney

CONTRIBUTORS Mary Bird Susan Bodiker Allyson Burkhardt Evan Caplan Didi Cutler Donna Evers Michelle Galler Stephanie Green Amos Gelb Wally Greeves Kitty Kelley Rebekah Kelley Jody Kurash Shelia Moses Kate Oczypok Linda Roth Alison Schafer Mary Ann Treger

BY PEGGY SAN D S

My Georgetown: Madeleine Albright Message from Georgetown Village

Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced her 2021 budget on May 18. Courtesy D.C. government.

HAUTE & COOL · 14

PARTIAL REOPENING FOR ART, TOY AND BOOK SHOPS

Say it with Style!

CLASSIFIEDS · 16

BY GEOR GETOWN ER STAFF

Service Directory

Village Art & Craft on Book Hill in Georgetown got a waiver for curbside sales.

Georgetowner photo.

ARTS · 17

The Power of Art, Right Now

BOOK CLUB · 18

Kitty Kelley Book Club

DC ARTSWATCH: WOLF TRAP, IN SERIES, HILLWOOD BOOK

BY R IC H AR D SEL D EN

“A Garden for All Seasons” by Hillwood Executive Director Kate Markert.

1050 30th Street, NW Washington, DC 20007 Phone: (202) 338-4833 Fax: (202) 338-4834 www.georgetowner.com The Georgetowner is published every other Wednesday. The opinions of our writers and columnists do not necessarily reflect the editorial and corporate opinions of The Georgetowner newspaper. The Georgetowner accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. The Georgetowner reserves the right to edit, rewrite or refuse material and is not responsible for errors or omissions. Copyright 2020.

Please send submissions of opinions for consideration to: editorial@georgetowner.com For advertising inquiries email advertising@georgetowner.com or call (202) 338-4833

“The Newspaper Whose Influence Far Exceeds Its Size” — Pierre Cardin

Photo of the Week

To submit your photos tag #thegeorgetowner on Instagram!

Social distancing issues during pandemic.

Photo by Robert Devaney.

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4 MAY 20, 2020

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GEORGETOWN LEADERS ARE BACKING

TOM BIRCH

MONICA ROACHÉ

JOE GIBBONS

Former Chair, Georgetown ANC 2E

D.C. Democratic State Committeewoman Former Commissioner, Georgetown ANC 2E

Commissioner, Georgetown ANC 2E

know Patrick to be a hard-working “ Icommissioner on the Foggy Bottom

ANC, and have been impressed with the qualities I’ve observed: he is practical, collaborative, and committed to creating achievable solutions. His ability, intellect, and understanding of the issues are why I support Patrick Kennedy and urge others to do the same.”

With Patrick Kennedy, we will have a fifth-generation Georgetowner, I know “ “ AsPatrick a councilmember who understands Kennedy will be an outstanding Councilmember. He knows the issues of our Ward and has extensive knowledge of how to get things accomplished in this City. Patrick is a hard-working candidate you can trust.”

the nuances and unique concerns of Georgetown.”

Patrick Kennedy is

Patrick Kennedy’s Priorities in

D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson

Retail strategy and relief for small businesses

The Georgetown Metropolitan

Invest in Hardy and build community at new Hyde-Addison

The Sierra Club, D.C. Chapter

Improve maintenance and enhance Rose and Volta Parks

Ward 2 D.C. State Board of Education member Jack Jacobson and prior member Mary Lord

Improve bus frequency on G2 and 30s lines

LGBTQ leader Ruby Corado

Strong oversight and efficient use of your taxpayer dollars

ENDORSED

ore Ward 2 elected officials than M all other candidates combined

GEORGETOWN Responsive, accessible constituent services

Updated list at PatrickForWard2.com

Your Vote is Critical in TWO June Elections Democratic Primary: MAY 22–JUNE 2 Special Election: JUNE 16

In-person voting begins May 22 at Hardy Middle School, 1819 35th St NW, 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Information: PatrickForWard2.com/vote

Paid for by Patrick Kennedy for Ward 2, PO Box 18055, Washington, D.C. 20036 Marina Streznewski, Treasurer Paid for by Patrick Kennedy for Ward 2 Special June 16 2020, PO Box 18055, Washington, D.C. 20036 Marina Streznewski, Treasurer

PatrickForWard2.com | (202) 630-2201 | campaign@patrickforward2.com | @PLKDC GMG, INC.

MAY 20, 2020

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TOWN TOPICS

Morgan Pharmacy Opens COVID-19 Testing

BY PEG GY SA NDS On May 12, when an official drive-up COVID-19 testing site opened on the side of Morgan Care Pharmacy at 30th and P Streets in Georgetown, there was one client, according to a volunteer pharmacist on duty.

The next day, a handful showed up. By noon on Thursday, May 14, there had been double that — and the appointment schedule was full for the rest of the day.

The tests for the disease caused by the coronavirus are free of charge for those who register at doineedacovid19test.com and qualify, according to Michael Kim, co-owner

of the Morgan’s and Grubb’s pharmacies in the District. But those who want to be tested have to either be health care workers or exhibit symptoms such as a cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, a fever, chills, muscle pain, a sore throat or a new loss of taste or smell.

No doctor’s referral is required. Those seeking a test fill out a questionnaire online and then are given a choice of appointment times between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays. The tests are self-administered.

At the appointed time, the person to be tested

Drive-up COVID-19 testing at the Morgan Care Pharmacy in Georgetown. Photo by Peggy Sands.

pulls into a marked parking area. On May 14, when The Georgetowner visited the site, a trained pharmacist and an assistant were on hand.

Wearing medical gown, gloves and face covering, a health care professional approaches the car and asks for the windows to be rolled up. He or she then places a sealed package containing a probe and a vial on the window and steps back.

The person to be tested takes the package and opens it behind the closed window.

Following a demonstration by the assistant outside, he or she proceeds to insert the probe deep into one nostril, turning it a couple of times to make sure to get a good swab, then does the same thing in the other nostril.

When finished, he or she puts the probe into the vial, locks it shut and signals that the test is completed. After the assistant places a large covered box next to the window and steps back, the person tested drops the package into the box, closes the car window and is done.

“The test is not painful, but it is uncomfortable,” the volunteer pharmacist at Morgan Pharmacy told The Georgetowner.

“But we want to make sure we get a good sample.” The box of completed test packages is sealed at the end of the day and shipped to a diagnostic site in California. Those who were tested should receive the results by email

within three to five days.

“If the test is positive, and depending on the severity of the symptoms, the patient should notify their health care physician to decide on the next step — usually either isolation at home or hospitalization,” the pharmacist said.

Individuals with no symptoms may also test positive, indicating that they have or had the disease without knowing it. Tests to detect antibodies, which may provide immunity, are still being developed.

The website infrastructure for doineedacovid19test.com and laboratory services are provided by eTrueNorth, a Texasbased health care technology company.

“We need widespread coronavirus testing now. We all want life to return to normal, and one way to help is more COVID-19 testing options,” said Joan Kim, pharmacist and co-owner of the pharmacies, which have partnered with DC Health to offer the testing.

“Once in a while, a patient may show up with such severe symptoms that we may recommend they go immediately to an emergency room,” the volunteer pharmacist said. “Those include severe coughing and difficulty breathing and weakness and fatigue, making it difficult for the patient to stand or walk. Signs of low oxygen levels include blue fingertips, blue lips and overall paleness.”

ANC Supports Big Plans for K St.

BY PEGGY SA NDS Preliminary plans by the District Department of Transportation to install “tactical” concrete sidewalks along the 34003500 blocks of Water Street NW, along with a two-way bikeway and a traffic roundabout — while making changes to on-street parking — were supported by the GeorgetownBurleith advisory neighborhood commission at its May 4 meeting.

“The main goal is to make the area safer,” according to Will Handsfield, former transportation director at the Georgetown Business Improvement District, who is now with DDOT’s Planning and Sustainability Division. “Currently, sidewalks in the area are discontinuous and in very poor condition, resulting in pedestrians walking in the street west of 34th Street, sharing this zone with, at times, high-speed traffic.” The roundabout, to be built at the intersection of 34th and Water Streets, is part of traffic calming efforts in the corridor, he said.

DDOT also plans to build a long-missing sidewalk “to ensure a continuous, separated path to reach facilities such as the boathouse, shops and cafes along the corridor and [provide] access to the Capital Crescent Trail.”

In addition, the speed limit will be reduced to 15 mph from 34th Street to the remnants of the Aqueduct Bridge and the “shared street” conditions will be improved from the Key Bridge Boathouse to the Aqueduct Bridge site.

The plan will impact parking in the area.

Parking on the south side of the targeted Water Street area will be removed and the current perpendicular “back-in” parking on the north side will be switched to parallel parking. DDOT will install standard twohour parking meters on the north side of Water Street, in operation from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. “This at the request of the community, though we are open to different time limits upon request,” Handsfield commented.

“We’re not sure exactly how many current parking places will be impacted,” Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Lisa Palmer told The Georgetowner. “This is not a final plan. Much of it is on a TBD status at present,” she said (that is, “To Be Decided”).

According to Handsfield: “The DDOT will continue the two-way protected bicycle facility to the Key Bridge Boathouse, and will mark the street with shared lane markings for 240 feet between that point and the start of the Capital Crescent Trail. This segment is an important step in expanding the protected bike lane network, now also used by scooters and other personal mobility devices. The K/Water Street Corridor has the highest recorded bicycle volumes in the region, averaging in excess of 3,000 riders per day in spring and fall.” He added that improved lighting would be part of the project.

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Teaching Online Is a Challenge

BY PEG GY SA NDS It’s been eight weeks since the coronavirus pandemic closed schools in D.C. and teachers were told they had to teach all their classes online. On March 16, when the order came through, it was supposed to be just for a week or so. Spring break was moved up to the third week of March, then schools were to reopen in early April after a week or two of distance learning, recalled Hyde-Addison pre-K teacher Fred Gibbons.

But now the Georgetown school is closed completely for the rest of the term. Only administrators are allowed inside.

Instead, in order to carry on, teachers and parents have been given weeklong packets of lesson plans, suggested assignments and even homework ideas. “Most of the homework will be graded as ‘pass’ or ‘met,’” Gibbons explained. “No student is getting any negative marks for this period.”

There was no time to train teachers in person for online teaching, although they were able to take the computers supplied to them by DC Public Schools, with online teaching and Zoom apps. “Teachers also have been offered online training and ongoing technical support,” Gibbons said.

Thousands of iPads were given out to students in the District who didn’t have them, though many lack an internet connection or a person to help them learn how to use the new devices.

For the little ones, long hours online proved challenging. Instead, Gibbons schedules half an hour of face-to-face lesson time with

each student in his class every week. Parents may be there to help press buttons and adjust cameras, but the session is between him and the student, geared to the level where he or she is at the time. Gibbons adds to suggestions from the DCPS kits about at-home activities and materials.

Most of Gibbons’s 3-to-5-year-olds did not know the alphabet at the beginning of the year. Now, most do, and some are reading already. Gibbons spends time each week reading to them in a group session, when he also facilitates conversations between students — something he knows they all miss.

“At this time, we don’t know what next year is going to look like,” Gibbons said. “It will certainly be different, with new health and safety protocols. We’ll have to see how it develops.”

TOWN TOPICS

NEWS BYTES

BY PEGGY SAN D S

Turf Pilot for Tree Boxes Georgetown is known for its charming walkabilty. Many brick sidewalks have been refurbished and enhanced by neighbors and the city with well-cared-for trees and plantings, often enclosed in tree boxes outlined with bricks or low fencing. There have even been competitions for the prettiest tree boxes. But they narrow the path open to walkers.

Now, in the current era of social distancing, the Georgetown Business Improvement District is launching a pilot project to expand sidewalk space for pedestrians — without disturbing the trees. “In the next few weeks, we will be laying down a new, flexible, turflike material around some 25 trees that will allow pedestrians to walk on it, but also for the tree to thrive,” BID CEO Joe Sternlieb told The Georgetowner. “If it works, we’ll do some 300 tree boxes that way.”

ANC Meeting Goes Zoom-ingly

Fred Gibbons.

Photo by Robert Devaney.

The Georgetown-Burleith advisory neighborhood commission held its first full multiscreen meeting via Zoom on May 4 — and the consensus is that it went okay.

Commissioners’ questions, comments, discussions and even their reading of proposals could be fully heard. The “virtual” guests, including District Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Department of Transportation

Planner Will Handsfield, formerly with the Georgetown Business Improvement District, easily shared graphs and slides, which could be saved by participants on their home devices.

The commissioners, who were on-screen the entire hour and a half, seemed alert and responsive for the most part, albeit casually dressed (although one did slip from sight a couple of times and another could be heard enjoying crunchy munchies of some kind).

“We really missed the personal interactions,” Commissioner Lisa Palmer said afterward.

But the new format was virtually problemfree.

Mendelson on D.C. Budget Deficit District Council Chair Phil Mendelson was a guest at the Georgetown-Burleith advisory neighborhood commission’s May 4 meeting.

It was on Zoom, so the chairman was at home, looking dapper, as usual, but relaxed — though he addressed the District’s growing coronavirus-related deficit. In his remarks, he touched on the challenges, on possible ways to respond, including tax changes and disposal of city property, and on equity concerns, especially regarding schoolchildren. But he didn’t seem too worried about the immediate future. “We are willingly spending down our reserves,” he said.

Hard work, real results.

For over two decades, John Fanning has worked tirelessly to improve our quality of life in Ward 2. We need his determination and vision on the City Council.

In the June 2nd Ward 2 DC Council Primary AND June 16th Special Election, vote for

fanningforward2.com

/FanningforWard2

@fanning_2

PAID FOR BY JOHN FANNING FOR WARD 2 PRIMARY ELECTION, ROBIN DIENER, TREASURER. PAID FOR BY FANNING FOR WARD 2 SPECIAL ELECTION, JOHN BOTTINO, TREASURER.

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MAY 20, 2020

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EDITORIAL/OPINION

Guiding Our City’s Crisis Response

BY JOH N FAN N IN G Send Your Feedback, Questions or Concerns, Tips and Suggestions to editorial@georgetowner.com or call 202-338-4833

In Your Power to Vote: Your Freedom, Your Independence Early voting for the Ward 2 Democratic primary is happening now. We have written about this election and the candidates with straightforward journalism. Information equals independence. We write the stories — whether they be political or business news.

So we call on you, the Ward 2 voters, to research the candidates carefully and, yes, vote twice: in the Ward 2 primary election, to be held June 2, and in the special election on June 16. It’s your informed decision to make.

In the June 2 Democratic primary, eight candidates are vying for the Ward 2 seat, held by Jack Evans for almost 30 years. (In January, Evans resigned that seat rather than face possible expulsion from the Council, but he is running for it again.) The other Democratic candidates are: John Fanning, Jordan Grossman, David Hernandez, Patrick Kennedy, Brooke Pinto, Kishan Putta and Yilin Zhang.

These candidates display different strengths that reflect the differing interests of our ward.

Observers have agreed that the following are important considerations for choosing the next Ward 2 Council member: experience with business development, budgeting, zoning, taxes and tenant issues; experience as some kind of community representative, such as a nonprofit official or an advisory neighborhood commissioner; keen awareness and understanding of the District’s most diverse ward; and ability to deal with all kinds of people and political colleagues and to keep the public trust.

Add to this list — this year and beyond — an understanding, at the very least, of science and health care.

It remains a problem for some that the large number of candidates running has led to overchoice — and a mere plurality is needed to declare a winner. This situation positions one’s vote as a less than optimal right.

We note that the Washington Post opined of the Ward 2 contest: “If ever an election needed ranked-choice voting, it’s this one … Rankedchoice voting legislation had been introduced in both D.C. and Maryland but has yet to make it out of committee.”

We have tried to give our readers a good feel for each candidate in this and previous issues of The Georgetowner. More information about each is available on campaign websites and by contacting campaign staffs. (Opposite this page, readers will find Part III of our Q&A with the candidates.)

We certainly have gotten to know all of them and wish them well, whatever next month’s outcome.

Because of the stay-at-home directive, the Board of Elections asks voters to request an absentee ballot. Visit dcboe.org and download the Vote4DC app or call 202-727-2525. You will be mailed a ballot.

Early voting begins May 22 and runs through June 2 (except May 25, when it is closed for Memorial Day). Anyone may vote, regardless of ward, at any of the 20 vote centers throughout D.C. Vote centers in Ward 2 are: One Judiciary Square-Old City Council Chambers, 441 4th St. NW, and Hardy Middle School, 1819 35th St. NW. Use the mail-in ballot or go to the vote centers. More than ever, it’s really up to you, the voters. It is your decision, your right to exercise, your freedom, your independence.

Letter to the Editor D.C. Council Chair Chimes in Ward 2 voters have an important choice in the June 2 primary and June 16 special elections. I urge you to support Patrick Kennedy.

The Council needs strong and steady leadership from Ward 2. No one is better positioned to provide that than Patrick, a leader with both experience and integrity, and the best choice in a crowded field of candidates.

This election isn’t about whom you are voting against. But I will say this about my former Council colleague Jack Evans.

There would be no “wiping the slate clean” if he returns, which is why every Council member signed a joint statement in January urging him not to run again.

Importantly, in this race you have someone worth voting for. An advisory neighborhood commissioner since 2012, Patrick has valuable Ward 2 experience.

He has a record as a hard-working,

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deeply knowledgeable community leader — a “solid record,” according to the Washington Post.

Patrick also is thoughtful, constructive and solutions-driven, skills desperately needed in a Council that is sometimes ideologically split. We need Patrick’s understanding of how things work and ability to balance different (and sometimes competing) interests in order to arrive at an outcome that works best for the city.

Patrick Kennedy has the set of skills and experience to make a great Council member and provide Ward 2 with the effective representation it so richly deserves. We face a time of crisis, and strong leadership is important, now more than ever.

— Phil Mendelson, Chairman, District Council

T he COV I D -19 pa ndem ic is, hopefully, a once-in-a-lifetime crisis that will have a signif icant impact on our city for years to come. Now more than ever, it is crucial that we choose leaders with the right kind of experience to help guide our city’s response to this crisis.

Ward 2 needs someone who has worked with and within local government and understands how to leverage its power and overcome its limitations. We need leaders who not only have been civically active prior to running for office, but have made actual contributions to improving their community.

We need a leader who understands that the role of a Council member is to legislate, conduct vigorous oversight of government agencies and provide world-class constituent services that empower all residents. We need a leader who has not been damaged by ethics lapses and will work for all residents, not just the powerful and well-connected.

I am that leader. I am a grassroots community leader who is running for Council to be accessible to all residents and ensure that your voice is heard.

My 20 years of experience in local government and as chair of ANC 2F has made me an effective leader who can get things done. In addition to working to save Garrison Elementary School from closure, I helped open the first farmers market in Dupont Circle, organized the f irst-ever rat summit and helped small business owners get established in Ward 2 neighborhoods.

During the COVID-19 emergency, I have led a team of campaign and community volunteers in delivering food to our most vulnerable residents, including many seniors. As Council member, I will support efforts to reduce infections, build a robust contacttracing system to prevent any secondary outbreak and provide oversight to ensure an equitable distribution of a vaccine when it becomes available.

I will ensure that future budgets ref lect our values and prioritize support for the most vulnerable members of our community, particularly communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic. I will ensure that all agencies are getting the maximum return for their expenditures and suppor t programs and direct investments in small businesses to get residents back to work.

I have faith that our city and country will emerge from these challenging times. There are many valuable lessons to be learned, as this pandemic has spotlighted the dispar ities facing some of our neighbors. This pandemic has also spotlighted the resilience of our residents and of our city. Ward 2 needs a leader with the right kind of compassion, experience and readiness to do the job on day one. I hope you will vote for me to provide the leadership that our ward needs.

John Fanning, chair of the Logan Ci r cle a d v i so r y n e igh b o rh o o d commission, is a candidate for the Ward 2 seat on the District Council.

A Pathway for Recovery

BY PATR IC K KEN N ED Y The choices we make in the coming months will have immediate and long-term impacts on our neighborhoods, our economy and our way of life as we navigate out of this crisis.

Most know D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt’s grim estimates, including a revenue shortfall of over $700 million each for the remaining five months of this fiscal year and for the next fiscal year. With rising unemployment figures and a mounting casualty rate, we face serious challenges in weathering this crisis and reopening in its aftermath.

The path forward must include aggressive steps to control the spread of the virus, and a robust program of testing-and-tracing to contain cases that emerge. Our economy must reopen and function sustainably, and we can only do that when we achieve an evidence-based downward trend in new cases and fatalities. If we move recklessly, we will be prolonging this crisis. Many of our small businesses are struggling to survive the first wave and most cannot survive a second.

What leaders cannot do is make unrealistic promises or soft-pedal the challenges.

Proposing to balance our budget with excessive tax increases or drawing down

our budget reserves unsustainably is not responsible. There will be real impacts, and a measure of shared sacrifice required, but by prioritizing budget needs that are responsive to the health crisis, services which the most vulnerable rely on and policies which will enable swift business recovery, we can minimize the short-term impacts.

I’ve listened to residents, local leaders and small business owners. I am committed to ensuring that the unique needs of Georgetown and our surrounding neighborhoods are reflected as we consider plans for relief and how we might emerge from this crisis better than before. My decade’s worth of experience working in our communities and with the D.C. government gives me a solid grasp of how to approach the difficult legislative and budget choices in the months ahead.

I’m proud to have the support of countless community leaders, like Tom Birch, Monica Roaché and Joe Gibbons, all the way up to Council Chair Phil Mendelson. With these relationships, I will hit the ground running.

Patrick Kennedy, chair of the Foggy Bottom-West End advisory neighborhood commission, is a candidate for the Ward 2 seat on the District Council.

ELECTION 2020

Ward 2 Council Candidates Q&A: Part 3, Public Shools C OMPILED BY PE GGY S A N D S The primary election for the District of Columbia will be held on Tuesday, June 2.

One of the most contested races on the D.C. ballot is for Ward 2 representative on the District Council, for a four-year term. There are nine candidates — eight Democrats and one Republican. Comprising a range of backgrounds and experience, all have been community activists in one way or another.

The candidates are (in alphabetical order): • Jack Evans, former Ward 2 Council member • John Fanning, Logan Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner • Jordan Grossman, Medicaid, housing and homeless services coordinator • Daniel Hernandez, former Marine employed by Microsoft • Patrick Kennedy, Foggy Bottom Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner • Brooke Pinto, former D.C. Assistant Attorney General • Kishan Putta, Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner • Katherine Venice (Republican), selfdescribed reformer of capitalism • Yilin Zhang, health business executive In this third and final part of our Q&A, The Georgetowner asked about school funding and expansion. Selected answers, shared below, have been edited for brevity. Visit georgetowner.com for additional questions

JACK EVANS EVANSWARD2.COM

PATRICK KENNEDY PATRICKFORWARD2.COM

Evans: Educating our children is our most important responsibility. As your Council member, we worked to save FrancisStevens and Garrison, and renovate Hardy and Ellington. I support funding for all avenues to educate our children, expanding Hardy Middle School and establishing a high school in Georgetown.

Fanning: I support increasing the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula for all D.C. students, as recommended by numerous education advocates. Not only do I support expanding Hardy Middle School, I support building an additional middle school in Ward 2. Yes, Ward 2 does need to have a stand-alone high school and, to the degree that it makes sense, I would support building the high school in Georgetown.

Grossman: I believe in a D.C. education system where every student — from Georgetown to Shaw to Congress Heights — has equal access to a highquality and equitably funded school in their neighborhood. I also support a new middle school and additional high-school options for Ward 2 residents.

Hernandez: I support adequate funding

for our public education system as a whole, wherever the need is. I would like to see a non-application high school come to Ward 2, and we have a demonstrated need to expand middle-school opportunities in the ward Kennedy: Families in Ward 2 want a high-performing pathway from K through 12. We must make sure Hardy Middle School is equipped to meet demand. A new public high school in Ward 2 may make sense with possible co-location at Ellington.

I also support increasing the facilities allotment for charters in Georgetown Pinto: I am open to establishing a high school in Georgetown because Wilson is already over capacity and will only continue to grow. I do not support an expansion of Hardy Middle School, which is currently under-enrolled, unless an expansion would help address the overcrowding of Deal Middle School.

Putta: I was appointed to the DCPS Parents Cabinet and as Georgetown schools liaison for ANC 2E. I attend parent-teacher meetings at Hardy, Hyde-Addison and Ellington. I helped get 16,000 laptops to students — helping during shutdown! Hardy must expand, and I’ve been pushing for more high-school capacity. We should spend more on all schools, but must spend better.

Venice: Yes, but only if funding is directed towards teachers, teaching resources, psychologists, not to DCPS central

administration. The 2020 budget allowed for 8,830 full-time employees, only 4,420 of whom were teachers. A lack of basic DCPS financial controls resulted in a deficit, which DCPS then covered by illegally reallocating funds away from at-risk students.

Zhang: I support improved access to quality education across D.C. This means appropriate funding levels based on an accurate understanding of the needs.

Some families move out of D.C. after their children graduate from elementary school.

Ward 2 needs more convenient access to middle and high schools.

JOHN FANNING

JORDAN GROSSMAN

DANIEL HERNANDEZ

BROOKE PINTO

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and answers, leading up to election day.

Do you support more money for public charter schools in D.C.? In Georgetown?

The expansion of the middle school and a general high school in Georgetown?

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MAY 20, 2020

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REAL ESTATE

Real Estate’s New Normal High-tech comes to a high-touch world

BY SUS AN BODIKE R It may seem as if the entire world has come to a halt, but Washington’s real estate sector is alive and well, albeit with some significant alterations. We reached out to leading agents to learn how the “new normal” of social distancing, masks and economic uncertainty is impacting the marketplace and buyer/seller behavior.

What have you seen so far? How have the new guidelines affected the sales process?

Marjorie Dick Stuart, Coldwell Banker: We’re all practicing our social distancing. But, you know, people adapt and we’re all used to living online. So virtual open houses can be fun and effective, especially when the seller leads the video tour. Buyers and sellers are more intentional about the process as well.

One-on-one visits are the norm. Often, sellers will move out of their home while their house is on the market to minimize their exposure to the virus. It goes without saying that soap and sanitizing wipes are always at hand.

Margaret Heimbold, Long & Foster: Everyone is very well aware of the impact of the coronavirus on their lives and are taking precautions. For us, ensuring buyer and seller comfort levels is key. We’re in constant contact with our clients, keeping them up to date on the changing landscape and reaching out in a variety of ways. Going forward and post the restrictions imposed by the CDC, it is likely that virtual tours, property websites, Zoom and FaceTime will remain the initial

introductions to properties.

Theo Adamstein, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty: There’s been a pretty dramatic change in how we show properties.

Obviously, open houses are a thing of the past, so we’re looking for clever ways to market, like virtual walk-throughs or scheduled, sellerapproved one-on-one tours.

What has the impact been on sales?

Stuart: Buyers are focused, serious and qualified. They’re in it for real. If I had 15 to 20 listings that were vacant, priced right and staged to sell, they would be under contract with multiple offers above the listing price within the week.

Heimbold: It is too early to say if there will be a long-term negative effect on real estate because inventory remains low, but, for the time being, people are still in the market and mortgage rates are so attractive that fence-sitters are now likely to make a decision sooner rather than later.

Adamstein: So far, the impact has been minimal. Yes, inventory is low, but there is considerable activity. There are fewer properties, which means it’s a seller’s market. Some buyers may be looking for a COVID discount, but most who want or need to buy are ready to put in an offer at the asking — or fair and reasonable — price. At this moment, it’s a busy time. But the uncertainty is also there, and it will be ongoing.

What else is striking about the market now?

Anything else you’d like to share?

T e rri Ro b i ns on Associate Broker Long and Foster - Georgetown C | (202) 607-7737 O | (202) 944-8400 terri.robinson@longandfoster.com

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Stuart: This is all so new. People are expressing concerns I’ve never heard before, like “Will my deed be recorded?” or “Will the settlement happen?” Yes and yes. Real estate transactions are considered an essential business, so everything that has to happen will happen. Attorneys are following the CDC guidelines. We just have to be a little more creative about where we meet to sign the paperwork.

Heimbold: It seems feasible that even lifting the restrictions is not going to reduce the caution that has entered the marketplace, and buyers and sellers are going to be more

mindful of protecting their health.

Adamstein: Be patient, don’t rush the process and keep monitoring the situation.

If you’re inclined to sell your home now, go ahead. If you’re looking to buy and the liquidity is there, there are opportunities to be found.

The Georgetowner will be checking in regularly with these and other real estate professionals as we work through — and hopefully emerge soon from — this challenging time.

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11

COVER

A PLACE RICH IN PERSONAL MEMORIES.

Photo by Jeff Malet.

MY GEORGETOWN: MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

BY AM OS GE L B Georgetown has long been home to many public figures. But for all their fame, or notoriety, they all have one thing in common: Georgetown is home, the place they brush their teeth and exist as regular people.

So, during these difficult days when we are locked in — or, as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright describes it, “under arrest” — it seemed fitting for The Georgetowner to launch a new segment we are calling “My Georgetown.”

It is something a bit lighter amid our great national trial, with neighbors sharing what makes our village more than just an address.

Up first: the Madam Secretary who knows how fickle fame can be.

As she recounted in a recent interview: “The Georgetown University admission tours used to come by the house, and I would hear the guides say, ‘This is the home of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and she has come back to teach at Georgetown and is very popular and very approachable.’ Then one semester a major class activity conflicted with Georgetown’s basketball team making it deep into a tournament. The next week, when the guide came around, she said, ‘This is the home of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who came back to teach and used to be well-liked until she made us work through the basketball tournament.’ The lesson: Don’t mess with basketball.”

That house on 34th Street has been home to Albright since 1968. It was actually her second tour as a Georgetown resident, having first come to Georgetown in 1962.

At that time, she lived three blocks away at 12 MAY 20, 2020

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3421 R St., before moving to New York and then back to her current 34th Street house.

She raised her three daughters there, lived through a divorce and saw administrations come and go. She has witnessed much change from a time of smaller shops, a hardware store and the five-and-dime to today’s fancier stores and, much to her chagrin, more than a few vacant, boardedup storefronts. But, it is still home.

“Georgetown will always be to me one of the most beautiful places in terms of variety of houses,” she told us. “Walking around, I always see new details on old houses and how they are loved and the plantings around them. It’s also such a part of the history of Washington. Who might have lived in that house, say, perhaps Daniel Webster? Georgetown has kept its character as a neighborhood in the capital of the United States. And today I like the idea that there is a whole other layer of enthusiasm and youth — students around all the time among the older people who live here. It is a community and it has great warmth and history.”

It is also a place rich in personal memories. “When my daughters were little, I remember they would stop in front of the house on O Street that had two statues of eagles and my daughter Katie would kiss them,” she recalled. And it was the neighborhood where she sold Girl Scout cookies, with her daughters dragging along a little red wagon.

But even then, she said, Georgetown would be overrun by shoppers and tourists on weekends, which led her family to buy a farm out in Purcellville, Virginia, to escape.

Life on 34th Street all changed, of course, when she became the first woman appointed secretary of state, in the Clinton administration. Her house was easily identified by the State Department protective detail that would be parked outside.

The house has been the setting for countless dinners and gatherings. Guests were often seated on scattered chairs and served fork-manageable fare because there was not enough room for all to sit at a table.

It has hosted global dignitaries and been the site of efforts to spread democracy and law, as Albright has led organizations and working groups such as the National Democratic Institute.

Along the way, the Czech girl — whose parents brought her to the U.S. as a refugee from communist rule, and who only much later discovered that members of her family died in the Holocaust — became a role model and a pathbreaker for professional women and for women in top government positions.

Albright has written a number of books, including her latest, “Hell and Other Destinations,” which looks back at key episodes and events in her life. The home makes several cameo appearances, such as when she offered it as a secret meeting place where presidential candidate John Kerry settled on John Edwards as his vice presidential nominee, and when she hosted a posse of former world leaders — informally dubbed the 34th Street Group — dedicated to solving international issues.

Where Albright once was able to stroll the neighborhood, today she cannot walk or venture out without being recognized, which

she doesn’t mind. “It’s just the selfies I can’t stand,” she said. But it is home, right down to having a named booth at Martin’s Tavern, the landmark Wisconsin Avenue restaurant a few blocks away. Martin’s is her favorite spot outside her house, which she has not left in eight weeks due to the pandemic.

She feels guilty that the house — which once fit her, her then-husband, three children, her housekeeper and her housekeeper’s family — now feels cramped with just her.

“I am actually a bit embarrassed,” she told us. “It’s so filled with stuff. My daughter says it is like living in a closet.”

That “stuff” is testament to a career filled with international exploits (and shopping, which she justifies by noting that, when traveling on official business, she made a point of helping the local economy).

The papers, clothes and mementoes are the accumulation of a life full of accomplishments and memories.

But for all the global issues she has tackled, there is one very local issue that annoys her and about which she can do little: the former florist (and future bagel shop) on 35th and O Streets that is painted pink. “I think it is ugly,” she said.

Today, Albright is more focused on what’s next than on the past. Whatever that is, Georgetown will be the home from which she does it.

If you would like to hear more about the former secretary of state, Albright will be interviewed via Zoom by legendary CBS journalist Bill Plante on Thursday, May 28, at 5:30 p.m. as part of Georgetown Village’s “Opening New Doors” series.

COVER

A letter from Sonya Bernhardt and Robert Devaney

To our readers, advertisers, supporters and friends,

Can you imagine life without The Georgetowner? No Business Ins-and-Outs. No neighborhood news, fashion or arts coverage. No pro�iles of our neighbors. No Kitty Kelley. No grand houses to view.

We can’t either. But without your help, this could be our sad future.

And yours.

A challenging advertising marketplace and, now, the arrival of COVID-19 have stressed the �inancial health of hyperlocal publications like ours and forced us to look beyond the traditional media business model to keep the presses running.

That’s where you come in -- we’re launching the Georgetowner Stakeholder Campaign, inviting you to become an of�icial and recognized member of our community. Your support will ensure that we can continue to bring you the newspaper you love--in print, online and in your inbox.

For 65 years, we have been an advocate for the neighborhood and an ally to its businesses. To continue, we need your help. Become a stakeholder in The Georgetowner today.

Thank you for your support to keep our community informed and stay safe.

Sonya Bernhardt, Publisher sonya@georgetowner.com

Robert Devaney, Editor-in-Chief devaney@georgetowner.com

JOIN GEORGETOWN VILLAGE WITH MADELEINE ALBRIGHT ON MAY 28 Georgetown Village is delighted to announce that former secretary of state and bestselling author Madeleine Albright has agreed to meet with us via Zoom on Thursday, May 28, at 5:30 p.m. to talk about her latest book, “Hell and Other Destinations.” This program is part of Georgetown Village’s “Opening New Doors” series.

In her inspiring memoir, Madam Albright reflects on the final stages of her career with candor and wit. When leaving office as America’s first female secretary of state in 2001, she was asked how she wished to be remembered. “I don’t want to be remembered,” she answered. “I am still here and have much more I intend to do.”

As a neighbor and supporter of Georgetown Village, she understands and will speak to our important mission — neighbors helping neighbors stay engaged and thrive as we grow older.

Bill Plante, former CBS News correspondent and Georgetown Village board member, will moderate the conversation. Viewers will have an opportunity to ask questions using the Zoom Chat function. Because of the importance of this event, we are inviting the other 22 Village communities in the Greater Washington area to participate.

As you may know, Georgetown Village has had to postpone its annual spring benefit, but the demand for its services has grown exponentially over the last months as it helps with meal preparation, grocery shopping and rides to doctors, while providing enhanced educational and cultural services that enrich our lives as we stay at home.

Today your support is needed more than ever. Your donation of $100 will include participation in the program and an autographed copy of “Hell and Other Destinations.”

We hope that you will join us on May 28 for what we know will be a stimulating and enjoyable hour of discussion with one of the world’s leaders and our esteemed neighbor.

Please visit georgetown-village.org to register and donate, so that you can participate and receive a copy of the book. Registration and payment by credit card — or payment by check — must be received by May 27.

Once you have registered and made your donation, we will send information on how to join the conversation on Zoom. If you have questions, contact the Georgetown Village office at 202-999-8988 or email Lynn Golub-Rofrano at lynn@georgetown-village.org.

— Georgetown Village Co-Presidents Toni Russin and James Smith

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ARTS

The Power of Art, Right Now

BY AR I P OS T I have been dreading this column. I have been scared and slightly nauseated by the prospect of trying to write about art right now.

I’ll forgo the tediously crafted litany of our global despair, as I have to assume that anyone reading an art column in a local printed newspaper has probably worked through everything else on the world’s front pages.

So let’s get right to it. What does art have to do with anything right now? What gives art the right to vie for attention in this moment?

Assuming one personally holds those answers is a bit too self-righteous for me. This column is not about the “why” of art amid the crisis. Nor is it about all the extraordinary people, galleries, theaters and small businesses within the arts that have found themselves furloughed, closed or otherwise crippled. My heart goes out to all of them, and I am reassured that arts institutions are being granted the same level of support and aid rewarded to other “nonessential” industries by the federal government.

But there is undeniably a bit of moral dissonance in agonizing over the suffering of the arts during a crisis like this, and I really don’t know how to square this circle. A wonderful quote by Georges Braque demonstrates this idea better than I can.

Throughout two world wars, Braque painted still lifes of porcelain vases, woven silk tablecloths and heaping plates of fresh fruit and fish. He was perfectly comfortable depicting the trappings of luxury while the world suffered around him.

But he also came from a working-class family — his father and grandfather were

housepainters — and he abandoned his prolific partnership with Picasso at the outset of World War I to enlist in the French Army, where he was severely wounded in combat.

In a 1939 interview with the French literary journal Cahiers d’Art, he said this: “The painter lives through the age. But his work depends too much on the past for him to accommodate the changes of the hour … Let us distinguish categorically between art and current affairs.”

Art is a unique form, capable of succeeding in presenting and exploring a problem without a clear resolution. Artists spend their careers trying to crack the foundation, not repair it. I suppose that’s what I’m doing here. I’m simply asking these questions out loud, without any intention of answering them.

Because, despite the increasing existential pressure of our collective doom, art has been on my mind a lot. I’ve had more time over the past two months to think about art, and in purer terms, than I ever do when I’m working “in the arts.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz seems to feel similarly. He says he’s been devoting his quarantine time to writing deep analyses of Pieter Bruegel and the color yellow (or something like that).

While my ponderances have not been nearly that productive, they have been relieving. I’ve been pleased to find my mind lost in paintings (mostly Manet and Matisse) and in turning over sculptures (mostly small bronze caricatures made by my cartoonist uncle), trying to remember how they look from the back.

I’ve been thinking a lot about drypoint etching (mostly works by Rembrandt, and

“Fruit, Glass, and Mandolin,” 1938. Georges Braque. Courtesy NGA. Picasso’s “Vollard Suite”), how beautiful it is and why no one does it anymore (mostly, I think, because it’s a pain in the ass).

As a brief aside — although aside from what I don’t know — I’d like to say a word about etching. In recent years, I’ve been lucky to see etchings by many of the greatest draftsmen in history. Intimate prints by Michelangelo in the National Gallery’s “Sharing Images” exhibition. Whistler’s “Venice Set” at the Freer Gallery. Some 300 of Rembrandt’s prints in a knockout show at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on the 350th anniversary of his death.

Of all the fine-art mediums, etching may be the most timeless. The artists I just referenced span 500 years between them, but any of their etchings would live as comfortably in a contemporary studio loft as at the Frick. The same cannot be said of “Girl with a Pearl

Earring.”

This is probably because the fundamentals of drawing haven’t really ever changed (unless you count John Cage). What constitutes the matter of painting and three-dimensional form has evolved over the centuries beyond recognition. Etching, however, as a direct translation of an artist’s hand to paper, without any variation in material, color or texture, is at the core of all that is art.

Perhaps that aside was not so brief, but in a way it illustrates the value of art beyond a fleeting analysis of our immediate present, which I’ve never felt was art’s greatest purpose.

Art is — and in so many ways has always been — a journey beyond ourselves and into the realm of the divine. To that end, I think what art has the power to do right now is take us beyond this moment, if we allow it to.

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KITTY KELLEY BOOK CLUB

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The cover of “Pelosi” shows its subject in high heels, big sunglasses and a bright, burnt umber coat, looking movie-star glamorous.

The picture captures her leaving a White House meeting with President Trump, where she’s once again left him flatfooted and flabbergasted. It wasn’t the first or last time Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would bring the president to heel.

On their first introduction, she’d made herself known as No Nonsense Nancy.

Three days after his inauguration, Trump invited her and other congressional leaders to the White House for a reception. The newly elected president, who’d lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by almost 3 million votes, confounded his guests by saying, “You know I won the popular vote.”

He’d cobbled together some dubious anecdotes and tried to impress his guests, who knew better. Embarrassed for him, they shifted uncomfortably, and no one said a word. Then the speaker broke the awkward silence.

“That’s not true,” she told the president.

“There’s no evidence to support that.”

Under the crystal chandeliers of the White House, Pelosi had spoken up like the child in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale who shocked the kingdom by telling the naked emperor he wasn’t wearing any clothes.

Nor was this her first presidential tangle.

She’d cut her teeth years before on George H.W. Bush, shortly after coming to Congress as a representative from California. When the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in 1989, crushing Chinese demonstrators demanding reform, Pelosi — who represents one of the largest concentrations of Asian Americans in the U.S. — denounced the “butchers of Beijing.”

She proposed legislation to waive student visa requirements to allow pro-democracy students to stay in San Francisco rather than return home to be persecuted. President Bush, once envoy to China, threatened to veto any legislation that might affect international relations.

Pelosi’s bill passed the House and the Senate, but Bush vetoed it. The House overrode his veto, but Bush lobbied the Senate by writing personal notes to Republican wives, telling them to tell their husbands that he promised to issue an executive order that would have the same effect as Pelosi’s legislation but not tie his hands. Bush prevailed in the Senate by five votes.

Months later, with still no executive order, writes author Molly Ball, Pelosi “was furious” that the president thought he could flick off “the little bleeding heart liberal from San Francisco.” Somehow — Ball does not explain how — the Washington Post came into possession of one of Bush’s notes promising the order. The story embarrassed him into acting, and he quickly issued it.

The reader is left to wonder if “the little bleeding heart liberal” had something to do with how the Post got its story, or if the story was simply serendipitous for Pelosi and her legislative initiative.

The book is expertly crafted and

thoroughly researched, but readers are kept at a remove, being deprived of on-the-record quotes from Pelosi’s family — including her husband, five children and in-laws — as well as friends, political adversaries, staff, supporters, donors and colleagues past and present. Did Ball consider asking former Speakers Newt Gingrich and John Boehner to hold forth, or inquire of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay about his political negotiations with Pelosi?

Ball tells us that Madam Speaker doesn’t drink or smoke or say bad words — and, a devout Catholic, she never gossips. She walks the marble floors of the U.S. Capitol in four-inch heels, gets her hair done every morning and dresses like a woman worth $60 million, a figure that doesn’t include her Georgetown penthouse overlooking the Potomac, the San Francisco mansion she shares with her husband or their 16.5-acre Napa Valley vineyard.

Pelosi’s proudest legislative achievement is getting the Affordable Care Act passed for President Obama. When the legislation was floundering, she bolstered him: “You go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, you go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get health care reform passed for the American people.”

Obama devotees may be dismayed to read that, while he was focused on his own reelection in 2012, he refused to contribute anything to congressional campaign committees, including Speaker Pelosi’s. At the time, she was celebrating 25 years in Congress with a weeklong festival, complete with lavish fundraisers and performances by Bono and the Grateful Dead.

All she wanted was a personal appearance from Barack Obama. She pleaded with his campaign strategists, reminding them of all she’d done for the president. They refused, saying her toxic image might hurt him.

Finally, she called Obama herself, but he didn’t take her call and never called her back.

In that instance, Obama barreled down a one-way street marked “me, me, me,” while Pelosi maneuvered multiple lanes marked “you,” “me” and “us.” Following his reelection, the president came to value the speaker as the best ally he could have to push his legislative agenda. Together with her, Obama achieved health care, cap-andtrade and Wall Street reform, plus a massive stimulus package. In her own words, Pelosi was “Mother Loyal.”

Georgetown resident Kitty Kelley has written several number-one New York Times best-sellers, including “The Family: The Real Story Behind the Bush Dynasty.”

Her most recent books include “Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick’s Iconic Images of the Kennedys” and “Let Freedom Ring: Stanley Tretick’s Iconic Images of the March on Washington.”

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